[Tfug] HP/nForce MAC address set incorrectly

[Adrian]

On Thursday 19 October 2006 13:16, Rich Smit wrote:
[snip]
> > and have a way to actually write at programming voltage levels, which 
probably
> > wasn;t built onto the actaul circuit board...
> It is -- nForce allows it on Window$. I seem to recall more Linux 
> drivers allowing this than Windows$ drivers.
> 

Well... changing the MAC when you have the OS running is no problem. It is 
easy in Linux, varies on Windows depending on the driver. But that doesn't 
change the hardcoded value the system boots with, poweroff and the change is 
gone.

Most/nearly all standalone network chips use a serial EEPROM with ~100-200 
bytes of configuration data to initialize the chip, things like what IO lines 
are connected to what functions, default bus speed/address, etc., and the 
default MAC address. This isn;t stored in the system BIOS. I am not familiar 
with the nForce integrated chips, I suppose since it is essentually a 
north/southbridge they they might store it in a different location, perhaps 
the BIOS or even integrated into the nForce chip itself. Typically, in 
standalone chips, the programming is done either in a socket before chip 
placement or with a pin-cushion programming fixture after assembly.

Adrian