Xbox 360 media nightmare

[hawkinsa21]

Hey all,

I've had problems getting my Xbox to see my PC, and has been this way for ages. I have a PC and a Laptop.

The Laptop is XP, and the PC has Vista x64, x32 and Windows 7...

All the machines can see the Xbox, but the Xbox cannot see the computers properly... I say 'properly' because it can intermittantly see the PC and Laptop, but it takes a long time searching to bring up the machine to try and connect to in the Xbox menu. Xbox then proceeds to fail connecting to it, stating that a firewall or something is blocking access, which happen to be all turned off...

Here's the kicker... My Xbox can see Orb (media sharing software) and connections to this work and I can stream media. The reason I want to connect to my PC is that I can then use WMP11 to stream HD over my network, and Orb transcoding loses a lot of quality on HD media.

So, I know that my Xbox can connect to the PC and it can stream media fine, but for some reason I cannot see the WMP11. I also cannot setup the Windows Media Center either. Says it cannot find any devices. I am following all the official Xbox guides as well so I know the steps are being followed correctly.

I have even used CurrPorts to make sure that Orb isn't using any of the Windows media sharing ports, and I cannot see that it is using any of the same ports (potential conflicts)

I have checked that media sharing is setup on all machines, and as I said they can all see the Xbox without problem, the Xbox just cannot see them. . . (albeit intermittantly and very slow).

Can anyone suggest anything else to test??

I have ICS turned off and all the internal firewalls as well (turning off ICS fixed it for some people). I have tested two routers to rule out any strange goings on with filtering, although routers in general should not filter LAN side traffic unless specifically configured to - they are effectively just acting as switches.

Anyone else have similar problems??

PS I have used TVersity in the past but streaming HD sucks, and to be honest I'd rather work out why two Microsoft products cannot see each other as well!!!

For info, my PC is wireless to my router, and the Xbox is connected to the router via ethernet.. Again, Xbox can see Orb, so the infrastructure exists and works to an extent.

Can't wait for the public release of boxee. boxee ftw imo lolz

Cheers all. Driving me mad this is, but I'll happily answer any other questions... I'm missing something fundamental here surely, if a laptop and three OS's on my PC cannot speak to my laptop correctly but a 3rd party app can, I'm sure something else is up here.

Laters,

Alex

PPS sorry for long postage :crazy:

 

[Toxcity]

I have had issues with this too. But I can't get the PC to see the Xbox. Microsoft always make things harder than they should be.

What are your router settings like? I found that limiting the flood packet time out can cause issues.

 

[nathan]

i know you've prob already checked this, but do you have UPnP turned on?

 

[hawkinsa21]

Hey Tox,

I wouldn't know how to do that lol, although I've tried it on two routers now whether that should make a difference I'm not sure. I'll google it , thanks for the advice

nathan,

yup, meant to mention that. I have tried it both enabled and disabled. I've also tried removing the static IP address and using DHCP instead but this didn't help. As I've said, I've disabled the OS firewalls, and one of the routers I tried I disabled the firewall as well, but that should not make a difference anyway as the router firewalls are for internet facing traffic only.

I have just gotten a new DGN2000 router for me bday (geeky I know) and a matching WN111n wireless dongle, so I'll see if this makes any difference as I've read that the WG311v3 netgear PCI cards are rubbish and I've had slowness with them for ages. . . weird that I can still see Orb though.

Next thing I'll try is plugging the lappy directly into the xbox and if thats OK, plug it via ethernet into the router to remove the wireless aspect of it. . .

Its just so weird that I can see Orb, its more like there are Windows services tied to the media sharing that are causing problems, as Orb is a 3rd party application and won't use the same Windows services...

It pains me that some of my most PC illiterate mates had no problems at all, although tbf I think I'd have spent my own time troubleshooting their issues had that been the case.

Thanks again. If I make any progress I'll update here too

Alex

 

[Brooksie]

I have just gotten a new DGN2000 router for me bday (geeky I know)

Alex

Media Centre sucks really bad on the 360, my 360 is right next to my PC and is even on the same screen 226CW monitor, but I thought i'd give it a try once, it couldnt never connect!

No one is geeky with Jack Bauer as their avatar xD

 

[FarFarAway]

Hi Al

I'm assuming here you've installed the Xbox Windows Media Software on each of the PC's involved and that the PC's have Windows Media Centre on em?

 

[hawkinsa21]

cheers Brooksie, Jack Bauer ftw fo sure!

Hey matt,

I have Vista with media center and also both machines hav WMP11 which should be sufficient to stream from the pc / laptop to the Xbox... (unless I'm majorly wrong!)

Even media center on the Vista Ultimate won't see the Xbox after I enter the 8 digit code the Xbox gives me.

 

[FarFarAway]

What's happening with your Mac address filtering on your router? On mine I had to add my wireless devices to get some of them to work, even when filtering was disabled....which was weird.

Are you using a workgroup or Domain? I just use a workgroup for mine and it works fine. I also had to manually enter the Xbox service to my NOD32 Firewall t ensure it didn't screen it.

Tried Port forwarding at all? Guide here, which is pretty useful

PC: Classic Jim quote right thar

 

[hawkinsa21]

lolz @ you editing my post

I have a new DGN2000 Netgear router which I'm trying to setup at present (having problems around it actually seeing my ADSL line even though my O2 box can see it fine)

That is weird about the MAC address filtering. By default, LAN side traffic shouldn't filter MAC addresses unless specifically told to do so, although agreed there are always weird things that just cause problems. I'll look into that one.

Its a workgroup, no domain. I have tried with Vista and XP firewall disabled and AV disabled as well, no luck. I think the MAC address thing is worth a look.

I'll let you know once I get the DGN2000 router setup... Netgear support were teh n00bs, I had to tell THEM how to do a hard reset of the router.. they kept saying that there was a small hole near the power button that I had to use to reset it, when blatantly on this model the instructions say you have to hold in the wireless and WPS button on the end of the router. I guess they suck at even reading from a manual them Netgear support boys

Cheers mate

 

[hawkinsa21]

Well, the DGN2000 has WIPED the floor with both the O2 box and the D-Link put together. I'm now able to instantly connect to the PC, and I'm currently streaming 1080p vids to my Xbox / TV without ANY LOSS OF QUALITY OR SIGNAL.

I can safely say....

.... w00t !!!1

Thanks for all your helpage muchos gratitude

 

[FarFarAway]

Sweet mate, I did think a non-cr@p router might solve ur issues!

 

[hawkinsa21]

lolz, ye, if anyone else happens to have the misfortune of owning an O2 Wireless Box II, then believe me when I say that port forwarding is broken on it... you can input the settings on the router, but they just don't work. Also, the LAN speeds on the switch are super rubbish... testing a 6 year old D-Link DI-624 picked up the speeds 10 fold so I'm not sure what massive advantage my new Netgear will have over that as well... I'm sure its nothing compared to your Draytek though Matt

 

[stuck]

can you tell me the settings please !!!

at last my vista laptop can stream via windows media player, and the 360 sees it !!

my old battered XP was no problem, but the vista with media centre is a nightmare

 

[hawkinsa21]

can you tell me the settings please !!!

at last my vista laptop can stream via windows media player, and the 360 sees it !!

my old battered XP was no problem, but the vista with media centre is a nightmare

Do you have the o2 wireless box?? If so, scrap it, it simply doesn't work with Xbox media sharing and the LAN speeds are rubbish. The new Netgear DGN2000 I bought worked on the 360 out of the box. It was obviously a problem the the o2 wireless box. It was quite simply not fit for purpose

 

[stuck]

Do you have the o2 wireless box?? If so, scrap it, it simply doesn't work with Xbox media sharing and the LAN speeds are rubbish. The new Netgear DGN2000 I bought worked on the 360 out of the box. It was obviously a problem the the o2 wireless box. It was quite simply not fit for purpose

I have the netgear router you have. I have the vista transfering media files from itunes libary and just cant get the windows media centre going

i was hoping you knew what port forwarding details to change, if thats the problem

 

[hawkinsa21]

I have the netgear router you have. I have the vista transfering media files from itunes libary and just cant get the windows media centre going

i was hoping you knew what port forwarding details to change, if thats the problem

Hmmm, mine worked out of the box. This should be the case with all the DGN2000's and it will be something else stopping the media sharing that is on your PC.

I would first try and turn off the iTunes media sharing as this could be stopping Windows from working. During my troubleshooting phase everyone asked if I had any other sharing services running. iTunes will break anything.

By default, enabling Media player 11 for media sharing (done via Media player 11) will enable the media network sharing service (named that or something similar, not at my own PC to check) which in turn will create an exception in your Windows firewall rules.

I assume that you have setup sharing from the media player?? Are you able to see your Xbox as a compatible device if you open the media sharing options?? You should be presented with a list of any available devices on your network, i.e. other computers or the xbox / ps3 whatever...

Let me know.

Bottom line is that if you have the DGN2000 out of the box, and UPnP is enabled (which is by default), and you setup media player on a new Windows machine, it is likely to work... so something else is stopping it. . .

Check that it is on the same network, check that iTunes is disabled, check that Media sharing is setup to the xbox from the Windows machine. Disable any 3rd party Firewalls, for example - NOD32 despite being great, has known issues with media sharing on xboxs as the zones and rules do not always work despite being stipulated by the people who set them up... use the Windows firewall to troubleshoot this as it will automatically append the ports needed when it creates an entry in the exceptions tab. You can always re-enable 3rd party firewalls if the Windows one isn't working either although I recommend troubleshooting with the Windows one and if that works and your 3rd party firewall / AV doesn't then you can start looking on their respective manufacturers forums etc

Failing that, do a hard reset of the router in case you have made any changes to it (which I obviously don't know!), you do this by holding down both the black buttons on the end for like 5 seconds (and would you believe that the Netgear support told me that was incorrect when I had problems completing the 'broken' wizard, they actually said they were the engineers and that there was a hard reset button by the power lead and there blatantly is not haha)

I don't know the ports off hand. Your router IS capable of the sharing media and using the Windows firewall will auto put the ports in. There are articles on Microsofts sites with the port numbers listed, I think THIS link has them listed, and is legit for anything from WMP9 and upwards.

Good luck, and post back!

 

[kendo]

Small but vital point in my experience but are all you PCs and laptop using the same workgroup name (right click my computer - properties - computer name. Use domain ID to change if required.

For some reason MS wireless network wizard uses MSHOME as default but wired network wizard defaults to WORKGROUP (or vice versa, can't recall which way round right now). If the network isn't consistent xbox360 can't see all computers. MSHOME works for my wired PC, wireless PC and wired 360.

Plus as other have said already, have you added the xbox360 to the trusted list for the router if it's wireless and added the 360 to the WMP allowed devices list on each computer?

 

[stuck]

thanks guys I will give it a go tommorow

upgraded the laptop to Vista service pack 2 yesterday, which wont do anything but I thought i would tell you anyway

I will switch off itunes file sharing

with regard to computer name , there is 4 names I see

Computer name

full computer name

computer description

workgroup

so I will look at the old XP and make sure ' workgroup' has the same name ??

each computer or games console has its own name in trusted devices with its corresponding MAC address,

the 360 is in file sharing and with the XP machine in Vista............ however I am shattered with this heat so will try tommorow

 

[kendo]

thanks guys I will give it a go tommorow

with regard to computer name , there is 4 names I see

Computer name

full computer name

computer description

workgroup

so I will look at the old XP and make sure ' workgroup' has the same name ??

each computer or games console has its own name in trusted devices with its corresponding MAC address,

Yes, it's the workgroup or 'domain ID' that needs to be the same on all the computers on your network, the other 3 'names' can be different.

 

[stuck]

ok guys

tried your suggestions

it keeps dropping the Vista connection. I tried changing the channels as well and only 1 to 4 works happily in the house.

when i look at network devices in Vista the 36o and the XP are there. File sharing is ON and itunes has been switched off.

one thing I noticed is that the XP and Vista both have a music and video symbol beside them, but not the 360. I loaded a music CD into the hard drive just to see if i can access it

sometimes the vista machine is there and when i click on it to access media files it just drops straight away.

in the router in attached devices the 360 and laptop are there, but the 360 is named as unknown. I think i will delete it and re add it.

also in the router settings it knows to allow xbox36mc1 in firewall rules

the settings though seem weird to me !! the outbound services in ACTION has ALLOW always in both boxes, however in INBOUND services the ACTION has 2 choices ALLOW always in bold and BLOCK always in default. I have tried enable but to no avail. It may be that interference in the house is to blame and I should tried it wired

i think i will try wired between 360 and laptop to see if I can get it going, and then I know at least it works