ip keeps changing + audio issue

[vinkrish]

im running mandriva 2006 for the last few days now. i've been encountering two weird (apparently) issues to which im not able to find answers!
1. I'm on a cable connection to the internet. I set up my network properly and I've been able to get online. But for some reason, I suddenly lost connectivity twice in one day, just as i was browsing. I restart my computer, boot up thru the mandriva-live dvd and i find that my IP has changed to something else.. then i restart again, get back into mandriva installed on the computer, go into the system-config and change the ip to the new one (the one that i see when i log on using the live distro).... and then im able to get back online again. why does my ip change?

2. Audio seems to be behaving erratically. music files (mp3, wma, etc.) play fine on all audio players... sounds/beeps etc on other resident applications like gaim work fine...
but for some reason, the video on sites like google-video or youtube shows up perfectly, but there's no audio accompanying those videos. any idea why this might be happening?
any help will be appreciated! thanks!!

[fingal]

Hi - Not sure about the answer to your network problem, but your lack of sound is probably caused by another application which temporarily has control of your audio.

For example, if you play a CD or an mp3 (or both) and then try to access Google Video you may not get any sound. I had the same problem, and found that by shutting down anything likely to be using my sound, I could listen to online videos again.