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Xbox 360 and wireless "Extender Not Found" Media Center issues

(December 4th, 2007 - 2:20PM)

I finally bought an Xbox 360. Not so much for the games (although Mass Effect is awesome), but for the Media Center capabilities.

Since I have Windows Vista Ultimate, my PC acts as a Windows Media Center. The Xbox 360 can then act as a Media Center Extender, meaning that I can stream movies from my computer to my Xbox 360. Then I can watch them on my TV instead of my monitor. This is incredibly handy, as I download most of the shows I watch.

I did encounter wireless problems while setting up my 360. I kept receiving an "Extender Not Found" error on my 360 when attempting to connect to my Media Center PC. This was despite the fact that my PC could see the 360 on the network, and Xbox Live worked fine.

But I found the problem: I had both my 360 AND my Vista Media Center PC connected wirelessly to my router. Microsoft says that it's fine to connect your 360 wirelessly, but recommends that you use a wired connection for your Media Center PC. What I didn't realize is that this isn't really a "recommendation." It's a requirement. If your PC is using a wireless connection, there's a good chance that it will fail to sync up with your Media Center Extender.

So a word to the wise: If you're getting an "Extender Not Found" message on your 360, make sure your Media Center PC is using a wired connection.

permanent link - digg this post - 6 comments

6 comments

Gordon McCorkell

May 30, 2008

Thank you so much for this advice. Wish Microsoft website had said - or even if Customer Support (who I spent hours on the phone with) could've solved the problem so simply. Once again, thank you.

James

July 19, 2008

Fix:

Make Sure You Have Both A LAN Port And A Wifi Card In Your PC

If Your Using Just Wifi Then Dont Connect Anything To The LAN Socket

Open Network And Sharing Center On Vista And Click Manage Network Connections

Select Both The Wifi Connection And The Local Area Network Connection (Even If It Says Network Connection Unplugged) Then Right Click And Choose Bridge Connections

Give It A Minute And You Will Then Be Able To Connect To The XBOX 360 And Use It As An Extender Via Wifi!

Gurdeep

August 3, 2008

James' advice worked for me... I have tried everything else and this is the only thing that worked. Thx

John D

August 7, 2008

Thank you so much James. I've been scouring the internet for hours and finally came across this solution. This indeed was the problem I was having, and everything is working fine now.

Chris

August 15, 2008

You need to disable ICS on your wireless adapter. Goto your wireless adapter and click properties then click the share tab then uncheck it.

Dom

August 16, 2008

James - you are a genius! I've spent the last few hours searching for an answer, most of which were excessively complicated and then you come up with this which is so simple.

Thanks.

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