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IP is an address that points to a computer in some network, like an address of a house (only can it change). If you use SickBeard on your machine, you probably have used http://localhost:8081 to connect to SickBeard. localhost is a hostname. A hostname isn't an address, but it can be used to look one up. It's like using a name in a phone book. localhost is a special hostname that points back to the computer. It has a address value of 127.0.0.1. It was designed into IP address scheme as a loop back to the local machine. When on your local area network, your IP is given to you by the network. This almost always comes in the form of 10.x.x.x or 192.168.x.x. To find your address on the local area network on Windows 7. Click on the start menu, search for cmd, run cmd, and finally type ipconfig and hit enter. You should see something like
Windows IP Configuration
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 1:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.169.x.x <--- You want this address
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
This will give you the current IP. Now, you were given this IP from a DHCP server, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. The machine could get it's IP changed in the future, then you wont be able to connect. A way around this, is to use a hostname. Most routers today include a DNS server, Domain Name System. A DNS server translates hostnames to IP addresses. Some routers today use the computer's name to automatically make a hostname for a computer. So, you can use the name of you computer, example buttinks-desktop, as an address. If you want to find out your hostname, bring up cmd again, and type hostname and hit enter.
This still won't work on an external network, like Starbucks. For that, you will have to first set up your router to forward the port you choose for SickBeard to the computer running SickBeard. Then, you can use a DNS server. This will let you use the same hostname in the local area network, and when you leave the external DNS server can translate to your external IP. The communication will hit the router and be forwarded to your SickBeard server. There are a billion and a half different ways to do this, so you unfortunately will have to Google your own solution to this.
The biggest reason to get this error is that the machine you are trying to talk to isn't hearing you. This is usually because of a firewall. The port that you use to connect to SickBeard (default 8081) may be blocked on the computer or router. If there is a firewall on the computer running SickBeard, you must open the port on the firewall to allow SickBeard the ability to hear the message and respond. If you are using an external IP to connect you may need to do the same on the router.
In SickBeard, go to Config->General. Then at the bottom check the Enable API button. If a key is not generated in the textbox, click generate. That is your API key.
SickStache downloads banner art the first time it tries to show it to you. This can take a while if you on 3G (not recommended). It tries to save it in your external cache directory on your SD card. If your SD card is full, it won't get saved. SickBeard also added banner art in version 2 of their API. If you get absolutely no banner art, you probably need to update your SickBeard.