Hi all. Just bought a WD TV LIve and trying to connect to internet for first time. I’ve got a wired cable modem hooked up to my PC. I thought I would be able to just unplug the network cable from the back of my PC and plug it into the WDTV Live box instead? Can’t seem to get an IP address that way using automatic settings. I briefly plugged the PC back in and ran an ipconfig command from the Run menu and noted the IP, subnet, gateway and DNS info but that didn’t help either when I entered the info manually on the WDTV. Any advice for a n00b?
Dude. Go get yourself a router. They’re cheap, and they provide HUGE protection.
Putting your PC on the network without a router between it and the Wild West is NUTS, and is a HUGE security risk.
Ok, Sermon Over.
Your ISP is likely allowing only a SINGLE MAC address on your network. MANY ISPs do this. You MIGHT be able to get past this by unplugging your Cable Modem for a little while, and then turning it back on when the WD is attached to it.
If that is successful, you’ll have to do that every time you switch between the WD and PC.
Again, a router will prevent that issue, because everything BEHIND the router will appear as a single MAC address, and only the Router’s MAC address is seen on the internet.
Cheers for the reply, mate. I use a VPN which has protected me pretty well for a few years, as well as your standard peerblock software, but is there a particular router that you’d recommend as additional protection for this purpose? I’ll get it sorted this week if so.
I would start by calling your ISP tech support to see if they have any specific requirements such as PPPoE client or whatnot. Here in the US, the technical requirements can vary; I would suspect the same wherever you might be. In my case, my router is provided by my ISP, so the decision was made for me. It’s an ActionTec MI424.
Looks like I edited my reply to add more info as you were typing your response! I appreciate your reply.
