Photo Courtesy of Gizmodo
It was only a matter of time before someone found a work around to the Xbox 360, Airport Extreme compatibility issue. If you were one of the many who have been affected by this strange but predictable phenomena then Phil from 25 Experts is here to help out. I can’t validate this fix, but maybe one of our gracious readers can tell us if it actually works or not.
In Airport Utility, Option-Click (or alt click on windows keybaords) the radio setting button to get the hidden choices, and select “b/g compatible”, NOT “n (b/g compatible), just straight b/g. That will limit each device to 54 mpbs, which is fine.
Next, Option-Click your encryption setting button and select “WPA Personal.” Go into the Internet:DHCP settings (I think) and reserve an IP address for your 360 based on it’s MAC settings to make sure it gets the same IP all the time. In the NAT options, select that IP as the “Default Host” so as to cause no issues with XBox Live functionality. Restart the Apple Extreme.
After it’s up and running, start your XBox 360, go to the last blade of the Dashboard and select your network settings - it should let you select your new WPA-encrypted network and you’re good to go.
Works fine for me and took 5 mins - thanks for the tip! Nice one.
This works! After spending almost 7 hours of my time on the phone with tech support with xbox live and trying every imaginable configuration, with several obviously untrained call center employees in a far away land, (only two were able to direct me with some knowledge) I finally got a hold of someone in Apple care tech support and they led me to this post. 7 minutes later I was able to log in to xboxlive with no problems. Microsoft tech support should actually train the people on the equipment they are supporting. It seemed to me that most of them had never seen or used an xbox before and were simply reading steps out of manuals like robots. No reasoning skills whatsoever. Kudos to Neil Hopkins at Apple for going above and beyond to help me out and keep me from setting the xbox wireless adapter on fire out of frustration. Also, Thanks very much to the person who figured out this work around. Worked like a charm.
test
ok so i understand how to do most things except for the radio setting buttons
On a my PC I actually “Control-Click”ed… ALT-Click didn’t do it. Go under Airport, and select the Wireless tab. There’s a drop down called “Radio Mode” it has four options normally, but if you Control-Click it gives you eight.
What is the MAC address that you are supposed to enter?
I found this by going to my Xbox 360 going to my network options section and looking under the MAC address section. It was right there.
So here is my thought. While I appreciate the great input isn’t the whole idea of buying or upgrading to the “N” network what we really want. We want the speed. Putting the network back to b/g only kinda defeats the purpose. Am I missing something?
Works… very frustrating that I love all my Apple stuff and this kinda crap happens. Thanks for the fix, as mentioned, takes 2 seconds and had everything up and running!
Sucks that I can’t use an N router for now, but meh. As long as I can rape people on Call of Duty 4 still, I’m good. :)
Great tip. Every time there was an update to the airport express, I’d have problems getting the XBOX 360 to cooperate. This has worked very well. Much appreciated!!
ok. i know i sound silly here, but…what if i have TWO 360’s i want to connect wirelessly? any suggestions as to reserving a DHCP and NAT address then?
where the hell is the radio button??
does it actually have good xbox live connection though? is it strict, moderate or open? is it worth getting if i use xbox alot and hate lags and want to connect to everyone?
whats the nat type?
hey guys, i dont want to sound like a retard, but i need these questions answered. I got an Xbox 360 Elite a few days ago and my current router stinks with range, even though its an N (its a linksys, one of the newer ones) I want to get better speeds and range. 1. if you do this and you change the airport to just b/g, will the speed of my iPhone 3G and MacBook Pro (soon to get) be reduced to 54mpbs as well? 2. Would 54mpbs be really fast (would you have the same speed as before or close to it?) 3. Would the range be affected?
where is the radio setting button??? im using a mac
Great article. Exactly what I was looking for!
Worked like a charm.
How do i select the new network i created?
where is this “airport utility” window you are talking about?
thanks
I was working on getting a wireless network up for a client who had an Airport Extreme base station and an XBox 360, among other wireless devices. I found that you can run the “N” mode, but the SSID (i.e.e the name of the wireless network) needs to broadcast in order to connect. If you don’t broadcast the SSID in an effort to hide the wireless network, you won’t connect to XBox Live.
So leave that SSID available to be seen, change it something more random, and use the WPA/WPA-2 encryption scheme with “N” left on.
Also, Microsoft has a list of compatible routers that can be accessed from this URL:
http://support.xbox.com/support/en/us/nxe/xboxlive/getconnected/CompatibleNetworkEquipment/CompatibleNetworkingEquipment.aspx
Curiously, the Airport Extreme base station (router) is neither compatible nor incompatible. They said users may or may not experience connectivity issues on XBox Live if connecting using Airport Extreme. The Microsoft vs. Apple battle rages on…
Thanks much. THis is very useful and helpful information. I am about to do a demo, maybe my last hooorah ……….hitting the 4-0 40yrs. old in July. Promised myself I would stop at 40 then I see all theses old rockers out there, locals and globally known and second think it. Arigato gozaimasu .. .. . Thank you a lot in japanese