Two identical MBs' w/ the same MAC addresses

[videobruce]

I have two Foxconn N570SM2AA MB's;
http://www.foxconnchannel.com/en-us/product/Motherboards/detail_spec.aspx?ID=en-gb0000205

They have two built in ethernet controllers. Controller One on each board has the SAME identical MAC address as does Controller Two on each board. I was under the understanding that every ethernet device had a different address even the same model.

I was having a problem with these two PCs' talking to one another. My third box is a Laptop and there was no issue here. All are using XP Pro through a Westell VersaLink 327W DSL modem/router. It was also causing issues with the router as both boxes had the same MAC address.

Input??

[jlreich]

They are supposed to be different. It must have been an anomaly that somehow they both got the same MAC.

I would contact Foxconn and explain the situation and ask for a replacement for one of them.

If you don't want to do that and you only need one port on each machine you can use port1 on one machine and port2 on the other, and disable the unused ports.

[Paul Komski]

Sounds like Foxconn made a hash of it.

Maybe try MacShift (http://devices.natetrue.com/macshift/) if using WinXP - though I never have.

[videobruce]

The temporary solution is to use the 2nd adapter on the 2nd MB w/ the different address.

The manufacture suppects a corrupted bios and suggested re-flashing both MBs', but directly in DOS, not through Windows which I did the first time using their "LiveUpdate". Anyway, how could the addresses from one MB transfer to another? The only common link is the router.
There are stickers on the MB w/ each address, but not in hexdecimal and all four addresses are different.

[mjc]

That doesn't make much sense...

But then again, I've never been too much of a fan of Windows BIOS updaters, precisely because of the odd ball problems they can cause.

[Paul Komski]

http://i27.tinypic.com/2py5288.jpg

Notwithstanding (unless your board is counterfeit) that the maker should RMA the board for you - it seems quite easy to change the MAC address within Windows Device Manager from the Advanced Properties of the relevant Network Controller. It was simple to do with my on-board controller under WinXP as in the attached pic.

Other methodology (http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Transwiki:Changing_MAC_addresses).

I realize it's a "spoofed address" but who cares if its easy and it works.

PS
As for the decimal MAC addresses on the board; if they are 12 digit numbers then they could actually be 6 hex pairs in sequence; hex can look like decimal if there happen to be no A to F characters. That's the way they appear on the sticker of my own TPLink Router. The first 6 digits should relate to the maker of the hardware.

[videobruce]

I re-flashed both bioses in DOS, but no change. Here are the addresses;

04-4B-80-80-80-03
04-4B-80-80-80-04

No matches from this link;
http://www.coffer.com/mac_find/

[Paul Komski]

Foxconn boards should start with 00-01-6C or 00-15-58 (http://www.coffer.com/mac_find/?string=foxconn). I have one such Foxconn board and its NIC's MAC address does indeed start 00-15-58. Definitely something a bit odd going on there. Out of interest, what do the stickers have printed on them?

PS

Googling 04-4B-80-80-80-03 (http://www.google.ie/search?hl=en&q=04-4B-80-80-80-03&btnG=Google+Search&meta=) has 164 hits including http://forums.speedguide.net/showthread.php?t=213189 which also has two computers (Puget Custom Computers) with the same IP address; funny what?

[videobruce]

More interesting is this;
http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=1438306&page=3
Look at the clent window, the interface list at the top.

Also how about this post;
http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/469092836/m/667009077731?r=919004697731#919004697731

The 3rd post here;
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/696949.html

Looks as a nVidea controller issue.

[Paul Komski]

Yes indeed the second one is very interesting when it says:

One other piece of the saga that I meant to post here was to do with the MAC address on the nForce controller. I noticed while trying to troubleshooting the connection that the nForce's MAC address was not what I was expecting (I was looking at ARP chatter at the time). Apparently flashing the BIOS on the system board had erased the MAC address, and it had reverted to 04-4B-80-80-80-03, which seems to be some kind of default value for this chipset. I was expecting a 00-D0-68 address (Iwill OUI).

With help from Iwill tech support, I restored the correct MAC address using the nVidia flash utility under MS-DOS:

Only problem is that if its a default then why would the second NIC be 04-4B-80-80-80-04

[videobruce]

Even I can figure that out.

Controller #1 1st address,
Controller #2 2nd address (next #)

[Paul Komski]

If it was truly a default value for the chipset then it should be identical is what I had been thinking to myself; why have two default values?

[Ajmukon]

perhaps the last number, is given by another device, like a router, and it already gave "3" out...

[videobruce]

I contacted Foxconn and they claim it happens if you don't do a "clean install". :rolleyes:

[Paul Komski]

So are they claiming that if you now do a clean install that the situation will rectify itself? I suppose its possible that Windows will write a registry entry to cover the spot - but it seems a bit implausible to me. If that is the way Windows is supposed to do things one would expect far more complaints that two (or more) PCs on a LAN were conflicting with one another.

[videobruce]

If you did not do a clean install of the operating system- i.e. refresh
install this will happen.That was the message. :confused:

[Paul Komski]

Its unclear whether the implication is that a clean install changed the firmware in hardware (which seems most unlikely) or whether a clean install rewrites the system and the registry in software. Or put the other way round that if one did a restoration from an image it would have the "correct" MACs inserted in its system/registry. Whereas a clean install has to use the defaults in the firmware.

Bizarre.

[videobruce]

I almost always do "clean installs". I always choose 'full' format, not 'quick' format.
So that doesn't apply.