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Seth Paxton · 11-12-2004, 10:24 PM

Let me ask a general XBox Live newbie question on invites, do I need Halo 2 in to get invites (or whatever game) or can Scott invite me into a Halo 2 game while I'm logged in on Live playing Star Wars?

Chuck, since you say "wireless high speed connection" I assume (unlike Kami [img]images/smilies/wink.gif[/img] ) that you have the router and are now ready to really suffer by adding yet another incompatible wireless device to your system. [img]images/smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

I'll warn you on my experience that I bought the official XBox wireless device, which is just a standard wireless box that comes with XBox running setup software. I thought there was more to this whole deal than just sticking a CAT-5 from the XB into my router or any old wireless receiver. Doesn't appear that this is so, barring any incompatibility issues that might show up on lists of good hardware.

Anyway, the XB device (the MN 470 or 740 or whatever) doesn't do WPA!!! I wish I'd known beforehand. I would recommend looking for a wireless rec that will support WPA so that you can keep your system safer.

I did get the XB device and unfortunately it was quite awhile before I found out that it needed to be updated with new firmware before it would work with a hidden SSID, another critical option for wireless protection.

I also had to piss around with the WEP and the MAC filter. I never got 64 bit working and it took some time to get 128 bit going. The MAC filter problem came from the fact that both the device AND the XBox seem to send out their MAC addresses during connection, so both had to be in my filter list. The XBox does let you put in a custom MAC address for what its worth, but it doesn't seem like the device does.

So with that in mind I'd strongly suggest looking into other wireless receivers that have WPA and detailed interfaces. AFAIK any device that then passes on regular CAT-5 will be just fine with the XB, no special "official" device needed.

You might still run into the dual MAC address thing too and such a setup will probably keep you from tweeking your wireless rec with the XB itself (not that you can do much beyond changing SSID and WEP), but I wouldn't consider that a problem at all.

I got so fed up trying to distinguish between wireless connection problems and XB Live ping issues that for now I'm sticking with a hardwired solution on the crappy TV. Once I get comfortable with what is typical performance I'll move back to my wireless situation (made 3 times worse by my wife's shitty HP, my Dell works just great with all of this).

11-12-2004, 10:24 PM	#103 of 410
Seth Paxton Member Join Date: Nov 1998 Local Time: 07:42 PM Local Date: 08-29-2008 Posts: 12,185	Let me ask a general XBox Live newbie question on invites, do I need Halo 2 in to get invites (or whatever game) or can Scott invite me into a Halo 2 game while I'm logged in on Live playing Star Wars? Chuck, since you say "wireless high speed connection" I assume (unlike Kami [img]images/smilies/wink.gif[/img] ) that you have the router and are now ready to really suffer by adding yet another incompatible wireless device to your system. [img]images/smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] I'll warn you on my experience that I bought the official XBox wireless device, which is just a standard wireless box that comes with XBox running setup software. I thought there was more to this whole deal than just sticking a CAT-5 from the XB into my router or any old wireless receiver. Doesn't appear that this is so, barring any incompatibility issues that might show up on lists of good hardware. Anyway, the XB device (the MN 470 or 740 or whatever) doesn't do WPA!!! I wish I'd known beforehand. I would recommend looking for a wireless rec that will support WPA so that you can keep your system safer. I did get the XB device and unfortunately it was quite awhile before I found out that it needed to be updated with new firmware before it would work with a hidden SSID, another critical option for wireless protection. I also had to piss around with the WEP and the MAC filter. I never got 64 bit working and it took some time to get 128 bit going. The MAC filter problem came from the fact that both the device AND the XBox seem to send out their MAC addresses during connection, so both had to be in my filter list. The XBox does let you put in a custom MAC address for what its worth, but it doesn't seem like the device does. So with that in mind I'd strongly suggest looking into other wireless receivers that have WPA and detailed interfaces. AFAIK any device that then passes on regular CAT-5 will be just fine with the XB, no special "official" device needed. You might still run into the dual MAC address thing too and such a setup will probably keep you from tweeking your wireless rec with the XB itself (not that you can do much beyond changing SSID and WEP), but I wouldn't consider that a problem at all. I got so fed up trying to distinguish between wireless connection problems and XB Live ping issues that for now I'm sticking with a hardwired solution on the crappy TV. Once I get comfortable with what is typical performance I'll move back to my wireless situation (made 3 times worse by my wife's shitty HP, my Dell works just great with all of this).