Add MAC Address to Time Capsule?

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Level 1

9 points

Add MAC Address to Time Capsule?

Hey everybody--

I have a MacBook Pro that connects to the Internet via a Time Capsule that is hooked up to a cable modem. I recently bought a Blu-Ray player that has a LAN port (no wireless), but it is miles away from the Time Capsule.

I would like to share my MacBook Pro's wireless Internet connection by connecting an ethernet cable between the Blu-Ray player and the MacBook Pro. I turned on Internet Sharing and selected share Airport with computers using ethernet. I tested it out by seeing if my wife's MacBook could share the connection and it worked like a charm. (I turned off her Airport card and her computer accessed the Internet via an ethernet cable between our two computers.)

Alas, the Blu-Ray player can't seem to share the connection.

The Blu-Ray player uses DHCP but tt appears to receive a self-assigned IP address.

The player manual says that if the connection fails "it may be necessary to set the MAC address of the unit at the router side."

Does anyone know what this statement could mean? Can I add a device somehow to the Time Capsule. Any other thoughts on ways to make this work?

Thanks in advance for the help!

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.7)

Posted on Jun 3, 2009 3:19 PM

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Answer 1

Network 23

Level 6

12,351 points

Jun 4, 2009 1:14 AM in response to Wattage

Wattage wrote:
The player manual says that if the connection fails "it may be necessary to set the MAC address of the unit at the router side."

It sounds vague, but a guess is that they might be thinking a MAC address filter may be enabled. If that's it, then what they mean is that you'll have to add the device's MAC address to the list of allowed machines.

Open your AirPort Utility, click Manual Setup, cilck Access. Look at the MAC Address Access Control pop-up. If it says Not Enabled, it is off and therefore that cannot be causing your problem - look somwhere else. But if one of the other options in the menu is selected, you need to add your device to the list.

It is off by default.

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Answer 2

Duane

Level 10

124,293 points

Jun 4, 2009 12:05 PM in response to Wattage

OS X's Internet Sharing has very few options and there are no options for blocking MAC addresses therefore this is not the problem.

BTW, AirPort Utility has nothing to do with OS X's Internet Sharing. AirPort Utility is only for use with Apple's base stations.

OS X's Internet Sharing certainly provides DHCP service. Since it worked with your wife's MacBook you certainly know that it should work.

On your MacBook Pro, do you have the Firewall enabled? If so you can try enabling Personal Web sharing. That will open the normal ports used for web browsing to the Blu-Ray player. If that doesn't work, try disabling the Firewall completely on your MacBook Pro. That should work.

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Answer 3

Wattage Author

Level 1

9 points

Jun 4, 2009 1:45 PM in response to Duane

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm stuck at work right now, but I'll investigate further tonight and report back.

A sincere thanks for the responses!

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Answer 4

Wattage Author

Level 1

9 points

Jun 4, 2009 4:57 PM in response to Wattage

Well, the MAC Address Access Control is not enabled, but that's a pretty cool feature that's now on my radar.

My firewall allows all incoming connections, which I'm interpreting as meaning I have no firewall up right now.

Good suggestions though. I surfed the Web a bit and found a bunch of posts complaining of a similar issue when trying to share an Internet connection with an Xbox of PS3. I'm going to explore some of those leads and see what I come up with . . .

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Answer 5

Duane

Level 10

124,293 points

Jun 4, 2009 7:27 PM in response to Wattage

Remember that OS X's Internet sharing is not a full robust router. It is more of a toy or temporary measure rather than something you would use for full functionality.

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Answer 6

Wattage Author

Level 1

9 points

Jun 4, 2009 9:30 PM in response to Duane

I found this how-to on the Web. I'm not too saavy with terminal, so these things always make me a bit nervous. Anyone have any concerns about following these steps to see if it works?

The following procedure is confirmed to work as written.
Start Internet Sharing if it's not already running.
In Terminal, type cp /etc/bootpd.plist /tmp/bootpd.plist
Stop Internet Sharing.
Open /tmp/bootpd.plist for editing using TextEdit or whatever.
Locate this section of the file, near the end:
<key>reply thresholdseconds</key>
<integer>4</integer>
Change the value 4 to 0.
In Terminal, type sudo cp /tmp/bootpd.plist /etc
Start Internet Sharing.
If you want to, check that your change to /etc/bootpd.plist hasn't been reverted.

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Answer 7

Duane

Level 10

124,293 points

Jun 4, 2009 9:41 PM in response to Wattage

Should be safe enough to try. If it doesn't work, set it back to 4.

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Answer 8

Wattage Author

Level 1

9 points

Jun 5, 2009 9:06 AM in response to Duane

I'm not going to pretend that I understand the reason, but following those steps made things work. The player immediately pulled an IP address and connected like a charm.

Thanks to everyone for all the tips and assistance!

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Answer 9

Duane

Level 10

124,293 points

Jun 5, 2009 10:06 AM in response to Wattage

Great! Glad that it worked out for you.

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