Xbox 360 Extender, Loses Connection to WMC when Idle

[donniew]

Connects, streams great/perfect while video active (recorded TV show, live TV, whatever) ... if I let the 360 sit idle for some period of time just as the WMC menu with no activity, it will lose connection to the WMC, but 360 stays on/responsive. If I try to RECONNECT as given the option on screen, it never EVER reconnects. The only thing that works from there is a power cycle for the 360. I've tried static IP on the 360 as well as default DHCP, same behavior. Is there a built-in idle "time out" for extenders with WMC and, if so, why wouldn't it just reconnect when selected without a reboot ? Thanks for any help.

[Crash2009]

Have a look into the advanced property's of your NIC in the HTPC. Try disabling any Green features. As I recall, there are other places that screw you with their efforts to save electricity. Look into a command named powercfg. Sometimes powercfg will squeal on the green offender, making it easier for you to narrow it down. Can also be HTPC going to sleep, suspend, or hibernate.

[jziggity]

I had a near identical scenario awhile back, but my Xbox *would* reconnect to the HTPC if I told it to. I use an ethernet connection for the Xbox, but at one point I tried using wireless, just to see if it worked. When I reset my router to factory defaults to troubleshoot a different issue, I gave my wireless network a new password. I never changed the wireless password in my Xbox, because I went back to using wired right away.

Apparently the Xbox (for some really strange reason) was still trying to connect or validate or do something with that old wireless network password. As soon as I removed the (now old) wireless settings from the Xbox, the problem went away. The Xbox would now idle down (dim the screen) on the extender home page and stay connected, no problems. Very strange, but that's what fixed it for me.