# [SOLVED] Xbox won't recognise network through a switch?



## Gariloki (Feb 7, 2012)

Dear forum
Wonder if you know of any reason I should be getting this Xbox/network switch problem?

My setup:

Wireless router with 5 wired ports

One is connected to a 500mb Ethernet home plug that turns the electrical ring main into a carrier for the Ethernet. 

I have another home plug in my lounge that i need to serve an Internet tv, TiVo box and Xbox. All requiring their own IP addresses.

My problem lies with the Xbox.

If I plug directly into the home plug network the Xbox grabs an ip and works great.

However, when I try and use my asante 5-port network switch, or Peak 8-port switch, the Xbox doesn't even recognise that it has a wired connection.

Tried swapping to switch-ports that work for the tv and TiVo box but get same none existent connection for Xbox.

So, the switch works on all ports, the cat5 cable works and the Xbox works when you connect directly to the home plug.

However, the introduction of the xbox to the switch fails??

Anyone any idea why?

I guess I'm going to get told to use a second router but that aside can anyone explain why the above is happening?

Could it be that my router is assigning an ip to the switch and doesn't see the attached devices beyond the switch?

Don't know if my two switches are unmanaged or not!

I've also tried port triggering on the router in accord with Xbox help for NAT. Didn't help.

I'm an architect, not a network guy so please don't give me a hard time if its something glaringly obvious 

Thanks


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## Wand3r3r (Sep 17, 2010)

*Re: Xbox won't recognise network through a switch?*

A second router would be a silly suggestion.

To be clear you have a switch with a tv, tivo and a xbox connected and when all three are connected only the xbox doesn't get a ip address. Is this correct?


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## Gariloki (Feb 7, 2012)

*Re: Xbox won't recognise network through a switch?*

While setting up the TiVo and smart tv they both receive an ip address from the home router. The Xbox doesn't even recognise that it has a wired connection when attached to the switch, yet sees the home wifi network, and if connected directly to the home plug, (bypassing the switch) sees the wired network and picks up an ip no problem. 
Hope this clarifies?


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## Gariloki (Feb 7, 2012)

*Re: Xbox won't recognise network through a switch?*

Sorry I didn't clarify that all three are attached to switch. Yes, you understood fully. One thing I hadn't checked was connecting up the Xbox first to see if it was a first come first served problem.
The TiVo only uses this connection for remote control via network using an iPhone app, not content. The Samsung TV for its smart hub / Internet connectivity.


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## this-IT-guy (Nov 22, 2011)

*Re: Xbox won't recognise network through a switch?*

Not too sure but you may have guessed it, the thing is switches can only read at the mac level and the not IP level.


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## Gariloki (Feb 7, 2012)

*Re: Xbox won't recognise network through a switch?*

You've lost me as to what that means practically  remember I'm only a lowly architect 
But if correctly thinking, could I use an old router as a switch as it maybe more 'intelligent'? Maybe not using the uplink so that I can stay within the same ip range as the rest of the network? The iPhone remotes will only work if connected to the same subnet as the TiVo and tv.


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## this-IT-guy (Nov 22, 2011)

*Re: Xbox won't recognise network through a switch?*

Yes you would be able to do that, you mean having two routers with one being a switch (having it's dhcp services off). 

Is that what you have as your current setup? Which could probably be why your getting an IP address for your smart TV and tivo?


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## jdelar333 (Feb 15, 2012)

*Re: Xbox won't recognise network through a switch?*

I have had the same exact problem. I have discovered that if you go into settings on the Xbox and test the network connection, the Xbox will connect (It will not auto connect at start up nor connect by selecting Connect to Xbox Live from the Home tab). This has been a pretty reliable work around, however it is a pain. I am actually working on a networking certification so I have a number of switches and routers laying around. I have tried everything short of creating a sub network for the room that the Xbox is in (which is my next step) and nothing seems to work. Its as if the Xbox is not operating with the same address resolution protocol as typical devices. I have also called Xbox support twice with no luck.


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## Wand3r3r (Sep 17, 2010)

*Re: Xbox won't recognise network through a switch?*

Another aspect to look at is autonegociation. If it fails you don't have a network connection. If the xbox has the ability like pc nics do in the advanced properties of setting from auto to 100mb full duplex do so. If it still doesn't work go to half duplex

let us know how it goes


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## Gariloki (Feb 7, 2012)

*Re: Xbox won't recognise network through a switch?*

Thanks for all your input guys!
Looked into switches because of what this-it-guy said about switches working on mac addresses not ip addresses. 
Level 2 switches and level 3 switches work in different ways. I must have been using level 2. 
So, here's what's worked for me and is stable so far. 
Replaced switch with old wireless router, killed the wireless part and dhcp and connected the 'uplink' cable into one of the regular ports so that the router didn't try and create a sub net, as I needed all the IPs on the whole home network to be in the same range. Fixed IP addresses on tv, TiVo and Xbox then used port triggering on the master router for the Xbox as it had a warning about NAT being too strict and bobs your uncle everything works!
I can control the tv and TiVo using samsung and peanut app on iPhone and the Xbox streames sky without buffering (as it was prone to when wifi) and the smart tv streams the 3d tasters from the smart hub without buffering also, whereas before its wireless connection could only manage 5secs at a time and a minute of buffering. 
So thanks for the comments that put me in the right direction everyone.


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## Gariloki (Feb 7, 2012)

*Re: Xbox won't recognise network through a switch?*

Another bonus is that the video senders that pass the Xbox and TiVo signal to other TVs doesn't now rely on the flakey and unsightly IR contraptions that pass the remote's controls to the sending devices. All controlled by the network. Bloody marvellous! Scuse my French


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## Gariloki (Feb 7, 2012)

*Re: Xbox won't recognise network through a switch?*

I haven't had this problem with the new setup as yet. The Xbox connects itself each time I switch it on and apart from the the strict NAT message at first it worked without having to change any default settings. Except I made the ip static and reserved its ip on the master router. If you use another router I would certainly consider not creating a sub net by connecting up the 'uplink' cable to a non uplink port. This made everything so much simpler. 
Hope you manage to get yours sorted.


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## Gariloki (Feb 7, 2012)

*Re: Xbox won't recognise network through a switch?*



Wand3r3r said:


> Another aspect to look at is autonegociation. If it fails you don't have a network connection. If the xbox has the ability like pc nics do in the advanced properties of setting from auto to 100mb full duplex do so. If it still doesn't work go to half duplex
> 
> let us know how it goes


As you can see from latest set of replies, I've got it sorted with suggestions and nudges from forum vets, so the Xbox is now behaving itself. I think the initial problem was definitely my ignorance of switches. I thought a switch would simply extend my network as if everything was attached to the master router. This seems not to be the case and you need a level 3 switch or as I've used, a 'restricted' 2nd router to allow the master router to allocate ip numbers to devices beyond the 'switch'. 
I also had the additional requirement that all devices had to be within the subnet range. 
At first, By connecting the 2nd router via the uplink port, I got a working setup, but all devices connected had ip addresses in a different range and couldnt force the 2nd router to the uplink ip range. However, the wifi range that the iphones were on was the same as this uplink range which meant that the remote control apps couldn't see the devices beyond the 2nd router. 
A bit of research found a site that told how to keep the same range through a router by not connecting to the uplink port. 
Worked great!


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## this-IT-guy (Nov 22, 2011)

Happy to hear you got it solved


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## jdelar333 (Feb 15, 2012)

Ive also resolved this issue. I am working with managed devices and discovered that STP was preventing the xbox from connecting. Enabling Portfast on the port corrected the issue. Disabling STP would also work but will leave the network vulnerable to broadcast storms, just fyi.


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## Gariloki (Feb 7, 2012)

jdelar333 said:


> Ive also resolved this issue. I am working with managed devices and discovered that STP was preventing the xbox from connecting. Enabling Portfast on the port corrected the issue. Disabling STP would also work but will leave the network vulnerable to broadcast storms, just fyi.


Well this has been a very positive experience all round. 
Pleased to hear that you also cracked it!


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## Gariloki (Feb 7, 2012)

jdelar333 said:


> Ive also resolved this issue. I am working with managed devices and discovered that STP was preventing the xbox from connecting. Enabling Portfast on the port corrected the issue. Disabling STP would also work but will leave the network vulnerable to broadcast storms, just fyi.


Do you think I will get problems with stp and looping? Could my second router be acting as a bridge then? All seems to be working great but maybe I'm having looping problems and don't know about it, as I've got nothing to measure or compare to previously! Or would this only apply if using 2 bridge type devices on the network?
Your knowledge seems to be far deeper than mine, obviously, as I'm a generalist that knows just enough about a subject to get me where I need to go and not sound too dozy, hopefully


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## jdelar333 (Feb 15, 2012)

There is little chance of a loop existing in your network, as you only have end devices connected to your switch (router). Also, if you had a loop in your network you would know it. STP (Spanning-Tree Protocol) is a protocol that is not really necessary for a home network and really only exists in managed devices intended for businesses. It is intended for large networks with complex topography. By disabling DHCP and NAT and by using only the LAN ports on your second router you are basically creating a switch. Honestly, I don’t see any reason why your first setup did not work (what model was the switch you used?). Also, a bridge is a device that was used before the days of switching so that a network could be split into two collision domains. A switch creates as many collision domains as devices connected, essentially eliminating packet collisions in a LAN. Lol no worries, ask away. As I said I am studying for a networking certification so questions are a welcome chance to test my knowledge.


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## Gariloki (Feb 7, 2012)

I'm sooo glad I dont have a business network to manage then! The switches I used were mentioned earlier, Peak Hardware 8-port and an Asante 5-port. One thing they had in common was that they DID give the devices IP addresses, but ones not remotely related to my routers range, and which never got through to the internet. I couldnt reset them as they didnt have reset buttons and I couldnt access them via web interface as I couldnt guess the interface address, if they even had one. Both were gifted to me from old networks at work. On reflection I dont think I tried connecting the Ethernet feed to a non uplink port as I did later with the router-turned-switch?
Both switches worked perfectly well when used in other locations with laptops etc but maybe it's the architecture of the TVs and DVRs that are at fault? Who knows? Well, maybe you do! LOL.


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