HELP! System keeps on changing local hostname

I have the same problem. Any help is very much appreciated. I have un-checked every option in the "sharing" folder and my "local hostname" almost everytime I wake up my computer.

Bob

Same problems here. I have tried manually changing the local hostname to something entirely different, but still get the same message every time I wake my computer. It seems to have started occurring about the time I installed my Airport Extreme Base Station (Gigabit). I have no idea if it's related.

Thanks,

John

This is happening because your hostname is being set by DHCP. When your DHCP lease is renewed the DHCP server assigns you a hostname and IP address. Even if you get the same IP address you might not get the same hostname.

I still have not found a way to manually set the hostname for the wireless and make it stick.

i just started having the same exact problem! it doesnt make sense to me because my computer is the only one on the network. this is getting very annoying, and has never happened before. it only recently started, and i upgraded to 10.5.2 a couple days ago, when it was released. any suggestions?

Are you REALLY the only networked device on your network? Is this on a home cable modem where the modem, not a separate router, provides your box with its IP Address via DHCP? If so, you are on a largeish network, your cable providers, and they might well be changing your hostname.

To keep this topic going, I'm having the same exact problem. Renewing the dhcp lease would make sense, but is anyone aware of when/if a patch is coming to fix this?

Starting to get annoyed...

This is happening to me on about 30% of our MacBooks we have upgraded to Leopard. They all have unique names. Don't know why they are doing it.

I am having the same issue on my iBook G4 with Leopard 10.5.2. Seems to have started last month, long after I had installed either Airport Exress Base Station or OS X.5. HJZ

Is this the message that everyone else is getting:

Your computer's hostname 'ian-3.local' is already in use. Your computer's host hame has be changed to 'ian-3.local'.

I get this error every couple of weeks perhaps. As you can see, it has already changed me from having no number at the end to -3 and now -4.

The other devices on the network are a windows machine, and the Airport Extreme base station. Xbox is on there too, but hasn't been on for a day or two so couldn't have caused the problem in this instance.

Yes, this is the same message and the number increases by one each time. I am up to 9. HJZ

I also...(what a surprise) have the same problem. My local machine is on .11 and seems to only happen on Mac books. My Mac Mini remains untouched. Are the guys at Apple look at this forum? It would be nice to come up with a fix.

UNDEUX wrote:
I also...(what a surprise) have the same problem. My local machine is on .11 and seems to only happen on Mac books. My Mac Mini remains untouched. Are the guys at Apple look at this forum? It would be nice to come up with a fix.

Yes, it is annoying, but a couple of comments:

If it annoys you to see the .11, or if it wreaks havoc with something you use, then just change the name back in System Preferences --> Sharing (click the Edit button on top of the window.

It doesn't only happen on Mac Books: I do have the problem occasionally on my Mac Pro, but, for some reason, it has never occurred on my MacBook Pro. On the Mac Pro, it's always when I wake the machine from sleep (though that may just be because the only time it ever starts up is after a system update that requires a reboot).

And no, Apple are not looking at this forum, at least not officially. Since the squeaky wheel gets the grease, everyone should report this as a bug. One can do so here: http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

Daniel

mtatmc wrote:
This is happening because your hostname is being set by DHCP. When your DHCP lease is renewed the DHCP server assigns you a hostname and IP address. Even if you get the same IP address you might not get the same hostname.

This may be one of the reasons for the problem to occur, but it cannot be the only one. I am experiencing the problem on my Mac Pro which is connected to my Airport Extreme base station by means of an Ethernet cable and is manually configured with a fixed IP address. Interestingly enough, my MacBook Pro and my wife's Powerbook are both connected to the network via Airport with IP addresses assigned by DHCP, and neither laptop ever has this issue. There's something else that's going on here.

Daniel

I am getting this same error. I have Mac Book Pro and I started to get this error in the last week or two when I started both connecting to my network wirelessly and with a cable.

Same problem here, but only on my MacBook Pro, iMac does not have this problem. Both machines connected by network cable to modem/router, both machines are running Leopard and are up2date.
This problem started about a week ago.