get a command prompt and enter ipconfig /all
you will see something like
Code:
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : xxxcom
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : AA-BB-CC-DD-EE-FF
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.4
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 209.18.47.61
209.18.47.62
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, February 10, 2011 3:18:50 PM
[B]Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Monday, January 18, 2038 7:14:07 PM[/B]
that LEASE is your ISP's means to hold your connection and as you see, mine is almost forever :wave:
That's very atypical; ususally it is for a month, week, or most frequently just 24hrs which I think is your status.