Re: About Mac Address

Rycon <Rycon.2u99ci@no-mx.wirelessforums.org> hath wroth:

>My landlord wont fix the internet because she is too lazy, so in effort
>to hurry the process, i changed the Mac Address on the router by 1
>digit for just a little while. And before you say, HEY THATS NOT RIGHT,
>let me quickly fill you in.

Hey, that's not right.

>The internet blips incoming data every 10 mins or so, for only about
>30-60 seconds, sometimes alot longer, its incredibly anoying, but she
>doesnt care because she will just wait till it comes back on.

The internet does not "blip". Perhaps the DSL or cable modem
connection is disappearing for a while? Perhaps it's not installed
correctly (usually lack of microfilters). Perhaps it's a satellite
connection with it's own collection of problems. In other words,
you're playing with the problem at the wrong end of the system.

Incidentally, my own DSL connection was doing something like that last
weekend. I was pounding on the keyboard, furiously trying to diagnose
the problem. After an evening of frustration, I found that my big
feet were rolling over the telephone cable winding around the floor
and that I had shredded the connectors and cable. Ooops. Suggestion:
walk through the wiring, starting at the ISP end, and see what you
find.

>So anyway i forgot about it for a day accidently and when i came back,
>it was working again with that mac address. I havent asked her if she
>has called, but my question is, did she possibly call and the ISP just
>re-registered the new mac address, or what could have happened?

Very few ISP's "register" or "authenticate" their customers by the MAC
address any more. Your IP address shows that you're on Mindspring
Cable in N.C. Is this correct? Check the Mindspring web pile and see
if they authenticate by MAC addresses. I couldn't find anything
specific so you might have to call them.

>In any
>case the problem is not fixed, I am conviced that we are on a bad port
>with the ISP but ive gone through this and its incredibly painfull to
>make them check the port we are on, anybody have any tips to convince
>them its there side?

Nope. I fix such things by substitution. That will require the
landlords cooperation, which is beyond my limited abilities. If by
some strange coincidence, you're connected to your unspecified router,
via an unspecified cable modem, via wireless, you have a different and
more probable subset of problems to solve. A description of what
you're working with would have been useful.

>I am in the IT field, but of course they want me to check to see if the
>power switch is on before they will do anything... retards.

Sorry, but methinks not. Anyone in IT would have specified the
hardware involved by maker, model, number, and possibly firmware. If
this is an example of the way you expect your users to describe their
problems, methinks you will have difficulties. You also failed to
find the appropriate newsgroup for your question. Your question
apparently has nothing to do with wireless.

>Also, does anybody know any good logging programs for internet
>activity, I want to log when the internet blips to see a pattern.

Yes, there are lots of good logging programs. The only problem is
what are you trying to log (traffic, errors, connectivity, URL's,
passwords, etc) and on what devices (router, modem, switch, computah,
etc)? In general, there are three types:
SNMP based (MRTG, PRTG, RRDTool)
Syslog based
Traffic sniffers (Ethereal, Wireshark)
As soon as you discover what equipment you have to work with, what
you're monitoring, what you're looking for, what output you expect,
and what device is going to do the monitoring, I can offer a suitable
recommendation.
--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558