Vista / Xbox 360 / Media Center Extender (MCE)

just got a new Dell running Vista (32 bit) and having a lot of grief trying
to network with my Xbox 360. my old Dell ran XP and I never had any problems
accessing photo's and music from the pc via my 360, using a standard 10/100
ethernet cable between the two.

I've carefully followed all the setup prompts within Windows Media Center on
the new Vista pc and although my 360 does seem to recognise it - and vice
versa, any button presses on the 360 to try and do anything with my music or
photo files just seem to result in massive lags (of literally 5 to 10
minutes) and total freezing up (on the 360, not the pc).

I managed to get the MC 'network tuning tool' to run once and it showed a
very, very low bandwidth issue - just 1 bar out of about 12 I think. I just
don't see how it can be a bandwidth problem though as I'm using a cable - not
wireless?

(I'm only using Windows firewall - no other firewall programs, and this is
supposed to self configure during setup so as not to impede the comms between
the two devices. It's a Viiv Quad Core chip and I've got 3 gig of ram.)

anyone had a similar problem, any suggestions?

"pogo" wrote:

> just got a new Dell running Vista (32 bit) and having a lot of grief trying
> to network with my Xbox 360. my old Dell ran XP and I never had any problems
> accessing photo's and music from the pc via my 360, using a standard 10/100
> ethernet cable between the two.
>
> I've carefully followed all the setup prompts within Windows Media Center on
> the new Vista pc and although my 360 does seem to recognise it - and vice
> versa, any button presses on the 360 to try and do anything with my music or
> photo files just seem to result in massive lags (of literally 5 to 10
> minutes) and total freezing up (on the 360, not the pc).
>
> I managed to get the MC 'network tuning tool' to run once and it showed a
> very, very low bandwidth issue - just 1 bar out of about 12 I think. I just
> don't see how it can be a bandwidth problem though as I'm using a cable - not
> wireless?
>
> (I'm only using Windows firewall - no other firewall programs, and this is
> supposed to self configure during setup so as not to impede the comms between
> the two devices. It's a Viiv Quad Core chip and I've got 3 gig of ram.)
>
> anyone had a similar problem, any suggestions?

Is it really a complete freeze of your 360 or can you get back to the XBox
Dashboard?

If it's just the Extender functionality of the 360 freezing up, does hitting
the green Windows button on your remote multiple times very quickly cause
things to spring back to life?

- Chris

Chris,
thanks.... Unfortunately, I can't get the 360 to even find the media center
pc now, despite having changed nothing. The ethernet cable (which has been
tested on another network and is working fine) is correctly plugged in at
both ends, media center is running on the desktop pc, but when I go into
Media Center on the 360 it tells me it is now unable to find the pc? I have
tried running through the extender setup again which throws up an 8 digit
code on the 360, but when I key the code in on the relevant media center "add
an extender" screen on my desktop pc, I now end up with the message
"Configuration Error - an error was encountered while configuring your
computer for use with this extender".

(Also, just in case it is relevant to this problem, the desktop pc is now,
suddenly and inexplicably no longer able to connect to the internet and I am
equally unable to decipher this new, hilarious riddle. The new DELL Inspiron
530, Intel Viiv Core-2-Quad, Vista Home "Premium" machine connected
flawlessly for the first week out of it's box, via it's built in wireless
card to my trusty old Belkin 802.11g ADSL router. But now, no. Again, I
have changed nothing. Again, I have tried Dell for support but got nothing.
My old HP laptop (running XP) is still getting uninterrupted high speed
broadband off the same router without any issues. I have found a swelling
tide of thought within several forums across the web that Vista has a weird
habit of randomly blinding itself, cultivating it's own brand of stubborn
network impotence. I don't know how true this actually is, but it certainly
seems to be the case with my new Vista machine.)

Bet you're sorry you ever posted to me now aren't you chris!

"ChrisClifford" wrote:

>
>
> "pogo" wrote:
>
> > just got a new Dell running Vista (32 bit) and having a lot of grief trying
> > to network with my Xbox 360. my old Dell ran XP and I never had any problems
> > accessing photo's and music from the pc via my 360, using a standard 10/100
> > ethernet cable between the two.
> >
> > I've carefully followed all the setup prompts within Windows Media Center on
> > the new Vista pc and although my 360 does seem to recognise it - and vice
> > versa, any button presses on the 360 to try and do anything with my music or
> > photo files just seem to result in massive lags (of literally 5 to 10
> > minutes) and total freezing up (on the 360, not the pc).
> >
> > I managed to get the MC 'network tuning tool' to run once and it showed a
> > very, very low bandwidth issue - just 1 bar out of about 12 I think. I just
> > don't see how it can be a bandwidth problem though as I'm using a cable - not
> > wireless?
> >
> > (I'm only using Windows firewall - no other firewall programs, and this is
> > supposed to self configure during setup so as not to impede the comms between
> > the two devices. It's a Viiv Quad Core chip and I've got 3 gig of ram.)
> >
> > anyone had a similar problem, any suggestions?
>
> Is it really a complete freeze of your 360 or can you get back to the XBox
> Dashboard?
>
> If it's just the Extender functionality of the 360 freezing up, does hitting
> the green Windows button on your remote multiple times very quickly cause
> things to spring back to life?
>
> - Chris