Wacki can you help?

[NLSoldier]

Hey wacki, TSC reccomended you as someone who might be able to solve my computer/xbox live problem. Basically i cant connect to xbox live through my schools network. Please check out the official pissed about halo 2 thread for more info...

Anyone else who thinks they might be able to help feel free as well.

Thanks!

[MrGo]

Check with Xbox/Microsoft to see what port they use. It's more than likely your school is blocking that port on their firewall thus you can not connect.

[NLSoldier]

Well wehn i talked to the school, they said they were not blocking it, but that they did not have it as a high enough priority to establish a good connection...I dont think it is totally blocked cause wehn i go to the troubleshooter it establishes the various connections and then right at the end says it couldnt connect. If it was totally blocked i dont think it would be able to resolve the server or wahtever at all...

[wacki]

I don't have an XBOX, but I will try to help.

If you think it is a bandwidth problem, try connecting at off peak hours. If you still can't connect at 3 AM, then it is highly likely that you are being blocked and it is not a bandwidth/priority problem.

When you are connecting to the XBOX live server, does it give you a server name such as "livesever.xbox.microsoft.com", an ip address like "127.0.0.1" or anything like that? If you can find out the ip address or hostname of the server your xbox is trying to connect to, you can test the connection with a computer.

For instance, if you have windows XP you can click on start, then run and then type in cmd in the window and press enter. A black screen should pop up.

From there you can use:
nslookup (severname)
ping (server name / ip address) [A utility to determine whether a specific IP address is accessible]
or
tracert (servername) [this displays connection route from your computer to whatever server destination you type in]

Try playing around with these in the cmd window.
type
ping www.yahoo.com (http://www.yahoo.com)
nslookup www.yahoo.com (http://www.yahoo.com)
tracert www.yahoo.com (http://www.yahoo.com)

to see how they are supposed to work.

If you are using a router you can simply fire up xbox live, log into the router and look at the active connections.

You might want to PM astroglide and bring his attention to this thread. He is a network administrator and he deals with networks for a living. I don't know much about the xbox live protocol and I don't know how much help I can be in this situation.

[wacki]

I did a little googling and it looks like xbox live servers send out signals that might cause certain routers to fail. If you are behind a router, remove it and try again.

[NLSoldier]

Thanks for the help Wacki. I have tried connecting at like 3am on a weeknight and still nothing...Im not sure about the server name for xbox live but i could probably figure it out and try pinging it, thats a good idea. And im not using a router so that cant be the problem. If the ping thing doesnt work ill ask astro if he can help. Thanks again.

[Popinjay]

separate but related question, my college doesn't let bittorrent download any faster than 1kb/s. i can change the port it uses, but dont know what to use. any ideas?

[MrGo]

If you can't ping the server it doesn't necessarily mean that it won't work. It's very possible that your university has ICMP blocked. ICMP is the protocol that ping uses to verify connectivity to an end device/IP address.

[MrGo]

So the network admin's are telling you they prioritize network traffic? It's possible that this is set up on one of their edge routers that you go through, or possibly one of their core's.

If they are using Cisco equipment they most likely have an ACL (Access-list) configured to prioritize certain protocol traffic and allow certain bandwidth for that traffic. If that's the case then you're pretty much screwed unless you get into the router, but I wouldn't recommend doing that.

I would simply e-mail Microsoft or the XBox team and ask them.

[astroglide]

http://www.xbox.com/en-GB/live/start/connect/faq/

[wacki]

[ QUOTE ]
If you can't ping the server it doesn't necessarily mean that it won't work. It's very possible that your university has ICMP blocked. ICMP is the protocol that ping uses to verify connectivity to an end device/IP address.

[/ QUOTE ]

XBOX uses ICMP in it's protocol.

http://kbserver.netgear.com/kb_web_files/n100981.asp

Hence the problem with some routers.

[wacki]

[ QUOTE ]
I would simply e-mail Microsoft or the XBox team and ask them.

[/ QUOTE ]

Best advice I have seen on this thread so far. When you e-mail them, make sure you give them as much information as possible. Go through the troubleshooting website that astroglide posted and let them know what steps you tried.

[NLSoldier]

[ QUOTE ]
If they are using Cisco equipment they most likely have an ACL (Access-list) configured to prioritize certain protocol traffic and allow certain bandwidth for that traffic. If that's the case then you're pretty much screwed unless you get into the router, but I wouldn't recommend doing that.


[/ QUOTE ]

I beleive this is the case

[NLSoldier]

[ QUOTE ]
http://www.xbox.com/en-GB/live/start/connect/faq/


[/ QUOTE ]

I already checked that out, and when i did the thing with the mac adress that did seem to make it better, but it still wouldnt connect. Because when you go to the troubleshooter on xbox live it has a few steps when its connecting. Its somthing like this...

1: checking for connected cables
2:Finding host
3:resloving DNS server
4:connecting to xbox live

Without the mac adress thing setup it only makes it to like step two before it gives an error message. After i setup the mac adress it makes it to step four and then gives the error right at the end, which i think suggests that it technically is being allowed to connect but just not at high enough speed. Does that make any sense?

[MrGo]

It makes sense because Microsoft probably allocated a minimum amount of speed to connect to XBox Live when they created the software - hence why you MUST have a cable modem otherwise you won't connect.

I think the issue here is that your network admin's aren't allocating enough space for your XBox, thus you can't connect and play. It sucks but it's also pretty necessary, otherwise your campus would be flooded with XBox traffic /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[NLSoldier]

[ QUOTE ]

It makes sense because Microsoft probably allocated a minimum amount of speed to connect to XBox Live when they created the software - hence why you MUST have a cable modem otherwise you won't connect.

I think the issue here is that your network admin's aren't allocating enough space for your XBox, thus you can't connect and play. It sucks but it's also pretty necessary, otherwise your campus would be flooded with XBox traffic


[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah I think this is exaxtly what is going on.

What do you think the chances are that i could get some third party broadband internet in my dormroom?

[ThaSaltCracka]

there has to be some way around this man, bribe someone or buy them something, or suck off /images/graemlins/blush.gif... I mean, do something man.

[ThaSaltCracka]

do you have cable or do they allow cable? or what about dsl? Is there a phone line in there?

[NLSoldier]

[ QUOTE ]

do you have cable or do they allow cable? or what about dsl? Is there a phone line in there?


[/ QUOTE ]

They provide cable tv. Im not sure who its through but maybe if i found out who they got cable service from I could try to get internet from that same company assuming they offer both?

As far as a phone, yeah I have one. But I have never used it other than for calls to other rooms on campus. And a 56k connection wont work with xbox live anyways do i dont think that matters...

[ThaSaltCracka]

you should try to get the cable modem, not only for xbox live but also for dl. If you can't get that, try to get dsl which uses the phone line.

[NLSoldier]

[ QUOTE ]
there has to be some way around this man, bribe someone or buy them something, or suck off ... I mean, do something man.


[/ QUOTE ]

Trust me, if I liked Halo 2 half as much as halo 1, I would be more than willing to do either of these and probably both. Seriosly, Id probably be willing to pay in upwards of $500 if that was the case. Maybe its a good thing i dont like Halo 2...

[NLSoldier]

[ QUOTE ]

you should try to get the cable modem, not only for xbox live but also for dl. If you can't get that, try to get dsl which uses the phone line.


[/ QUOTE ]

Oh I guess I didnt realize DSL uses the phone line...

Ya the reason Im so pissed about this is not just Xbox live, it affects poker too. For example, I would be playing poker right now but theres too much traffic right now and i cant open any tables.

[MrGo]

If you don't mind me asking, what school do you go to?

And getting you own cable line could be a possibility.

[NLSoldier]

I go to the University of San Diego.

[wacki]

[ QUOTE ]
For example, I would be playing poker right now but theres too much traffic right now and i cant open any tables.

[/ QUOTE ]

What is your connection speed?

Go here to test:
http://www.bandwidthplace.com/speedtest/
http://www.dslreports.com/stest
http://reviews.cnet.com/Bandwidth_meter/7004-7254_7-0.html
http://www.toast.net/performance/
www.pcpitstop.com/ (http://www.pcpitstop.com/)

[wacki]

[ QUOTE ]
It makes sense because Microsoft probably allocated a minimum amount of speed to connect to XBox Live when they created the software - hence why you MUST have a cable modem otherwise you won't connect.

[/ QUOTE ]

You can test this by trying to connect via a phoneline modem. Try this to see if your xbox gives you a "connection speed too slow" error instead of a simple "cannot connect" error. This should also help you figure out if you are blocked.

[NLSoldier]

15396.2 kbps Which I know is very fast....but that is because the test page is http based. I know that http stuff is the highest priority and thats why its so fast. As you do down the list of network priorities it gets slower...