Unknown devices on network - any suggestions?

[StevieP]

Hi all,

I've just been looking at the devices attached to my home network and there are quite a few that don't identify themselves - is there a way to find out what they are?

My BT SmartHub 2 doesn't seem to give me the option to block specific devices so I can't disable them and then see what isn't working (unless anyone can tell me how this is done?) but the bigger concern is that there is a device under the "wired" list that quite simply isn't physicallyconnected!

I do use homeplugs (I know a lot of people don't rate them but they work for me) so there are more than the usual devices in the wired list - but I've been to every ethernet port in the house and can't think of anything this errant device could be!?!?! (and apparently neither homeplugs nor unmanaged switches get IP addresses?)

I've tried doing a MAC address lookup but all I can see is it pops up as a potential "Arcadyan" device??

Any ideas??

 

[StevieP]

Arcadyan make the BT Hub and BT Wi-Fi discs. If you want to block access to devices then you need to use the mobile app and do it in the parental controls section.

Thanks for the quick reply - I was just doing a bit of reading on Arcadyan and suspected this might be the case!

Additionally the errant device appears to be the router itself - I had to go into the "Technical Log" and the MAC address is the unknown one in the list! Weird as you'd have thought the one thing the router might be able to identify is itself!

Now on to the wireless devices - any suggestions on how to identify these where they say "unknown"?

 

[StevieP]

I usually use a mac address lookup website and that should give you the name of the vendor.

Yeah, I've tried that and while I think some of the devices are virtualised MAC addresses for my Sky Miniboxes, there is one that is showing as "AAD-HQF01F3" and when I try and lookup the MAC address, I just get "Intel Corporate" - which doesn't really help as I imagine Intel provide all sorts of tech for other manufacturers?

 

[StevieP]

maybe use something like nmap to check for open ports on the unknown device and then you could try to ssh/telnet/http to them and see if that brings back anything?

I wouldn't know where to start with this if I'm honest!

Sky and Sonos in particular make their own mini networks per se, could it be these devices?

Sonos is a thought - I have a Sonos soundbar and don't remember seeing it in the list!

 

[StevieP]

Is it a second port on one of your devices? E.g. a fibre port on your router if you use ADSL or an ADSL port if you use fibre?

How would i try and find out if this is the case?