So I bought a banned PS3 off Craigslist

[spit_bubble]

Call the A-Team. They are all about justice.

[Burns11]

Quote: Originally Posted by WeAreAllWitnesses

I've actually read that it's the MAC Address. I don't know the specifics of why that would/wouldn't work, but that's what i've read at least. Just Googleing "Change PS3 MAC Address" brings up tons of forum threads of people that got their PS3's banned. Lol.

Quote: Originally Posted by mvb34

There are reading the MAC address...

It could possibly be using the MAC address as a unique identifier, but Sony is not reading it over the network (because MAC addresses aren't broadcast like that) so using a USB ethernet adapter isn't likely going to change anything. The PS3 still should be looking at it's own internal MAC address to transmit.

[mvb34]

Quote: Originally Posted by Burns11

It could possibly be using the MAC address as a unique identifier, but Sony is not reading it over the network (because MAC addresses aren't broadcast like that) so using a USB ethernet adapter isn't likely going to change anything. The PS3 still should be looking at it's own internal MAC address to transmit.

We you sign into Sony's network your MAC address is recorded. The MAC address is NIC serial number. There is no internal MAC address

[kehlis]

Quote: Originally Posted by shigogouhou

"We want our $700 bad enough to keep your console from playing online, even though you had nothing to do with that...but at the same time, we don't want the money badly enough to actually go after the person that owes us the money. If you're so concerned about our bottom line, you could always just buy another console & give us $300 of that $700...."

Quote: Originally Posted by Burns11

More like: "We have no way of knowing who you are, so if you really did buy that console from someone else get your money back from them, otherwise give us our money."

Sure, this particular situation sucks but you guys have to think of this from Sony's side as well.

If this were a viable workaround, what would stop people from running up a tab like this and then "selling" the ps3 to their friend to get it unbanned?

I know it is always easy to look at it from the consumers perspective, but you have to understand where the company is coming from as well.

[Burns11]

Quote: Originally Posted by mvb34

We you sign into Sony's network your MAC address is recorded. The MAC address is NIC serial number. There is no internal MAC address

The only way for Sony to record the MAC address is to have that address sent specifically to Sony along normal data channels and Sony would, no doubt, read the MAC address of it's own internal hardware (the PS3 is all one integrated device, there's no NIC in there just an ethernet controller chip on the motherboard and that MAC address is likely stored in software as part of the SysCon) and not some external NIC. MAC addresses aren't widely distributed, they are sent out in a broadcast that only goes to your neighboring devices to be put into their ARP tables. Once your MAC address is sent to the closest router (either your own router or the first router for your ISP you hit), it doesn't go any farther because it's completely unnecessary and would overly tax the whole internet with traffic that is not at all useful to anyone but the router on your subnet.

So, unless Sony specifically sends the MAC address along normal data streams, it's not naturally going to find it's way to Sony. That also means that, since Sony is using this number as a unique identifier and that is completely seperate and different than the normal usage of a MAC address, it's extremely unlikely that the PS3 is going to try and read some other device to find this number.

[mvb34]

Quote: Originally Posted by Burns11

The only way for Sony to record the MAC address is to have that address sent specifically to Sony along normal data channels and Sony would, no doubt, read the MAC address of it's own internal hardware (the PS3 is all one integrated device, there's no NIC in there just an ethernet controller chip on the motherboard and that MAC address is likely stored in software as part of the SysCon) and not some external NIC. MAC addresses aren't widely distributed, they are sent out in a broadcast that only goes to your neighboring devices to be put into their ARP tables. Once your MAC address is sent to the closest router (either your own router or the first router for your ISP you hit), it doesn't go any farther because it's completely unnecessary and would overly tax the whole internet with traffic that is not at all useful to anyone but the router on your subnet. So, unless Sony specifically sends the MAC address along normal data streams, it's not naturally going to find it's way to Sony. That also means that, since Sony is using this number as a unique identifier and that is completely seperate and different than the normal usage of a MAC address, it's extremely unlikely that the PS3 is going to try and read some other device to find this number.

Dude give it up... You don't know how a network operates. ethernet controller and NIC card are one in the same..

In TCP/IP networks, the MAC address of a subnet interface can be queried with the IP address using the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) for Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) or the Neighbor Discovery Protocol (NDP) for IPv6. On broadcast networks, such as Ethernet, the MAC address uniquely identifies each node and allows frames to be marked for specific hosts. It thus forms the basis of most of the Link layer (OSI Layer 2) networking upon which upper layer protocols rely to produce complex, functioning networks.

When a MAC address broadcast is sent out, each network interface card on the local area network will see the broadcast address and automatically pass the information up to the upper layers of the OSI model.

[Burns11]

You don't know what you are talking about. Also, you might want to completely read what pages you google, taken from the last section of the page on the site you plagarized (which I found, btw, by googling your little bolded blurb):

Quote:

Keep in mind that broadcasts will travel to every single client on a network- at least, until a router is encountered. A router is the only device that can separate a broadcast domain. Logically, this is mandatory for the internet to exist. What do you think would happen if broadcasts were being sent from network to network- all over the internet? (Hint: no more Internet.)

Broadcasts are only sent along the subnet, not sent up the chain.

[mvb34]

Quote: Originally Posted by Burns11

You don't know what you are talking about. Also, you might want to completely read what pages you google, taken from the last section of the page on the site you plagarized (which I found, btw, by googling your little bolded blurb): Broadcasts are only sent along the subnet, not sent up the chain.

STOP it man !!! I Google that so you can learn... I'm in the business I know how a network operates...