Max Value HomePlug matching problem… Fixed

Posted on January 29, 2010 by Robert Beal

For Christmas (2009) I was given a pair of Max Value 200Mbps HomePlug units, presumably from Amazon. Out of the box they worked, and still do, perfectly. I was so impressed by them, I quickly ordered another pair from Amazon within a few weeks, and this is where my problem began, as they refused to work together.

The first pair, lets call them A and B, work fine. The second pair, C and D, also work when I switched them with A/B that I was already using. However all four wouldn’t work together. A or B wouldn’t work with C/D, and C or D wouldn’t work with A/B.

Problem is, being Max Value, they come in a white, plain box with a CD. None of which, from looking at it, I bothered keeping; and probably should have done. Both pairs had the same model number printed on them, but most likely are slightly different versions/revisions.

I googled around, and posted on AV Forums, but couldn’t find much or get any responses.

I eventually came across a Devolo application that worked at finding, and configuring my HomePlugs. It comes in a Windows, Mac, and even Linux flavour on the downloads page. I of course went with the Linux version. Here are the steps:

Download the app or in a terminal…
wget http://www.devolo.co.uk/downloads/software/software-dlan-linux-v6-1.tar.gztar xvfz software-dlan-linux-v6-1.tar.gz
tar -zxvf software-dlan-linux-v5-1.tar.gz
sudo apt-get install g++ make
cd software-dlan-linux-v6-1
make

Or, download the compiled files, I’ve made on Ubuntu 9.10 x64. Those steps should have the app downloaded, extracted (inside your home directory), and “make” called in order to build it. It should make two runnable apps (inside $HOME/software-dlan-linux-v6-1), “dlanlist” and “dlanpasswd”.

Hook yourself up to one of the HomePlugs. Open up a terminal window, and make sure you are in the folder that contains the apps (you should still be if you have the terminal window open).

sudo ./dlanlist

For me this output the following:

Type MAC address Mbps TX/RX Version/Product

local 00:1F:A4:28:26:FA —.– / —.– INT6000-MAC-3-3-3305-00-1988-20080209-B Intellon

remote 00:1F:A4:58:18:63 0.00 / 0.00 INT6000-MAC-4-0-4011-00-3430-20090501-FINAL-C

local 00:1F:A4:58:18:64 —.– / —.– INT6000-MAC-4-0-4011-00-3430-20090501-FINAL-C Intellon

remote 00:1F:A4:28:26:FB 0.00 / 0.00 INT6000-MAC-3-3-3305-00-1988-20080209-B

As you can see the revisions/versions of the two pairs are slightly different, INT6000-MAC-3-3-3305-00-1988-20080209-B and INT6000-MAC-4-0-4011-00-3430-20090501-FINAL-C.

I then used the other app, “dlanpasswd” to set the password for each device.

sudo ./dlanpasswd 00:1F:A4:28:26:FA MyPasswordHere

I applied the above command to all the MAC addresses listed from dlanlist, so that they were all configured using the same encryption password. After doing this all units, A, B, C, D, worked together! I did find one hadn’t worked when I went to the pc connected to it, but I ran the command from that machine (locally) and it started working (as opposed to applying it remotely).

No Related Posts

chris

Hi. Thought i'de let you know I tried this. My problem was 2 plugs, first loading OK but second would not be recognised. Standard software was Power Pack utilty. Dlan now downloads a dLan config wizard which would not find my homeplug – not sure why. No sign of a Dlanlist or Dlanpasswd. Maybe updated versions which now only work with their plugs? Worth a try though.
Robert

I've added the compiled "dllanlist" and "dlanpasswd" files to the blog above. It's just below the 1-6 steps.

I checked the download you mentioned, is that from the link in the 1-6 steps bit? It looks ok to me. Remember I'm running Linux, not Windows.
http://www.nettek.ch greg@sicherheit

Does my mac adresse change if I upgrade my computer with some other hardware? For example change the graphic card?
Robert

The MAC address is tied to your network adapter, so only if you upgrade that. It'll either be a) wireless card, b) network card, or c) inbuilt into your motherboard (this is quite common on laptops and desktops these days). If you've changed any of those it will have changed. If you've upgraded your graphics card you MAC address will still be the same.
Mathieu Gauthron

Hi,

Thank you very much for this. I was trying to bridge a Devolo dlan200 with a Solwise NET-PL-500AV. I don’t have Windows and none of the other software enabled me to change the password on both devices i.e. the Devolo software on Mac (and I assume also on Windows) do not show none-Devolo devices. On Linux it seems to be cross manufacturer for some reason. Other problem I had: the Solwise software is only available on Windows. With this instructions I have managed to bridge the Devolo and the Solwise together on Linux.

I have used a newer version of the software and had to adapt the instructions a little bit.

Here is what I have done:

wget http://www.devolo.co.uk/downloads/software/software-dlan-linux-v6-1.tar.gz
tar xvfz software-dlan-linux-v6-1.tar.gz
sudo apt-get install g++
sudo apt-get install make
make

PS: I always had to connect locally to both devices to change the password. Remote password change has never worked for me.

http://robertbeal.com Rob

Nice :) glad it helped. Thanks for the details, I’ve updated the post with your steps.

Robert Beal