Two iHubs suddenly have same mac address

[urrout]

I have two iHubs that have worked fine for years. Recently I have had freezing. While checking things out, I discovered both my iHubs had the same ip address and also have the same mac address according to my router. I can only use one receiver at a time while the other receiver's iHub must be disconnected to stop the freezing.

I have an Asus RT-N66U, SV800 and SV-360 Elite. I know what the mac address of both should be but I don't know which iHub changed. How did one of the mac addresses change and how do I fix it?

[Sp0iler]

What does the Wiz program say they are ?
Does it also report them as being the same ?
The Mac address is factory set and in no way was it changed by your box or anything else we do.
If both have the same IP, you can expect freezing.

[urrout]

Wiz only finds one when both are connected. Individually it finds each and same mac address is shown for each. Having the same ip on both receivers is the reason I noticed a problem and checked the router and wiz. I had just thought the freezing was from the P$. I have been able to set a different ip on both which is confirmed by the router and wiz but freezing persists and still shows same mac address.

[Sp0iler]

The Mac addy is set for security purposes and as far as the box is concerned it passed. You do see the "Adapter connected" message ? Right ?
The ip controls part of the data flow and if you have separate ip's your data should flow where it's supposed to.
Interesting issue you have going there.
Open a dos window and type "Ipconfig/all" and hit enter.
What does dos show for your dongles ?

Added: Have you tried doing a "Network reset" from the box menu ?

[urrout]

No I haven't done a network reset, trying to avoid that. Each receiver has different donations.

Ipconfig/all - I don't know how to read all that but the iHub mac address does not appear anywhere.

I can only get 2 ips if I set the receivers to static and theses ips will show the same mac address in the router. This morning I removed the static ips and only 1 mac address and 1 ip is showing up in the router. Both iHubs are working with some freezing. The freezing usually gets worse as the day goes on.

[Sp0iler]

Lol. I know, the reset can be a pain but re entering the info really is easy.

Static and Dhcp....
In the simplest of terms... When you set to Dhcp, you are letting the router assign all ips and maintain your network for you.
When your set to Static, you assign all your own ips and maintain your own network.
For most users, Dhcp is the only setting they need to be on.
Set to Dhcp and reboot all starting with the modem/router. Wait for the router to fully boot and then start the boxes one at a time.

Remember, past the security check, your mac has little to do with your connection to the server.
Once your connected, your mac has done it's part.

Open another dos window and type "ping **.**.**.*" and hit enter. Replace the stars (*) with the ip your connecting to.
Check your connection speeds over the day and see how you do.

[urrout]

Sorry had unexpected company. Thanks for trying to help.

I have reset everything including the router. If I leave the iHubs on dhcp, they both get the same ip and only one shows up in the router with wiz... for hostname. I can set them to static with different ips but doesn't change the mac addresses. Still the same for both iHubs, one will have wiz... for hostname, the other will be blank in the router.

Both will work no matter how each is set up but with freezing.

Pinging the ihub when they are the same ip passes ok.
Pinging each ihub when at least one is set to static, both pass.

Both ihubs show the "Adapter connected" message. Both can have picture at the same time. One does not go blank while the other has picture and vise versa.

I have 2 working ihubs that cannot be used in my house together.

[jvvh5897]

As I recall the box can query the hub for MAC addr and set it too. Didn't play with the program to talk with hub, but seem to recall a spot where you could set the device's MAC from posts I read.

[Sp0iler]

Nope.No such file or location to change the Mac.
There is a how to out there about how to get your Mac addy back but have never heard of a single person it worked for.
Perhaps loading the "Nochk" file might be an option.

[jvvh5897]

The no check mod just changed the code to bypass the returned, decoded des3 info from the hub. Did noththing with the MAC. If the hubs are real sv hubs then they have the des3 decoder chip to do the decode and will not need the bypass.

[jvvh5897]

Ah, I looked at the wiz user pdf for the 110 and it says that there is a read MAC serial command "RA" and for most commands there is a similar write command so I suspect there is a "WA" command to set the MAC (just about has to be one). The main chip has a EEPROM and that seems to be where commands like "WI" to write the IP addr get info stored. So, I'm guessing that you can set the MAC if you do a little playing.

[Sp0iler]

Yup... I don't doubt that's true.
It's just way more than most here would do and again, not something the average user has seen before with SV.
We would need someone like you with the coding experience to lead the way.
:)

[urrout]

They are the real original iHubs and have worked perfectly for years until the last couple of months.

Well I borrowed another router and it shows them both with the same mac address too I guess I am out of luck. Thanks for trying to help.

[future]

Just something came to my mind and wanted to post it here related to your issue, how does the internet comes to your house is it to a modem and then a kat5 from the modem to your router and then to each ihub or is it directly to a combo modem router and then from this combo two different kat5 to each ihub?

[urrout]

Satellite internet here. Modem to router to ihubs.

[jvvh5897]

Yup... I don't doubt that's true.
It's just way more than most here would do and again, not something the average user has seen before with SV.
We would need someone like you with the coding experience to lead the way.
:)

My guess is that the two hubs got a command to go to default settings and that changed the MAC too. I would say that all you need is a terminal program like RealTerm and plugin the hub to a PC serial port. Send the hub commands like those seen in the captures posted in the advanced section on emulating the hub. Once you know that you can talk to the hub with that, try reading the MAC and then sending command WA with the MAC you want. If you can't get RealTerm to talk to the hub, try modding the posted serial routine in the sv hub emu thread to talk to the hub rather than to the box, but I bet RealTerm will let you do the job required.

I'm actually surprised that you can't just double click on the MAC in the wiz setup program and set it to what you want. Sounds like something the factory would have to have the ability to do.

[Sp0iler]

C/P From the Wiznet programming guide:

The total length of the response message is 153 Bytes (includes command), and each
field is introduced as follows.
#1- MAC address (6 Bytes)
"This field is read only."

End C/P
And it goes on from there with the rest of the programming instructions.
I can send commands with hyper terminal or the Wiz device terminal.The serial port is pretty easy to get into to.
I just don't see a place where I'm able to mod the Mac.
I've always just left it that it was factory set and I never really tried to hard to mod it.
Might play a bit with it again this weekend.
As always, your input is invaluable.
Thanks.

[jvvh5897]

the user manual doesn't get into the sv specific command set or the "D" series that lets you load the flash in the hub. That is why I'm guessing that there are other commands in there to use. I have disassembled one of the sv hub programs that you load to the hub, and it is pretty easy to see the first letter of the commands, but not as obvious where the second letter plays a role, or what the EEPROM addresses might have in them. But that disassembly might be a place to look for other ways to tackle the problem.

[urrout]

Thanks again it will have to wait until after Xmas now because I really don't know too much about this stuff and will need time without distractions. Merry Christmas!