CHANGE TO DHCP CLIENT TO STATIC IP

sudo nano -w /etc/network/interfaces  (use -w option so text wrap doesn't cause errors)

replace the dhcp line with:
   
iface eth0 inet static
address <ip_address>
netmask <netmask>
network <network_address>
broadcast <broadcast_address>
gateway <gateway_address>
   
Restart the neworking service using the following command:

sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart