Halo 2 System Link help

[shadow4437]

Hey guys, was curious to see if anyone here might be able to assist -

Hardware wise, i've got 4 Hard modded Xbox's (1.0, 1.1, 1.4, 1.6) all running OX chips with the LithiumX Dashboard. I'm using the Halo 2 Complete Edition () linked prior, across all 4 xbox's. Lastly, for my "switch", I'm using the linksys RE6500 with brand new CAT 6 Cables. The two main issues I'm having here are firstly & most importantly - I cannot get all 4 Xbox's to hook up on a LAN. Earlier, I got 3 to hook up together, but now at this point I am running into an issue where every time I try to connect, it either doesn't show the additional xbox joining as a new person, just the original host, or the "You can't join this party. Please wait a moment and try again later.".

 

Secondly, I keep having an issue where anytime I try to boot up H2 while having a cord in the ethernet slot, the game will freeze at the starting screen after pushing start.

 

Any help is super appreciated, thank you guys!

Edited August 16 by shadow4437

[prtscn]

enable DHCP on every console

all problems you said could be dashboard related, try more stable xbmc

[shadow4437]

Went into my Xenium Menu and made sure the IP address was set to Dynamic, as well as reset the network to assign a new IP. Still having the same issue - Unless you mean going into the original DHCP settings in the network menu on the MS dash, I was having a problem getting that to boot (stuck on a green circle at the bottom). Will try and switch dashboards later and see if that'll help in any way.

[Aero_105]

What version of Halo 2 is running on each xbox?  The latest title update is 1.5 which has all the map packs.  At the title screen prior to signing in it should show 1.5 at the bottom right corner of the screen.  Halo 2 DLC can be found here: https://digiex.net/threads/xbox-offline-xbox-live-downloadable-content-dlc-installers.675/  When I played online with xlink kai and had a different version it would say "you cannot join this party"  Now I play online with Insignia.

As for the router see if the xbox is getting a proper address in the network settings under DHCP in your custom dashboard.

Edited August 16 by Aero_105

[shadow4437]

58 minutes ago, Aero_105 said:

What version of Halo 2 is running on each xbox?  The latest title update is 1.5 which has all the map packs.  At the title screen prior to signing in it should show 1.5 at the bottom right corner of the screen.  Halo 2 DLC can be found here: https://digiex.net/threads/xbox-offline-xbox-live-downloadable-content-dlc-installers.675/  When I played online with xlink kai and had a different version it would say "you cannot join this party"  Now I play online with Insignia.

As for the router see if the xbox is getting a proper address in the network settings under DHCP in your custom dashboard.

Hey Aero -

 

I am using 1.5, I linked the edition above (It's through Sevensins, but I can have a regular edition available as well). All xbox's are running the same version. I have tried a few different things and am still having an issue where 3 of the 4 of my consoles are freezing while running it with an ethernet cord plugged in.

In terms of DHCP, are you meaning a unique IP address? Each one is getting a unique IP address as far as I can tell.

 

Something interesting of note, my 1.0 Xbox is booting the game fine with an ethernet cord, the rest of them however are not.

Edited August 16 by shadow4437

[Aero_105]

Does system link work?  You'll need a cross over cable to test that.  That way we can eliminate if it is router related.  Does the DHCP have a subnet of 255.255.255.0 for each console?  Do all consoles have the same gateway ip address?

You'll have to set a static address to the system link consoles one say 192.168.1.1 with 255.255.255.0 and the other say 192.168.1.2 with 255.255.255.0 and the gateway the opposite console's ip address.

Edited August 16 by Aero_105

[shadow4437]

1 hour ago, Aero_105 said:

Does system link work?  You'll need a cross over cable to test that.  That way we can eliminate if it is router related.  Does the DHCP have a subnet of 255.255.255.0 for each console?  Do all consoles have the same gateway ip address?

You'll have to set a static address to the system link consoles one say 192.168.1.1 with 255.255.255.0 and the other say 192.168.1.2 with 255.255.255.0 and the gateway the opposite console's ip address.

Going to need a crossover cable to test that, but I did try this in the meantime - Switched to a new router, plugged in every console with a new static IP address and set the same Netmask/Gateway/DNS. When I did this, all four xboxs were able to connect, but only two were visible in the menu. (I.E., A-D connected to the lobby but only A & B were visible as players). Will get a crossover cable here ASAP to test that out, if you have any suggestions about the ethernet port freezing I'd love to hear them as well, but if I can solve this issue of the 4 not connecting I'd happy to have something resolved.

[KaosEngineer]

9 hours ago, shadow4437 said:

Went into my Xenium Menu and made sure the IP address was set to Dynamic, as well as reset the network to assign a new IP. Still having the same issue - Unless you mean going into the original DHCP settings in the network menu on the MS dash, I was having a problem getting that to boot (stuck on a green circle at the bottom). Will try and switch dashboards later and see if that'll help in any way.

Xenium OS settings and replacement dashboard settings are two different things.  Xenium's Settings don't carry over to the replacement dashboard.  It does its own set of operations to configure the network settings.

 

Edit: And, I don't think System Link even uses IP addressing to connect.  It looks for the Xbox MAC address and creates a link between the consoles using lower level communications than IP addressing.

[shadow4437]

Copy that on the IP address front. I went into the main Microsoft Online dashboard and verified each control has its own Mac address as well as static IP, but matching subnets/gateways/dns.

 

Something interesting of note, my 1.0 doesn't even have the option to go into a network tab/live setting. Is it worth copying this to the 1.1/.4/.6 and using that C file? I bought a new switch and that did not change things, so curious on the best route to proceed. (Going to get a crossover cable tomorrow.) The 1.0 is also the only one that boots into h2 with the ethernet plugged in, and has the prompt asking to connect to Xbox live after selecting a profile.

Edited August 17 by shadow4437

[KaosEngineer]

41 minutes ago, shadow4437 said:

The 1.0 is also the only one that boots into h2 with the ethernet plugged in, and has the prompt asking to connect to Xbox live after selecting a profile.

That's not System Link gameplay.  That is the old, no longer online, Xbox Live service. 

System Link is under a completely different menu section.

[KaosEngineer]

46 minutes ago, shadow4437 said:

Is it worth copying this to the 1.1/.4/.6 and using that C file?

No.  The old 3944 or 4043 4034 v1.0 dashboards will not work on newer rev Xboxes.

[KaosEngineer]

One thing I always thought was required for System Link networking was a network hub, not a network switch.  Network switches filter traffic to each port to only those packets destined for the device's MAC address connected to a particular port, while a network hub repeats all network traffic to all ports.

 

I could be wrong about this System Link networking requirement.  I probably am since I've not tested it.

[shadow4437]

12 minutes ago, KaosEngineer said:

That's not System Link gameplay.  That is the old, no longer online, Xbox Live service. 

System Link is under a completely different menu section.

Right, but this is the only system that shows that prompt and hasn't had any issues with connectivity. Since the older dashboard wouldn't work, think starting over with a new C folder would be beneficial? This is what I purchased and tried. https://www.bestbuy.com/site/tp-link-5-port-10-100-1000-mbps-unmanaged-switch-black/6537994.p?skuId=6537994&extStoreId=223&utm_source=feed&ref=212&loc=19617835341&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw8fu1BhBsEiwAwDrsjKTTpdN1PqN--w73ewY0lr-wS0AMY9w8u1PWgt5UefmGCeYzIpQkjBoC074QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

[KaosEngineer]

18 minutes ago, shadow4437 said:

Right, but this is the only system that shows that prompt and hasn't had any issues with connectivity. Since the older dashboard wouldn't work, think starting over with a new C folder would be beneficial? This is what I purchased and tried. https://www.bestbuy.com/site/tp-link-5-port-10-100-1000-mbps-unmanaged-switch-black/6537994.p?skuId=6537994&extStoreId=223&utm_source=feed&ref=212&loc=19617835341&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw8fu1BhBsEiwAwDrsjKTTpdN1PqN--w73ewY0lr-wS0AMY9w8u1PWgt5UefmGCeYzIpQkjBoC074QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Do the Xbox and switch show a 100Mbit/second network link has been established when you connect the Ethernet cable?

 

IIRC, some 1000 Mbps (1 Gbps) capable switches may not negotiate a 10/100 Mbit/second link/connection for older devices without changing a setting/switch.

[shadow4437]

11 minutes ago, KaosEngineer said:

Do the Xbox and switch show a 100Mbit/second network link has been established when you connect the Ethernet cable?

 

IIRC, some 1000 Mbps (1 Gbps) capable switches may not negotiate a 10/100 Mbit/second link/connection for older devices without changing a setting/switch.

Not sure where I'd check this, but the ethernet ports are lighting up both on the console & the switch. I'm unsure if the issue is coming from the software or hardware, I'm gonna test tomorrow with the Crossover cable and see if that helps narrow it down. I'm unsure why some of the consoles are showing up and some are not, and curious if maybe redoing the C folder will help.

Edited August 17 by shadow4437

[prtscn]

https://downloads.linksys.com/downloads/userguide/RE6500_UG_International_20160901.pdf

your device cannot do LAN

 

[shadow4437]

2 hours ago, prtscn said:

https://downloads.linksys.com/downloads/userguide/RE6500_UG_International_20160901.pdf

your device cannot do LAN

 

I'm still having the same issue even though I purchased a new switch (https://www.bestbuy.com/site/tp-link-5-port-10-100-1000-mbps-unmanaged-switch-black/6537994.p?skuId=6537994&extStoreId=223&utm_source=feed&ref=212&loc=19617835341&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw8fu1BhBsEiwAwDrsjKTTpdN1PqN--w73ewY0lr-wS0AMY9w8u1PWgt5UefmGCeYzIpQkjBoC074QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds) which should work, correct? 

[prtscn]

43 minutes ago, shadow4437 said:

I'm still having the same issue even though I purchased a new switch (https://www.bestbuy.com/site/tp-link-5-port-10-100-1000-mbps-unmanaged-switch-black/6537994.p?skuId=6537994&extStoreId=223&utm_source=feed&ref=212&loc=19617835341&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw8fu1BhBsEiwAwDrsjKTTpdN1PqN--w73ewY0lr-wS0AMY9w8u1PWgt5UefmGCeYzIpQkjBoC074QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds) which should work, correct? 

connect to your switch with pc and check if the switch sees xboxs

[nikeymikey]

1 hour ago, shadow4437 said:

I'm still having the same issue even though I purchased a new switch (https://www.bestbuy.com/site/tp-link-5-port-10-100-1000-mbps-unmanaged-switch-black/6537994.p?skuId=6537994&extStoreId=223&utm_source=feed&ref=212&loc=19617835341&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw8fu1BhBsEiwAwDrsjKTTpdN1PqN--w73ewY0lr-wS0AMY9w8u1PWgt5UefmGCeYzIpQkjBoC074QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds) which should work, correct? 

 

33 minutes ago, prtscn said:

connect to your switch with pc and check if the switch sees xboxs

I have 2 of those TP-Link exact switches in my network (they are in the bedrooms) have ftp'd to the bedroom Xbox without issues many times. My main switch in the cupboard is the 12 socket variant of that switch too as it goes. 

[shadow4437]

Fixed the issue - The old Xbox drives had been copied over to the new ones and upon formatting my E Partition, everything has resumed working as normal. Couldn't tell you how, or why, but just putting this here in case anyone has a similar issue.