Well I must first start out and say that this is a problem I have seen many talking about and that I have expereience first hand.
The problem is that you can connect to Xbox Live just fine, but you will be unable to join certain peoples parties unless someone else (besides you or the other person) is party leader (host).
I have this happen with a friend that lives close to me, but we cannot join each others parties if one of us is the party leader (host). But we can both join a party that someone else is party leader in. This has been really annoying for me for the past few years, and finally I found the problem for me and it was one simple check box!
Well, this can be a pain as you will most likely find that it happens with more than just that one friend, and depending on what your friends setups are, it can happen with tons of your friends!
Now all these problems are because of NAT. On the original Xbox you cannot see your NAT status, but on the 360 you can! If you go to the system blade --> Network Settings --> Xbox Live Connection Test it will run a diagnostic and check your connection, plus the very bottom thing is NAT.
If your NAT is Open, you are in luck, you should have no trouble connecting to others.
If your NAT is Moderate, you can connect to others that are Moderate or Open.
If your NAT is Strict, you can connect to others that are Open Only!
Ok, Great, your NAT is one of the above, but how do I fix it if I have Moderate or Strict.
Well, there is no do this and it fixes everything, but there are a few things you can try.
First, I have seen many "fixes" that say to turn off UPnP on your Router/Modem. You actually should try it on AND off.
In my setup, my Modem and Router Both had UPnP options and when I enabled UPnP on my Router and Modem, my NAT went from Strict to Open! This is the simple check box that fixed my problems I have been having for years with XBL!!!
Another thing that can sometimes fix the problem is to forward ports 88 and 3074 to your Xbox. This change again depends on your modem/router, but you should be able to go into your router/modem, find Port Forwarding or NAT Options, and then forward those ports to your Xbox IP (if you use a modem and router hooked together, Forward those ports on your Modem to your Router, then your Router to your Xbox).
Finally, if you use a router and none of that works, try plugging your xbox directly to your modem. PowerCycle (turn off and back on) your modem and start your Xbox. Once on the internet (able to connect to XBL) try the NAT test again (or if on an original xbox try connecting to the party you were having troubles with before). If it works now, the problem is most likely your router. Some routers just are incompatible and do not work with open NAT. You can check the list here for routers that will for sure work with XBL (although there are others that work as well):
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/connectt...g/equipment.htmI wish there was a clear fix for all, but there are so many different modems/routers combinations of the two, that it is impossible to have a fix all solution. I hope this helps some people that have been having problems though!
Also a note, even though I have open NAT, there can be times that it does not work perfectly and i cannot join, but I have about 80% less problems now than I did before and 99% of the time I can connect to my friends party that I had trouble with before!
This post has been edited by Grentz: Jul 19 2006, 06:22 PM
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Topic: For People Having Problems Connecting To Certain Others On Xbl (Read 169 times)