Wifi Mac address change

jockyw2001 · Post by **jockyw2001** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 6:43 pm

How easy/difficult is it to change the Wifi Mac address ?
And can it be done without reflashing in an emulated devhooked firmware?

harleyg · Post by **harleyg** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 8:33 pm

The mac address is in the idstorage, right now it is impossible to change without a very high chance of bricking. (UPs will not help as they cannot restore the idstorage)

jockyw2001 · Post by **jockyw2001** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 9:25 pm

Can emulated firmware be patched so that it takes the idstorage area from somewhere else, like ram or so?

accepttheownage · Post by **accepttheownage** » Fri Nov 03, 2006 10:32 pm

I would hook the function responsible for retrieving the MAC address, then just have that return whatever you want it to.

adrahil · Post by **adrahil** » Sat Nov 04, 2006 7:26 pm

The mac address is in the idstorage, right now it is impossible to change without a very high chance of bricking. (UPs will not help as they cannot restore the idstorage)

Yes and no :) It would be trivial to change it, but there is one thing which may be a problem: checksums... If there are checksums, changing the MAC will lead to a brick. If there is no checksum, MAC can be easily changed with a "get, change, set" of the idstorage area...

Can emulated firmware be patched so that it takes the idstorage area from somewhere else, like ram or so?

Yes, of course, but hardware still takes the idstorage from the NAND :)

I would hook the function responsible for retrieving the MAC address, then just have that return whatever you want it to.

Won't work as he wants to change the MAC address hardware-wise... Hooking won't do anything....

Personally I'd recommend not to even TOUCH to idstorage, unless you have a multi firmware module like 0okm...

harleyg · Post by **harleyg** » Sat Nov 04, 2006 7:51 pm

Yes and no :) It would be trivial to change it, but there is one thing which may be a problem: checksums... If there are checksums, changing the MAC will lead to a brick. If there is no checksum, MAC can be easily changed with a "get, change, set" of the idstorage area...

Yes and yes...
I do not have to go into detail to get the message across... do not touch idstorage! :)

accepttheownage · Post by **accepttheownage** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 4:08 pm

adrahil wrote: Won't work as he wants to change the MAC address hardware-wise... Hooking won't do anything....

Personally I'd recommend not to even TOUCH to idstorage, unless you have a multi firmware module like 0okm...

So hooking the function would simply make the firmware think that the MAC id is different (for example, it would be different when you go to the system settings), but the hardware will still access the idstorage directly? Well, it was worth a try =]

jockyw2001 · Post by **jockyw2001** » Mon Nov 06, 2006 9:11 pm

Thx for your replies guys. It's a pity that it can't be done atm. I had in mind to connect the psp to hotspots for which I have free access with another device ...

Charles · Post by **Charles** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 1:51 pm

I changed my wifi board out a few months ago, the old MAC is still in place, in the PSP menu, and when I query the "connected devices" in my router's setup screen.

I guess they didnt make provisions for people making repairs to these things.

If I had shipped my unit to the factory for repairs, would they have sent me a new PSP, or replaced the WIFI module? And if they replace the module, surely they have a method of updating the MAC address. Am I in violation of some FCC rule by having a device that broadcasts a MAC address different than the one stamped on the board? (Not that I really care)

The replacement module was clearly of better construction/quality than the one I removed. I recall that 5ony "fired" one of it's suppliers. My motherboard is a TA-079 I think.

harleyg · Post by **harleyg** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 5:40 am

Sure, the MAC address is on the wifi card... but it is still stored in the idstorage. Changing the wifi card shouldn't and wouldn't change it.

Ody nOOb · Post by **Ody nOOb** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 5:31 am

Jocky, I guess you're officially registered with those hot spots ?
But they can't manually add your PSP's mac adress to the accepted devices ?

Could you do it the other way round ?

Especially if the other device is a PC, you could forge it's mac adress to the PSP's one, have it register with the hot spot (under the PSP's mac adress) and then use your PSP ?

PS: Are you still working on pmp vlc ?
Can we hope to see a new release soon ? :D