[SOLVED] Lost MAC address on network card

kapelrud · 2008-12-04 17:53:48

It seems that my wired ethernet card has lost its MAC address. Some information/output:

# lspci|grep Ethernet
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8055 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller

The card uses the sky2 kernel module

# dmesg|grep sky2
sky2 0000:02:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
sky2 0000:02:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
sky2 0000:02:00.0: v1.22 addr 0xf7dfc000 irq 16 Yukon-2 EC Ultra rev 2
sky2 eth0: addr 00:00:00:00:00:00

Adding a line

#ifconfig eth0 hw ether <random-address-here>

to the startup-scripts makes it possible to use the nic, but it seems like a very temporary solution.

I don't know what can have caused this. Maybe the winter cold here in Norway erased some part of the nic's ROM?

- Does anybody have any idea how I can remedy this?
- Do I have to send the laptop in for repair to get it restored?

Last edited by kapelrud (2008-12-05 16:35:54)

iBertus · 2008-12-05 01:53:35

I suppose a driver bug could have corrupted the ROM on the network card. Do you have a Windows install that you can boot into to see if the card is working correctly with those drivers?

kapelrud · 2008-12-05 08:53:37

iBertus wrote:

I suppose a driver bug could have corrupted the ROM on the network card. Do you have a Windows install that you can boot into to see if the card is working correctly with those drivers?

Using "ipconfig /all" on windows showed the same zeroed mac address, so I guess the problem isn't (wasn't) linux-specific.

I left the pc in my locker at school last night and when I started it up again this morning the mac had mysteriously returned! Maybe the university leprechaun was bored yesterday.

So I guess the problem is solved, for now... Thanks anyway!

Fionnka · 2026-07-19 07:48:12

Old topic but after almost 20 years still relevant just as the solution. Shutdown, unplug power, drain capacitors (hold power button), wait a bit, power on. Issue fixed.
After sleep the machine could not read the eeprom or what ever happened but it assigned a random mac for rtl8125 onboard nic

WorMzy · 2026-07-19 09:38:29

Please do not necrobump.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Genera … bumping%22

Closing.

Arch Linux

#1 2008-12-04 17:53:48

[SOLVED] Lost MAC address on network card

#2 2008-12-05 01:53:35

Re: [SOLVED] Lost MAC address on network card

#3 2008-12-05 08:53:37

Re: [SOLVED] Lost MAC address on network card

#4 2026-07-19 07:48:12

Re: [SOLVED] Lost MAC address on network card

#5 2026-07-19 09:38:29

Re: [SOLVED] Lost MAC address on network card

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