In the hopes of being helpful, I would like to provide a summary post about Xbox 360 and Media Center connectivity issues reported by several participants in this forum.
It is important to realize that there are two issues being reported in many threads in this forum. Some reports are about FREEZES and others are DISCONNECTS. It may seem annoying to have someone try to separate these two issues but it is very important to identify what the symptoms are before attempting to troubleshoot the root cause.
A FREEZE is a situation where navigation within the Media Center UI on the Xbox 360 is not longer possible. The Media Center UI remains active but remote or Xbox controller key presses have no effect.
A DISCONNECT is a case when the Media Center UI freezes but then exits to the Xbox 360 dashboard with an error message. It may take up to 2 minutes for the Media Center to exit and the error message to be given.
FREEZES
To date, there are a few known causes of freezes of Media Center. The ones that have been pinned down are Media Center add-ins, high CPU usage and network issues.
Media Center Add-ins. There are many Media Center add-ins available. Not all add-ins have been verified to work in Extender scenario and some have been found to cause issues when launched in Media Center on the Extender. In order to determine if add-ins are causing the freeze there is a simple test that you can do.
Test: When the Media Center UI is frozen on the Xbox 360 (meaning Media Center is up but key presses do not do anything), press the Media Center green button on the remote or the start button on the Xbox 360 controller to regain control of navigation. If you are able to regain control, then there is probably an add-in that is causing the freeze.
Resolution: If an add-in is causing the freeze it will need to be disabled for Media Center running on the Extender. Disabling the add-in on the Media Center PC will not change the behavior on the Extender. To disable add-ins, you will need to launch Media Center on the Xbox 360. If the UI freezes, use the green button or start button to regain control. In Media Center, go into Settings>General>Program Library Options>Edit Program Library and uncheck the add-ins. Most add-ins do work with Extender so you will need to do a little investigation work to determine which one is not compatible. If you uncheck an add-in you will need to close Media Center on the Extender and re-launch it for the changes to take place.
NOTE* There are two confirmed add-ins today which cause this issue. Picasso and Intel DH Background Add-in. Both are generally found on HP Media Center PC’s
High CPU. The Extender connection has many similarities to a remote desktop session on the Vista PC. When you are connected to a PC using a remote desktop session there are times when applications stall as the CPU of the PC spikes. Just as when you are connected to the PCs desktop you sometimes see the “not responding” notification and after a few seconds the application recovers and you can continue on with your task. This is the same with Extender. The applications running that enable the Media Center Experience can be stalled when the Media Center PC’s CPU is under heavy load.
Test: The only way to determine if this is the cause of the freezes you are experiencing is to monitor the CPU usage Media Center PC. When the Media Center experience freezes on the Xbox 360, try to determine the cause using Task Manager (taskmgr.exe) or the Reliability and Performance Resource Monitor. (perfmon.exe). It is a good idea to launch Task Manager or the Reliability and Performance Resource monitor prior to starting your Extender session, as it may take longer to launch these applications when your Media Center PC is under heavy load.
Resolution: If you are able to determine what is causing the spike try to optimize the application or service to reduce the impact to the Extender. For example: if a backup is kicking off in mid day and affecting performance, change the schedule of the backup to another time.
Network Issues. I know that many of you get tired of hearing that the possible cause is a network issue and get frustrated when the recommendation is to try and narrow down if there is a problem with your networking components. If you have looked through these forums you will find that networking problems are one of the most common reasons for freezes, glitching, poor playback and disconnects.
Troubleshooting a network problem can be really hard. Network components include the network card on the PC, the network driver for the network card on the PC, the network router or switch, the firmware of the network router, and the network card on the Xbox 360. To date we have not seen any issued caused by the network card or wireless adapter on the Xbox 360. Each of these components need to be reviewed when troubleshooting a network issue. Before starting any in-depth troubleshooting, update the PC network drivers and router firmware and see if the issue is resolved.
Test: In depth troubleshooting can be done using the process of elimination. Start by eliminating any network components between the PC and Extender. (routers, switches) A great thing about the Xbox 360 is that it can be directly connected to a PC using a standard straight-through Ethernet cable (a crossover Ethernet cable is not needed). If the problem goes away when the two are directly connect, add back in one networking component at a time to try to determine where the lag or problem could be. Add the KB article.
If the problem continues when the two are directly connected, then you need to focus to the PC network card. Unfortunately, you may need to swap it out in order to determine if it is causing the issue.
Keep in mind that the PC often has other networking activities (checking email, getting software updates, etc…) going on besides just supporting the Extender session. The network utilization can be monitored using the Network Performance Tuner.
To start the Network Performance Tuner from the Media Center PC launch Media enter then
a. Scroll to Tasks
b. Select Settings
c. Select Extender
d. Select the Extender to open the details
e. Select Tune Network
DISCONNECTS.
There are a few disconnect error messages given by the Xbox 360. I will only cover the top three I have seen in the forums. The first two are both titled CONNECTION TERMINATED
“The Xbox 360 has unexpectedly disconnected from the Media Center based PC. This error can be caused by network congestion, a network disconnection, or because the PC has been turned off. Would you like to reconnect?” This error could be one of few issues.
Known Issue with 1080i. There is a known problem with Media Center running on the Xbox 360 today when the 1080i resolution is being used. We do not know all the disconnect circumstances caused by this issue. If you reduce the resolution on the Xbox 360 and the disconnects stop then you are probably hitting this issue. One of the key scenarios we have seen this issue is documented at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932384/en-us. Just as this KB article says, a resolution is in the works.
Networking Issue. Let me hear it…. “networking again.. ahhhh” Yes networking. The connection between the PC and Xbox 360 is maintained using TCP and is therefore susceptible to delayed packet delivery. Both of these conditions can kill the connection. Review the section titled Network Issue above for troubleshooting recommendations.
“The Xbox 360 has been disconnected because an application has launched UI unexpectedly. Would you like to reconnect?”
This message indicates that there was an application running with Extender that attempted to display UI that is not part of the Media Center experience. The Media Center Extender services work to keep these applications at bay by blocking all non Media Center UI notifications. Sometimes the Media Center Extender service is unable to keep the application from sending its UI. In these cases the session will be disconnected. In most cases the application is reported in an event viewer message. Look for an Event with ID 107 from Source MCRMGR in the Media Center section of EventViewer (eventvwr.msc).
If the UI causes the Windows Media Center PC and the Extender to disconnect, remove or disable the notification service for the application that is listed in the error description. For more information about how to remove or disable the notification service for the application, see the application documentation or contact the application manufacturer.
If the application that is listed in the error description is the Windows error reporting service (DW20.exe), a service has failed or crash causing the disconnection between the PC and Extender. To try to determine what caused the error reporting service to start check the Windows Logs section of the Event Viewer (eventvwr.msc) for application error events corresponding to the time of the error message.
In some cases, this event does not report the application that is trying to display UI. For these cases, try to determine which application is causing this error by creating a new non-administrator user account on the Windows Media Center PC. Logon using this user account and watch for pop-up UI that is displayed on the desktop. For example, watch for hard drive notifications, application prompts, warning messages, or dialog boxes that request user input such as a username and password. Once you determine which UI is being displayed in this session, disable the application or resolve the warnings or notifications, then try to reconnect the Extender.
Note* Known apps that cause disconnects are the Tablet Driver included on the Wacom Graphire4 tablet, Windows Disk Diagnostics or hard drive failure notifications and the ATK Driver for Vista (ATKOSD2.exe)
Another confirmed disconnect issue is a case that generates an error message titled CONNECTION FAILED. The detailed explanation is "The Xbox 360 has been disconnected because the device has been disabled on your Windows Media Center based PC."
We have heard reports of this disconnect error when the Xbox 360 attempt to connect to a Media Center PC that uses S3 standby. This error message is caused by a timing issue that happens when the Extender session is established before all dependant services have completely resumed from S3 standby. At this time the only power state that is Extender friendly is Away Mode. Information on away mode and steps to configure it are available at http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/c/5/9c5b2167-8017-4bae-9fde-d599bac8184a/AwayMode.doc
Before Posting in the Forums
If the information provided above do not solve your issue the following information will help us help when you post in the forums.
- Indicate if you are getting a freeze or disconnect.
- Provide the make/model or your Media Center PC.
- Provide a detailed discription of the steps you take when it occurs.
- Create a new post in the Xbox 360 Media Connectivity forum with these details.
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This posting is provided "as is" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
