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Xbox 360 connectivity problems, advice?

Woody3600
Grafter
Posts: 113
Registered: ‎07-12-2009

Xbox 360 connectivity problems, advice?

Hi guys, im having a few problems and was wondering if anyone could offer me some advice and/or a potential solution.
Our router recieves a downstream of 8mb via the phoneline, it transmits wirelessly fine to the laptops of the household, however, my 360 is connected via ethernet, the cable is no longer than 4 metres but the connection drops randomly, but only to the console, anything working wirelessly is unaffected. For example, i play a lot of COD, and whereas normally id be on a 4 bar green full strength connection, it'll drop me to red and i will lag so much i cant even stand still let alone run around and play. This happens maybe twice a day on average, sometimes more, others it wont happen at all. My problem is that so far no-one has been able to give me any indication as to what the problem may be. It's not the console itself as id tried friends etc and it has been the same, it's not the ethernet cable, that has been replaced, it can't be the internet itself as the speed doesn't drop to the laptops, iv rung xbox and they don't know, i rang plusnet and they don't know and advised i came on here and asked also.
The only thing that hasn't been changed is the router, obviously a new router would be expensive and replacing it would be a last resort, however, we had a Belkin router and everything was fine, the house got struck by lightening and that router was blown so we had it replaced, we now have a TP Link ADSL2+ router, and it's only since this router was installed that the problems have occured, although they didn't happen straight away after the new one was put in, only after a couple of months. Im stumped. A couple of friends have suggested opening the ports to the xbox via the routers internal settings but i don't know how to do this and of course, won't fiddle around with it not knowing what im doing.
Iv tried everything i can think of, and no luck. Any advice is of course warmly welcomed.
Thanks in advance,
Woody
21 REPLIES 21
dvorak
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Re: Xbox 360 connectivity problems, advice?

welcome to the forums Smiley
Is your router this one?
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Woody3600
Grafter
Posts: 113
Registered: ‎07-12-2009

Re: Xbox 360 connectivity problems, advice?

Hey, nah it's not that one, it's this one http://www.tp-link.com/products/product_des.asp?id=110
w23
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Re: Xbox 360 connectivity problems, advice?

If your router 'was' fine but is now suspect, I'd recommend a factory reset (fully resets the entire device back to factory settings), this does, however, mean that you will have to re-enter any required settings and configurations (make certain you know your dsl login name and password before you attempt this.
Normally you are best to connect a PC via ethernet to configure as the wireless settings are re-set also.
Sometimes routers just 'play up', mine certainly has (though only rarely), power cycling clears some problems but the factory reset (should be in your router's documentation) clears virtually all problems other then physical faults or corrupted firmware.
The next step might be to try a firmware update but try the reset first.
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Woody3600
Grafter
Posts: 113
Registered: ‎07-12-2009

Re: Xbox 360 connectivity problems, advice?

A factory reset was the first thing we tried, like i say, done practically everything that i personally could think of other than the port opening. Thanks though Smiley Any other offers? lol
w23
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Re: Xbox 360 connectivity problems, advice?

Hi,
do you know if UPnP is enabled in your router?
If not, it should be accessible via 'Advanced Setup', 'LAN' on this router model.
I could be wrong, but I believe that some games (including console ones) use this to open the relevant ports automatically.  It is not enabled by default on my router, not at all sure about the TP Link though- certainly worth a try.
Does your router have the latest firmware (TD-W89x0G_090602)?, this should be on 'Device info'.
Call me 'w23'
At any given moment in the universe many things happen. Coincidence is a matter of how close these events are in space, time and relationship.
Opinions expressed in forum posts are those of the poster, others may have different views.
Woody3600
Grafter
Posts: 113
Registered: ‎07-12-2009

Re: Xbox 360 connectivity problems, advice?

Universal Plug and Play is enabled mate, and the firmware according the the device info is "1.0.2 Build 080618 Rel.38250"
w23
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Re: Xbox 360 connectivity problems, advice?

If UPnP is enabled then that should probably take port opening issues out of the equation.
If I read the firmware info correctly then yours does look very out of date (though double-check the model details): http://www.tp-link.com/support/download.asp?a=1&m=TD%2DW8910G , the instruction link is on there also.  Normally firmware upgrades are released to add functionality but often fix bugs too, might just be worth a try, otherwise that's me out of suggestions.
There are quite a few avis XBox360 fans on these forums, many of them are pretty hot on ADSL, Routers etc, you should get some sensible suggestions if this doesn't help.
Cheers.
Call me 'w23'
At any given moment in the universe many things happen. Coincidence is a matter of how close these events are in space, time and relationship.
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w23
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Re: Xbox 360 connectivity problems, advice?

Woody,
I just saw your other post
Quote
Could that be that the ping is dropping? hence my dropping to red bar/ losing connectivity to live completely or would that not be the case seeing as the laptops etc are unaffected?

It is perfectly possible (depending on what the laptops etc. are currently doing) that they would not be affected by someting like a burst of increased latency that would show up in your gaming so it might just be that the XBox is showing an underlying problem.
Good luck.
Call me 'w23'
At any given moment in the universe many things happen. Coincidence is a matter of how close these events are in space, time and relationship.
Opinions expressed in forum posts are those of the poster, others may have different views.
Woody3600
Grafter
Posts: 113
Registered: ‎07-12-2009

Re: Xbox 360 connectivity problems, advice?

I will look into the possibility of updating the routers firmware thank you for that  Smiley
Should the possibility of the ping dropping be the problem, considering this wouldnt necessarily effect the laptops however it has a major detremental effect on my online gaming, is there any potential way of fixing this?
When i search for games on COD MW2 for example, it does say however that it is working at 50, and in extreme cases 100 but never any more than that, plus whenever i have done a speed test on a site other than plus nets own speed tester, 99/100 the ping is around the 40-50 mark. However on that one occasion that it is higher it can be anywhere from 1-300.
Is there the possibility of fixing a ping issue? assuming of course that this may be the problem.
w23
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Re: Xbox 360 connectivity problems, advice?

Try www.pingtest.net and select 'Maidenhead' server, that gives me fairly consistent results, usually between 20 & 30.
If your line is 'interleaved' it may be possible to get that switched off by PlusNet (if the line quality is good enough, otherwise it can reduce your sync speed), this reduces pings but might not fix an intermittent problem.
Call me 'w23'
At any given moment in the universe many things happen. Coincidence is a matter of how close these events are in space, time and relationship.
Opinions expressed in forum posts are those of the poster, others may have different views.
Woody3600
Grafter
Posts: 113
Registered: ‎07-12-2009

Re: Xbox 360 connectivity problems, advice?

That site didn't work but the site http://www.speedtest.net tells me my ping is 43ms, downstream on my laptop wireless is 5240kb/s and upstream is 310kb/s. The router recieves the internet at 7616kb/s with an upstream of 448kb/s.
How do i decipher if the line is "interleaved"? Plus, what does that mean? lol
w23
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Re: Xbox 360 connectivity problems, advice?

Some (most?) routers will tell you if the connection is 'Interleaved' or 'Fast Path', on mine it's given as 'Link type'.
Interleaving is a method of reducing error rates (hence it can provide better sync speeds) but it does cause longer pings, many keen gamers elect to have interleaving switched off to improve pings (even if this is at the expense of some sync speed):
http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/speed_guide/dslmax_guide.shtml#Interleaving is the official PlusNet info on this.
Call me 'w23'
At any given moment in the universe many things happen. Coincidence is a matter of how close these events are in space, time and relationship.
Opinions expressed in forum posts are those of the poster, others may have different views.
Woody3600
Grafter
Posts: 113
Registered: ‎07-12-2009

Re: Xbox 360 connectivity problems, advice?

Il call again tomorrow and ask for it to be switched off in addition to searching for firmware updates. Should interleaving be switcvhed off, the link you posted mentions frequent disconnections, is this likely or just a forewarning to something that may only happen in the tiniest percentage?
w23
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Re: Xbox 360 connectivity problems, advice?

Not too sure but if it badly affects your connection then you can just request that it is switched back on. Smiley
Call me 'w23'
At any given moment in the universe many things happen. Coincidence is a matter of how close these events are in space, time and relationship.
Opinions expressed in forum posts are those of the poster, others may have different views.