Re: [NTLK] Name changed: MAC address mystery

From: Nancy Haitz (nhaitz_at_earthlink.net)
Date: Tue Feb 18 2003 - 14:41:28 PST


> Nancy wrote:
> My only thought is that I am using Hiroshi's WavLAN driver with
> the Proxim card in the Newton. Maybe something in the codes he
> wrote tell the router that the card is an Apple branded card.
>
> Harlan wrote:
> It's possible, but when I use my D-Link card in the Newton or the
> laptop, the MAC address is the same. I'm using his WaveLAN driver as
> well.

I think I might be answering my own post here, but I just heard back
from the support folks at Asante. Here (briefly condensed) is what
Breen in Asante's Security Support area had to say:

> No, the Asante router doesn't create a new MAC address.
>
> Actually, it's the Newton (or more accurately the driver running on the
> Newton) that's doing that.
>
> An ethernet card, wireless or not, doesn't really have a MAC address
> when it's sitting in its packaging. There's a 'potential' MAC address
> burned into a ROM chip, but the card doesn't have to use that address.
>
> The card gets a 'real' MAC address when it's initialized by the driver
> software. What usually happens is that the driver reads the potential
> MAC from the ROM and loads it into a register on the controller chip.
> But the driver can actually load any value it chooses into that
> register. That's what seems to be happening in this case. The Newton
> OS is probably using a preconfigured value in its own configuration.

So it looks like when you combine the Asante FR1004AL router with a
Newton, a Proxim Skyline card, and Hiroshi's driver: you get an Apple
MAC address.

Nancy

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