Vista Ultimate & Xbox 360

I need some advice. I have a home built desktop computer with Windows Vista Ultimate w/SP1 + all updates on one hard drive, XP w/SP3 + all updates on another with two NICS, one onboard and one PCI. I connect to the internet via a Sprint Sierra Wireless AirCard 595u (I'll call it AC from here on out). Also, I have an Xbox 360 connected to a Linksys wireless/wired router (I'm at work and don't have the exact model number). I also have an older computer I was previously using to share my AC's internet connection. This older computer has XP SP3 + all updates and one NIC. I shared the AC, which set the NIC to 192.168.0.1. I ran my Cat5 to my router and plugged it into the "internet" port on the router. I then connected my primary desktop and Xbox 360 to the other port on the router. Voila! I could connect to the internet, the Xbox 360 could connect to Live! I could use Vista's Media Center to sync my Xbox. Everything worked great. Then, the PC I was using to share my internet crapped out. So, I installed my AC on Vista, shared the connection through my PCI NIC ran the Cat5 as before. Since the PCI NIC was by default set to 192.168.0.1, Vista indentifies this as a "public network" since it's not receiving information from the router, rather, sending info to the router. My onboard NIC is plugged into a port on the router and receives it's IP via DHCP as does the Xbox 360. Nothing has changed in this regard. However, here is where the problem comes in: as soon as I enable ICS on Vista through the PCI NIC and my onboard NIC receives it's IP/Gateway/DNS info from the router, my Xbox 360 can no longer sync to Media Center. I use Tversity to stream videos, and that no longer works as well. I noticed that in the Network & Sharing Center, that Vista indentifies my PCI NIC as Public and my onboard NIC as Private. I changed the PCI NIC to Private, but I still can't sync. So, I disabled ICS and disabled the PCI NIC, and suddenly everything starts working again (although I did have to delete the MC info on my Xbox and reconfigure everything). I've tried manually setting the IP info for my onboard NIC, seeing as how in XP, if you have two NICs receiving DNS server info, XP get's confused on which one to use. But even then, Vista still won't sync the Xbox. Also, I don't have any virus/firewall software installed, only the Vista default, which I've configured the rules and even disabled it completely all to no avail. I have to completely disable ICS and the PCI NIC for things to work. I'm in the process of fixing the older PC I mentioned earlier which will fix the issues. However, I would like to know if there's some reason this doesn't work the way I have it set up now. I've done this before with XPMCE, shared my AC, manually configured my IP on my onboard NIC, and could sync and connect to Live just fine. Obviously, if I would just go buy a Cradlepoint CTR350 router this would solve everything, but I don't have the money at the moment else I would. If anyone has any insight as to why this will not work, please post any ideas.

Network Discovery is on
Media Sharing was on, is off now because I use Tveristy
File sharing is on
Public sharing is on
Printer sharing is on
Password protected sharing is off
I've configured all the Media Center/Media Player rules to "allow" for public & private networks

 

Update:

Last night, with ICS disabled, I was connected to my Xbox using the MC extender function, as soon as I connected to the internet, I lost my MC extender connection. As soon as I disconnect from the internet, it works agian.Any ideas what's going?

 

it sounds like a permission issue between Vista and your router.

Have you tried power-cycling your router? Sometimes it can work wonders, especially after connecting a new comp/version of windows to it.

Unplug the power cable from the back of your router, and let it sit there for at least 15 seconds (some people prefer 30sec - 1min). Plug it back in, wait till all the lights are steady then restart your computer and your xbox.

See what happens.

 

Yeah, i've tried that. It's really odd. I can be in the middle of listening to music on my xbox, then, if i connect the 'net on my PC, i lose the connection. What's strange is that I can't set my onboard NIC to a manual ip (say 192.168.1.200, which is the same subnet, just not in the same range as the router's DHCP settings) on the same network as the xbox, just not "assigned" by the router, and be able to connect the xbox. If i set it back to DHCP, it works fine. I think, and could be wrong and am open to thoughts/ideas/opinions, Vista's "network type" features, ie Private or Public, is causing an issue. Everytime i set the type to Private, it somehow gets set back to public. really odd. so, i've just settled for not being on the net while using the MC extender feature on my xbox until i get my other pc fixed to share my internet again.