Can't detect XBOX using Linux as router

Kai Beginner Joined: 28 Sep 2004 Posts: 6 Location: China

I've been searching the forums for 3 days now and haven't come across anyone with a similar network setup to mine so would appreciate any help.

I'm running a LAN with DHCP coming into a Linux box (2 NICs) running iptables firewall/router with gateway 192.168.2.1 and going out to SMC switch to serve the network. Kai is running on another windows box with local address 192.168.2.2. Xbox is running on local 192.168.2.5 and I can ping/ftp it from both pcs.

I've opened port 3074 and allowed IP 0.0.0.1 full access in iptables. After firing up Kai I can see other peoples ping details and can chat/PM etc but I get absolutely nothing on the performance screen when I do xbox syslink search. Also tried installing different versions of winpcap but no joy.

Any suggestions on what I need to do to get Kai to detect my xbox? I really want to get this sorted and get gaming. Thanks.

Posted: Thu Sep 30, 2004 5:59 pm

well cant say i know much about using linux as a router but at least everything is on the same subnet. For starters i would change your xbox to a static IP address and work from there. thats about all the help i can give you other than go get a router instead.

Posted: Thu Sep 30, 2004 8:09 pm

Quote:

going out to SMC switch

Is this a true switch that performs MAC filtering based on Spanning Tree Protocol? If so, is it manageable?

If you are able to turn Spanning Tree Protocol off from the port where the PC running Kai is connected then you may have a saving grace. Winpcap depends on being able to see ALL network traffic in order for Kai to function. If you can't disable the STP from one port (or perhaps you already have a mangement port on it... aka promiscuous mode) then you may need to get a hub to replace the switch.

This is not something that can be fixed with software.

I also described this issue in THIS THREAD - click for a more detailed explanation.

Posted: Thu Sep 30, 2004 11:32 pm

To solve your problem you have to Forward port 30000 on UDP from all incoming on your linux router to your internal Windows PC.

Do you know how to do it in iptables?

I've used this site http://easyfwgen.morizot.net/gen/ to build my iptables rules... i have the same configuration LAN.
Any help, just message me here...

Kai Beginner Joined: 28 Sep 2004 Posts: 6 Location: China

Thanks for your help so far guys but still no luck - Ok I have tried forwarding from port 30000 to port 80 on 192.168.2.2 using firestarter (is this correct?) but still can't detect the XBOX.

Is there anything I need to do on the Kai configuration tool with Kai Port or Kai Deep Port? These are both set to 0.

I am able to set up the Kai dashboard engine and can also view all arenas using XBMC but once I put a disc in the XBOX and run it I cannot find them. I'm wondering if this is my problem as I can ping the XBOX without a game running but once it starts up I am not able to do so!?

In order to detect the XBOX while running kai on PC I also have to have a disc runing for syslink search.

Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2004 10:01 am

Quote:

port 30000 to port 80

Should be 30000 to 30000. The port-forward is not HTTP. You put the port you intend to forward in Kai's Configuration Tool under 'Kai Port'. Leave 'Kai Deep Port' as 0.

However, being unable to see your XBox is the case of a crap WinPCap install or a firewall at play.

Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2004 10:52 am

Quote:

being unable to see your XBox is the case of a crap WinPCap install or a firewall at play.

Or, as I said, a switch filtering MAC address packets. You specifically said it was an SMC Switch you are using and, if this is the case, nothing you do in software will help. What is the model of the switch you are using?

Kai Beginner Joined: 28 Sep 2004 Posts: 6 Location: China

Switch model is SMC-EZ6505TX

So should I just give up on this until I get myself a new hub/switch?

Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2004 6:56 pm

After reviewing the product datasheet available HERE I would have to say that your switch will not work. It does, indeed, build MAC address tables per port and uses store and forward technologies to seperate each network port into its own segment. This will never work for an application that depends on packet analysis. Buy yourself a cheap hub and it will resolve your problem.

Kai Beginner Joined: 28 Sep 2004 Posts: 6 Location: China

I actually have an old netgear EN104TP hub lying about the house. I can't test it at the moment as it has no power adaptor but do you think this will do the job?

Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2004 2:28 pm

Yep... as long as it is a HUB and not a SWITCH. There's a big difference between the two, regardless of how similar they look.

Kai Beginner Joined: 28 Sep 2004 Posts: 6 Location: China

Got the hub up and running but still the same problem (no xbox detection). Is it normal that I can't ping the xbox when a game is running?

I've tried most of the suggestions on these boards, would be grateful for any pointers where to go from here.

Posted: Sat Oct 02, 2004 4:47 pm

Yeah it's normal for the IP address of the Xbox to change when you go into system link - the default for all system link games is to use the IP address of 0.0.0.1 which means you won't be able to ping the Xbox since it is on a dissimilar network from your router and PC when in system link mode.

The things to check here are the Winpcap and port forwarding, mostly. Now that you've eliminated the switch, everything else pretty much has zero configuration, so it's almost always one of these 2 things that causes problems like what you're seeing. The other is usually a firewall software of some kind, and for a select few software firewalls they actually have to be uninstalled from the computer completely for Kai to work properly (Kerio and Panda firewalls fit into this category).

First, make sure that in Kai Config you have set the Kai port to the same one that you forwarded on your router. Most of us suggest 30000 as it's a nice safe one that isn't used by other applications, but you could use any one that you wanted. We've even recommended to people coming over from XBC to just set the port in kai config to 8602 to match XBCs current settings and that is sufficient for most of them (unless, in some cases, they need a different winpcap version). Make sure the port is forwarded to the IP address of your computer running Kai and also make sure it is set in the Kai config utility.

If that isn't helping, a different version of Winpcap can sometimes solve the problem. I've had good luck with version 3.0 available from their website at http://winpcap.polito.it - as always it is recommended that you uninstall any prior version and reboot before installing another version.

If you are at all familiar with networks and protocol analyzers, then you might take a look at Ethereal available at ethereal.com - this is a packet analyzer built on the foundation of Winpcap which would allow you to view all of the network packets coming to your PC and determine if the packets from your Xbox are even getting there. I don't usually suggest this because a large majority of people haven't got a clue about network packets and where to find the MAC address, but if you aren't scared of a very technical network tool it's a good way to determine if the packets are even being seen by your PC. If not, there's something else that's preventing them from reaching it.

I know you have been through all this stuff already, but I'd say to go through it and double check your steps carefully. I wish there was more to offer, but those are the common issues that plague new users here. I'd say that in 98% of those cases, these steps are enough. In rare cases people have had to go through testing with TD, and in even rarer ones it helps him to find problems either within the Kai code or with ISP compatibilities.

If all else fails, Funk has been rather active and successful helping people through MSN messenger. I'm sure if you look for him he can help straighten you out.

I don't use messengers much, if at all... but I'm here on the forums if you have more questions.

Kai Beginner Joined: 28 Sep 2004 Posts: 6 Location: China

Ok thanks for the help, I'm currently in the UK but when I get back home next week I'll try everything suggested above(again) and hope that the gremlins have found someone else to mess with.