diff --git a/nselib/pppoe.lua b/nselib/pppoe.lua
index d5576c9bb..3dfd2de02 100644
--- a/nselib/pppoe.lua
+++ b/nselib/pppoe.lua
@@ -434,19 +434,16 @@ PPPoE = {
 		-- @param value string/number containing the tag value
 		-- @return o instance of ConfigNak	
 		new = function(self, tags)
-			local c = tostring(coroutine.running())
-			c = c:match("^thread: 0x(.*)"):sub(1, 8)
-			
-			math.randomseed(os.time())
-			while ( #c < 8 ) do
-				c = c .. stdnse.tohex(math.random(255))
+			local c = ""
+			for i=1, 4 do
+				c = c .. math.random(255)
 			end
 			
 			local o = {
 				header = PPPoE.Header:new(PPPoE.Code.PADI),
 				tags = tags or { 
 					PPPoE.Tag:new(PPPoE.TagType.SERVICE_NAME),
-					PPPoE.Tag:new(PPPoE.TagType.HOST_UNIQUE,  bin.pack("H", c))
+					PPPoE.Tag:new(PPPoE.TagType.HOST_UNIQUE,  bin.pack("A", c))
 				}
 			}
 			setmetatable(o, self)