After a HIR (Hardware Independent Restore) you then attempt to assign the IP address from the old server to the newly restored server, you get a Microsoft Warning stating that this IP is assigned to a network adapter that is no longer installed. This is by design from Microsoft to ensure that if the network adapter does become active you have been warned and will end up with an IP address conflict.
Please note this is very important with regard to restoring an Active Directory Domain Controller Eg Normal DC’s and or SBS2003.