Troubleshooting a Media Center Extender

Here is a list of common problems you may have with Media Center Extenders, and how to solve them.

First off, here is a guide for how to setup an extender: http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/8076aff3-16ec-4751-9f57-d36e0ff407201033.mspx

If you are having problems connecting your media center extender to your media center computer, here are some basic things to try to see where the problem is:

1. Disable your firewall (probably part of your anti-virus software).

2. Hard wire the connection, you don't have to leave it hard wired, this is just for testing purposes.

3. Try new network cables.

4. Are you sure you disabled your firewall?

Also, just so everyone is clear, you shouldn't need to do anything on the router to get this working. You don't need to change UPnP settings on the router. You don't need to do port forwarding on the router. Doing these things on a router is so that a computer/device can talk to the Internet – it has nothing to do with devices within the local network.

Now leaving a firewall disabled isn't a good idea; however, it can be very useful for troubleshooting. If disabling the firewall fixed the problem, then you need to re-enable it and properly configure it. For information on this check out: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/mediacenter/firewall.mspx – how to properly configure your firewall.

Some firewalls are easier to setup than others. If you want/need to setup everything manually, here are a list of the applications and ports that you will need to setup with forwarding (this is done from within your firewall software).

	Application	Protocol/Port	Direction	Network
	svchost.exe	UDP 1900	Inbound	Local Subnet
	svchost.exe	TCP 3390	Inbound	Local Subnet
	svchost.exe	TCP 2177	Inbound, Outbound	Local Subnet
	svchost.exe	UDP 2177	Inbound, Outbound	Local Subnet
	system	TCP 10244	Inbound, Outbound	Local Subnet
	ehshell.exe	TCP 554	Inbound, Outbound	Local Subnet
	ehshell.exe	UDP 5004, 5005	Inbound, Outbound	Local Subnet
	ehshell.exe	TCP 8554-8558	Inbound, Outbound	Local Subnet
	ehshell.exe	UDP 50004-50013	Inbound, Outbound	Local Subnet
	ehshell.exe	UDP 7777-7781	Inbound, Outbound	Local Subnet
	mcx2prov.exe	Random	Inbound, Outbound	Internet
	mcrmgr.exe	Random	Inbound, Outbound	Internet

Here is a list of other common problems & solutions people have when setting up extenders:

• http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/e217efbf-8a5d-4681-a...

Troubleshooting Extender connection issues (Xbox 360 & others):

• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932159 - "You receive an “Extender Not Found” error message when you try to add an Extender to a Windows Vista Media Center-based computer"
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932164 - "Xbox 360: You receive a "Can’t Contact PC" error message when you try to connect an Xbox 360 console to a Windows Vista-based Media Center computer "
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932160 - "Error message when you try to add a Media Center Extender on a Windows Vista-based Media Center computer: 'Extender did not connect ... '"
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932163 - "Xbox 360: You receive a "Connection Failed" error message when you try to connect an Xbox 360 console to a Windows Vista-based Media Center computer"
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929534 - "You cannot connect a Media Center Extender device to a Windows Vista-based computer..."
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929707 - Enabling flow control for the network card on your computer.
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/941949 - Has to do with security software at login, or finger print readers ("Error message when you connect a Windows Media Center Extender device...")
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/913963 - Windows Live One Care problems with Extender
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/911115 - Connection issues with an extender after standby/hibernate
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/911114 - Xbox 360: The Media Center Extender Setup stops during the Find Music stage

Finally, here are several posts from thegreenbutton dealing with extender issues:

• http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/1/242322/ShowThread.aspx - 360 extender setup Hanging/failing
• http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/245251.aspx - XBOX 360 Media Extender Problem - With a twist
• http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/186935.aspx - Xbox 360 as Extender with Vista MC (or not!)