changing a network address

I have a backup hard drive Maxtor hooked through a netgear WPNT834 wireless.
I know it was installed with its standard 198.168.1.6 address, but somehow
it is now telling me it's address is 198.168.1.2. I can't get it to recongnize my user name and password. I'm assuming that this is the culprit. Is there a simple solution to forcing the drive's address to change. I have tried using Netgears smartwizard to reserve the address (198.168.1.6) for it's MAC address, but this didn't work. Any info would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

Are you sure it's 198.168 and not 192.168??? Lets start there because 198.168 is not a private IP address

 

Yes your right it's 192.168.1.1. can't read my own writing

 

It's hard to troubleshoot a problem like that but here are some questions to you and some things to try.

1. how many computers are on your network?
2. are you running DHCP or static?
3. if your running dhcp on your router you can reserve that IP by Mac
4. I dont believe that the change in IP has anything to do with you logging on with a user and password. If it isn't taking what you think it is and you have physical control over it there has to be a way to reset it to factory just like all routers. You did not post what Model Maxtor you have but Im assuming its a NAS.
5. I beleive the IP changed because either the router rebooted or the Maxtor rebooted and it got a new IP from the router running DHCP.
If your network is small I recommend statically assigning all IP's to include the Maxtor once you get back into it

 

this is a little deep for me But here it goes.
1. how many computers are on your network?

dell ethernet to Netgear WPNT834 wireless router
cable modem ethernet to router
Maxtor Shared Storage Plus drive eathernet to router
3 Wireless computers

2. are you running DHCP or static?

using router as DHCP server

3. if your running dhcp on your router you can reserve that IP by Mac
yes I've tried to reserve the orginal (192.168.1.6) to it's MAC Address
but it doesn't even open it's username password dialog box and looking at the attached devices it is showing the altered address (192.168.1.2).

4. I will try reseting the maxtor next:
This worked, I didn't think of this. I was unaware of a reset option on a hard drive. I then reinstalled the software and was able to access firmware. It still
is on the altered ip address. but hey. Thank you very much