Xbox 360 to pc without a lan connection??

[yoda313]

So can you use a usb-usb a-a (I believe that is what the type is when both are the flat output plugs) to connect a xbox 360 to a pc? I don't have a functioning lan connection on my pc. I was able to get a pci lan card working but didn't have the spare slot to leave it there permanently. I'm looking for a usb solution for xbox 360 media center connection.

I do have wifi on my xbox and the pc but it is only good enough for music at wifi G speeds. It says a lan is required for tv signals. However Lan isn't an option.

What I'm thinking of doing is one of two things - either getting a USB powered WIRED router to connect the two OR a USB connection cable. Does the xbox 360 support a direct connection via USB? And wouldn't that be faster than a 100 lan cable any way? Isn't USB capable of 400 or so speed?

TIA.

EDIT - I have seen USB-Ethernet adapters for adding lan capability. I have also seen a 40.00 linksys usb connected router at officedpot I believe. Looks like I should find a viable alternative. Thanks.

Edit 2 - I bought a linksys usb to ethernet adapter for 30.00 at office max today. I got it installed on Vista no problem. Now my task is to get the 360 to have a connection over wired instead of wifi and to share my wifi G adapter that I have on my vista pc in the same room. This will be interesting..

Edit 3 - Ok I've tried 5 different lan cables and none of them show a cable connection in the windows network folder. It shows my linksys adapter is active but it says cable is unplugged. Now I know I have a solid connection on both the 360 and the adapter. What gives???

[Bjs]

Id personally would drop the idea of the usb connected router, while it may work, it is not recommended.

Hint > http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/systemuse/xbox360/digitalmedia/pc.htm (read the note halfway down)

[Krispy Kritter]

In order to connect two hardware devices without using a switch (which you should be able to get for $10-20, you have to use a "crossover cable". A normal LAN cable is straight through. You will also have to configure the PC to recognize directly connected hardware (as opposed to a normal network connection).

[yoda313]

Thanks BJS - I'll check it out.

@ KRISPY KRITTER - Actually somewhere on the xbox site I remember reading that the 360 is able to go with a patch instead of a crossover - something about being switched on the console itself. Can't remember the exact terminology.

I'm gonna try it again this weekend. How would I go about configuring Vista to detect a straight connection? What setting is that in the network setup?

EDIT 1 - Ok I've dug up a cable that does say crossover on it. However I got no response on the usb lan adapter. I plugged it into my lan port on the pc and it winks on and off. It keeps switching to enabled and then "network cable unplugged", over and over again. I also get a green link light on the xbox itself in the setup menu and then it goes red indicating a loss of signal. Is this a symptom of a frayed wire?

[Krispy Kritter]

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/mediacenter/xbox360.mspx

And based on what I've now read, you are correct, you don't need a crossover cable.

[Bjs]

Cant tell you anything about vista for now but

While network switches, routers, and of course the xbox360 itself are designed for auto configuration when using patch leads within a network enviorment, the pc is certainly not designed for such. It's possible that the usb device in current use dose not support this function.

You wouldn't connect 2 pc's as a network with a "patch" lead, now would you.

So take any "patch leads" out

Yes, the xbox360 should have come with a very long, grey, patch cable.

====

Once the cable issue is sorted, move on

First, go into the windows firewall and setup the following ports > http://support.microsoft.com/kb/910635

Next is to get things a bit more organized

Example network setup: Depending on hardware / xbox360 live

Dsl modem/router = turn into plain dsl modem (no dhcp handling)
Router hub = handles internal network ip assignment (dhcp)

Default gateway on router : 192.168.0.1
Subnet mask : 255.255.255.0
Allowable ip's : 192.168.0 (2 - 3)

Assigned 192.168.0.2 (static address) on pc, and reboot (for administration purposes, given first ip from available pool)
Xbox360 assigned 192.168.0.3

Disable the routers firewall

Shut down all

1: Start modem, and wait till lights stop flashing
2: Start router hub, same as a bove
3: Fire up xbox360, wait a minute for router
4: Fire up pc

If all is done correctly, you should now be able to stream media to xbox360

If your current network use's any other ip, go into router and include the extra ip required in current ip pool, save, and reboot router.
Then head into the network settings on the xbox360, and change the default ip to the required ip for accessing the current network.

====

Must be pretty basic motherboard not to have available pci slot for network card ... might be worth including information regarding the system board, and whats already installed in slots.

This winking effect could be simple caused by items on the current network setup are not using the same ip pool addressing... ie, pc is 10.0.0.2, yet xbox360 is on 192.168.0.?? ... nothing will happen.

====

Edit : The bit where I said "Disable the routers firewall"

Now thats much simpler, otherwise you have to assign the ports in the router firewall, not just for the xbox360, but also for the pc, and point these (forward) to the corresponding ip's within the current lan network.

It can get pretty ugly from then on, so always use the router's backup feature ... these things have a habit of dropping their guts and settings when something gose wrong.

[yoda313]

Thanks bjs. However part of my issue is my dsl router and wifi router are in another room. I am using a usb wifi adapter to get the net on my vista pc. So my ultimate goal is to go from the 360 to the vista pc and share the net connection for XBOX LIVE.

The firewall issue is interesting. I hadn't thought about that. I'll also take another look into the port deals.

if having the firewall off enables full connection witht the 360 than I should assume its the ports that aren't right?

Well the weekend is almost here so I cna try this out again.

Right now its almsot time for Game 1 of Round 2 playoff hockey - GO RED WINGS!!!

[yoda313]

Well I broke down and bought a wired router. Its the dlink des 1105 5 port wired switch.

I know have a stable connection. I can see the link and activity lights stay green on the xbox 360 connection screen. During xbox connection I can get it to show a wired connection but fails at the ip address acquisition stage.

The router is dhcp enabled. I have also tried this with the windows firewall on and off and I have also turned off any blocking on my norton antivirus software also. Still no luck.

I can see the connection window on my pc. So I do have a connection through to the xbox. However it says "limited connectviity" and does not seem to show a dns setting. I do have an ip address showing.

I seem to be missing some final step here to get my 360 to connect wired to my pc. I would think that wired would be simpler than wireless but I haven't had this type of difficulty with my wireless adapter at all.

I think there is an issue with getting a dns setting established on the xbox.

At least now my connection is stable and both pc and xbox can at least see each other. Now the trick is to get them talking. Oh and yes I am now using a patch cable from the 360 to the router switch. I am using another router switch from the switch itself to the pc.

One other question - I started by plugging the cable from number 1 slot on the router to the pc but then switched the pc to router to number 2 - the 360 is on the number 1 currently.

Does that make any difference? Unlike my wireless dlink router there are no desgnations like wlan on the router - just the numbers 1 through 5.

Any other suggestions are welcomed. Now the configuration I am working on getting to go is xbox 360 to pc through a dlink des 1105 wired router switch. Thanks everyone.

[aedipuss]

the only way the xbox is going to automatically get an ip is through dhcp(dynamic host configuration protocol) , not dns(domain name server). your pc is not a dhcp server. you need to get the broadband router hooked to the cable/dsl modem and then connect the pc and xbox to the router. then they can both get ips.

[yoda313]

Thanks aedipuss.

However my dsl modem and router are in another room.

My pc is connected wirelessly via a usb wifi adapter. I have this dlink wired switch connected to my xbox 360. That is what I want to get working.

[aedipuss]

if you want the xbox to get an ip you need a broadband router hooked up before the wireless router in order to share the 1 ip that your isp will give you.

the order needs to be modem<-- broadband router<-- (wireless router and wired router), and then the xbox and pc

[yoda313]

I think I have it setup that way. I have an active net connection through my wifi usb adapter on my receiving vista pc. I can also get net connection wirelessly on the xbox itself with the xbox brand wireless adapter.

Is an ethenet switch not capable of connecting a 360 to a pc? Should I return it and purchase a true wired router? Would that make the difference?

What exactly is a switch versus a router? I have a ethernet switch.

[aedipuss]

can you get both the xbox and pc online at the same time? that would indicate you have a broadband router.

a switch or hub is passive gateway, traffic is allowed to pass through.

a broadband router is an active switch that can take a single ip from an isp and allow multiple connections simultaneously. they can be either wired or wireless.

[yoda313]

I bought an actual switch. I can get the xbox online with the wireless adpater. I have a dlink di524 wireless router in another room. That is sending an active signal to my usb wifi adapter on my pc and to my xbox 360. What I am trying to do is to get my xbox 360 to connect WIRED to my pc through the switch.

Is there any way I could get networking bridging to work in this application?

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/networking/expert/crawford_02april22.mspx

This is one of a copule of links I've bumped into online through other forums. Basically I want the wireless router to coninue beaming the net to my pc in a seperate room but have that pc connected WIRED to the xbox 360 and share the net connection plus Media Center.


I appreciate the help aedipuss but I think we might be getting our signals crossed here. Believe me networking is not a strong suit of mine. I can get things going but it is not second nature to me.

What I wish MS had done was provided a simple A-A usb cable with setup software so you could simply install "xbox 360" on the pc and boom your in. Hah no such luck huh? Well I'm getting closer I can feel it..... THanks.

[aedipuss]

i don't think the computer will share the net with the xbox that way. ics is for 2 windows computers and there is a program that needs to be run on the "slave" or xbox in your case for it to work.

did you check if you can get both pc and xbox online at once?

[TooLFooL]

i think the problem is because you are trying to use wired and wireless devices at the same time. and honestly, you shouldn't have to. if both devices get internet, both devices should network.

EDIT: i see you said you need a lan connection for video, so in that case, drop the wireless and go all wired. you already bought the hardware..

i personally went with a wired network for higher performance. i run cablemodem --> 4-port router --> 8-port switch --> all computers/devices. i also have a 4-pork wireless router (for laptop) which is plugged to the 4-port router. the first router gets YOUR ip address (assigned from isp) and also manages ALL ip addresses for ALL other devices. the wireless router is simply set to operate as a 'switch' NOT a 'gateway'. that way it doesn't try to assign ip's, it simply passes them from the first router. with this setup, every computer/device in the house can network easily.

[yoda313]

Thanks tool fool. I think I follow.

So what I should do is connect my wired switch to the dsl modem FIRST then connect the wireless router to the switch? Then that way the wireless router beams to my vista pc in another room and I should be able to network the xbox 360 to the vista pc and share a net connection that way?

Or am I oversimplifying it?

THanks everyone.

[TooLFooL]

you need to go to a router first...
see, the router will be assigned your ip address, and then (using dhcp) will assign the other devices an ip address. a switch on it's own can't split the signal to your other devices, so basically the first connected device would get the ip and no others will connect. I'm hoping your wireless router also has more lan ports on it? if so go from dsl modem --> router --> switch

[yoda313]

well thanks toolfool. however that is the problem. the router is in the other room on another floor. I am thinking i will just go and finally buy a full fledged media center remote and forget going through the xbox.

[Krispy Kritter]

Logitech Harmony series...I have the 880 which I found at a really good price a few months back. They also have a xbox 360 version: http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Harmony-Xbox-360-Remote/dp/B000CCXCYC/ref=pd_bbs_sr_8?i...0085928&sr=8-8