Wireless Vista Media Centre Connect to Wired 360

[coey75]

It would be great if someone could lend me a hand, I have searched around for weeks without being able to find a solution to this.

I am attempting to add my 360 as a extender to my media centre PC (running Vista).

The configuration is as pictured below (basically wireless router connected to cable modem, 360 connected to router, PC connected to router via std wireless pc card).

All network testing on the side of the 360 works fine, able to connect to xbox live etc.

On the Vista PC I am able to access the internet, I have turned off firewalls and all virus software. Using the network map of Network & Sharing Center I am able to see the 360, view it's IP address, even it's serial number.

But when I try to add it as an extender in media centre it fails on the Searching for Extender step and gives the generic error of checking for; is 360 turned on, is setup key correct and ensure firewall is allowing UPnP discovery. I believe i have done all of these steps correctly.


PC ====(Wireless connection)==== Netgear WGR614v4 -----(wired)-----cable modem
.................................................. ..... |
............................................. (wired connection)
.................................................. ..... |
.................................................. . 360

Has anyone got this configuration type to work, any tips on what i can try?

Thanks,
coey75

[Eaglehawk]

Just as a stupid "what happens if I try this" thing, have you connected the PC using an ethernet cable?

It's just to see if there's an MTU issue or something silly...

[coey75]

No I haven't. I should probably try to, but because they are in physically different locations I have been too lazy to try it out

[coey75]

Eaglehawk, I have now tried as you suggested and hard wired the desktop to the router. As soon as I did this Vista identified a media extender and installed the appropriate drivers, all functionality appearing to work as expected.

But as when I disabled the LAN connection and defaulted back to wireless the media center connection was lost immediately.

So it seems like it is definitely an issue related to the wireless network.

[Eaglehawk]

I need a bit more info before jumping to conclusions. You may have answered some of this already, but here are some questions:

1. Can you ping each other when they are on wireless/wired.
2. What type of router are you using?
3. Can this router "seperate" wireless and wired?
4. What wireless encryption are you using?
5. Is there an MTU setting in your router?

[becje01]

This is almost certainly "infrastructure related"

I have a little PC in the lounge running Windows Media Connect, connected to the network over wireless (802.11G) - it can stream divx movies to the Xbox which is on the wired LAN with no issues.

I'd also suggest turning off any desktop firewall on the MCE's wireless LAN connection - maybe Windows went and configured the wrong firewall?

Good luck

Jeff

[coey75]

Thanks becje01 It's good to know this is a supported configuration.

Answers to the questions

1. Can you ping each other when they are on wireless/wired.
> Yes i can ping the 360 in both wired and wireless configurations
2. What type of router are you using?
> Netgear WGR614v4
3. Can this router "seperate" wireless and wired?
> I'm not sure exactly what you are asking here, i think it operates in a shared media way
4. What wireless encryption are you using?
> WPA-PSK
5. Is there an MTU setting in your router?
> Yes, MTU size = 1500 bytes

Other things that might be on interest, on the router;
UPnP is enabled
Wireless Access point is enabled
SSID broadcast is enabled
IP address 198.168.0.1
subnet mask 255.255.255.0

360 ip address. set to manual
IP address 198.168.0.36

[Eaglehawk]

Well, nothing unusual about that setup either...

Ok, 2 stupid suggestions, since my first silly one sorta worked...

1. http://kbserver.netgear.com/release_notes/d102604.asp
2. Just for laughs, and make this temporary, disable encryption on the wireless. (Then maybe lock down by MAC address instead). I know it sounds silly, but you know...

[coey75]

I already have the latest firmware installed (this was the first thing I did when I couldn't get it working ).

As for disabling the wireless security it made no difference at all.

[dgaust]

Does the firmware allow you to turn IGMP snooping off? If so, try turning it off and seeing what happens.

[coey75]

Nope IGMP snooping doesn't seem to be a feature of this router.

[coey75]

Does anyone have a router like this and it is working?

Any other ideas? DMZ server?