MAC Address Change on Palm

[dzauha]

About two weeks ago I purchased the TC. At home I am running a Linksys wireless system. I am using MAC filtering for some security. I placed the MAC address from the back of the TC in the system. Worked great. Two weeks later I got on the wireless system, looked at a couple web pages and the TC needed to reconnect. It tried to get back on to the wireless and couldn't. Went into the WiFi preferences and looked at the Info for my network and the MAC address changed on my TC. Not the same as what is on the back of the TC. I placed the new MAC address in my system and was able to connect to the wireless. Anyone else seen this or have an idea of how the MAC address could have gotten changed? Worked one second, wouldn't the next.

I appreciate any insight someone might have on this one.

Thanks

[genoahous]

Unfortunately this is a problem with the T|C HW or SW. To fix you'll need to contact Palm for replacement unit.

I suspect that you'll notice that the MAC address is now "00:E0:18:00:00:00".

A MAC address is setup where the first three bytes signify manufacturer and the last three bytes are specific to a single unit.

As I understand it the MAC address some how gets unprogrammed (wiped). It changes from a Palm MAC address " 00:07:E0:xx:xx:xx" to an Asustek Mac Address "00:E0:18:xx:xx:xx".

Now that everybody knows your MAC address they can break into your router! :(

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More info at:
http://discussion.brighthand.com/palmhandhelds/showthread.php?threadid=33658

After wading through here's the most important post:

Well, to summarize what we know right now, and what we're speculating:

Here's what we know right now that are facts:

1. 00:07:E0:xx:xx:xx MAC addresses identify network equipment from Palm Computing

2. 00:E0:18:xx:xx:xx MAC addresses identify network equipment from Asustek

3. Asustek was awarded the contract to produce handhelds for Palm.

4. Palm Tungsten C devices affected by the bug have their MAC addresses set to 00:E0:18:00:00:00 (which also identifies it as an Asustek device)

5. Performing a hard reset on the affected units does not fix the problem.

6. There is no visible user warning that the MAC address has changed or is about to change.

7. Palm is swapping units, but it does not mean the problem is fixed.

Here's my take on it (speculation):

1. Palm is storing the actual MAC address in some sort of reserved addressable segment which is getting overwritten or corrupted because somehow it turns out to be user addressable.

2. In order to save costs in manufacturing, they chose to store the MAC in this fashion so that each manufactured unit did not need to be flashed with a permanent identifier.

3. When the Palm area gets corrupted, the MAC address gets read off the actual Wi-Fi radio manufactured by Asustek, which is identified with 00:E0:18 (manufacturer triplet), and a device id of 00:00:00 (empty).

[dzauha]

Thanks for the reply. It was as though you were standing right over my shoulder. I took the Palm back to Office Depot and they switched it out. This is the third TC I have had in the last nine days. It will be the last one too as I can't continue to switch out due to problems.

You provided some great info that really helped me.

Once again, thanks!

[genoahous]

You're welcom for the help I gave.

Sounds like you're helping Palm "gamma" test their unit. :(

I'm still looking for my perfect PDA... the T|C looked promising, but I'm waiting for something better... Hopefully by xmas something better will hit the shelves (or maybe I will get the T|C after Palm irons out the buggies).