Need help with uni networking - MAC Address.

[brisk]

Yo all

Im currently at univeristy and i want to be able to use the internet my laptop and go on xbox live at the same time. In order to get online with xbox live i have to make my mac address of my 360 the same as my laptop.

I thought id try to change the MAC address of my laptop so i could just buy a switch and then solve my problem, but firstly i changed the mac address of my laptop and it kinda screwed up. BY this i mean when i booted up it took me to a log in screen which doesn't happen and then it asks me log in, so i do and it says that it cant find my pc on the network or something like that, cant really remember. So i just booted from last good known configuration to fix the problem.

So i wondered if anyone could tell me any other ways round or just give me a guide to changing my MAC address on my the laptop so it won't mess up.

Thank you for your time

 

[thehelo]

you wont be able to have them both on the network at the same time if that is what you are looking to do. 2 devices on the same network with the same mac address wont work. At my college i have to use ICS from my computer to my xbox 360 to get it to work seeing as you only get 1 IP and you cant use a router.


anyways to change your mac address on your laptop, check out
http://www.irongeek.com/i.php?page=security/changemac

 

[brisk]

you wont be able to have them both on the network at the same time if that is what you are looking to do. 2 devices on the same network with the same mac address wont work. At my college i have to use ICS from my computer to my xbox 360 to get it to work seeing as you only get 1 IP and you cant use a router.


anyways to change your mac address on your laptop, check out
http://www.irongeek.com/i.php?page=security/changemac

ya my lappy only has 1 network card ;p

 

[brisk]

This is what happened when i changed it in the registry

"Note: Changing the MAC address to a random address may cause the adapter not to bind correctly and prompt the card to become unresponsive to the network. "

How can i make sure that it doesn't mess up?

 

[Ijack]

How can i make sure that it doesn't mess up?

As thehelo says, just don't do it. Using the same MAC address for two devices on the same network won't work. Similarly you can't use the same IP address for two different devices, the same SMB name, whatever.

It's like giving two houses in the same street the same number - the postman just doesn't know which house to deliver the letters to.

 

[antiacid]

The (expensive) solution here is to buy a router and connect your laptop and your xbox on it.

The (free) alternative is to connect one device at the time.

The (probably illegal) alternative is to find an unsecured wireless AP and use that to connect your laptop while your xbox is on the wired port that you pay for. Usually isn't hard to do in a dorm