Data Support

Identifying a NIC by its MAC Address or FCC ID

Last Updated: Fri, 22 Apr 2011 > Related Articles

Use this information to help you find information about your NIC.

If you need to reinstall a NIC but do not know the manufacturer or model of the NIC, you can refer to the information supplied on the NIC.

If you...	Then...
Need to find the manufacturer of the NIC	Look for any manufacturer's logos or product names printed on the NIC. If there are no manufacturer logos or product names on the NIC, then you need to find the MAC address. The MAC address is a 12-digit long code containing numbers from 0 to 9 and letters from A to F. Using the first six digits of this code, you can find the manufacturer of the NIC. A complete list of manufacturers and the MAC address they use can be found at http://standards.ieee.org/regauth/oui/oui.txt
Know the manufacturer of the NIC, but not the model number	You can use the FCC ID to find both the manufacturer and model number of the NIC. The first three digits of this code identify the manufacturer of the NIC and the rest of the code identifies the model number. A searchable database of FCC ID codes can be found at http://www.fcc.gov/oet/ea/fccid/