Mystery PC showing up in Shared tab on Sidebar

Question

Mystery PC showing up in Shared tab on Sidebar

I know people have talked about this before, but I can't seem to find those threads -- anyway, suddenly I see a PC on my network called: brn_32ac56 - that's not a MAC address, so I don't know how to track it down. Any idea what I can do? Has someone hacked into my network? I went to my LinkSys router Active IP table and nothing odd seems to be there... How do I track this PC down?

Thanks in advance, Don

Message was edited by: Don O. Knowlton

G5 Quad 2.5 GHz, MacBook, G4 iMac and a 512K Macintosh in the closet..., Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Jan 4, 2009 9:41 AM

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Answer 1

Jan 4, 2009 9:47 AM in response to Don O. Knowlton

I just noticed that I have the same thing (mine is brw13b150). I thought it was just my wireless Brother printer/scanner/fax, but apparently not because it doesn't go away when I shut off the printer.

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Answer 2

Jan 4, 2009 9:58 AM in response to Craig Baron

Craig,

Have you tried turning the printer off, then restarting your Finder?

Scott

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Answer 3

Jan 4, 2009 10:05 AM in response to Scott Radloff

I just tried, it's still there even after I restarted the finder with the printer off (and unplugged). When I tried to connect to the "server," I got the following:

Connection failed

The server may not exist or it is not operational at this time. Check the server name or IP address and your network connection and try again.

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Answer 4

Jan 4, 2009 10:21 AM in response to Craig Baron

Craig,

Well, I was assuming that the "brw" sequence in the name of the server might mean "Brother Wireless." Just to be clear; you actually restarted the Finder by pressing Command-Option-Esc and choosing "Restart Finder," not by simply closing all Finder windows (which doesn't actually restart the Finder), correct?

Are you running Windows in a virtual machine? This is another common cause for the appearance of a "mystery" PC server.

Scott

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Answer 5

Jan 4, 2009 10:29 AM in response to Scott Radloff

That's what I was assuming too (brw standing for brother).

Yes, I did a finder restart from the forced quit menu after shutting off and unplugging the printer power cord. I don't have any version of widows running on this computer (MacBook Pro) or anyplace on my network. Also, this "server" shows up on my other 10.5.6 desktop machine.

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Answer 6

Jan 4, 2009 11:47 AM in response to Craig Baron

Craig,

Well, I think that we can rule out just all possibilities except for that printer. Never mind that it doesn't seem to go away when the device is off; perhaps this has something to do with some persistency with your router.

Scott

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Answer 7

Jan 4, 2009 12:15 PM in response to Scott Radloff

Hello - how about this - I am getting the mystery "brn_32ac56" and I have a very old Brother networked Laser Printer. brn = brother networked? But I have NEVER seen this before and I have had the printer for years and have not changed the network configuration. I turn off the printer (restart Finder, etc) and it's still there.

Is it possible to ping brn_32ac56? or whosit or something?

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Answer 8

Jan 4, 2009 1:01 PM in response to Scott Radloff

That's possible, I never noticed it before the printer was added to the network. It's not really a problem, I was just curious.

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Answer 9

Jan 4, 2009 1:04 PM in response to Don O. Knowlton

Maybe it's a combination of the brother printer and 10.5.6 that's making it appear now. It seems harmless, but strange. I don't know of a good way of pinging it for ID.

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Answer 10

j.v.

Level 5

4,155 points

Jan 4, 2009 2:18 PM in response to Don O. Knowlton

Don't Linksys routers have a config webpage that lists all devices attached to the (W)LAN? And can't you look up "details" on a specific device, to see things like 192.168.1.x IP address, MAC address, etc.? If so, look at the details of your printer. I would be surprised if the last portion of its MAC address was not :32:ac:56. (and for Craig, :13:b1:50)

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Answer 11

Jan 4, 2009 2:27 PM in response to j.v.

Sure enough, I checked the MAC address of my brother printer and it ends in 13:B1:50. The mystery PC server was identified as brw13b150. So, I guess that mystery is solved (at least for me).

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Answer 12

Jan 4, 2009 3:08 PM in response to Craig Baron

Yep - sure enough here, too. That was my old Brother. Maybe it was 10.5.6, but I swear this came up right before that update. Like on the 15th. Anyway, relieved that I have no PC's lurking about. Thanks!

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Answer 13

miguy2k

Level 1

2 points

Feb 9, 2009 2:26 PM in response to Don O. Knowlton

I just installed my new Brother DCP-585CW yesterday and now I'm getting a brn008077... network device too. It's not that I'm scared or something but... does anyone know of a way to get rid of that finder entry? I mean it's not as if that item would be any useful or something :-/

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Answer 14

Apr 9, 2009 2:58 PM in response to miguy2k

Since the Mac is only reporting what it's seeing, my guess is that you would have to change a setting on the Brother. What that would be, I have no idea. Weird thing is, I swear these networked printers seem to come and go. It's not always there - maybe that's just powersave mode... anyway, anoying clutter is what I say.

-- Don

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