[DongWang]

I'm running 10.4.3 on a PowerBook G4.

I had been using a NetGear router, which fed one wired connection into a PC, and one wired connection into an Airport Express, with the PowerBook getting wireless access through the AE. But then the Airport Express and the router stopped working, and around the same time, I started getting:

"The computer's local hostname 'firstname-lastnames-Computer.local" is already in us on this network. The name has been changed to 'firstname-lastnames-Computer-2.local' automatically."

I gradually removed the Airport Express and the router, so that now, it is just a PowerBook plugged into an RCA cable modem provided by TimeWarner.

I can get a network connection that way, but if I try to add the Airport Express connection back in, the AE just blinks amber, and will not give me a network connection. After trying to add the AE back into the chain, not even the plain wired connection to the cable modem will work for a while. But after a while, I will get the "hostname already in use--changed automatically message," and the plain wired network connection will start working again. I am up to firstname-lastnames-Computer-5.local now.

Any ideas on what I can do to insert the router and/or the Airport Express (it's mainly wireless that I want) back in the chain successfully?

[DongWang]

I think I have figured this figured out. There was also a Slimdevices Squeezebox on my wireless network, about which I had completely forgotten. I unplugged its power cord, and now the wireless network seems to be doing fine.

I had configured the squeezebox when I only had one Airport Express. My guess is that when I added the second Airport Express, and plugged the ReplayTV into the second AE, that configuration conflicted with the Squeezebox.

When I have some time, perhaps I will try to reconfigure the Squeezebox to work with everything, but for now, I am content with the way things are.

For anyone who read this subject line because they were having a similar problem, the moral of the story in my case was to search for wireless devices you had not thought about, and either disconnect them or make sure they are properly configured.