Help Required: Removing Strict NAT

Hey guys. :)

Earlier today, I tried to help my friend make her router's NAT, "OPEN" for her Xbox 360, but it didn't work and I need help from you guys, to see what the problem was/is. I read a few tutorials on how to do this using her Linksys NR041 router, by doing the following:

a) Accessing the router by typing in the IP Address and inputting the username and pass.

b) Enabling the DMZ option and inputting the IP Address 192.168.1.200.

c) Changing the IP Settings on the 360 from Automatic to Manual.

d) Manually inputting the following on the Xbox 360 Network Settings:

IP Address, 192.168.1.200
Subnet Mask, 255.255.255.0
Gateway, same as the Default Gateway on the computer.

Anyways, then we chose the "Test Xbox Live Connection" option on the 360 and an error occurred. I'm not sure what the error was, because she did not tell me, lol. Anyways, I am not sure what the problem is, because we did everything correctly (at least I hope so) but the 360 would not go online, unless we changed everything back to Default settings. I think the only reason that we want the NAT to be OPEN instead of STRICT is because, she has problems communicating with some of her friends.

In addition, the reason that we changed the IP Address on the 360 to 192.168.1.200 is because we did the following:

a) Accessed the router again.

b) Went to Basic Setup and Enabled DHCB.

c) Set the Starting IP Address to 192.168.1.100

d) Set the Maximum Number of DHCP Users to 50 so that the IP Address would go from 192.168.1.100 to 192.168.1.150 and would not conflict with the Xbox 360's IP Address which is 192.168.1.200.

Bump. :)

Just disable NAT for the whole network, that's what I do. Setting up DMZ is just too much hassle :P

I think you are doing more than you need to. Forget all that manual setup stuff you did, just leave everything set to auto, use the IP address automatically assign and type that into the routers DMZ address. Start with turning everything off. Power cycle the router (unplug 30 sec and plug back in). Turn on the 360, set the network settings to automatic, test it (will still get the strict NAT), then look at what IP address was auto assigned to the 360. Write down the number, log on to the router, go to the DMZ setting and input the IP address of the 360. NAT should then be open. Don't know why you would need to enable DHCB.WillT12345

Oh okay, well I enabled it, because that's what the tutorial stated. Anyways, are you sure what you stated will work perfectly?

you have to port forward the xbox ports. google themdarkmagician06

I tried that but it didn't work, and the alternative to that is to use the DMZ feature which is much easier.

Universal Plug and Play is the easiest solution, but you need a router that supports it. Beyond that, DMZ is easiest. Based on what you've described it sounds like you did everything correctly, but here are some things to double check.

1) Make sure that you are using the correct subnet:

A subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 means you have 254 addresses available. If your router is 192.168.1.1 then all addresses you use (static or DHCP) need to also be 192.168.1.x. You mentioned the IP address you are trying to set, but not the addresses it already had. If your router is in the 192.168.0.x subnet and you're trying to use 192.168.1.x addresses that will create an error.

2) Make sure the gateway is the IP address of the router:

You said you are using the gateway from one of your computers, but there can be circumstances in which this differs from the gateway you need to use for your Xbox 360 (depending on your network topology). The IP address of your router is the correct address to use for the gateway of the 360.

-Byshop

Universal Plug and Play is the easiest solution, but you need a router that supports it. Beyond that, DMZ is easiest. Based on what you've described it sounds like you did everything correctly, but here are some things to double check.

1) Make sure that you are using the correct subnet:

A subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 means you have 254 addresses available. If your router is 192.168.1.1 then all addresses you use (static or DHCP) need to also be 192.168.1.x. You mentioned the IP address you are trying to set, but not the addresses it already had. If your router is in the 192.168.0.x subnet and you're trying to use 192.168.1.x addresses that will create an error.

2) Make sure the gateway is the IP address of the router:

You said you are using the gateway from one of your computers, but there can be circumstances in which this differs from the gateway you need to use for your Xbox 360 (depending on your network topology). The IP address of your router is the correct address to use for the gateway of the 360.

-Byshop

Byshop

I'm not sure what you mean by Universal Plug and Play and I think the Subnet Mask is correct. Do you mean the IP Address that the 360 already had? Also, I thought you can use the Default Gateway (that is stated when you do Start -> Run -> cmd -> ipconfig) as the Gateway for the 360.

The correct address to use is the IP address of the router. Using IP config on another computer using the same router is just an easy way to find out what that address is. Since you already know the IP address of the router (the ip address you typed into a browser window to configure the router) you can just enter that. The reason I mention it is because if these two addresses are different (the computer's gateway and the router's address) then you need to use the router's address.

For subnet, same thing. The IP address of your router will tell you the subnet you should be using. If the router is 192.168.0.1 then you have to use 192.168.0.x addresses. If it's 192.168.1.1 then you have to use 192.168.1.x addresses.

I don't know that either of these are your problem since there wasn't enough info about your particular network in the post, but they are things you can double check. Post back with your findings.

-Byshop

Any luck?

-Byshop

Any luck?

-Byshop

Byshop

Well, I told her about it, and she said she will do it, but she is a bit frustrated, so we'll see how it goes. I'll try and tell her to work on it later today.

I dont mean to be rude, but wouldn't this be better post this at the 360 forum?Dogswithguns

Nah, because most of the people in the 360 section won't know and it makes more sense to come here where there's all the tech people :P

This is totally unrelated but I hate how they call it DMZ in the router, when it's not actually a DMZ. It's a pseudo DMZ, a DMZ is physically seperated from your network :P Oh and you shouldn't have to do any of this if her router is UPNP.

This is what you should do to get it working:

Set the default gateway to 192.168.1.1 on your router, should be already like this.

Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0

Starting ip address 192.168.1.100 - 192.168.1.199

Set the xbox's ip address to 192.168.1.199

BTW I wouldn't advise a psuedo dmz, just open these ports

Open these ports:

• TCP 80
• UDP 88
• UDP 3074
• TCP 3074
• UDP 53
• TCP 53

If it doesn't work, then oh well.

There's nothing wrong with DMZing a device inside your network (yes, I know it's not a real DMZ). You can forward the explicit ports. This is how I do it on my home network using an Endian firewall running on a shuttle PC, but if you're troubleshooting failed port forwarding it's a lot easier to DMZ the IP address of the 360 than change 6 different forwarding rules every time you make an adjustment. DMZing a 360 is safe since there aren't any exposed services to worry about (just don't DMZ any of your PCs).

-Byshop

This is totally unrelated but I hate how they call it DMZ in the router, when it's not actually a DMZ. It's a pseudo DMZ, a DMZ is physically seperated from your network :P Oh and you shouldn't have to do any of this if her router is UPNP.

This is what you should do to get it working:

Set the default gateway to 192.168.1.1 on your router, should be already like this.

Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0

Starting ip address 192.168.1.100 - 192.168.1.199

Set the xbox's ip address to 192.168.1.199

BTW I wouldn't advise a psuedo dmz, just open these ports

Open these ports:

• TCP 80
• UDP 88
• UDP 3074
• TCP 3074
• UDP 53
• TCP 53

If it doesn't work, then oh well.

JigglyWiggly_

That's true, and I will try that as well, but are those ports for anyone, or do they change for different network configurations?

[QUOTE="Dogswithguns"]I dont mean to be rude, but wouldn't this be better post this at the 360 forum?joshuahaveron

Nah, because most of the people in the 360 section won't know and it makes more sense to come here where there's all the tech people :P

Haha, exactly.

[QUOTE="JigglyWiggly_"]

This is totally unrelated but I hate how they call it DMZ in the router, when it's not actually a DMZ. It's a pseudo DMZ, a DMZ is physically seperated from your network :P Oh and you shouldn't have to do any of this if her router is UPNP.

This is what you should do to get it working:

Set the default gateway to 192.168.1.1 on your router, should be already like this.

Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0

Starting ip address 192.168.1.100 - 192.168.1.199

Set the xbox's ip address to 192.168.1.199

BTW I wouldn't advise a psuedo dmz, just open these ports

Open these ports:

• TCP 80
• UDP 88
• UDP 3074
• TCP 3074
• UDP 53
• TCP 53

If it doesn't work, then oh well.

ISuperGamerI

That's true, and I will try that as well, but are those ports for anyone, or do they change for different network configurations?

[QUOTE="JigglyWiggly_"]

This is totally unrelated but I hate how they call it DMZ in the router, when it's not actually a DMZ. It's a pseudo DMZ, a DMZ is physically seperated from your network :P Oh and you shouldn't have to do any of this if her router is UPNP.

This is what you should do to get it working:

Set the default gateway to 192.168.1.1 on your router, should be already like this.

Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0

Starting ip address 192.168.1.100 - 192.168.1.199

Set the xbox's ip address to 192.168.1.199

BTW I wouldn't advise a psuedo dmz, just open these ports

Open these ports:

• TCP 80
• UDP 88
• UDP 3074
• TCP 3074
• UDP 53
• TCP 53

If it doesn't work, then oh well.

ISuperGamerI

That's true, and I will try that as well, but are those ports for anyone, or do they change for different network configurations?

The ports are the same for all Xboxes. For right now though stick with DMZ until after you get it working (which is the equivilent of forwarding all ports including the ones you need).

-Byshop