Sunday, April 3, 2005
Networking a PS2 or Xbox Online at College
I go to school at CU Boulder where we have awesome T1 internet access. The problem is that the IT (internet technology) department doesn't support video games and network system has to register a users MAC (Media Access Control) address before it will let them on to the network! For computers it is easy to get online because the first time you plug into the network a screen prompts you to enter your student ID and password. Once you enter your info the system registers your MAC, asks you to restart your computer and suddenly the internet just works! The problem with video game systems is that they don't have internet browsers built in! Therefore, when you plug your Sony PlayStation 2 or Microsoft Xbox in to the network, you are being sent the "register now" information page but your game system is not capable of displaying it to you. For this reason you cannot register your MAC when prompted. When I first encountered this problem two years ago I figured I could just call IT and feed them my MAC address over the phone, unfortunately, even though this would be the simplest solution IT just lectured me instead of helping...
The good news is that I have spent many hours figuring out a legal way around their unhelpfulness. Please note that at my school routers are strictly prohibited and switches are also frowned upon. This means that you could get your internet feed shut off for the entire year if you were caught!
Xbox - For the Xbox there are only two simple step. All you have to do is identify the MAC address of a computer (hypothetically the one you already have registered with the school as described above) and feed it into the Xbox.
- using Windows XP, go to start>run> then type "cmd"
- once the command window appears type "msconfig/all"
- look at the line called "Physical Address" and find a 12 character code such as (XX-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX) which will be comprised of both numbers and letters.
- enter this number into your Xbox by opening the disk drive to bring up the navigation menu. If you are using Xbox Live, navigate the menu all the way back to the starting screen by pressing the B button repeatedly
- At this screen you will see four choices. choose "Settings" then "Network Settings" then "Advanced" at the bottom of the advanced menu there is a field for "MAC ADDRESS" select this field and enter the address you just found on your registered computer.
PS2 - Getting the PS2 online is a bit more complicated because it does not allow you to "spoof" the MAC address. For this reason you are required to identify the MAC address of the PS2, then spoof your PC's MAC, then re-register your PC with the new MAC to make the PS2's address eligible for network access.
- navigate the PS2's menu system until you find the unit’s MAC address (this process is slightly different for the thin PS2 and the older PS2+Network adapter, it is easier with the thin version). You may need to use the PS2 network startup disk included with the network adapter or in the box with the thin PS2
- once you locate the MAC address for the PS2 write it down, the number is 12 units long and can be comprised of both numbers and letters in the form of (XX-XX-XX-XX-XX-XX).
- now use your computer to "spoof" the PS2's MAC address as follows
- using Windows XP navigate to start>control panel
- at the control panel choose either Network and Internet Connections>Network Connections or if you are in classic view simply choose Network Connections
- choose the NIC you want to use (there may be a few choices, usually it is labeled Local Area Connection)
- right click the NIC and choose Properties then navigate to the General tab and choose Configure (you will know you have the right NIC because it will have an Advanced tab when you hit Configure)
- navigate to the Advanced tab and highlight "Network Address" or "Locally Administered Address"
- enter the MAC address you wrote down for your PS2 into the blank field (without dashes) then choose OK
- in order to verify that the MAC of your computer has changed navigate to start>run then type "cmd"
- in the command prompt type "msconfig/all" and then look at the line called "Physical Address" if the physical address matches the MAC address you wrote down for your PS2 you can restart your machine.
- once the machine has been reset you will be prompted by the network when you try to use the internet at which point you will enter your identification information.
- now that you have used your computer to register your PS2's MAC your PS2 should easily connect to the internet using the PS2 startup disk!
if these instructions do not work for you, or you are a Macintosh owner who doesn't have a PC owning friend try these more complicated suggestions at Addict3d.org or search the web!
posted by Court @ 5:22 PM
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