Network Bridging & MAC Address Filtering Help?

Tech-Archive recommends: Repair Windows Errors & Optimize Windows Performance

From: Kevin Jarrett (kevin_jarrett_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 04/03/04 

Date: 3 Apr 2004 13:39:47 -0800

[Please do not reply via email to kevin_jarrett@hotmail.com, that
address is invalid. To reach me via email replace hotmail with yahoo.
Thanks.]

I have been researching this issue for a while in several NGs and have
not been able to find an answer ... so I am posting here.

Background: Desktop PC (XP Pro) connected via RJ45 to a LAN port on a
DLink DI-624 wireless router. Laptop PC (XP Pro) is connected
wirelessly via a DLink DWL-G650 PCMCIA card. Router and wireless NIC
are a week old. Latest firmware is on the router. Comcast cable
Internet is provided via a Motorola cable modem. Laptop also has a
built-in Ethernet adapter (currently not in use though I don't wish to
disable or remove it). I *DO* have Internet on both systems. I also
*DO* have access to a file share (folder) on the desktop, as well as
the desktop's printer. Speed is great. No problems. I am also running
ZoneAlarm Pro (latest build) and XP's Internet Connection Firewall is
disabled. Again, no problems.

My issue is that I wish to enable MAC Address Filtering. When I do so,
via the DLink configuration utility, the laptop is proptly
disconnected from the LAN (the green bars go white). I understand this
is because the MAC address for the BRIDGE (MAC Bridge Miniport) is
what is being used in the DLink configuration screen. The MAC address
for the wireless card itself is nowhere to be seen, and therefore the
filter shuts the system out.

When I first installed the router, I could not get any connectivity on
the laptop (Internet or LAN) via wireless (the network cable was
obviously disconnected). So I ran the XP Network Setup Wizard on the
laptop. It created the network bridge and everything started working.
I did have some issues with XP managing the wireless connections - the
DLink configuration utility in the system tray would not load - so I
deselected that and now that utility loads fine.

I decided to explore MAC address filtering because it sounded like a
good idea. Research indicated that I had a problem with the "MAC
Bridge Miniport" forcing its MAC address onto the router, which was
causing the filter to lock the laptop out. I learned that the bridge
was connected to the Local Area Connection in my Network Connections
folder. I read that I might try right-clicking this connection and
selecting "Remove from Bridge." Doing so made a difference in my
IPCONFIG results but the G650's MAC address is still not showing up in
the router configuration screen. Here is my output from IPCONFIG /ALL
as of now:

C:\TEMP>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

        Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : laptop
        Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
        Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
        IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
        WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

        Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : 3Com 10/100 MiniPCI
Ethernet Adapter
        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : [deleted, I'd rather not
post]

Ethernet adapter Network Bridge:

        Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : plsntvle21.nj.comcast
        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : MAC Bridge Miniport
        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : [deleted, I'd rather not
post]
        Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
        Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
        IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.102
        Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
        Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
        DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
        DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 68.46.144.6
        Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Saturday, April 03, 2004
12:01:40 PM
        Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Saturday, April 10, 2004
12:01:40 PM

So what do I have to do to get MAC address filtering to work?

I need the bridge to get from my wireless laptop to my wired LAN,
right?

How should it be configured?

Sorry for the length of this post, I hope I have provided enough info.

Thanks, kj

KJ99GT wireless

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Two Netgear WGT624 models will not communicate
    ... dramatically increase the leve of complexity of wireless. ... Security in a WDS network is marginal. ... the WAP54G wireless bridge has a similar problem. ... As I see it, the MAC address in the configuration is ...
    (alt.internet.wireless)
  • Re: WEP unsafe, shock horror
    ... When a WEP-encrypted wireless network has been cracked, ... Internet connection (as it will do in the usual case of a ... MAC address filtering is really useless - the MAC addresses of ...
    (uk.legal)
  • Re: weird weird weird Linksys router
    ... Normally, when this happens, resetting the modem and router ... That fixed it (and my connection was way zippier than normal); ... including cloning its MAC Address to the same as my G4's MAC ... In my case it loses wireless connectivity ...
    (comp.sys.mac.comm)
  • Re: Two Netgear WGT624 models will not communicate
    ... Translate what to the IP layer? ... | dramatically increase the leve of complexity of wireless. ... old 802.11b nameless bridge to work with the WGT624, ... passing on the MAC addresses (cheap nameless bridge might have a limit ...
    (alt.internet.wireless)
  • Re: Stupid networking question!!
    ... The WEP password is definitely correct. ... MAC address filtering is usually only configurable for wireless ... Before you start to debug the wireless connection, ...
    (uk.comp.sys.mac)