I have treid everything but I can't seem to find any information how to properly connect my ethernet shield. I am a beginner in this area. It seems like I have a conflict if I use my ip address and I have tried plugging in another computer grabbing that address as well as using an ip address one digit off. example my com 85.255.83.84 input in arduino program 85.255.83.85 .Nothing seems to be working any help. How do I find out my ip and mac address to connect? P.s. I am using webcleint program.
Use the published scriptes from the arduino website to test your ethernet shield.
Use an internal IP addresses, ie. 192.168.x.x and the MAC address which is in the code sample.
see this thread: http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1236679841
As a beginner alway start with sample sketches. Don't change code until you know that your little project works. After you can add or change the code.
Hope this helps.
Webmeister
This sounds like little to do with Arduino and a lot to do with networks and IP addresses. You can't use global IP addresses (like 85.255.83.85 - belonging to Kristallnet in Germany 
) for your own use unless they have been allocated for your use by the netblock owner. Usually, in this day of Wireless routers, your computer will have a private IP address and it will usually be 192.168.x.x, your router will have the global IPaddress and all the computers that use it for connecting to the internet will have a private address. Websites that tell you your IP address will tell you the routers Global IP, since they cannot know whats happening on your private network. Nowadays the only personal computers with global addresses are ones with dial up connections or USB connected DSL modems, neither of which is much use with an ethernet shield. If you have an ethernet connected computer, it will almost certainly have a private IP address. How you find that private IP address varies by operating system, on most versions of Windows, going to the command prompt (the bit that no one ever uses 
) and typing "ipconfig" or "ipconfig /all" without the quotes and pressing enter will tell you the machines own IP address, this is what you need to use for basing the Aduinos IP address on - chances are it will be 192.168.X.X .. There is another option where your computer has an ethernet connection and a Global IP - PPPOE sometimes used in Europe. This uses either a Ethernet modem or a router set up as a bridge. If this is the case I think it should work with a 192.168 address if you also give your computer a 192.168 address. Not my area of expertese, PPPOE. I know it stands for Point to Point Protocol Over Ethernet........ ;D
Log into your Router, and have a look at the allocated IP addresses in there. There should be a page showing all the assigned IP addresses on your network, usually in the form of 192.168.0.x where x is 1 - 254.
Copy this address format for the IP address you assign the Arduino, and obviously give it one which isn't currently being used by anything else.
http://portforward.com/ might help with router specific issues with the Ethernet shield.
I still can't access my Arduino out side of my local network that is from the other side of the router on the real Internet.
Good luck and please feedback any useful information you dig up.
Chewie B
In the real world, a server needs its gateway setting to the IP address of the router, the sample webserver doesn't have this, and it works on my setup without it so it must default to something, maybe your router isn't at the default address. Take a look at this thread which details setting the gateway and subnet as well as the mac and IP. Its in reply #7. I'm assuming you've set up port forwarding in your router.