Sharing Internet with xbox360

[nmeans73]

I currently am in college and an living in a dorm on campus. I connect to the internet through ethernet in my room and I wish to share that ethernet connection with my xbox360. I currently have my ethernet from the wall plugged into the ethernet jack on my motherboard. I bought a pci lan card and installed it into my computer in order to have the two jacks necessary to run two different ethernet cables.

What would be my best option for sharing the internet connection of my computer with my xbox360? I have tried the ICS option in windows and cannot get it to work. I have also tried bridging the connections but whenever I bridge the two connections, I lose all internet connectivity.

My specs are:

OS: Windows 7 Professional (x64) (build 7600)
CPU: 2.20 gigahertz AMD Phenom 9500 Quad-Core
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 9400 GT
Motherboard: Asus M3N78 PRO
LAN Card: Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC

Here is my ipconfig:

C:\Users\Nicholas>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Nicholas-PC
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : rhbd.psu.edu

Ethernet adapter Xbox Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet
NIC
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-14-D1-1B-20-0B
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : rhbd.psu.edu
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-24-8C-51-43-00
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2002:4247:871:a:6dd7:72f4:8319:8c96(Depre
cated)
Temporary IPv6 Address. . . . . . : 2002:4247:871:a:e1e9:2be2:156e:d0fd(Depre
cated)
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::6dd7:72f4:8319:8c96%11(Preferred)
Site-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fec0::a:6dd7:72f4:8319:8c96%1(Deprecated)

IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 66.71.8.214(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, February 24, 2010 3:13:45 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, February 25, 2010 3:13:44 PM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : fe80::2554:2022:d7ac:1a59%11
66.71.8.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 128.118.70.11
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 234890380
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-12-7C-F1-1F-00-24-8C-51-43-00

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 146.186.163.66
128.118.141.32
128.118.25.3
130.203.1.4
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Tunnel adapter isatap.rhbd.psu.edu:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 9:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2001:0:4137:9e74:14be:1548:bdb8:f729(Pref
erred)
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::14be:1548:bdb8:f729%13(Preferred)
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

Tunnel adapter isatap.{9FCFCF82-9D96-4272-B37F-DECCCCBF4317}:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #3
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

 

[Darryl Licht]

Were you trying to plug the xbox into the new NIC you installed, and share the current connection going from wall to PC mobo nic?

You need a 4 (or greater) port switch to plug in more than 1 device, the campus probably uses a router and dhcp so I doubt you need a router. Wire from wall will go into a port on the switch... PC connects to another port on switch, as will xbox.


Take the NIC (pci lan card) back and get a switch!

 

[nmeans73]

That is correct, I have the internet connection going to my motherboard NIC and the xbox is plugged into the new NIC I installed.

I borrowed a spare ethernet cable from my roommate to test if this setup would work and when I used the ICS feature in windows, I was successfully able to share my internet connection.

I then went out and bought my own ethernet cable and when I went to use the ICS feature, I could not get it to work. Oddly enough, when I went to enable media streaming through windows media center on my computer, It was successful and I was able to stream media from my computer to my xbox.

I concluded that since I could stream media, my new NIC card was not faulty and neither was the ethernet cable I bought. I am really at a loss as to why I could stream media but I was not able to share my internet connection.

As for the hub option, I was really hoping to avoid having to buy any hardware like that because I already have so much space devoted to my other computer hardware.

 

[Darryl Licht]

I would have to agree that the NIC and cable are good... Probably has to do with the fact that ICS is intended for Internet sharing with a PC. It may not work with Xbox. Just go get a switch...

Not pricey... just get one more cable... Newegg.com - D-Link DES-1105 10/100Mbps Desktop Switch 5 x RJ45 2K MAC Address Table 64KB Buffer Memory - Switches

 

[nmeans73]

I may have to break down and just buy a switch then. Though before I do, would bridging my connections be an option? I know that it is rather easy when bridging a wireless and ethernet connection but every time I try to bridge my two ethernet connections, I lose internet connectivity. Is this a security feature of windows or do I have something configured incorrectly?

 

[Darryl Licht]

I have found bridging to be unreliable and problematic...

 

[nmeans73]

-UPDATE-

I have managed to get my set up working by using the ICS feature. In my network options, I had network discovery turned off in the public network options and my xbox is connected to my computer via a network which windows classified as public. Once I enabled this setting, I was able to set it up without a problem. I guess the big question will be whether or not I can still connect tomorrow or after I reboot my computer.

 

[Darryl Licht]

-UPDATE-

I have managed to get my set up working by using the ICS feature. In my network options, I had network discovery turned off in the public network options and my xbox is connected to my computer via a network which windows classified as public. Once I enabled this setting, I was able to set it up without a problem. I guess the big question will be whether or not I can still connect tomorrow or after I reboot my computer.

Great job! I learned something too... didnt know you could use ICS to share with an Xbox!

Your settings should remain after reboot... go ahead and try now to see!

Now you can start digitizing your dvd collection!