(unofficial) XBOX 360 NETWORK GUIDE v1.2 getting your 360 working with a router and solving network related problems created: 25 July 2006 latest revision: 16 August 2007 ===================================== by Rob Brown / Harmonica cinephile at gmail.com ===================================== Hello. I hope this helps with your network problems. This guide will apply to any router make, but the terms will apply directly to Netgear routers. Additionally, this was formatted in Notepad with the font 'Calibri' at 11pt. I apologise if it looks stupid in whatever font you use, you can probably cure this by using Trebuchet MS which is a default XP font. If you have any comments or corrections you can email me! ==== THINGS THAT YOU NEED TO DO ==== 1. Assign your xbox a static IP address *with a tailing octet outside the DHCP server range*. ------ *This applies if devices on your network are automatically assigned IPs by the router server (if your devices are manually configured, or to learn how, see b] below). a] The tailing octet is the last set of numbers in the IP (xxx.xxx.xxx.*xxx*). By default, most routers DHCP range is from 2 to 254, but you should be able to change this in your router settings. - Access your router's configuration panel by typing the router's IP address into your browser. It is often 192.168.0.1 (consult your router's manual). - Find where you set DHCP settings, and lower the 'ending IP address' to 192.168.0.*250* (actual form of IP my vary, consult manual, or refer to the default IP). - Then, under 'LAN setup' (name may vary) assign your 360 the IP 192.168.0.*251*. You will need the MAC address of the 360, which you can find in the 360 dashboard (see below). b] if you are only using a limited number of devices on your network, you can set each of them up with a static IP, and then make sure that they only use that IP. - To find the MAC address of a computer, type 'cmd' in the Run box to bring up the DOS prompt, and then type 'ipconfig /all'. The MAC address is listed under 'physical address'. - Set this computer an IP on the router's configuration panel. - To force computers to use a certain IP, goto Network Connections in the Control Panel, bring up the properties page for the network connection you use, and access the 'Internet Protocol TCP/IP' properties. - Select 'use the following IP address' and then type the static IP that you have assigned that device. The 'subnet mask' usually takes the form 255.255.255.0, where the number 255 is masking those parts of the IP address from being assigned by the server. If the last two octets of your IP adress change, the subnet mask will be 255.255.0.0, and so on. The 'default gateway' is the IP of your router, which might be 192.168.0.1 (consult your router manual). Below, set the 'preferred DNS server' to the router's IP. - Click OK all the way out. - To find the MAC address of your Xbox 360, go to the System blade, select 'Network Settings', select 'Edit Settings', navigate right to 'Additional Settings', then highlight 'Advanced Settings' and select. The 'Wired MAC Address' is listed at the bottom of this screen. - To force your 360 to use a certain IP, go to the System blade, select 'Network Settings', select 'Edit Settings', highlight the 'IP Settings' section (highlighted by default) and select, select 'Manual'. - Now you may edit the IP Address, the subnet mask (usually takes the form 255.255.255.0, where the number 255 is masking those parts of the IP address from being assigned by the server), and the gateway (your router's IP). - Set the DNS to your router's IP. Once you have set your devices up on your router following either of these methods, then they will not conflict with each other (steal each others' IPs). -- 2. Open Xbox Live ports ----- Xbox Live needs certain ports to be opened so that you can successfully take part in all the various joys of the service. Some things that are affected by these ports not being open are: ability to search for games, ability to connect to games, ability to receive friends requests, ability to join friend's games and the ability to send/receive voice communications. - Connect to your router and find where you can define ports that need to be opened, often called 'Services'. - Create a new service. name: xbox live 1 type: UDP start port: 88 finish port: 88 Click Apply. *The following two services can be combined if you are able to select TCP/UDP under 'type'*. - Create another service. name: xbox live 2 type: UDP start port: 3074 finish port: 3074 - Create another service. name: xbox live 3 type: TCP start port: 3074 finish port: 3074 Additionally, EA operates its own servers on Xbox Live, and if you plan to play any of EA's games you will need to open their ports too: - Create another service. name: EA Xbox Live 1 type: UDP start port: 3658 finish port: 3659 - Create another service. name: EA Xbox Live 2 type: UDP start port: 6000 finish port: 6001 Now you have created these port services, you need to define the rules that tell the incoming data to head to the 360. - Find the 'Firewall rules' section of your router's control panel. - Under Inbound, click Add. In service, select xbox live 1(UDP:88) In action, select ALLOW Always In Send to LAN server, input 192 . 168 . 0 . *x* (where *x* is the number that you assigned your 360 before - the form of the whole IP address may be different for your router) - Leave the other options how they are (if you have logging as an option, you can turn it off) and click Apply. Repeat this process for the other three services. Now any data that comes in from the XBL service will head straight to your 360. -- 3. Another fun thing you can do is to increase your MTU size ----- Your MTU size is the size of the packets which can be sent by your router around your network (literally, 'Maximum Transmission Unit'). If your MTU is set too low, then the data sent out by Microsoft has to be fragmented by your router and this causes problems and lag. It is beneficial for this to be set as large as possible, preferable upto 1500, the largest. This can increase download speeds from Xbox Live and improve communications. Find wherever this is set on your router's configuration panel, often under 'WAN setup' if this is a wireless router. * Your ISP may have specified a smaller MTU than 1500, and in this case it is advisable to set it to that, rather than making it any bigger, and this can cause a delay in internet communications. =================== Your Xbox should now be working rather well. Rejoice.