Does comcast bind the MAC address to the first thing it sees when the service is snabled? I bought a new router and I had to clone the MAC addy from the NIC I first used two years ago. Is that normal, or is it just a cooincidence?
It's normal if you forgot to power cycle your cable modem.
I tried that, and still couldn't get an IP.
Ok, second try.
No, but the modem binds to the first MAC address it sees after a reboot.
No, you didn't have to.
It's not normal. What should happen is that you've turned off the modem, old router, and PC. You swap out the old router for the new one. You turn on the modem and wait for it to stabilize. You turn on the new router and wait for it to stabilize. You turn on the PC and you're ready to go. I can't tell from your description if you've skipped any of those steps.
On the other hand, cloning your old MAC isn't such a bad thing, either, as long as the old NIC that it really belongs to is not being used anymore. Is there a reason why you want to avoid cloning?
That's exactly what I did.
Its just luck that I strill have this board with this particular NIC in it. If I didn't have it anymore I would be shit outa luck.
Did you "turn off" the modem or remove power from it for about 30 seconds?
No, If all else were to fail, you could just call Comcast and tell them that you've changed computers ant that the modem doesn't recognize the replacement. If the modem is enabled from a central database, they will ask you for the MAC address of the replacement and "push" a new configuration out to your modem.
I would assume you could get to a command line prompt, have your dhcp client release your DHCP lease, Power down equipment long enough to have the cable modem loose all it's settings, power up with new nic.
It might be different in PA, but here in Texas, I moved ethernet cable to new nic and after powerup, I got a new Comcast ip address. Power down, swap cable back to original nic, powerup gets old ip address.
Yes, but that would mean actually talking to those subhuman drones that pretend to be tech support. They'll have me do all sorts of stuff; such as turn off TVs, move the cable modem so it aligns with a certain constellation of their choice, say ancient Hebrew chants, something involving a Tipetan monk, and/or other assorted useless crap.
Yeah, I realize that's how its supposed to work; but for whatever reason it didn't with me. I powered everything down, took a crap, mase a sandwich and powered it all back on - no IP.
While I've been told here it shouldn't work this way, I've had to power cable modems off from 10 to 30 minutes at times to get them to "forget" a MAC address. I'm guessing they store this setting back at a head end or maybe back at an op center and poll the modems every so often and don't forget all stored MAC settings unless this poll notices the modem is off.
Does your modem have a battery backup (internal?) that prevents it from powering down when you pull the plug? Does it have a Reset button the back?
It does have a reset button on the back. I am not aware of any battery, its a Linksys.
Of course now I have another problem... I loose my IP after a few minutes - this just started. Maybe its just a fluke.
My experience with them has been very good. I just bought a cable modem--not realizing I was renting. Maybe five minutes on the phone and I was done. My "flavor" of Comcast used to be AT&T and at that time the service was lousy. Just built a house and the guy from Comcast that wired the house put in a couple of amplifiers at no charge. Funny how the same company can be so different.
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