WRT54G loses AP MAC address

Hi,
With the help of support, I got the WRT54G to "work" on my desk with my wireless laptop right next to the router and the router plugged into a hub that I put on my desktop. I put the router in a closet about 15 feet away (2 plaster walls between) and plugged it into my wired ethernet switch. All lights on the WRT54G show normal operation. When I try to connect with my laptop and I look at the wireless information, it shows the AP MAC address switching between its value and 00:00:00:00:00. Obviously, I can not make a wireless connection.
My daughter also tries with her MAC laptop (5 feet from the WRT54G with no walls between) and she can not connect.
Both wireless computers can connect to my Netopia wired/wireless router which was provided by my ISP.
Is there a solution for this problem or is the WRT54G defective? (If it matters, the firmware is v 8.0.0)
Thanks,

Try upgrading the firmware of the roruter ... Once upgrade ..reset & reconfigure the router & see if it works ....

Similar Messages

I have a Linksys WRT54G wireless router that has a MAC address

A month ago, I could print from my PC and my Mac to my Epson printer over my Linksys WRT54G wireless network. Now, for some reason, I cannot connect and print from either computer. An Epson tech asked me to check the MAC address of the Mac and the printer to see if they were the same. They were not. He then opined that might be why I couldn't print.
I don't know what changed a month or so ago or why it changed. I have not done anything to change the MAC address on either the MAC or the printer.
The Epson guy said the problem might be fixed by adding my printer's MAC address to my router's MAC address. Something about "enabling MAC address filtering". Then he told me that was an issue to pursue with my router manufacturer. Naturally.
Speaking of that problem...someone else had it, too...another technician at another site wrote: "...by default, routers don't come with mac address filtering enabled...and if that's the case....then adding the printer's MAC will not solve any issue that you may be having..."
So, three qustions:
(1) Can I add my Epson Workforce 545 printer's MAC address to my Linksys router? Is that possible?
(2) If I can do it, how do I do it? I saw no "add" or "edit" functions on the Linksys WRT54G Status Page.
(3) What causes MAC address mismatching to happen? What is unstable in that assembly?
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Mac addresses with different devices will differ. No two devices will have the same mac address. this is also called the hardware address. This is designed so that it will serve as a unique identifier of your devices in the network which you can check thru the router. Now it is possible that wireless mac filter might be blocking it from connecting to the network. But it would be best to check as well and make sure that the printer is connected to your network and has the same ip address segment as your router.
How to check if mac filter is enabled:
Setting up wireless MAC Filtering to permit users to connect to the wireless network on your Linksys...
Setting up wireless MAC Filtering to prevent users from connecting to the wireless network on your L...

WRT54GS: without Windows, force a given MAC address to always get the same IP address via DHCP?

I have just now set up my WRT54GS to manage my home wireless network, and it works great. I just have one question that I haven't been able to find an answer for (forgive me if I have overlooked an obvious source of information).
I have set up the WRT54GS to be a DHCP server, and it assigns addresses in an ad hoc manner to all the devices that connect to it. In general, this is what I want, but in one case, I want a certain host to always get the same IP address, for example, 192.168.1.10.
You should know that I have no Windows machines on my network. Everything is either running Linux, MacOSX, or Symbian (on a Nokia N95 handheld). Therefore, I can't set up a static IP for my device using the software supplied on the CD that comes with my router, as that software only runs under Windows.
Using a different manufacturer's router, I am able to accomplish this by telling the DHCP software on that router to always assign 192.168.1.10 to the host who connects with a certain MAC address. I can then use this mechanism to force my specific host to always get this desired IP address. However, I haven't been able to find any way to do that with the WRT54GS without the software on the Windows-based CD. Is it possible at all? If I can indeed do this without that Windows software, could someone point me to some docs which explain how to accomplish this?
... or is there perhaps a different way to cause this to happen, perhaps by means of some sort of DHCP client ID?
Thank you very much in advance for any pointers you can give me.
Message Edited by HippoMan on 10-16-2007 05:27 PM
Take a hippopotamus to lunch today.

Forget about the CD. There is nothing on the CD which you don't configure better through the router web interface at http://192.168.1.1/ You don't need the CD. Never. I have never used the CD to configure any of my routers. The program on the CD is just a software which helps you with the initial configuration of the router. It is just a software which pretty much contacts the web interface in the background and sends some settings changes there. You can do everything yourself directly. Then you know what you change.
You have to configure the static IP address on the computer and on the computer only, e.g. on your Mac use Static IP instead of DHCP in the network preferences. Enter the IP address you want to use for the computer, the subnet mask, gateway address and DNS server(s). That's it. The router is not involved in any of this.
You just have to make sure that you use an IP address inside the LAN of the router. By default, Linksys routers use the IP address 192.168.1.1 on the LAN side for the the router. The subnet mask is 255.255.255.0. The IP address together with the subnet mask says that all IP addresses 192.168.1.0-255 are considered part of the LAN. Everything else is outside and needs to be routed to the router and from there into the internet. (If you want to know how the subnet mask works exactly read the wikipedia article on it or search for "subnet calculator" or similar in the internet)
Thus, if you connect a computer to your LAN and set a static IP address on the computer it should be inside this IP address subnet/range in order to have internet and LAN access on the computer. It does not matter which address you use as long as it is inside the IP subnet. The DHCP server on the router automatically assign a correct IP address inside the IP subnet and also automatically assigns the correct gateway address (its own address = the address to which everything should be sent which does not belong into the LAN, i.e. the internet traffic) and the DNS server. With static IP you have to assign those values yourself.
But again, there is no Windows computer or CD involved to do that nor is there any configuration on the router required to set the static IP address on the Mac. The IP address you set must simply match your LAN IP which is basically defined through the settings on the router as you want to have internet and thus need access to the router and its address 192.168.1.1.
Some routers allow you define fixed IP addresses for specific devices in the DHCP server of the router. With that function you can set a fixed IP address on the router. The computer can remain on DHCP. It will always get the IP address you have configured in the list on the router through the DHCP server. However, your Linksys router does not have this option. If any device inside your LAN is supposed to receive the same IP address at any time you have to configure that on the device only.
If you have not changed the default LAN IP address, subnet mask and DHCP server settings on the router, the router has 192.168.1.1, subnet mask 255.255.255.0 and the DHCP server uses 192.168.1.100-149 for dynamic assignments. To avoid potential address conflicts you should not use any static IP addresses inside the DHCP server address pool. This leaves you with IP addresses 192.168.1.2-99 and 150-254 as static IP addresses inside your LAN. You can pick any address you like as long as any device with a static IP address has a unique IP address inside your LAN.
Assign the subnet mask 255.255.255.0 on the computer and set the default gateway to 192.168.1.1. The DNS servers are a little bit more complicated. Generally it is better and faster if you use the DNS servers of your ISP. You can, however, also use the IP address of the router 192.168.1.1 as DNS server. The router will then operate as DNS proxy, i.e. it contacts the DNS servers of your ISP for any request from your computer.
If you want to use the DNS servers of your ISP, click on the Status tab in the router web interface. It shows you the current settings of the router on the internet port. It should show you multiple entries for DNS servers. Choose those DNS server IP addresses in the computer.
If you don't want to go through the hassle with the direct access to the DNS servers of your ISP, simple use 192.168.1.1 as only DNS server on the computer.
There are all settings you have to make on your Mac or other computers to assign a static IP address. As long as the IP address is inside 192.168.1.* it belongs to the LAN and has internet access through the router (as long as the default gateway address is 192.168.1.1 of course).
Firmware is loaded either through the web interface of the router, usually somewhere on the Administration tab or with tftp. Both ways work fine on any Mac or Linux box.

WRT54GS - MAC Address Filter & Firewall SPI

Hi,
I just purchased a WRT54GS V 6 wireless router. I updated the firmware to the latest (May 30) and the set up seems to be OK. Using the security recommendations in the manual as a guide, I implemented them - the turn off SSID, and the others.
IF I try to filter the MAC addresses (accept only those on the list) for my wife's Sony VAIO VGN - S260 laptop, it can see the network but will not connect. When I turn off the MAC filtering, it is fine. I used the WPA2 personal encryption, and input the passphrase into both router and computer.
My other issue is the firewall Statefull Packet Inspection (SPI). On the Security set up screen, firewall tab - I have the four radio button settings that I am supposed to (Block WAN request, filter Multicast, Filter NAT, & Filter IDENT), however, I do NOT have the option to turn on the firewall (SPI) above the 4 radio buttons - that setting is totally missing from the set up screen. Reference Page 28 of the manual.
I would appreciate any help or suggestions, as I could not find any ideas searching the forum. Thanks for your help
Message Edited by donh127 on 08-07-2006 07:00 PM

Hi. Is your Mac mini loaded with the OSX server edition or OSX consumer edition? I am not 100% sure but I think you need a server edition to do that.

Will i lose use of my @mac address if i accept an @icloud address?

I prefer to keep using my @mac address because I want the world to know that I am an Apple and Mac owner and enthusiast since 1984, but I don't want my proposed @icloud address to be given to someone else.
So can I accept the @icloud address just so no one else gets it, and still keep using @mac or @me?
Or, Will i lose use of my @mac address if i accept an @icloud address?
Can we get a definite commitment from Apple on this?
Thanks,
Nate

Your @mac address should continue to function whether you use @icloud or not.

How to change mac address on wrt54g router

How to change mac address on wrt54g router?

are u sure u wanna change the MAC of the WRT54G ? it's not possible....you can however clone the MAC address of your PC onto the router...depending on your ISP.

Set up MAC Address Filtering on WRT54G - now nothing connects

I set up MAC address filtering on the wireless router. Added 5 MAC addresses to the PERMITTED list, by selecting them from the available devices. Saved the changes. Now, none of the machines can connect to the access point. That includes the PC I use to log in and administer the access point. I connected the network cable directly to my PC to manage the router/access point. Still not able to connect. What happened? How do I get back in and turn that nonsense off. I know MAC Filtering is questionable wrt effectiveness, but I decide to try it.
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Reset the router back to defaults. Reconfigure it from scratch.

Request for info regarding MAC address population in computer objects

Hi,
I am trying to determine how MAC address information is populated in computer objects. I had assumed initially that the hardware scan would be used, but observation shows this information
to be obtained prior to any hardware inventory.
I have laptops that are primarily connected via VPN, and before long their objects lose the internal network interface's MAC address. When I try to rebuild them, they fail to PXE boot. I have
found that importing a CSV of host / MAC / SMBIOD GUID will update the object (rather than having to delete and recreate it) which works temporarily. The MAC will eventually disappear, and the device fail to PXE boot.
I have thousands of these devices to manage, and it is already difficult enough having a CAS and two primaries (the windows Deployment Service on a DP only cares about devices in the DPs primary
site, and so devices that move site are a real pain already, try finding that anywhere in the OSD reference documents!)
I'm assuming now that this information is pulled from the actual client-server connection, and therefore is dynamic(ish), like IP information. If this is the case, more detail around that process,
where to find evidence of that process occurring would be very useful.

The MAC is updated by hardware inventory and heartbeat discovery.
Torsten Meringer | http://www.mssccmfaq.de

Changing MAC Address

Recently i have been trying to change my Router's MAC Address. I have a WRT54g v.3. I have done it before where i had unplugged the internet cable going from the wall to the modem. I saw the change on the 192.168.1.1 status page. And i noticed with a proxy and the new changed MAC address i was able to get into gaming servers i hadn't been able to before because my IP was banned.
Now when i try to change my MAC address, it doesn't seem to change on the router stautus page like it did once before. I'm sure that it's possible to concel my identity of my old IP and get a new IP (through a proxy), many people do this for security reasons so i'm hoping linksys products can offer some kind of security by doing this.
btw, sorry about the name, if it's possible can it be changed to Joe. Thanks guys.

Your MAC is "stuck" to that router, you need to spoof it. Google it.

Hyper-V Static MAC Address Best Practice

Hi guys,
Looking for some advice please..
We have several VM's running within a 6 node cluster that run an application which keeps losing it's license whenever the LAN MAC changes i.e. when the VM moves to a new node.
The obvious solution is to set these VM's with a STATIC MAC address however I have a few questions.
1. Is there a 'private' range I can use to ensure that we never see any conflicts?
2. What's the best way to implement this change? simply power off each machine and manually edit the settings or can I use SCVMM?
3. Will the VM's lose there current network card settings? static ip etc?
4. Will VM's set with a static MAC still fail over to other nodes?
Many thanks for your help
Robbie

For an answer you're much better off posting in the Hyper-V forum here:
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winserverhyperv/threads
This forum is for Virtual Server 2005, no similarities to Hyper-V.

[SOLVED] Connect to an AP by MAC address & Change NM behavior

Hello guys,
Here is my situation: I'm currently connected to the Internet through public hotspots. The problem is that sometimes I can get a connection at the first try and sometimes I have to try for half an hour. Eventually I found out that it's because a lot of hotspots (14) in my vicinity have exactly the same SSID (i.e FreeWifi because they are all public hotspots activated by an ISP on its customers' boxes) but since a couple of them are closer (and thus have a stronger signal), I'd like to connect to these ones only.
So first question, is there any way to connect to an access point by specifying its MAC address rather than its SSID? I've taken a look at wpa_supplicant.conf man page, but didn't find anything about MAC addresses.
A workaround would consisit in blacklisting the AP MAC addresses I don't want to connect to (networlkmanager.conf man page) but maybe there is a more straightforward way of doing it...
Then I have another problem which is somehow related to first one. Within the 14 access points with the same SSID, only 2 of them seem to be working fine for me. So I'm usually connect to either one of these 2 access points. The problem is Networkmanager often switch from one to the other and everytime it happens, I lose my connection since I have to re-identify myself. I guess it might be because the signal strength is fluctuating and that Networkmanager automatically switch to another known access point with a stronger signal (and in this case there should be a thresold configured somewhere).
Is my guess right? In this case, is there any way to inhibit this behavior?
Once again, I could do the same as suggested earlier (i.e blacklist the MAC address of one of the 2 acess points) but once again there may be a more elegant way.
Thanks for your help!
Last edited by sclarckone (2012-03-13 08:24:19)

Have a look at the "BSSID" field in your networkmanager configuration for the hotspot. You can configure the mac from the applet. Alternatively, have a read at the option "ap" and managed mode of iwconfig.

MAC Address Filtering and SPI set up

Hi,
I just purchased a WRT54GS V 6 wireless router. I updated the firmware to the latest (May 30) and the set up seems to be OK. Using the security recommendations in the manual as a guide, I implemented them - the turn off SSID, and the others.
IF I try to filter the MAC addresses (accept only those on the list) for my wife's Sony VAIO VGN - S260 laptop, it can see the network but will not connect. When I turn off the MAC filtering, it is fine. I used the WPA2 personal encryption, and input the passphrase into both router and computer.
My other issue is the firewall Statefull Packet Inspection (SPI). On the Security set up screen, firewall tab - I have the four radio button settings that I am supposed to (Block WAN request, filter Multicast, Filter NAT, & Filter IDENT), however, I do NOT have the option to turn on the firewall (SPI) above the 4 radio buttons - that setting is totally missing from the set up screen. Reference Page 28 of the manual.
I would appreciate any help or suggestions, as I could not find any ideas searching the forum. Thanks for your help

you can try and change a few wireless settings ....in the routers wireless section....go to the advanced wireless settings.....here you can reduce the beacon interval to 50...also reduce the RTS and Fragmentation by 40 each.....

Mac address book blank after MS Office update

After using the stupid MS Office Updater on prompt, I find that all my contacts are missing from my Mac Address Book! I didn't even install Outlook but the stupid Updater did. My contacts aren't there though and sync is off.
I tried restoring the Address Book folder in the Library/Application support from Time Machine. Nothing.
I tried deleting the AddressBook-v22.abcddb file. Still nothing.
I tried deleting com.apple.AddressBook.plist. Nope. And the other prefs file, too.
I've tried these things several times, different sequence, restarting, yadayada.
I've been troubleshooting my own Mac's since the MacPlus and never been so stumped! I hate M$!
Ran this in terminal:
ls -aleO Library/Application Support/AddressBook
ls: Library/Application: No such file or directory
ls: Support/AddressBook: No such file or directory
leslie-wintners-MacBook-Pro:~ leia$
(No such file or directory?!!!!)
I will appreciate some expert advice and direction here. Thanks!
OS 10.6.8 MacBook Pro

Hi sig, Thanks for the reply.
My Address Book was fine before installing this update. The earliest TM I have? And lose all the work I've done on this machine?
I've seen reports that other people had their contacts moved from Address Book to Outlook after this update. So, it seems very likely. Either it's the Update or the PowerPoint I opened that prompted me to update had a virus!
Since I posted, I went to the Genuis Bar, where I surprisingly got lectured about recovery is not what they do, and they could spend only 15 minutes with a customer, spending most of the time on the lecture, ultimately refering me to an expert. He found corruption on my HD and told me to wipe the drive and restore from backup. Ughh.
However, I reran DU and repaired the disk, tested the hardware even. DU reports the disk is ok now.
Yet, no Address Book.
Before I resort to wiping, I'm wondering if I could detect if I had a received a rare Mac virus...

WRT610N: Cannot enter MAC address in MAC address filter list

My WRT610N cannot accept a very specific MAC address in any position of the MAC address filter list. It is a valid address and it was working fine in the filter list of my WRT54G but the 610N will just not take that specific address! What is this all about?
Solved!
Go to Solution.

gv wrote:
There is nothing like a "non-critial setup". It's enough to drive by with a car and within a few minutes your network is hacked. Or it's the bored teenager next door...
I recommend to replace the WEP only device instead of taking the risk of a hacked network.
And just forget about the wireless mac address filter. Anyone, who wants to crack your WEP network will collect enough accepted MAC addresses during the cracking process. It's just not worth the trouble to set up the filter and keep the list current...
Thanks for the diligent follow-up gv but I can't replace the WEP-only device for now. (I need to go through a conversion process for that device to accept WAP and that will take a fair amount of time) I understand your point about getting accepted MAC addresses but, at least, it requires a bit more effort... Maybe I will return the WRT610 and stick with my old WRT54 until the 610 gets fixed...

Specifying MAC addresses in a wireless network

In order to keep the neighborhood riffraff from sniping my wireless internet access, I'm setting my wireless router (Linksys WRT54G) to allow only the specific MAC/Ethernet IDs of the wireless computers/iPhones/etc. in my household.
I use Airport Express to extend my wireless network, but I already have it set to the specific MAC address for my router. Do I need to add the Airport's WAN ID to the list as well?

Thanks for the reply! Actually, I already use the 128 Hex WEP password method, yet it still seems like my signal regularly experiences slowdowns at non-peak times. I have to unplug the power from the Linksys router and the cable modem every few days for about a minute or so. Is it possible for someone to snipe the wireless internet access even with the 128 hex WEP? does the router make a distinction between wireless network access (that is, access between all the Macs in my house) and wireless internet access?
You may be right- I may be making things too difficult. Honestly though, I seldom have anyone bring their computers into our house to connect to my wireless network.

WRT54G loses AP MAC address

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