# Xbox Live Connection Issues



## ebonobelisk (May 25, 2009)

Hi there. 

I've been having connection issues with Xbox Live. I'm on the verge of reenacting a certain scene from Office Space with my Linksys WRT54GS (v.5) and possibly my Xbox 360. For the past few days I've spent most of my free time at home on the phone with tech support reps from Xbox Live, Linksys, and my ISP, Roadrunner, and I haven't made any tangible progress towards solving this thing. _Please_ Help.

Some things you might want to know:

*Router: WRT54GS v.5*_ firmware was successfully updated to the most recent version_

*ISP: Roadrunner *(Time Warner)

*Xbox 360*: _Running the most recent version of the Dashboard. I can get the serial numbers off of the back of the system if necessary._

This whole thing started out of the blue. From what I can tell, nothing significant had changed regarding any of the three involved services/devices. Prior to the onset of this incident, I had been using Xbox Live for years, but only a few weeks at this location (with a different router/gateway). 

The first sign of the problem occurred when someone apparently tried to hack my email account (the one associated with the Xbox Live account), causing it to lock up due to too many incorrect password attempts (I had to answer a secret question to verify I wasn't the one doing the hacking, which I had to do through my browser). After resolving the issue with the email account, I still couldn't get on to Xbox Live, despite having access to the internet both through the xbox and through pcs connected to the wireless network. An Xbox rep suggested that the issue might be resolved by setting up port forwarding, which I did, using information provided by xbox.com and portforward.com. 

However, upon setting up a static IP address for my 360, the "automatically detect DNS settings" option no longer functioned consistently. Resetting the Xbox would sometimes _appear_ to fix the problem, allowing me to sign into my profile and send/recieve messages with my gamertag, however, attempting to access any services that require actually interfacing with Xbox Live would result in my being signed out or getting an error message that stated the content was "temporarily unavailable" despite Xbox Live being "up and running" at the time. I spoke with a rep again, who recommended I talk to my ISP to get information to manually input a DNS server.

I talked to a rep from my ISP, who told me they rotate the DNS server assigned to me, and only offer a static IP (I assume that's somehow related to a static DNS server?) with their business class package, which I'm not really interested in buying for my home. I went back into my router/360 and set everything back the way it was before I tried to set up port forwarding to see if I could find another solution.

While speaking to another Xbox Live representative, I connected the xbox directly to the router and tested Xbox Live successfully, ruling (I think) the system itself out as the source of the problem. Since my ISP wasn't very helpful, I decided to get a hold of Linksys, who wouldn't help me because my warranty on the router apparently expired in March. Since my faith in the router isn't very strong at this point (and it's not actually on xbox.com's list of Xbox Live compatable routers) I'm not too keen on paying half the price of a new router for a phone call that may or may not fix my finicky one. I did a little research, downloaded and successfully installed the router's latest firmware from Cisco's website (FYI I made sure to disconnect all computers from the wireless network during this process, as per Cisco's instructions) and then tested my Xbox 360's connection again.

Automatically detecting all settings seems to work, but then results in a Dashboard without any of the online features even visible. I get a message saying the features aren't available when they should be. Using a static IP and automatically detecting the DNS settings still doesn't work; I'm tired but I think that now results in my 360 failing the test as it tries to access the internet through my network (which it successfully connects to). There's also another result that informs me that my DNS server can't contact Xbox Live's servers (If I remember the terminology correctly), although I can't remember how I got to that point anymore. In any case, I found a list of Public DNS Servers, which can apparently be used by anyone, and first tried inputting "4.2.2.2" as my DNS server, then "8.8.8.8." A thread discussing an issue similar to mine recommended using the router's local IP as the secondary DNS server, so I did that, too, in both the 4.2.2.2 and 8.8.8.8 test. 

During both tests, I got an error message telling me that my console is connected to the internet, but can't connect to Xbox Live. The error message recommends I restart the router. I'm pretty fried at the moment, and came down here to do that when a little more poking around reminded me that you guys are here and that you address unusual tech support issues a hell of a lot better than the Indian folks I have to endure 20 minutes of 'edgy' elevator music and looping recorded advertisements to speak with. I'll be restarting the router and modem after I post this, and retesting the public DNS servers. I'll edit the post or follow up if anything changes, but otherwise I'm going to bed -- I'm about to fall asleep in my computer chair, here. 

Sorry to have posted something so long, but I thought it would be better to be as detailed as I could beforehand. If anyone has any informed advice or suggestions, I'd love to hear them. Otherwise, I'm probably just going to buy a new router -- I'm reaching the point where fixing this one myself is just too stressful and time-consuming to be worth it. :sigh: Thanks again to all of you who've taken the time to read this.

P.S. Also, at no point during the tests (even when the console connected to the internet but not to Xbox Live) did a little yellow exclaimation point triangle appear, so I don't think it has anything to do with NAT settings. Granted, this is based on the very little I know about NAT settings from reading pages on xbox's website, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.


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## ebonobelisk (May 25, 2009)

I don't see the button to edit my original post, so I guess I'll just update things here. The second round of tests using port forwarding and a public DNS server resulted in nothing new.

I got back from work today and decided to test things out again without port forwarding. I changed the settings on my 360 back to automatic detection, disabled the port forwarding I had set up on my router, and rechecked the "Block Anonymous Requests" box on the security tab. Testing my connection resulted was 'successful' (in that my 360 claims to be connected to Xbox Live) but I could not access anything on the Marketplace. 

Since I saw in a similar post (as well as a page of xbox's website regarding one of the error messages I've seen) that clearing the Hard Drive's cache and/or the marketplace data sometimes clears these problems up, I tried both. Testing the connection resulted in a problem connecting to the internet, so I ran a search for wireless networks and reconnnected to mine; after I entered my WEP, the test again resulted in 'success,' but this time none of the Marketplace content was even visible.

I ostensibly retain my ability to send and recieve messages from other users, but can't use Live for anything else. In an interesting note, my more recent messages (dating back, I think, to around the time this whole mess began) come in incomplete. One friend suggested out of the blue: "let's ban together a" [sic]. Yes, that was his whole message, and no, he's not illiterate. I replied "?," to which he responded "?" and I quoted his original message to him. He responded "your xbox must ve d." [the period within those quotation marks wasn't actually in the message] I noticed a similarly nonsensical message from another friend that I didn't think anything of when he sent it -- because back then it actually made sense. What he originally wrote was a fairly lengthy and completely coherant question about Just Case 2, which we were both playing at the time. All that remains of said message now is "When u first meet b." [again, there was no period in the actual message] Looking at other messages in my backlog, every message that was originally longer than 19 characters seem to deteriorate after exactly 19 characters.


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## ebonobelisk (May 25, 2009)

I've had an epiphany. While I was looking into the weird messages thing, it occurred to me that I also recently purchased a *Turtle Beach X31 Wireless headset*. I unplugged it on a whim, and everything now works as it's supposed to. I resynched the headset, which wouldn't play any sound at first, then replaced the batteries and resynched again for good measure. All is well. 

I think this problem is resolved, but I'm not sure it's posted in the right place anymore.


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