You can see my original post with the similar title for details.*
It didn’t take but a few hours before I was privately messaged here by someone else with the exact same problem with the HDHR prime / xbox 360 / N750 combo since they couldn’t post to a mod locked thread.
I’m opening another thread in case there are more people with the same problem who might find the conversation helpful. Or maybe, if there’s more than 3 people in the universe with this problem, WD might publish a firmware update to fix it.
*That thread got locked by a forum mod after it got trolled. I haven’t given up on WD Network products yet because after a rocky start, my direct contact with WD support has improved a LOT. They called me directly and are sending me another replacement. If this thread doesn’t get hijacked or locked, I’ll post here if the problem gets resolved.
I signed up just to reply to your thread, but I do not see where in the thread I can post. Perhaps you can post this for me. Several months ago I purchased the N750 router as well. About 3 weeks ago I turned on the Xbox 360 for the first time since I purchased the router (been playing LOTRO). Then the freezing issues started. It would happen on the Dashboard and it would happen when playing. It would happening all the time and all with a couple of minutes turning on the Xbox 360. I did some research and tried other things (clear cache, remove HDD, yada,yada,yada) and nothing worked. I finally stumbled upon your post. I decided to switch out the WD for the old Netgear I was using and guess what…THE FREEZING STOPPED! Part of this reply is also for ThePizzaMatrix. He/She clearly has nothing else better to do then to offer informed opinions of the situation. There is no doubt in my mind that the issue is with the WD router.I am going to purchase another 5GHZ router instead if waiting for a fix or a replacement to do the exact same thing. Which is pretty much waste my time with a defective product.
Update - The problem with the replacement router was that I couldn’t get a WAN side ip address from the comcast modem. I reset, rebooted at least 3 times, replaced cables, etc. with no luck. After I had called support directly and they agreed to send me another replacement, the level 2 tech that has been also helping me from WD wrote me and said to skip the “connect to internet wizard” and to clone my ip (his instructions are below). Somehow this worked and brought the modem to life. This is curious to me since I have never had to do this in many years of using at least 5 different wireless router during that time.
I will do some testing with the HDHomerun Prime later when less people are online here at home to complain about no internet. If you have kids you understand that losing wifi is worse than having no food, clothes, shelter, hot water, etc…
“I would like you to please try cloning your PC’s MAC address, a MAC address is an unique identifier on all Network Interface Cards (NIC), by doing that, your router will connect to the modem like the PC, this will prevent any kind of blocking or denied access that some modems have. To perform the cloning, please go to the Dashboard (UI), once in UI please go to “Advance settings > WAN > Internet setup” Once there at the bottom of the webpage, you will find a large blue button with a “Clone your computer’s MAC address” statement, please click it and then hit save once the MAC appears on the space above the button. As soon as saved, please proceed to unplug your modem from power for 30 seconds, please insure that there is no battery backup in it, if there is, it will need to be removed for the 30 seconds, the router can be on. Once the modem boots, please check for the internet connection on the My Net router.”
Update: WD sent a replacement N900 for the N750. It shows the same problem with freezing the xbox. Today I was informed that a new firmware was due out in “about” 1 to 2 months to address some of the xbox issues. I can only hope that my rare but not unique problem with HDHomerun products will be addressed in the new firmware.
I have to say the WD support team, while not perfect, has been a pleasure to work with. I have considered just ditching this WD router and picking up one of the great deals on routers I am seeing every day since it’s black friday week, but I think I’ll gamble on WD making good on this N900. I saw some awesome tech reviews for some of the Netgear AC routers but then I read the scary support stories at amazon and newegg about netgear and said “No thank you”.
Same issue. Xbox freezing after couple of minutes of turning it on with N750. When other brand routers are used everything works fine. I have HD Homerun too.
Only reason I signed up to this forum was to let you know that there are people like you with this problem but they like me after hours spent troubleshooting this problem just give up. For me it was it was not worth to spend more time and I initially blamed my old xbox as xbox freezing is common and bought new one. Now I have 2 xboxes, n750 collecting dust and old tp-link router back in service.
In addition to connecting the HDHomerun Prime (HDHR) directly to the Windows Media Center with a second NIC like I describe above, here’s another workaround.
First of all WD asked me to assign a static IP to the HDHR on the HDHR itself. This is NOT possible as confirmed by SiliconDust.
Next WD suggested I connect the HDHR back to the N900 directly and put it in the DMZ (under advanced settings/security) and it appears to be working ok. The WMC can use the HDHR and so can my other computers. I contacted SiliconDust to see if this was a security risk and they answered the following:
“The HDHomeRun doesn’t run a traditional OS like Linux or something that would be commonly targeted, and there isn’t any platform on it to run a traditional program to further attack other devices on the network if someone did happen to hack it. It wouldn’t be worth the effort for someone to try. If someone really wanted to get into your network, it would be easier to go after the router, which is running Linux.”
Finally there’s good and bad news. The tech that helped me this week said that there are NO firmware updates scheduled to be released at this time (which is a different story from what I was told before) so we have to live with this issue for the time being. The good news is that she said their lab is trying to obtain an HDHR Prime in order to diagnose the issue due in part to the other people chiming in here that it’s not just me with this problem.
Again, I have to give kudos to their tech support for being pleasant to work with.
I’m yet another with same same HD Homerun/N900/Xbox RJ45 freezing issue.
The workaround I found was to use wifi on the xbox to a 2nd access point (FIOS actiontec) on the LAN.
One theory I have is that the N900 is forwarding the SSDP/Multicast packets from the HDHomerun out-of-order, which in turn freezes the Xbox. I took a packet capture from a PC on the LAN to see the broadcast/multicasts, but as the network is switched this is of limited value.
Did you have to use a different SSID to force the xbox to the other AP? I even disconnected wifi and only connected via ethernet and my XBox still freezes. I have confirmed that unplugging the Homerun (I don’t have the prime, just the 2 tuner one) does seem to stop the freezing. Until today I thought I had to unplug the N750 anytime we wanted the XBox to work. Thanks for documenting things here, I was sure in the dark on this until I found your tenacious attempts well documented. Please update if you find better solutions. What seems off about your theory is that why would the HR be broadcasting if it’s not in use and even then, how does a 2nd AP fix it unless that AP blocks the broadcasts?
Did you have to use a different SSID to force the xbox to the other AP? Both of my xboxes are connected via wired ethernet, not wireless. However, I think you are confused about the workarounds. I found 2 workarounds and neither involve using a different access point (AP). One solution was to add a 2nd ethernet card (NIC) to the Windows Media Center computer (WMC) and then attach the HDHomerun (HDHR) to the second NIC on the WMC. I explained this procedure in a previous post. This is what I am currently doing because I like the fact that if I mess with the router, or reboot it or if our power goes out for a few minutes, it doesn’t mess up any tv show that might be recording. I have a UPS for the WMC and HDHR that keep them running even during a power outage as long as it isn’t extended. The disadvantage is that only the WMC can use the HDHR. You can’t access it from another computer, tablet, etc.
The 2nd solution was to put the HDHR in the DMZ dimilitarized zone on the router as I also explained in a previous post in this thread. The advantage here is that you can still access the HDHR from any computer including the WMC. This is the easiest workaround since it’s a simple config change on the WD Router and you don’t have to buy/install a new NIC.
What seems off about your theory is that why would the HR be broadcasting if it’s not in use and even then, how does a 2nd AP fix it unless that AP blocks the broadcasts? Again, adding an AP doesn’t fix anything. Actually, I found that if I kept my old router in place and then added the N750 as an access point role (not router), this would also cause the xbox freezing. The reason behind this or what exactly the HDHR is broadcasting over the network is a question for Silicon Dust who makes the HDHR.
Dear WD, last time I spoke with one of the WD support techs, they said WD was going to order an HDHR and look into fixing this issue. Can you give us a status report on any progress or expected firmware update to address this?
I have the WD My Net N900, xbox 360 pro, Windows Media Center PC, HD HomeRun Prime and HD HomeRun combo and also experience my Xbox locking up / freezing within 5 minutes of use for the past 2-3 months since I got the N900.
My current workaround is that I have a switch which my Xbox, WMC, HD HomeRuns are connected to. When I am to stream shows to my Xbox from my WMC, I disonnect my switch from the N900 router. Also, If I need internet connection on my Xbox, I hook it up to another router (e.g. my FIOS ActionTek router). These temporary workarounds are annoying and at some point I am going to dump this router if this issue is not resolved.
WD, will there be a firmware fix for this issue for your routers? None of my other 4 routers cause my Xbox to freeze.
Count me in the community of having N900 with an HDHomeRun Prime with XBOX’s. Basically anyone who has a HDHomeRun Prime probably also has WMC with XBOX’s as extenders. This is an extremely common scenario. I just hooked up my N900 this morning and updated to the latest firmware. I measured my WAN throughput before and after installing the N900 it’s roughly the same (actually slightly slower with the N900). What is disspointing is that in 8 hours it’s rebooted twice on it’s own which is unacceptable. I measured the uptime of my previous router (WRT54GL with dd-wrt) in years. Does anyone else experience frequent reboots? There is a significant loss in features with the N900 compared to dd-wrt but I’m willing to live with that as long as it’s stable.
Problem is definitely with multicast. I switched routers to a dlink. It has a setting to enable/disable ipv4 multicast. When enabled my Xbox still freezes, when disabled it works. Hence even if hdhomerun is sending bad packets, the Xbox should never freeze hence fix should really be from Microsoft. Unfortunaly it’ll never happen as the Xbox 360 is obsolete. Hopefully WD can also add a multicast on/off switch to their firmware.
hmm, I’m not a network guru, expert or whatever but in my personal experience the only item that seems to be the root problem in this situation is the WD Router. I can use any of the following routers (DIR-655, WRT-54gl, USR5461, DIR-601) with no problems. It doesn’t matter if I turn multicast on or off because they all work with the xbox and HDHR combination. Some of these routers don’t even have the multicast on/off option.
Again I’m not an expert but my personal observation and common sense tell me you’re barking up the wrong tree by blaming the Microsoft xbox 360.
IT WOULD BE NICE IF WD WOULD WEIGH IN HERE WITH A FIX AND OR PROGRESS REPORT!
I finally gave up on WD and bought a Netgear 3700. Guess what? It has all worked from the gitgo. No special workarounds, no DMZ, no turning multicast off. What a difference with the interface also. Netgear gives me meaniful options and information. Sorry WD but even though some of your Techs were super nice to work with personally, you have a long way to go in the field of networking.
Now I’m using a DIR-850L (UPnP enabled/IPv4 multicast disabled), I also have an old DIR-655 (which I know had multicast disabled by default), if I get time I’ll resurrect it and see if I get the problem with multicast enabled.
If you get chance try changing the IGMP Proxying/UPnP settings on your 3700, and see if you can reproduce the Xbox freeze. i.e:
For Netgear routers, including the WNDR3700, under Advanced click on WAN Setup. If there is an IGMP Proxying option, test with this option enabled and with this option disabled. If there is a UPnP option test with this option enabled and with this option disabled.
I’d also be curious if anyone with a newer WD My Net AC1300 has the problem.
Same issue. It appears to be a combo between the Windows 7 w/WMC, XBox, HDHomeRun(2) and the N900. Was fine before the N900.
Added an other GBE card to the PC, enabled ICS and put the HomeRuns and the PC on it’s own switch. The PC sees the real nework and the HomeRun network.
