Duplicate MAC Address

7889 Views 27 Replies 12 Participants Last post by mogrith, Aug 5, 2010

Paul1900

Discussion Starter · Aug 3, 2010

Hello, I purchased two GenTouch78s and they both have the same MAC address of 00:03:7F:0E:A2:19. I thought each device should have it's own MAC address. When either one is on alone wifi connectivity is fine. When both of them are on at the same time they are assigned the same IP address and I receive network errors but do get some connectivity to GMail and the web via the web browser. Any thoughts?Paul

1 - 20 of 28 Posts

mogrith

· #2 · Aug 3, 2010

[email protected] that's my mac address also. Do they all have the same one?

cutterjohn

· #3 · Aug 3, 2010

mogrith;29361 said:
[email protected] that's my mac address also. Do they all have the same one?

more than likely. Probably set by the firmware which all of them have been loaded with the same copy... now you need a tool to change the mac addresses... I don't know of any(any longer) offhand, but I'm sure that someone will pop by shortly with a suggestion... you might even be able to do it with a terminal and the shipped linux tools, but you'll need someone who's looked into to it more recently than I've had to, and knows more about what comes with the GT fw, or can point you to the tools needed(if any).I wouldn't be surprised if other mfg tablets are the same way...

xport

· #4 · Aug 3, 2010

Yep 00:03:7F:0E:A2:19 same here.

lawman

· #5 · Aug 3, 2010

Now that is funny!!!!

mogrith

· #6 · Aug 3, 2010

So only one GT user at a time at starbucks. Hope no one in the audience has one turned on if they do a Press conference demo that needs wifi.

mogrith

· #7 · Aug 3, 2010

Support ticket opened at Augen. Want to see what they have to say. (Besides Oh Ghod not another problem!)

lawman

· #8 · Aug 3, 2010

I should mention I'm still laughing...

mogrith

· #9 · Aug 3, 2010

Next years best seller:How NOT to Launch a product! By Daniel Gofman Vice President Augen Electronics Corp.

mogrith

· #10 · Aug 3, 2010 (Edited by Moderator)

Are they even suppose to be using this address. 00-03-7F belongs to:Atheros Communications, Inc.00037F (base 16) Atheros Communications, Inc. 5480 Great America Parkway Santa Clara CA 95054 UNITED STATES

clockworx

· #11 · Aug 4, 2010

Damn, and I thought launching in the US with a 2.5mm adapter adapter was bad. Is Augen just some guy who found a sweet deal on Dawa D7's and is selling them to KMart out of his bedroom?

jackbox

· #12 · Aug 4, 2010

They just rebranded a cheap Chinese tablet and obviously did no testing on their own. Typical the Chinese manufacturers use one MAC addess they stole from somewhere and clone it as they are not members of the alliance that issues the MAC addresses. They do the same thing with cheap Chinese phones, just steal IMEI sequences from Nokia but at least change them; but somewhere in the world is a Nokia with the same IMEI. This looks like a good class action lawsuit againt Gentouch. Go for it guys.

projectgus

· #13 · Aug 4, 2010 (Edited by Moderator)

Three interesting things come to mind:- If the wireless hardware is Atheros then it should be possible to change the MAC from software, if they're using the open source Atheros 'madwifi' drivers then one linux-based tool is called macchanger.- Atheros wouldn't have shipped all of their Wifi chipsets from the factory with the same MAC, unless it's either (a) a collosal mistake, (

a dodgy Atheros ripoff in hardware (unlikely but possible) or (c) the MAC is being changed to this value in software.- If the MAC is being set explicitly in software, this reminds me of the licensing protection mechanism that Aiteer put into the firmware that Eken use. They match the MAC to another serial number stored inside the SoC, and a potential way to bypass that protection mechanism would be set both the serial number and MAC to a known "OK" value in software.I'm not suggesting that's what happened here, because the Augen is running with a different Android version and hardware to the Eken - and we don't know who ported it. But it's not impossible. It's just as possible that it was overriden for testing purposes and they forgot to take it out of the production firmware build.Does anyone have either (a) teardown photos at a good resolution or (

a firmware dump from the Augen?(*)(*) Or do you want to mail one to me in Australia so I can provide these two things.

See less See more

2

lawman

· #14 · Aug 4, 2010

What basis do you have to believe it's a "class action lawsuit?" What are your damages, other than the cost of the device, which is within the return period because it's been out for two weeks? What are you going to ask for? "Judge, I bought this, and during the return period I decided to sue because I can't use more than one on the same wireless router, and that means I can't... go to starbucks with my friends." How exactly are you mitigating your damages in that way? Do you have a bar license? What state? You are aware it's illegal ie. actionable in most places to give legal advice without a license, right?If you have a beef with the GT, return it. At this point that seems advisable. I wouldn't bank on getting anything out of a lawsuit here.

martytaylor

· #15 · Aug 4, 2010

Class action...great idea! Let's wipe this fledgling company off the map and do Bill's and Steve's dirty work for them. Wait...that means no chance of updates for us. Well, no matter...no pain, no gain.

clockworx

· #16 · Aug 4, 2010

Haha, you think Bill and Steve are even aware of or give a crap who Augen is. They're doing just fine killing their own reputation.

lawman

· #17 · Aug 4, 2010

do WE care who augen is? At this point?

projectgus

· #18 · Aug 4, 2010 (Edited by Moderator)

projectgus;29542](a) a collosal mistake said:
Maybe it's not this complex. That MAC turns up in a pastebin of a dmesg posted today, no idea who posted it ('linckraker' on the XDA forums, maybe? or maybe a totally different device?) With some interesting parts: pastebin linkInteresting part:

<4>read_eeprom_from_file file offset opsition: 0h<4>read_eeprom_from_file: length=768<4>read_mac_addr_from_file try to open file /data/softmac<4>read_mac_addr_from_file: file /data/softmac filp_open error<4>eeprom_ar6000_transfer: read_mac_addr_from_file failed<4>disable_SI<4>AR6000: BMISetAppStart<4>AR6000: enable HI_OPTION_TIMER_WAR<4>AR6000: firmware_transfer*snip*<4>ar6000_init() Got WMI @ 0xc9f3e400.<4>mac address = 00:03:7f:0e:a2:19<4>ar6000_init() WMI is ready

Click to expand...

So, looks like the AR6000 chipset using the OEM driver from Atheros.Linckraker has also posted a link to a bunch of Augen firmware files: Index of /augenIf you can get access to the filesystem, it looks like putting a MAC address into /data/softmac (not sure what format) might solve your problems.

cutterjohn

· #19 · Aug 4, 2010

lawman;29558 said:
do WE care who augen is? At this point?

lawman I KNOW that you're a moderator, but why do you insist on trolling the Augen board? Jealousy perhaps?

darmok

· #20 · Aug 4, 2010

projectgus;29542]Three interesting things come to [URL=mind:-]mind:-[/URL] If the wireless hardware is Atheros then it should be possible to change the MAC from software said:
It's not madwifi. That's for a completely different kind of hardware. This is the driver for the chipset they're using: nv-tegra.nvidia.com Git - 3rdparty/atheros.git/summary

- Atheros wouldn't have shipped all of their Wifi chipsets from the factory with the same MAC, unless it's either (a) a collosal mistake, (

a dodgy Atheros ripoff in hardware (unlikely but possible) or (c) the MAC is being changed to this value in software.

Click to expand...

They don't ship these chips from the factory with MAC addresses at all. It's the responsibility of the device manufacturer to obtain a valid block of MAC addresses from the IEEE.

- If the MAC is being set explicitly in software, this reminds me of the licensing protection mechanism that Aiteer put into the firmware that Eken use. They match the MAC to another serial number stored inside the SoC, and a potential way to bypass that protection mechanism would be set both the serial number and MAC to a known "OK" value in software.

Click to expand...

That's not it. They were just too cheap to pay the IEEE for an OUI (which is $1650) or they didn't know they needed to. It's just like everything else about this device - hey, those copies of Documents To Go and QuickOffice are legal, right? And the Market? And I'd bet a dollar you won't find a FCC ID anywhere on the device or on the documentation even though they put the FCC logo on it...

1 - 20 of 28 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.