Can't connect Xbox as Extender after NIC change

[wcassell]

I've been driving myself crazy with this over the last couple weeks, and have posted in a couple forums, but everyone seems as stumped as I am.

I have a HTPC with an onboard Realtek NIC. I have 2 XBOXs connected as extenders, and they've been working pretty well, but I was seeing more network stuttering than I wanted. I bought and installed an Intel NIC: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6833106033

The new NIC works perfectly for Internet and other network connectivity, but I can not get my XBOXs to pair with it when I try to reset them up as extenders. If I go into the network connections and view the network map I can even see the XBOXs on the network, but everytime I go into set-up it fails on the first "check-box" (Connecting to Extender).

I've tried the following multiple times:
- Removing connection from XBOX
- Uninstalling from HTPC
- Rebooting every piece of hardware: PCs, XBOXs, Router, switch
- Enabled flow control on the old NIC

Other factors:
- Running Windows 7 (64bit)
- HTPC, and XBOXs are all on static IPs (old NIC is 192.168.1.214, new Intel NIC is 192.168.1.215)
- Using Windows firewall - Have tried setting up with it on, and with it off - No difference

For now I've had to revert back to using my old NIC, but would like to switch over.

Anyone have any thoughts on what else I need to do? Are there router settings (port forwarding) that I need to change?

[barnabas1969]

Have you tried disabling the old NIC, and set the new one to the same IP address as the old one (192.168.1.214)?

[wcassell]

Have you tried disabling the old NIC, and set the new one to the same IP address as the old one (192.168.1.214)?

I haven't, but that's a good idea. I'll try that this weekend.

[barnabas1969]

I suppose you could also try changing the MAC address of the new NIC to match the old one (after you disable the old one, of course).

[wcassell]

I suppose you could also try changing the MAC address of the new NIC to match the old one (after you disable the old one, of course).

If #1 above doesn't work I'll try that.

Any thoughts on why this is happening? I'm assuming it should be plug and play, but really have no ideas why the NIC would matter. It's definitely tied to that NIC however . . My onboard Realtek has 2 NICs, and it only ever works through the original 1 I have connected.

[barnabas1969]

I'm thinking that it could be...

1) Something to do with IP binding in Windows and/or in the XBox.
2) Firewall-related
3) Virus-protection related

I see that you disabled the firewall... but I don't recall seeing what you're using for virus protection. Some antivirus software can cause some weird problems... even when you disable it. Sometimes, it is necessary to UNINSTALL the antivirus software before you can definitively say that it wasn't causing the problem.

Have you tried resetting the XBox extender software back to factory defaults? On my HP and Linksys extenders, I know there is a procedure to reset them to factory defaults. I don't know how you can do that in XBox.

Also, do you have your old NIC bridged/shared/routing-enabled? You may need to disable all that type of stuff before you disable the old NIC.

[barnabas1969]

I suppose I should also mention that you should only have ONE firewall software installed, and ONE anti-virus software installed. I've seen people who have more than one running, and it causes all kinds of weird issues.

Most folks here will recommend to use Windows Firewall, and Microsoft Security Essentials for anti-virus. Both of them play nice with Media Center... and they're free.

[mcewinter]

Make sure Windows 7 didn't default your network to 'Public' rather than 'Home' after changing your NIC.

[wcassell]

I'm using Windows Security Essentials/Malwarebytes as my virus/malware protection. I haven't tried to unistall it, but have disabled both while trying to set it up.

As far as setting Xboxs back to factory state, I'm not sure if that option exists, but I'll see if I can dig anything up.

I'm not bridging any of my NICs, so that shouldn't be the problem.

For network, I have confirmed that the new NIC is set up as "Home".

Really appreciate the thoughts on this. All good ideas and I'll try to test them out over the weekend.

[barnabas1969]

If you have the Ceton tuner, are you doing any tuner sharing?

[wcassell]

If you have the Ceton tuner, are you doing any tuner sharing?

I'm using the HD Homerun Prime tuner, which is network attached (vs PC card). It has 3 tuners and I am sharing those feeds successfully with my other computers in the house (and Xboxs when attached to the Realtek NIC).

[barnabas1969]

OK, I just had to ask because if you have the Ceton tuner and you have enabled tuner sharing, then you have bridged the connection between your NIC and the Ceton tuner. But since you're using an HDHRP, that isn't the problem.

[wcassell]

Okay . . . home now and have tried a couple things:

- Tried to reset XBOX to default state, was able to reformat drive, but that didn't seem to work. Need to do some research on other ways to do that
- Changed the IP addresses of the 2 NICs . . that didn't work
- The interesting thing however ... I plugged both NICs into my network switch, opened up WMC through the XBOX extender and got to the main WMC "blue" page. I then unplugged the cable for the Realtek NIC, and started to watch Live TV, and it worked (so it was obviously going through the Intel NIC). Turned off the XBOX and tried to come in again, but it wouldn't connect. So for some reason, it looks like it needs my original NIC only to do the initial handshake/connection, but is fine to use the Intel NIC for content streaming. Really strange.
- I haven't tried doing the MAC swapping yet on the NICs, but may try that later this weekend.

[barnabas1969]

- The interesting thing however ... I plugged both NICs into my network switch, opened up WMC through the XBOX extender and got to the main WMC "blue" page. I then unplugged the cable for the Realtek NIC, and started to watch Live TV, and it worked (so it was obviously going through the Intel NIC). Turned off the XBOX and tried to come in again, but it wouldn't connect. So for some reason, it looks like it needs my original NIC only to do the initial handshake/connection, but is fine to use the Intel NIC for content streaming. Really strange.

That's why I was thinking about resetting the extender in the XBox to factory defaults. It sounds like it "remembers" the old NIC somehow.

[wcassell]

Well . . after annoying my wife with another uninstall of WMC from the XBOX, I decided to give it a rest for a couple days. I'll try later this week, but I did try a couple things I saw online about sending XBOX back to it's default state, but none worked for me.

[barnabas1969]

I think the answer lies in how to set the extender within the XBox back to its default state. That is, if the problem lies in the XBox and not on the PC. It's entirely possible that there is some setting in the PC that only listens to extenders connecting on the old NIC. I wonder if there is some setting in Windows that binds the RDP listener to a specific IP or NIC.

[TeddyR]

This may seem counter-intuitive, but the when I had the same/similar issue the problem turned out to be that what I believe is a bug with the XBOX.

The solution in my case was to set the XBOX to use DHCP and not a static address. Not sure exactly why that would make a difference..

If that did not work, completely remove the IP address from the old NIC, or change the interface priority so that the Intel card has a better priority (lower number is better): In the Advanced TCP/IP settings on the card, change the "metric" from Automatic to something like "20" on the intel and "40" on the realtek.

[wcassell]

I think the answer lies in how to set the extender within the XBox back to its default state. That is, if the problem lies in the XBox and not on the PC. It's entirely possible that there is some setting in the PC that only listens to extenders connecting on the old NIC. I wonder if there is some setting in Windows that binds the RDP listener to a specific IP or NIC.

You could be onto something there, but not quite sure where to turn. I haven't been able to find a way to set the Xbox's back to default status. There are multiple videos online, but none seemed to work for my setup.

[wcassell]

This may seem counter-intuitive, but the when I had the same/similar issue the problem turned out to be that what I believe is a bug with the XBOX.

The solution in my case was to set the XBOX to use DHCP and not a static address. Not sure exactly why that would make a difference..

If that did not work, completely remove the IP address from the old NIC, or change the interface priority so that the Intel card has a better priority (lower number is better): In the Advanced TCP/IP settings on the card, change the "metric" from Automatic to something like "20" on the intel and "40" on the realtek.

Teddy,

I do have the Xboxs set up on a static IP address (through my router, not through the Xbox dashboard). I'll try tonight to revoke the IP reservation and see if that does anything.


Overall I'm hoping that the new Ceton Extenders will be up to snuff. If so, then I plan on replacing my Xboxs with Echos, and hopefully then I could just start the new connection with the new NIC. The Xboxs I'm using are the original, white consoles, so they're due for retirement.