f13.net forums - PC can't connect to 360 as an extender

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July 27, 2025, 07:13:13 AM

we're back, baby

I'm at a loss of what to do. When I bought my 360 I bought my tv at the same time. I had everything setup and I could stream stuff to my 360 easiily over both my wireless and wired network connections. However, I only used it once (but everything WAS working) due to the fact that I lived alone and just kept my laptop hooked up directly to my tv via HDMI so there was no reason to stream over the network. However, now I am living with other people and the tvs are shared, so streaming video and music to the tv is the preferred option, however I can't for the life of me get my 360 and laptop to talk to each other.

My laptop is using Vista Home Premium. I tried upgrading to the latest networking drivers and that didn't help. I'm fully upgraded to SP1 and up to date with windows updates. My 360 can connect to xbox live (I'm downloading a game demo right now) so I know the network connection is working. I have shut down Windows Firewall (only firewall running). What happens is I go into WMC and go to Add extender, I enter the 8 digit code I see on the screen in front of me (from the 360) and it looks around for about 2 minutes and then gives up, claiming it couldn't find an extender.

What confuses me more is that I remember when I had it hooked up the first time, Windows had a popup talking about how a media extender was available but that popup is no longer coming up. Also, when I go to the network neighborhood equivalent on vista I don't see the 360 on there at all, I only see my laptop (no other computers here are on the network). I disconnected the current WMC profile from the 360 and removed the 360 from the allow/deny media sharing option and I am still getting nothing.

I'm at a loss. The networking equipment is exactly the same, nothing has changed except physical location (I'm connecting it even with the exact same ethernet cable). Both PC and 360 are getting IP addresses from the router via DHCP.

Anyone have any ideas :(

Load up Media Center on your Xbox again and get the 8 digit code to enter into Media Center on your PC again. For some weird reason I had to do it two or three times before it worked. It works great once it's working but it took some finaggling and pateince to get it going.

Also once you do get it working screw media center. If you don't already use the video and audio options on the dashboard instead. Works much faster if just streaming stuff you have saved on your computer. Only catch is you have to use media player on your computer to make playlists for music.

Also try manually uninstalling the extender out of Media Center if you are not already doing that. It may not be showing up as new since it's already there. I know I have to do this and reassociate everything every time I upgrade vmcNetFlix.

Quote from: veredus on August 25, 2008, 11:59:56 PM

I've probably entered the 8 digit code literally 50 times in the past 2 days trying to get it to work, so persistence doesn't seem to be helping.

Quote from: vex on August 26, 2008, 03:09:53 AM

Well when I removed the previous profile on the 360 for my WMC (because they weren't seeing each other for some reason) the extender profile in Media Center on my pc dissappeared somehow. I don't know if there are still remnants still existing of the old extender profile somewhere since I don't understand how WMC could have known I deleted the profile off of my 360.

Either way WMC is reporting no known extenders and it's still not working :(

http://forums.xbox.com/11496426/ShowPost.aspx ?

Was thinking it might be this:

Quote

Cause 2: Secondary MAC address is configured on the Xbox 360. Media Center Extender setup will fail if a secondary MAC address is configured on the Xbox 360. When you have a secondary MAC address configured and attempt setup, you will end up with two devices listed in the Media Center Extender UI. This single device will have separate setup keys. Resolution is to remove secondary MAC addresses from the Xbox 360. Note* There may be a reason that you have configured a secondary MAC address on your Xbox 360. Before removing this address review KB article for a possible reason you have this configured. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/817631

Remove the secondary MAC address in the System section of the Xbox 360 dashboard

1. Select Network Settings
2. Select Edit Settings
3. Select the Advanced Settings Tab
4. Select the Advanced Settings
5. Select Alternate MAC Address
6. Clear the MAC Address using the on-screen keyboard, then select Done.
7. Select Done to exit out of the Advanced Settings. If prompted, test the Xbox live connection.
8. Exit back to the system section of the dashboard.
9. Select computers, select Media Center, select disconnect

Return to the Vista PC and add the extender.

Tried everything on that page and nothing worked Shaking fist

What's annoying me is I now know for a fact that my pc can see the 360 because when I view the network map in vista it shows the 360. So wtf >.<

If you can see the 360 on your PC, have you tried turning on file sharing with the 360 through the network on vista?

I have file sharing one, how do I set it up specifically to share to the 360?

Wow fucking really?

I stopped running my VPN software (which wasn't even connected) and immediately I get the "extender found" popup I really didn't expect the VPN to fuck with anything when it wasn't even being used >.<.

thanks for the help guys :)

Quote from: KallDrexx on August 26, 2008, 07:29:11 PM

It's hard to tell what will affect what. I remember back when I ran Win98 I tried a third-party internet sharing utility. When the trial period ended I decided I didn't want to pay for it so I quit using it. Then (WTF?) I found out no networking was working on my PC. Finally figured out the utility was blocking all IP activity on my computer, regardless if I was using the utility or not. Nice.

All the problems went away once I uninstalled it.

You were triggering something in Vista's DRM. VPN could potentially let you connect through that PC remotely as if you were on the local network. So they locked it off, but like most DRM they did so silently and without explaining where it was coming from. Vista's filled with that crap (big part of why it is so bloated and slow).

--Dave