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NAT Xbox Live help needed!

1084 Views 14 Replies 7 Participants Last post by dboss, May 10, 2007

Irunnoft

Discussion Starter · May 10, 2007

Ok, here's what I've got. I'm not as tech savvy as most are on this forum, but I'm not helpless. I'd appreciate any info I can get to help me with a problem with my NAT setting. Feel free to be in-depth and as step-by-step as possible as it will help others who might have the same issue!

I don't know how much info to give, but I've got a Sony Vaio desktop running Media Center. Recently switched from a local cable internet provider to Verizon DSL. For whatever reason, Verizon shipped me out an ActionTec DSL Gateway instead of a DSL modem. I've got the DSL line going into the Gateway and then I've got a DGL-4300 wireless router connected to that.

Prior to getting DSL, I had a Motorola Cable Modem and then the DGL-4300 router. I'm not sure if my NAT settings read Open with this configuration or not, but I believe it did.

Last night, BoomerBrian told me to go into the router settings and in the DMZ enter in the Xbox IP address. I did that, but I still got a moderate NAT reading. BTW, when I do the Test Xbox Live from the systems blade, is the IP address that's listed in the results of that test the IP address for my Xbox? I'm assuming it was.

Last night, I couldn't get into a GOW game to save my life. I kept getting game invites from several AVS members, but I kept getting a message that I lost connection to the host or something to that effect. Treek22 and BoomerBrian suggested that my problem might be stemming from not having the NAT set to Open.

So that's my goal. I'd like to get the NAT set to open. I was wondering if the ActionTec Gateway might be the fly in this ointment? FWIW, I've not had any problems connecting to XBL. I've had no trouble downloading updates, buying content from the marketplace, etc. I was also able to jump into online games and was able to finally get into an AVS sponsered GOW room last night, however, I'd like to get the NAT to Open to maximize connectivity with XBL so I don't have to suffer through this in the future.

Thanks in advace for all the help!

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1 - 15 of 15 Posts

dboss

· #2 · May 10, 2007

I had never had any problems with my NAT settings until I attempted to host last Wednesday night. For some reason my NAT setting went from open to moderate. I tried everything with the router(Linksys WRT54GS), DMZ, forwarding ports, Static IP on the 360, etc. but nothing would move the NAT to open. Finally, I placed everything back into their original settings and I unplugged the router for 30 seconds or so to make sure everything reset correctly. Guess what? The NAT settings turned to Open. No idea why things got screwed up, but that seemed to work for me.

Irunnoft

Discussion Starter · #3 · May 10, 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by dboss /forum/post/0

I had never had any problems with my NAT settings until I attempted to host last Wednesday night. For some reason my NAT setting went from open to moderate. I tried everything with the router(Linksys WRT54GS), DMZ, forwarding ports, Static IP on the 360, etc. but nothing would move the NAT to open. Finally, I placed everything back into their original settings and I unplugged the router to make sure everything reset correctly. Guess what? The NAT settings turned to Open. No idea why things got screwed up, but that seemed to work for me.

Dboss, I think you even tried to hook me up into a game last night. Anyhow, did you reset everything in your router back to default? What do you think about the ActionTec Gateway with the DGL-4300? Any ideas on whether or not I should swap that gateway Verizon sent me for a DSL modem? If so, any suggestions on equipment changes would be appreciated. Like I said, I'm still not sure why Verizon sent me a gateway when I told them I already had a wireless router.

FlipMasterFlash

· #4 · May 10, 2007

I had a similar problem when I had 2 gateways cascaded like that, since my new DSL modem actually has wireless I changed out my gateway for a wired network switch and everything works great now. I'm not sure if your modem has wireless, I'll assume it doesn't since you are using a wireless gateway.

I think you want to do is look for an option to turn the DSL modem off as a gateway. I looked up your modem instruction and it is called 'transparent bridging' it is under the advanced options on your modem setup. Since you are just using it as a modem with a gateway behind it, it just needs to act like a modem which is what this option does. Be sure your gateway has it's firewall and security settings on if you do this.

You should be able to set the options on your modem by entering it's address in your web browser '192.168.0.1' or '192.168.1.1' are typical addresses but you'll have to find which is the address for you modem and which is for your router. If your modem is left at default I'm pretty sure it'll be 192.168.0.1 according to the manual.

Looking at the site for your router make sure you have the latest firmware too
http://games.dlink.com/products/xbox...ompatiblechart

After all that it wouldn't hurt to make sure the 360 is in the DMZ, sounds like you figured that out. It'll need to be set in the options for your wireless router, not your modem since its routing options were turned off when you set it to transparent bridging.

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Irunnoft

Discussion Starter · #5 · May 10, 2007

I'm pretty sure this is the gateway I've got.

http://www.actiontec.com/products/br...y_4p/index.php

If it's not that one, then it's this one.

http://www.actiontec.com/products/br...y_4p/index.php

I'm pretty sure it's the first one. I have the DSL coming into the gateway (I guess that means it's serving as the modem). There's a connection going from the gateway to the computer and from the gateway to the D-Link wireless router and the D-Link is what I'm using to create the wireless network in my house. I think I tried the Actiontec as the router, but the signal was much weaker than with the D-Link.

This is the D-Link.

http://reviews.cnet.com/D_Link_DGL_4...-31229856.html

I couldn't post the link from the D-Link site because it gets blocked by the internet filter at my work because of the gaming connection. Filters at work. . . sheesh!!!

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Irunnoft

Discussion Starter · #6 · May 10, 2007

My internet filter is blocking my attempts to access the Xbox site. Can somebody paste the list of XBL compatible DSL modems, please? Any suggestions of which one of these modems might be best paired with the DGL-4300 wireless router I've already got? Is there a better/easier way to do this????

Thanks

BoomerBrian

· #7 · May 10, 2007

My also switched to moderate before. No matter what I tried it still said moderate. I even connected directly to my cable modem and it said moderate. Finally I reset my router to the factory defaults and connected my xbox back to the router and it said open. I am not sure what the xbox looks for to determine this but connecting straight to the Internet I thought would give me an open for sure. It is very screwy. I don't have mine in the DMZ. I left it alone once it said open.

Irunnoft

Discussion Starter · #8 · May 10, 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by BoomerBrian /forum/post/0

My also switched to moderate before. No matter what I tried it still said moderate. I even connected directly to my cable modem and it said moderate. Finally I reset my router to the factory defaults and connected my xbox back to the router and it said open. I am not sure what the xbox looks for to determine this but connecting straight to the Internet I thought would give me an open for sure. It is very screwy. I don't have mine in the DMZ. I left it alone once it said open.

Must've been set to 221.

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Slordak

· #9 · May 10, 2007

To achieve the "Open" setting, your Xbox has to be both able to send data out on any port, and receive incoming messages sent to specific ports. There are three general ways that one can try to make sure that incoming messages sent to those ports wind up getting routed to the Xbox:

1) Enable Universal Plug 'n Play on the router.

2) Give the Xbox a static IP, and put that static IP in the router's DMZ.

3) Give the Xbox a static IP, and use port forwarding on the router for specific ports.

If one has multiple levels of routing devices (e.g. a modem with a built-in router connected to another router), it's helpful to either disable the routing on the modem, or one has to go to some pretty elaborate measures to get things working. For example, if one puts the Xbox into the DMZ on the standard router, it doesn't have any effect on the routing performed at the modem itself (if it includes an internal router).

Please also see these posts for some previous discussions:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=785071
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=764013

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Irunnoft

Discussion Starter · #10 · May 10, 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by Slordak /forum/post/0

To achieve the "Open" setting, your Xbox has to be both able to send data out on any port, and receive incoming messages sent to specific ports. There are three general ways that one can try to make sure that incoming messages sent to those ports wind up getting routed to the Xbox:

1) Enable Universal Plug 'n Play on the router.

2) Give the Xbox a static IP, and put that static IP in the router's DMZ.

3) Give the Xbox a static IP, and use port forwarding on the router for specific ports.

If one has multiple levels of routing devices (e.g. a modem with a built-in router connected to another router), it's helpful to either disable the routing on the modem, or one has to go to some pretty elaborate measures to get things working. For example, if one puts the Xbox into the DMZ on the standard router, it doesn't have any effect on the routing performed at the modem itself (if it includes an internal router).

Please also see these posts for some previous discussions:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=785071
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=764013

Thanks. I just read that. I know I've seen UpNp on my router, but I don't know if it's been enabled. I do have a question about port forwarding. I have no idea what that is. I might have to pop back on when I'm at home in order to get somebody to help me step by step through this process. I'm determined to get my NAT to Open. . . . . . . dangit!

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dub273

· #11 · May 10, 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by Slordak /forum/post/0

1) Enable Universal Plug 'n Play on the router.

Ironically, it was only after I disabled UPnP on my WRTG54 that I finally achieved the glory of Open NAT. Prior to that, I'd assigned my 360 a static IP, port forwarding, port triggering, and DMZ and all that jazz.

FlipMasterFlash

· #12 · May 10, 2007

Pretty at least part of the problem is your modem also acting as a gateway, as I've got nearly the same modem and had the same problem when using a gateway. Since you aren't using any of the gateway aspects of your modem/gateway just turn on 'transparent bridging' like I suggested.

If that doesn't work try some of the other items suggested here.

GabooN

· #13 · May 10, 2007

A friend of mine and I have a interesting issue when trying to invite each other to chat, I can hear him but he cant hear me, he can host a game and I can join fine data and voice must use another port. He is behind two routers his DLS is also a router and he is using another router to connect his wired connections we cant set the DSL modem to just a gateway so tonight I am having him try setting the DLS router DMZ to point to his second router. Once I find out the DLS modem maybe I can find out how to telnet into it to see if there is a force gateway option, all this because my 4rth linksys broke in less then 3 years and he recently moved and didn't have this DSL router before.

To the person using the linksys router I owned the same one twice lol and the only fix I had was to power cycle the router hen I had to run the test xbox connection after that it would list the NAT as open until I turned off the xbox.

Slordak

· #14 · May 10, 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by dub273 /forum/post/0

Ironically, it was only after I disabled UPnP on my WRTG54 that I finally achieved the glory of Open NAT. Prior to that, I'd assigned my 360 a static IP, port forwarding, port triggering, and DMZ and all that jazz.

Yes, I had the same experience on my WRT54GX. For some reason, when UPnP is enabled, it ignores the port forwarding and port triggering settings, relying entirely on its "almost fully working" UPnP implementation.

So yes, take my words above with a grain of salt

And regarding the comments from other folks... If your cable or DSL modem has a "transparent bridge" or "PPP half-bridge" mode, then absolutely run it in this mode and let your other router handle all the routing.

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dboss

· #15 · May 10, 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by Irunnoft /forum/post/0

Dboss, I think you even tried to hook me up into a game last night. Anyhow, did you reset everything in your router back to default? What do you think about the ActionTec Gateway with the DGL-4300? Any ideas on whether or not I should swap that gateway Verizon sent me for a DSL modem? If so, any suggestions on equipment changes would be appreciated. Like I said, I'm still not sure why Verizon sent me a gateway when I told them I already had a wireless router.

Well, I can't speak to your exact configuration as I used to have Verizon DSL with a Westell DSL 'Gateway' modem. I then had my Linksys plugged into that connection. Every once and awhile I would have to reset the DSL modem for some reason, but no major problems however since then I've stepped up to Verizon's FiOS service, which I love, and is much better than the DSL I used to have.

Anyways, no I didn't reset everything back to the default settings, I just put them back to the settings I had been using previously when the NAT was fine and 'Open' (prior to messing with the DMZ, port forwarding, etc. I then unplugged the router for 30 seconds or so and then plugged it back in. At that point everything was back to normal and I didn't have any NAT problems. If I was you, I would try those same steps prior to trying to reconfigure your router, etc. If that solves your problem it will save you a lot of time and aggravation.

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