Why is my Xbox 360 crashing my internet?

The Game Room
1

Recently I’ve been having a real problem with my 360 and my internet connection.

I have high speed cable internet connected via Netgear RP614 router to my PC running Windows XP and to my Xbox 360.

I’m finding that after turning off my Xbox I lose most, if not all internet connection - pages will not load, can’t even check my email. When my Xbox is on, connectivity is just fine.

Usually the only way to restore my internet is to take one of two steps - both of them a pain in the ass.

  1. Unplug and replug both my cable modem and router - reboot my computer (this works most, but not all of the time).

  2. Wait about an hour after turning off the Xbox and the internet connection usually returns.

I originally thought that my old router (D-Link) had fried so I purchased a new Netgear router but the problem persists.

I’m a noob when it comes to messing with port settings, IP’s, gateways and such but I have a suspicion that my problem might lay here.

Any theories, suggestions, and hopefully ways to fix this problem would be appreciated.

2

Sounds like the xbox is filling up your NAT routing tables. Most consumer routers have a problem similar to this. Putting your xbox in the DMZ (yes, it does mean demilitarized zone) or forwarding the ports that xbox live uses (i don’t know which ones these are off the top of my head), may fix the problem.
Good luck!

3

The OP said that their network was experiencing problems when the XBox was turned off but functions fine when turned on. That being said, this doesn’t make much sense to me as described. Steel Wheels, I don’t have any experience with an RP614, but the specs claim it’s a router, so you should be fine with your configuration.

The only thing I can think of off the top of my head is that you have your cable modem plugged into the wrong port of the Netgear RP614. Looking at this diagram, is your cable modem plugged into the port labeled as “Connects to Broadband modem”? If it isn’t, try plugging the modem into that port and see if it fixes your issues. If it is, did anyone reconfigure the RP614 after your bought it, or does it still have the factory default configuration?

4

Modem is definitely plugged into the correct port and the only changes made to the router after purchase was an update of firmware.

5

I’ve found out the ports that xbox live uses, 88 & 3074. To set up port forwarding, my router asks for the server IP, this is where it gets confusing for me. Does this mean my computer’s IP address, the xbox or something entirely different?

6

When the XBOX is working what is its IP address? Im wondering if your box isnt doing NAT and is pulling a real WAN IP addresses.

7

Set my router to open ports 88 & 3074, seems to have solved the problem.