[SOLVED] - 'Wi-Fi MAC Address: Unavailable' after debricking

[kaneorotar]

Originally Posted by knc1

Where there is one typo, there might easily be two. . .

If this is a K3, with the only known Wifi chip on the board, then:
00-13-74 (hex) Atheros Communications, Inc.
Should be the first six (OUI) of your MAC address.

Re-read those wireless logs.
The OUI is a (relatively expensive) purchased item.

I've triple checked the MAC, at least it is as same as the one in the filter list. The log file was obtained by using ';dumpMessages' and it doesn't seem to contain the OUI of the MAC address. Most of the log is available at here.

[kaneorotar]

Originally Posted by twobob

err. I get an error like this when I manage to break cvm. would having a read through the wifi upstarts help do you think? see where the variables are referenced (they are referenced for sure to derive type of device for example from the BoardID)

Perhaps the wifi startup script just needs a read through. to my utterly inexperienced eye that looks like a "failure to launch".

In fact breaking the pop-keyboard by poor programming illegal values will result in very similar errors. and cause Lipc to terminate further programmatic access to the keyboard.

Of course the value lookup could be binary embedded elsewhere but it cant hurt to just have a check. Those are my thoughts. maybe you can fudge it.

Could you elaborate on this 'wifi upstarts'? The only related thing that I could think of is the log file and the first half of it is available at pastebin.com/csuRZDPp
The line of log that seem to be getting the macAddress variable is as follows and ended with the 'not provided by any .service' error.

121025:185621 cvm[3696]: I lipc:gsp:prop=macAddress, source=com.lab126.wifid:Get string property

Thank you.

[twobob]

hmm... I notice you have a 3 now... doesn't appear to use upstart.(I'm looking) not sure how that invokes the lipc stuff to life sorry.
I was think of the K Touch. something similar must happen on the 3.

I'm having a dig around now. Others will know. There has to be an init somewhere you can dig through!!!

There are notes on the processes of Lipc and cvm on the wiki, (again for other devices IIRC) although nothing I can think of that will help specifically track that down,

I just don't know enough about the guts of what the .service's are (I have to imagine java methods but I'm not sure) the other errors in your log also indicate that lipc's db is failing to return values. for whatever reason. apologies I can't provide more specific help.

Shame that simply flattening it again probably wont help.

[qlob]

@knc1: I don't have my kindle with me right now, will check when i can, but I don't think it was 00-13-74

[knc1]

Originally Posted by qlob

@knc1: I don't have my kindle with me right now, will check when i can, but I don't think it was 00-13-74

OK.

Perhaps Amazon has been using that non-public OUI forever and I just never noticed it before.

Why I asked was because that number came from the filter and logs of the O.P.'s wireless router, which may not be displaying/using the OUI field.

My own K3 is still "out-of-service", so I couldn't look there.

[kaneorotar]

Originally Posted by knc1

OK.

Perhaps Amazon has been using that non-public OUI forever and I just never noticed it before.

Why I asked was because that number came from the filter and logs of the O.P.'s wireless router, which may not be displaying/using the OUI field.

My own K3 is still "out-of-service", so I couldn't look there.

I accidentally discovered that the backups I have included one with the first 3936240 byte of the firmware (mmcblk0_7688.dmp), which means that some valid device ID and stuff are available.

To my surprise, none of the info (except the board id) in that dump file seem to fit the actual values that I've got but after flashing it into my Kindle the Wi-Fi worked relatively well. Although the whispernet seems to have some problem as it only responds with 'Your Kindle is unable to connect at this time...' when I try to register.Alright, so the backup actually belongs to my friend's kindle.

So I tried to change some of the values to the 'correct' one, but the result is always 'Wi-Fi MAC Address: Unavailable'.

Backup idme vars (WiFi works):

serial number = B006XXXXXXXXXXXX
board id = SP1B000000000000
pcb serial number = A00XXXXXXXSHR
accelerometer offset string = 
MAC address  = 28EF01014XXX
pcb config id = 
Manufacturer Code = 4I0O8AN1UVBV9XXXXXXX

'Correct' idme vars (Totally not working):

serial number = B00AXXXXXXXXXXXX
board id = SP1B000000000000
pcb serial number = D01XXXXXXXSHR (Seen at the back of the PCB)
MAC address  = 28EF01F39XXX

[NiLuJe]

@kaneorotar: Well, going by the S/N, that's a completely different device (K3 3G vs. K3 3G UK)... Sure you got the logs/backups from the same device? .

[kaneorotar]

Originally Posted by NiLuJe

@kaneorotar: Well, going by the S/N, that's a completely different device (K3 3G vs. K3 3G UK)... Sure you got the logs/backups from the same device? .

Well, that's the confusing part. Although I'm sure that my Kindle is a 3G US, the S/N I got by asking Amazon CS was the one starting with 'B00A'.
Besides, the W-Fi MAC Address has been '28EF01F39XXX' for more than a year but now only '28EF01014XXX' works. Can the MAC Address actually be 'changed'?

EDIT:
After chatting with an Amazon CS I was told that the S/N is registered to my friend who's got another Kindle 3G so I think this should be a backup of his device.

[geekmaster]

Amazon links serial and mac address in their database. Your new UK serial needs its matching wifi mac, and your old US serial needs its old wifi mac. I had a similar problem on one of my K4s and an amazon tech needed to link my mac and serial in their database before I could register it and access the amazon store on it.

[knc1]

Originally Posted by kaneorotar

Can the MAC Address actually be 'changed'?

In most chips, yes.
Although some manufacturers still use write-once rom.

For instance, Backtrack (a Linux wifi pen testing distro) has the special drivers required for changing MAC addresses.

[kaneorotar]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

Amazon links serial and mac address in their database. Your new UK serial needs its matching wifi mac, and your old US serial needs its old wifi mac. I had a similar problem on one of my K4s and an amazon tech needed to link my mac and serial in their database before I could register it and access the amazon store on it.

Isn't the Kindle supposed to have only one unique S/N ? And since I have only one Kindle 3G US registered, it is supposed to be the correct S/N.

By the way, what behaviors are your kindle having before the link between the MAC and S/N? Is it 'Your Kindle is unable to connect at this time...'?

[kaneorotar]

Originally Posted by knc1

In most chips, yes.
Although some manufacturers still use write-once rom.

For instance, Backtrack (a Linux wifi pen testing distro) has the special drivers required for changing MAC addresses.

hmm, interesting. Do you happen to know any other means that could lead to this 'change' beside the 'idme --mac M' command?

[knc1]

Originally Posted by kaneorotar

hmm, interesting. Do you happen to know any other means that could lead to this 'change' beside the 'idme --mac M' command?

I would have to look for it, but you can do that yourself.

Get the Amazon Source code, unpack the Linux kernel, navigate to the Athros driver, read code, see if it has the system call to alter the MAC address defined.
If so, search the software in the system for a user or users of that system call.

If using the u-boot, idme function, that one is probably "hard coded" into the idme code.

[geekmaster]

Originally Posted by kaneorotar

Isn't the Kindle supposed to have only one unique S/N ? And since I have only one Kindle 3G US registered, it is supposed to be the correct S/N.

By the way, what behaviors are your kindle having before the link between the MAC and S/N? Is it 'Your Kindle is unable to connect at this time...'?

Yes, when trying to register. You can deregister and register as many kindles as you want to. I currently have about 15 of my kindles (about 10 percent of them) registered to my amazon account.

Also, you can deregister one and then register it to a different amazon account. If the mac and serial are not linked, you cannot register it or access the amazon store, but other websites work.

[kaneorotar]

Originally Posted by geekmaster

Yes, when trying to register. You can deregister and register as many kindles as you want to. I currently have about 15 of my kindles (about 10 percent of them) registered to my amazon account.

Also, you can deregister one and then register it to a different amazon account. If the mac and serial are not linked, you cannot register it or access the amazon store, but other websites work.

As the backup I found belongs to the Kindle of my friend, it would be impossible to ask him to deregister it just for me to register it

I think the idme vars are somehow related to each other depending on the model (i.e 3G UK or 3G US) and I'm currently in need of some 3G UK vars so that I can make up some of them and test it on my B00A Kindle 3G. To be specific, I'm in need of the 'Manufacturer Code' and 'pcb config id' but complete vars are welcomed.

The only vars I currently have are qlob's which came from a B006 Kindle.

Do you happen to have any Kindle 3G UK devices? It would really help if more valid 'B00A' idme vars are known.

Thank you.