Resnet - Airport Express - Static Mac Address!!! Urgent!!

[greguk89]

Hello,

I've been using my airport express as a LAN-Wireless bridge for a couple of weeks.

however, after every night, the airport express stops working and I have to ring Bristol resnet to get my connection reset.

I've just found out that it's because the airport express MAC address is changing every night and so resnet isn't recognising the registered MAC address, thus not letting my access the internet.

How do i get the Airport express to maintain a static MAC address???

Please reply ASAP as I'm not sure when its going to change again,

Thank you,

Greg

 

[greguk89]

Hello, Can someone please help me with this because i need to get it working for uni, is there any way I can get the express to keep its MAC address static?

or what other equipment do i need? a router or switch etc? I'm not sure myself but possibly something that can act between the express and my resnet LAN port and retain its own static MAC address, any suggestions on configuring the express itself or specific models of routers etc would be a great help.

thanks in advance

GReg

 

[milk242]

That doesn't sound right. Your mac address (airport ID) on your express doesn't change, its a physical address of the network hardware.

 

[greguk89]

Hey,

every morning it stops working, I've rang resnet and the man there said that my MAC address was different to the night before.

I also read that the express has it built into its firmware to change its MAC address every 24 hrs but not sure how true this is.

I just need it to stay static, I can't imagine why it would need to change it so often, its very annoying.

I'm a disabled student and sitting in my wheelchair all the time is uncomfortable, until i get this wireless sorted, I have to sit at my desk all the time to do stuff, instead of relaxing on my bed and doing work.

Any ideas on how to reconfigure the express or can someone create some sort of new firmware or mod program that can change the express's firmware etc? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys,

Greg

 

[greguk89]

any suggestions?

 

[joeconvert]

Does the Express let you clone your machine's MAC address when you set it up? I can't recall if it does or it is possibly in the advanced settings.

Anyway, try that. Perhaps they don't MAC addresses in a known block of router hardware.

 

[greguk89]

Does the Express let you clone your machine's MAC address when you set it up? I can't recall if it does or it is possibly in the advanced settings.

Anyway, try that. Perhaps they don't MAC addresses in a known block of router hardware.

No it has its own;

MACBOOK MAC - 00:19:e3:3a:ba:bf
Express MAC - 00:1F:F3:F5:6E:9E

I've tried to connect it via a LAN cable to my Macbook but you just can't access it's firmware. I read somewhere that you can change the mac address of a airport extreme card by using a mac address changer but it doesn;t work because it can't access the file on the express.

There's got to be a way of getting into the files on the express, the airport utility just useless

Thanks

Greg

 

[aristobrat]

I've never heard of any model of router changing its MAC address on its own.

So the MAC address you provided above for your Express ... if you check it tomorrow AM, it'll be different somehow?

Doing a quick google, I didn't find any information about the Expresses doing that.

 

[greguk89]

I've never heard of any model of router changing its MAC address on its own.

So the MAC address you provided above for your Express ... if you check it tomorrow AM, it'll be different somehow?

Doing a quick google, I didn't find any information about the Expresses doing that.

yes that what seems to be happening, the resnet ppl are saying that the mac address which is registered the day before is different to the one connecting the following morning; and both address have been obtained from the express.

Its really puzzling

 

[aristobrat]

That is crazy.

I'd definitely do the screenshots for a night or two. Record the MAC address when everything is working, and then again when it breaks. It'd be very curious to see how the MAC looks in the Airport Utility.

Also see if they can read you the MAC address that they have in their system (when you call them, after it breaks). Wonder how "different" from your screenshots it will be.

Does anyone else have any access to where your Airport plugs into their network??? If the MAC address they give you is majorly different (i.e. the first three fields), I'd be curious to know if someone else is unplugging you for a bit and using your connection (and then plugging you back in).

 

[greguk89]

That is crazy.

I'd definitely do the screenshots for a night or two. Record the MAC address when everything is working, and then again when it breaks. It'd be very curious to see how the MAC looks in the Airport Utility.

Also see if they can read you the MAC address that they have in their system (when you call them, after it breaks). Wonder how "different" from your screenshots it will be.

Does anyone else have any access to where your Airport plugs into their network??? If the MAC address they give you is majorly different (i.e. the first three fields), I'd be curious to know if someone else is unplugging you for a bit and using your connection (and then plugging you back in).

Here is the current setup, should the MAC address be the same as AIRPORT ID?

I'll post a new screenshot tomorrow morning.

 

[aristobrat]

Here is the current setup, should the MAC address be the same as AIRPORT ID?

I think so. I'll take a look at mine when I get back home.

 

[greguk89]

I think so. I'll take a look at mine when I get back home.

Hey, I checked the express this morning and the MAC address was the same.

I just registered and connected it to the resnet and its working (as usual) but on the resnet page it showing a NEW mac address!!

See it's saying 001b63c13aaa is the current registered address;

but the express is saying 00:1F:F3:F5:6E:9E still. and the macbook is 00:19:e3:3a:ba:bf.

where has this new address come from? All thats connected from the resnet LAN socket is SOCKET > EXPRESS > 'wireless' > MACBOOK.

Resnet are adamant its not their end but where on earth would a new mac address but created?

I'm so confused, any help would be great because I'm about to loose my internet by tomorrow morning for the rest of the weekend.

Thanks,

Greg

 

[greguk89]

Also, the express is working now, so how is resnet letting it connect even though its MAC address is different to the registered one???

 

[aristobrat]

Seems like that new MAC address (00:1b:63) is common with (but not limited to) iPhones.

The only thing I can think of is that someone else is registering their device using your account with ResNet. Would that cause the problem? i.e. you've logged in your Airport and things are working great. Later, someone else tries to logon to ResNet from a different location, types in your account info, and connects (which causes ResNet to disconnect your Airport).

I'm not sure how ResNet works in a situation like that, but I can't think of anything on your Airport/Mac end that would cause this problem.

 

[greguk89]

Seems like that new MAC address (00:1b:63) is common with (but not limited to) iPhones.

The only thing I can think of is that someone else is registering their device using your account with ResNet. Would that cause the problem? i.e. you've logged in your Airport and things are working great. Later, someone else tries to logon to ResNet from a different location, types in your account info, and connects (which causes ResNet to disconnect your Airport).

I'm not sure how ResNet works in a situation like that, but I can't think of anything on your Airport/Mac end that would cause this problem.

Hey, I just got this from Terminal;

resnet-188589:~ gregjudge$ ifconfig en1 | grep ether
ether 00:1b:63:c1:3a:aa
resnet-188589:~ gregjudge$


does this mean my macbook mac id is now 00:1b:63:c1:3a:aa ?? before it was 00:19:e3:3a:ba:bf and I haven't changed it.

Do you think the macbook sends the mac address?? then when resnet checks the connections during the night, it can't find my macbook address and doesn't recognise the express mac id, so disables my connection?