Xbox 360 Live Networking Issue

[DrWookie]

Okay, I am fairly knowledgeable about networking and I am stumped as to the problem I am having right now, I appreciate any help/insight people can give.


I use a Belkin Wireless Pre-N Router becuase I have a fairly large house and the Pre-N allows me to extend a good distance (I also have a repeater for the one room on the opposite side of the house which, as luck would have it, my Xbox360 is located). The model is F5D8230-4

Anyway, when all is said and done my Xbox 360 is connected to my wireless router and it ALWAYS has a "Very Good" or "Excellent" Connection (Full green bars or Full - 1) It has never failed the internet testing thing and the NAT is Open (The IP of my Xbox is placed in the DMZ so it is outside the firewall). Also just in case I have opened both ports that they recommend you open for the Xbox 360.

Everything seems to work perfectly, I get great download speeds with demos and videos, I have a super stable internet connection...I can be on the Xbox for hours without it disconnecting or getting worse than Very Good (Thankyou Repeater).





Okay so now that the good part is out of the way, when I load up a game (The two I have with Live are Perfect Dark Zero and Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter) I get into games just fine. I can enter a game lobby (And in Ghost Recon's cause I can wait for a game to finish as long as I need...I"ve waited 20 minutes while other people played in game for hte round to finish so I could actually join the game). Once again it all seems stable until I actually ENTER the game world. Once I enter I usually give myself 2 or 3 minutes before I either get a "reconnecting" message (In the case of Perfect Dark Zero) where it pauses and then I start moving again after like 5 seconds or I get "Connection Failed" or "Lost Connection to Host" or any number of "Connection Failed" type errors. Perfect Dark Zero either continues on with the game with a "Reconnecting" message every 5 or so minutes or will eventually say "Connection Failed".

Now I know it isn't an issue with the servers I join because I can reenter the game list and find the exact games with all the people still there as if nothing has happened. In the short time I get in game I have asked people if they experienced problems and they said no, it was all good.








So you can see my problem...I've talked to Xbox tech support three times and eventually it all comes back to "I'm sorry but your router is not on the compatibility list and therefore I can't help you. Buy a new router". And then when I ask "What would make it not compatible?" all they can say is "We don't know, it just isn't compatible".

Now if you ask me, routers are pretty good about options and settings...you can change quite a few things...and I have always used belkin because they are reliable, have good options and great support...but it isn't like their support can help with this...and microsoft doesn't seem to care unless I go out and buy another router (And of course their list of compatible routers are filled with netgear which is horrid and linksys, who route their tech support to india for the worst experience ever).

Anyway, I dont' really see what would make a router permanently "incompatible"...originally I thought it was because my NAT was moderate but now that it is in the DMZ my NAT is open and everything says it should work fine on the xbox.






Any advice? I would appreciate any help at this point.

Brian.


EDIT:

Oh and I wasn't sure if this should be under gaming or networking...from my point of view it seems like a networking issue but I can move it (Or feel free, any admin, to move it).

 

[Gustajo]

XBox Live requires 3 ports for full open access. UDP/88 UDP/3074 and TCP/3074. The F5D8230-4 comes hardcoded with some sort of web based management stuck on port 88. As I understand it the DMZ sends all unforwarded ports to the DMZ. Since 88 is being forwarded, by default hardcoding, to the web service then it will continually cause glitches with XBox Live. I just started trying to configure this router for a friend and I can't get Belkin tech support to respond yet. I can't imagine why they would hard code a web management port, but they better fix it with a firmware patch or they're going to lose a lot of business from XBox live gamers.
If I manage to track down a solution to the port 88 blocking, I'll post it here. BTW if you want to check if your router has the same port 88 issue, go to the virtual server tab and place an entry for Xbox, 88,88, (your xbox360 ip),88,88 and enable it. Every time I've tried I get a pop-up complaining that it will cause a collision with the wireless web management.
Good luck.

 

[DelJo63]

the latest models of xbox do not require port forwarding

here's a setup I have for a friend:

cable modem
   |
netgear router(192.168.0.1) -- an eMac 
   |
dlink switch ---  Linux Web server
   |         ---  Xp/home laptop
   |
(192.168.0.10)his Linksys router(192.168.1.1)
                             + xbox(192.168.1.101)
                             + his XP/pro(192.168.1.100)

only the following are port forwarded to 192.168.0.10

aol 5190-5193
Vintrillo 3784
​

So try it and see what happens and then if necessary, port forward the xbox ports too

 

[Gustajo]

XBox 360 + Belkin F5D8230-4 == Xbox Live Nat - Open

If the Dlink switch has UPnP enabled then that should work. When you run "Test XBox Live Connection" from the system tab I suspect you'll find that the NAT result is Strict or Moderate. While you can do most things in xbox live and connect to games with those that are open, you will encounter errors connecting to those that also have strict or moderate NAT's (according to xbox.com pages regarding NAT)

Anyway... to get past the problem with port 88 being hogged by the router here's what seems to have worked.

In Virtual Servers forward TCP and UDP port 3074 to your XBOX static IP.
In IP Filters BLOCK UDP port 88 from the ROUTER IP (192.168.2.1 by default)
Under DMZ place the XBOX IP in the DMZ and enable it.

With those settings we were able to get my friends XBox to test as NAT=Open. And he was able to host games that I could connect to in Halo 2 as well as join games I had hosted. :grinthumb

Since my xbox is stuck on moderate that seems like a fix to me. (I really have to find a way to get 2 Xbox's behind one firewall to work but that's another post...)

 

[danmam]

I have the same router as the guy with the original post. I can't get past the Xbox IP confirmed test, though. I have a Linksys wireless-g gaming adapter (wga54g). I followed the instructions in the previous post (blocked port 88 from router IP, forwarded 3074 UDP and TCP to Xbox static IP, put xbox in DMZ). I know the problem isn't the gaming adapter (I've gotten online to a laptop and a PC through it). Is there something else I have to do with the router to get it to pass the test? All help appreciated.

 

[saintjimmyx]

i have been having problems with my xbox live connection; 360; for a long time now. i bought my 360 a week after this last christmas past.

wired, use automatic IP data. But it always says the IP failed. then when i look at more info it says "Your console was unable to negotiate a lease with your DHCP server. Make sure that addresses are available on your server."

i use a wireless usb linksys adaptor that is connected to a router in another room in my home. i went online to one of those "this is your IP address!" things and they tell me, i put it in, but then it tells me that only the gateway needs to be changed. i read info on how to find out your IP, Gateway, and subnet. but when i do it- it says ".." for gateway. i'm computer stupid and have no clue where to go from here.

can someone help me at all?

 

[saintjimmyx]

**the router also being a linksys.