Windows has detected an IP address conflict

I just recently purchased my laptop so I am just learning. The message I got on the computer said, Another computer on this network has the same IP address as this computer. Contact your network administrator for help resolving this issue. More details are available in the Windows System event log. What does this mean and is this something important I need to fix. I would appreciate any help in this matter.

Sometimes power failures will interrupt your service and that happened to me and when the power came back on moments later i received a network ip address conflict notice, thats what caused it to happen in my case

This is just proof of another vague poorly written error message that would never appear if everyone used ALL Microsoft certified hardware and software including their browser and ISP, search engines, etc.

Network Error

Windows has detected an IP address conflict

Another computer on this network has the same IP address as this computer. Contact your network administrator for help resolving this issue. More details are available in the Windows System event log.

It's not a valid message its just the only one that's even a little close to the problem the third party (NOT) Microsoft certified  software and hardware, etc.

The Network Error is not an external LAN error.

The IP address conflict is between an internal MS IP address and 3rd party wireless modum & ISP,  IP address they require.

Another computer on this network has the same IP address as this computer.      "There is not another computer on this network"            there is an internal network MS uses to connect to external Microsoft Networks.  

 The trick is to disable MS networks  so they are invisible to 3rd party (NOT) Microsoft certified  software and hardware, ISP, etc. or boot with Sims card removed from 3rd party modem and reinstalled before ISP manager is started.

Microsoft never provided software for a wired USB ISP modem that's only wireless from the modem to cell tower.

MS provided software for wired dial up telephone and dedicated DSL software wired from computer to wireless router.

That is why Mac has no such problem

I have looked through this thread and this problem goes all the way back to WIN7 release. 

"Windows has detected an IP address conflict?

Another computer on this network has the same IP address as this computer. Contact your

network administrator for help resolving this issue.More details are available in the Windows

System event log"

I retired as an IT professional in 2010 after 32 years. I have been through this thread and have seen a lot of suggestions. Most of what I have seen is being posted by people who have a little bit of knowledge. In IT a little bit of knowledge can get you in a serious amount of trouble.

You don't need to switch from DHCP to static. Where are you going to get this static IP address? You can't just make one up they are assigned.

You certainly don't need to reformat your hard drive and re-install windows7

Typing Ipconfig/release followed by ipconfig/renew wont help you either. Both are valid commands but they wont help in this instance. Why? Because the problem is in your internet configuration panel and Windows does not care how many protocols you have installed there it will continue to assign the same IPs to them. 

The message shows up to purchasers of new PCs or people who have recently installed internet adapters, or possibly upgraded their firmware or drivers for these devices.  A hotspot connection for your new Iphone is a new adapter. Your new Bluetooth USB hub is a new adapter. 

The problem is when you install these devices their drivers install a conflicting internet protocol.

You can easily fix this as I described in an earlier post. Another route that will get you to the same result is open the control panel open the network sharing center. With the network sharing center open on the left side of the panel you will see "change adapter settings" open that screen and right click on the adapter that is open and select "properties" from the drop down. In the configuration panel you will see "Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPV6)" and an identical entry except it is version 4. Unless every every device you have is compatible to V6 you must use V4. **UNCLICK "Internet Protocol Version 6" AND YOU WILL NEVER BE TROUBLED BY THIS BOTHERSOME MESSAGE AGAIN.**While you are in this screen you may want to do this with all of the rest of your adapters especially if you are getting this message when you are using a different adapter to connect to the internet

Could this be caused by wi-fi? My usb modem is connected to my wi-fi router and I open the wi-fi whenever I want to browse the internet through my smartphone. The ip address on my smartphone is 192.168.2.101 while on my desktop pc is 192.168.2.100.

Those 2 addresses do not conflict obviously. I suggest you look at it the same way I did go right to the connection you are using for the device you are on. My earlier post is from a Widows 7 perspective other OS may be different. When you open the Network Sharing Center you will see in the second section from the top on the right side you will see "connections: . following the steps outlined in my original post if you see that the configuration shows 2 "Internet Protocol Versions" active that will be where your conflict is coming from.