I have 2 RPi Zero 2W units in separate rooms on my network running XL (2023.02.1 / 0757).
Strangely, my “LivingRoom” unit seems to generate a new MAC address every time it is rebooted, which (almost) confuses my router - it ends up in the router’s client list twice. It still works fine with Roon).
The other seems to be fine, and is always recognised as “Kitchen”, I assume because the MAC remains static. I have been through every page of the configuration to try to spot the difference but can’t see one (other than the name).
Am I missing something? If it helps interestingly the two don’t see each other on the ‘Devices’ tab…
I’m no network expert but I don’t think MAC addresses can change. Do you mean the IP address changes? If so, it’s supposed to do that since the device gets it’s IP address assigned by the DHCP server in your router. It might be a glitch in your routers DHCP process and the router is failing to delete the original entry when it assigns a new IP address. Just a guess.
Actually they can and it it is quite common now (to prevent device tracking). The hardware has a fixed MAC address, but the OS can always decide to send something else. Depends on the OS how to configure that.
It’s definitely the (advertised) MAC address that is changing - this is confirmed by the info on the Network tab within the RoPieeeXL interface. What’s strange is that only one of my Zero2Ws exhibits this behaviour. I have both of them set to check for updates and restart each night but only one generates a different MAC each time.
Feels like a setting or configuration buried somewhere ‘under the surface’ (and therefore not accessible from within RoPieeeXL) - could it be a different hardware revision or something? Is there anything I can do about it?
On your livingroom unit you use a USB ethernet dongle.
However, that dongle has a problem when the OS tries to read the MAC address from it: hence it creates one itself.
Intriguing result, though a little odd - as it happens both Zero2W units use the exact same type of dongle!
The dongles were bought at different times; perhaps one is faulty. I think I have a spare somewhere so I can test with a replacement to see if the behaviour changes…
I’ve swapped the ethernet dongle - all seems to be well with the MAC address now; it stays the same after a restart and the device is recognised consistently by my router. I can only assume the the one I was using previously (which is allegedly identical) has a different approach to dealing with MAC addresses in its firmware.
New problem though; the same Pi Zero2W now doesn’t recover from a soft reboot - no interface and no Roon endpoint; I have to power off and on at the wall to get it to wake up and register with the router every following a nightly (or indeed a manual) reboot. The light appears normal (slow continuous flash), and it’s fine after a power off/on.
Interestingly this one updated (my Kitchen unit hasn’t yet ‘seen’ the update), though it feels unlikely this is the issue.
Any ideas to get me back to set-and-forget nirvana would be gratefully received. Thanks again, for this and all the efforts developing RoPieee; I’ll be making a donation via the site!
I think I’ve solved this now. Just in case it helps anyone…
I’ve stuck with the two ethernet dongles that seem to behave (i.e. the two which advertise consistent unique MAC addresses each time the devices boot), but ended up re-flashing both Zero2Ws to the latest version of non-XL Ropieee for a ‘fresh start’. I also ‘forgot’ the devices from the DHCP records in my router (a Unifi Dream Machine Pro), and rebooted the router itself - I suspect this was the real problem.
I’ve left them both running for a couple of days and they seem stable (and can even see each other on the ‘Devices’ tab - a first for me), so I think I’m done for now. Hopefully I can get back to music!
Donation made - thanks for the support; it’s hugely appreciated and got me on the road to fixing my issue.