I have the mac address of my stolen laptop. It does not have any tracking software pre-installed in it. Is there a way that I can track the mac address when the laptop goes online anywhere??
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I would say it is imposible. The laptop will not connet directly wot a WAN conection, so the MAC address will not be registered over the internet. It will have it's Internal IP address and the router's MAC address is the one that will be registered. It is easyer to track it by the serial number and model if it gets recovered by the police.
Best of luck.
Online anywhere? Not a chance. Some possibilities: First, you might be able to use NetStumbler to detect the presence of the machine as part of an Ad-hoc or "machine to machine" network. You would have to be within wireless range of the laptop itself, however. Second, if you're connected to the same wireless network as the computer and the network happens to be unsecured, you may be able to browse for the machine by its computer name in Windows assuming the thief has not changed this.
Third, you may be able to enlist the help of local law enforcement to subpeona local ISPs for evidence of a machine with this MAC address, or perhaps some kindly sysadmin would help with this. This might be your best bet if you live in a smaller community. Fourthly check your local pawn shops.
If your laptop is a Dell you can call Dell support to let them know that it was stolen (they will need the service tag not MAC), this only helps when the "new" owner tries to get some support. Also you will need to contact your ISP as they often have the IP address assigned to a specific MAC (yours) to run the service. If your ISP does not have the MAC listing for your system then it is like leew said, not much can be done. Sorry not more help, Good luck
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by: leewPosted on 2007-04-22 at 22:31:35ID: 18956401
Not realistically. Someone could just use a different NIC. Or a different ISP - you'd have to get ISPs to try to track it - and even then, if they connected from a behind a router, they'd never see the Mac address. Put simply, if it turns up, you can probably confirm it's yours, but you're not going to be able to trace it with the MAC Address.