Proxmark3 community

Gratefuldeadbolt

Contributor

Registered: 2009-09-18

Posts: 23

P3 arrived - Question re: time to read and record card vs fob

My new Proxmark just arrived yesterday! Finally!

So I went to pick it up... and couldn't wait to try it out.

It was going to be a long night because my 'Access Control" panels / cards were all at work (I sell / install access control as part of my job) Turns out I had a few prox cards laying around in addition to the ones I had shipped with the P3.

Step 1 - powered it up and watched the pretty lights go through the new version of the boot sequence. It powered up / booted ok. I had to sit and stare at the red LED (slot one selected) for a little while while my mind was already racing to a completely distracted side thought of cases and housings.

Distracted STEP 2 - I got completely absorbed in thought of all the wonderful cases I could make for this thing, I am torn between fitting this thing into a pack of cigarettes. I would make sure to fit batteries, accommodation for the button and LED's (mental note - once I figure out the basics, look into converting the LED indicator to a small CELL PHONE VIBRATOR MOTOR for sight free operation.)
I could even salvage one of those greeting card switches and attach it to the lid of the cig- pack (minus the greeting card's audio circuit obviously. I don't need "Happy Birthday" playing every time I open the pack. I would also make room for a real cig or two!

hmmmmm. Perhaps I could fit everything on the inside of a hollowed out copy of CATCHER IN THE RYE or GEORGE ORWELL'S "1984"....

Looking around the room I saw my CD collection, originally looking at case ideas, and that when I started to ponder if everything would fit into my PINK FLOYD - PULSE CD - case even has a convenient blinking LED....hmmm.

Ok ... case development will have to wait until I get some antenna building practice in...

I Will have to look into antenna's once I figure out how to send the tune commands, or any command for that matter to the P3 first.

a quick read through the WIKI.. looked at some of my cards... rolled up my sleeves... and held the button in for one second (roughly) , YES - GOOD - the second red LED was indicating the record in session.

Grabbed the HID PROX CARD 1st, since I remember reading that this should work out of the box....

Second Red LED turned off - about 1 second later (maybe less)

Success (with no way to prove it at this point)!

Ok - on to slot 2 - which is where trouble began.

I have a MEDECO KEY with the HID token built into the head (for MY use at work!)

Repeated the process... and about a dozen button presses later... still nothing.

Oh nooo I was devastated and confused. I was positive the MEDECO had an HID token...

Knowing that I missed the recommended steps to check / verify the antennas (still don't know how to issue those commands that are all over the help manual / wiki) I figured it might be a poor antenna. That's when I thought I'd try to hold the token in the field for a much longer period of time , as if magically charging the circuit in the key - IT WORKED!

Question - what would cause the slow record confirmation - poor antenna, weak signal - other?

I decided to test / compare to another HID Key fob i had - repeat of the last time - very difficult to get the P3 to confirm the read with the 2nd LED going off.

Now i was a little disappointed, I had to wait until work to confirm the reads by playing them back. That disappointment disappeared when I proceeded to open the employee door at work this morning. (awkward due to trying to balance my toughbook in one hand, P3 and antenna in the other!)

So I guess my first question would be with regards to my difficulty in reading in the smaller HID RFID tokens and very quick register of the Thick HID CARD?

I am thinking it may be due to the antenna - but still need to learn how to communicate via the laptop to the P3 - I'll spend some more time reading, just been busy admiring the P3!

Please bear with me - I will have a lot of questions! Hopefully I can eventually contribute to this forum in some way - for now I can try to keep the forum discussions going I know I have a lot of questions, hopefully others too shy to ask can learn too!

Gratefuldeadbolt

Contributor

Registered: 2009-09-18

Posts: 23

Re: P3 arrived - Question re: time to read and record card vs fob

Ok I got a little excited.. and missed the obvious, once I settled down and actually read a little more, I found the client software at www.proxmark3.com /dl .

So tonight I will load the software and try out a few of the antenna commands to see what I get.

Next time I promise to read ac bit more before posting.

I think the ideal case may by to hollow out a book. I wonder if I have a copy of RFID for dummies laying around... perhaps I should read it first