Should I worry about Constant ARP requests?

First, please forgive me if I am not posting this in the right place. I am running Windows XP on a Motorola cable modem. On an almost regular basis I notice the light flashing on the modem implying activity when I am not active. So ran Ethereal and I find multiple ARP requests from the same IP. I am also seeing DHCP packets from a different IP but always the same. What follows is a brief excerpt:

No. Time Source Destination Protocol Info
28 1.287687 67.188.xx.x Broadcast ARP Who has 67.188.xx.xxx? Tell 67.188.xx.x

Frame 28 (60 bytes on wire, 60 bytes captured)
Ethernet II, Src: 00:01:5c:22:a3:c2, Dst: ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
Address Resolution Protocol (request)

No. Time Source Destination Protocol Info
29 1.334740 10.146.64.1 255.255.255.255 DHCP DHCP Offer - Transaction ID 0xb39b5c75

Frame 29 (348 bytes on wire, 348 bytes captured)
Ethernet II, Src: 00:01:5c:22:a3:c2, Dst: ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
Internet Protocol, Src Addr: 10.146.64.1 (10.146.64.1), Dst Addr: 255.255.255.255 (255.255.255.255)
User Datagram Protocol, Src Port: bootps (67), Dst Port: bootpc (6
Bootstrap Protocol

The DHCP comes in at 10% the ARP 90% roughly. Should I be worried or is it normal? For that matter is there any way I can stop it?

Thanks

 

Hi empty01

... and welcome to Wilders

What you are seeing is quite normal, nothing to worry about and not something you would want to stop.

Basically ARP is a part of the networking processes that maps an IP address to the corresponding hardware ie. MAC/physical address of your NIC. You will usually see this happening between your system and your gateway server when connected directly to the Internet. On a home network/LAN you would see more of this ARP traffic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Address_Resolution_Protocol

The DHCP traffic you are seeing is likely from your modem and your ISP's network. DHCP is the process your modem will go through to get it's IP.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Host_Configuration_Protocol

Regards,

CrazyM

 

Thanks CrazyM. I thought that might be the case but wanted to double check with those that are more knowledgable.