5. Profile Types
After making a profile or recovering your xbox.com
one you’ll be given a free 30 days of gold membership status. Gold
status allows you to play online multiplayer games. Once your 30 days
of free gold are up you have 3 options. The first being allow your
profile to turn into a silver profile. Silver's can still download
content from marketplace, play offline games, and your Gamerscore still
actively updates to xbox.com as long as you’re signed in. However
silver profiles cannot play multiplayer games over Xbox Live. Your
other 2 options have to do with renewing your gold membership. You can
either enter a credit card into your profile info or you can go to your
local store that sells Xbox software or hardware and pick up any
denomination of pre-paid cards. Once you have the card at your house
scratch off the code and while signed in with a silver or gold profile
you want to renew or add more time to you can go to the marketplace
blade select redeem code and then enter in the code. You can stack up
to 36 months or 3 years onto a profile.
6. Basic things of Xbox Live
Well now that you’re connected and you’ve played
around a little there are a few more things you need to know about your
Xbox Live.
6b. Game updates
Once in a while individual game updates might be
rolled out. You’ll put in one game you want to play and it will ask you
to update or disconnect from live. You can select the update now and
your game will restart after the update is completed. These are called
“Title Updates” and once in a while developers will put out new ones
that will fix bugs in a game or add new features.
6c. Dashboard Updates
Twice a year a special console update will be
rolled out. The updates have become known as “The Fall update” or “The
Spring Update”. These dash updates add new features that are available
for you and some hidden features to keep the service moving along
swimmingly. In addition to the normal feature packed dash up dates
there are occasional random updates that add support for new devices
for example the more recent being support added for the wireless
guitars in Guitar Hero 3 and Rock Band.
7. Routers and Networking Issues
This section will not follow the Q&A format of the earlier guide it’s a help and how to section.
Looking for a router?
If you’re in the market for a router you’d be wise
to go with something off the official compatible list. While almost any
router can be configured to work you can save yourself a lot of
headache by going with a live tested one. You can view that list here.
If you’re looking for a personal recommendation I
like linksys and D-link products so I’d say the linksys WRT54G is good
for the price if you have a little more look for a BEF series. In Dlink
the DGL series is solid.
Networking Issues:
I run a Connection test and my NAT comes back as moderate or strict.
Check to see if your router supports a setting
called UPnP. UPnP is a protocol on most new routers that will
automatically forward the ports your devices need.
Linksys router owners with NAT issues read this! This may also apply for others.
Some of the linksys routers had earlier issues
with UPnP. If enabling it on your linksys router does not open your NAT
verify you have the most recent version of the firmware for your router
or the version indicated on the live compatible hardware list.
If your router does not support UPnP then you’ll need to try forwarding the ports to your Xbox’s IP. The process for this is:
Log into your router: enter the IP address of your router default is usually 192.168.1.1
Use the username and password: admin, admin
Find a tab either called port forwarding or on linksys it will be under the applications and gaming tab.
Enter in the ports:
88 UDP
3074 TCP & UDP (some routers in the arrow drop down menu you can just select the both option)
Enter the IP of your Xbox
Check the enable box if there is one
Save the settings.
If port forwarding does not work!
Then as a last resort you need to create a DMZ.
This will not expose your Xbox to viruses (don’t worry it can’t get
them anyways) or anything of the sort but it does expose it to traffic
it just doesn’t need. Follow the same process you did for port
forwarding to log into your router. Find the DMZ option. Select enable
and then enter the IP of your Xbox. Save and your done.
You can also find help on the Xbox.com website:
Original Xbox LIVE connection source page: LINK
Xbox 360 LIVE connection source page: LINK
Final Word:
You’re connected to live. Feel Free to ask in this thread if you have any more questions or need clarification.
Welcome to Xbox Live
Version 2.0 by duzzyman.
2.0-revision:
Added Information on ICS and Bridging via Shad0wmanUK’s Site viewable here
Amended opening wording.
Added section 7 “Routers and Networking Issues”
My how to get connected to live FAQ Having NAT issues see above
