Xbox Live

Guys, there must be one or two of you out there that tear yourselves away from this site often enough to, y'know, get all Master Chief on strangers' asses all over the world, right?

Anyway, I'm getting the 'DNS error' message when I'm trying to connect through my router and it's starting to do my head in, somewhat. I'm sure it must be an issue with the router's settings, but if anybody happens to also use BT Broadband, can you either post the various settings that I'll need for the Xbox here, or PM me with them?


Cheers,

modelwaxworkofafrustratedfixxlevy

Hmm. There are probably certain ports that need to be opened, but which ones, I am not sure. Is this a new router? Also, it's likely that if you go to the official xbox live help site, that they'll have some section that deals with this; port opening and routers are a pain in the arse for online console gaming.

Btw, you could save yourself some trouble and money by using http://xbconnect.com/

I've decided Bt Broadband is a steaming pile of doggy doo and I've just binned it in favour of NTL.

how fast is NTL?

I'm getting 2.2 megs with BT

Mine will be 2.2mb also when they connect me but you can go up to 3mb or faster if you want to pay extra.

Welcome to internet connection reverse-engineering 101.

On your PC, click Start, then Run.

Type "cmd" in the Open box, and click OK.

This opens a command prompt.

Type "ipconfig /all" at the prompt, and hit enter. The following list appears:

C:\>ipconfig /all

Windows 2000 IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : boris.batinov
Primary DNS Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : NVIDIA nForce MCP Networking Control
ler
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0C-76-4B-57-EC
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.2
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 208.45.228.3
208.45.228.4

C:\>


What you need to get the XBox to communicate is an IP address and the default gateway, DNS server, and subnet mask for your network.

IP address... There are a range of possibilities here. First, if the router is configured for a single public IP, then you'll need to note the IP address, gateway, mask, and DNS from the PC. Unplug the PC, configure those settings on the XBox, and you're off. This method should work no matter what, actually.

What's more typical is the router configured with NAT. This allows multiple users to communicate via a single public IP. In this case, your PC's IP address will typically start with something like 192.168 or 10, and you don't usually care what the public IP is.

In that case, look at the IP address of your PC. A typical router might assign 192.168.1.2 to your PC, with a mask of 255.255.255.0, which means that any machine with the same first three groups can talk to any other. Pick a number between 1 and 254 that isn't the same as the PC's IP address or the default gateway address, and use that with the same first three groups as the PC's IP address (192.168.1.2).

I pick 17, so I'd assign 192.168.1.17 to the XBox. Now, this gives me (referencing the ipconfig screen we got from the PC earlier):

IP Address: 192.168.1.17
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: 192.168.1.1
DNS: 208.45.228.3

Settings derived that way should also work. Do not mention my name if the BT cops show up at your door.

The Xbox couldn't determine the DNS servers, but with a little 'blowing into the vents' (and a call to BT), I managed to get it all sorted.

I'm so glad that 7 year olds with Brute shots or plasma rifles can now kick my ass, alllllll the way in San Diego or whatnot.

Cheers!

Incidentally, if any of you happy clappers out there are also Xbox Live types, feel free to add me to your 'friends list' and we'll, y'know, unleash the arsekickulator, jointly.

I am fixxlevy.

I hate online gaming for that very reason, snot-nosed little ****ers!

Ach, it's (literally) all fun and games.

No it isn't, it's ****ing war!! I don't mind spending most of my time being dead but all the piss-taking from barely literate adolescents get's quite galling after a while.

Get some practice then. The matter lies with you really.

No, I really can't be arsed.

Because you are unable.

Are you sure you're not German, Lars?