Wireless syncing problems

[Eason]

For the last couple days I've been trying to get my Zune to sync wirelessly with my laptop. I have just discovered that I can sync the zune successfully while my laptop is plugged into the router, and the PC wireless card is ejected. If I try and sync when the wireless card is in, I get stuck on the "connecting to PC" screen. Any guesses on the why, and what I can do to get it to work?

Thanks.

[Gregory]

First of all the computer you are trying to wireless sync with needs to be connected to a wireless router.

Do you have any firewall on the computer?

[navy699]

I would start by checking the router settings to make sure that connecting the laptop via the WLAN does not result in shifting to a wireless mode that is incompatible with the Zune (e.g. proprietary dynamic turbo modes, 802.11g only modes, using up all the DCHP addresses, etc...)

There was a bug in the early Zune 4/8/80 firmwares that prevented wireless sync with another wireless computer over the same WLAN. Do you have the latest Zune software and firmware updates?

Also, I would check your firewall settings, both for any software firewalls you may have on your computer, and any firewall rules you may have configured in your router (not common). Depending on what IP addresses your laptop uses for the wired and wireless connections, this may or may not be an issue.

[Jon]

I think you gotta forward some ports?

[blademaster591]

What ports would those be?

[Eason]

Originally Posted by navy699

I would start by checking the router settings to make sure that connecting the laptop via the WLAN does not result in shifting to a wireless mode that is incompatible with the Zune (e.g. proprietary dynamic turbo modes, 802.11g only modes, using up all the DCHP addresses, etc...)

There was a bug in the early Zune 4/8/80 firmwares that prevented wireless sync with another wireless computer over the same WLAN. Do you have the latest Zune software and firmware updates?

Also, I would check your firewall settings, both for any software firewalls you may have on your computer, and any firewall rules you may have configured in your router (not common). Depending on what IP addresses your laptop uses for the wired and wireless connections, this may or may not be an issue.

I'm using the latest firmware and software. How can I check my router for that information about that? I'm using a WEP Shared network, and it's only 802.11b/11mbps.
My computer is set in DMZplus mode, so there shouldn't be any firewalling going on. I have no 3rd party firewalls in my windows.

I took my frustrations on this ****ing thing out on some of my microsoft clients this morning, I was told they were working on fixing some issues right now. Hopefully all this stuff gets fixed... fantastic piece of hardware and good device UI, ****ing HORRENDOUS software and interface, my god. I've never had so many things go wrong with one product, the lack of unicode support, the album art problems, not reading my ID3 tags correctly, the wireless syncing... /rant.

[navy699]

Eason,

I don't know the specific workings of your router, but after finding a couple web pages discussing DMZplus, it appears to be more or less like a generic DMZ. The solution below is making some significant assumptions about your setup, but may in fact be your problem.

Think of a network in three parts:

Internet
---------------------------------------------
Router (Provides some firewall functionality)
-------------------------------------------
Local Area Network (LAN)

Usually, when connecting computers (or Zunes) to routers, they connect on the LAN side. By placing your computer in the DMZ, you are telling your router to treat your computer as if it were connected directly to the internet. In other words, it is on the internet side of your router's built-in hardware firewall. So anything connected to the LAN side of your router (except for computers in the DMZ) will have to go through the router's firewall to connect to the internet or the DMZ. More importantly in your case, anything in the DMZ will have to go through your firewall to connect to your LAN. In other words, a computer in the DMZ looks like any other computer on the internet trying to access your LAN (something most routers are designed to limit under typical scenarios).

In simpler terms, your router may be thinking that your computer is trying to hack into your Zune and preventing the connection.

But wait, you ask: Why can your computer sync with your Zune when connected when it is connected by ethernet cable to the router, but not when the computer is connected wirelessly?

Most routers can only place one computer in a DMZ at a time. But how does it know which computer to place in the DMZ? Depending on your router software, the most common methods are selecting the computer by its MAC address or by its IP address. I don't know which method your router uses. Your laptop has both a wired and wireless adapter. Each of these 2 adapters has its own, unique, MAC address. That leads to a few possible cases:

Case 1: When using your wireless connection, your router is placing your computer in the DMZplus based on identifying your computer through the wireless MAC address. As described above, your zune cannot connect to the computer because they are on opposite sides of your router's internal firewall.

Case 2: When plugging your laptop into your router by an ethernet cable, router does not recognize the wired MAC address as the one that goes into the DMZ. Both your computer and your Zune are on the LAN side of the router's internal firewall, so they can communicate freely.

Case 3: Your router places a computer in the DMZ based on its IP address. If this is the case, you need to examine the mechanism your router uses to assign IP addresses. If they are randomly assigned using DHCP, then whatever adapter connecting to your router (wireless laptop, wired laptop, wireless Zune, other?) may wind up in the DMZ. In this case, your results will be unpredictable.

Recommendations:

1. Remove your computer (i.e. the wireless adapter) from the DMZ (thereby placing it on the LAN side of your setup) and try to sync wirelessly with your Zune. This may solve your problem.

2. Examine your router's method for identifying which device goes into the DMZ to ensure that it will not surprise you when it renews DCHP leases.

3. Strongly consider not using the DMZ feature at all. By placing your computer in the DMZ, you forefit any security benefit of owning a router. The only thing keeping your computer from being completely owned by hackers and malware is your Windows firewall and any antivirus programs you have. Not good....

4. If you can enable WPA instead of WEP, you should do so once your get the Zune thing sorted out. Use at least a 20 character WPA password. WPA is like a deadbolt on a steel door, and WEP is like the latch on a screen door. Both can be broken, but one is a lot more secure. Your router sounds like it may be old based on WEP/802.11b. You may want to look for a cheap 802.11g router in the bargain bin if your current one does not support WPA.

Of course, I could have crawled so far out on this limb that I have totally missed the real problem...

-Navy699

[Eason]

Thanks for the post, I will give that a try when I get time and get back to you.

[PoN]

Originally Posted by Eason

For the last couple days I've been trying to get my Zune to sync wirelessly with my laptop. I have just discovered that I can sync the zune successfully while my laptop is plugged into the router, and the PC wireless card is ejected. If I try and sync when the wireless card is in, I get stuck on the "connecting to PC" screen. Any guesses on the why, and what I can do to get it to work?

Thanks.

What kind of router?

[Eason]

It's a 2Wire 2701, came with my DSL.

[navy699]

Looking at the instructions for a 2wire 2701 gateway, it appears that your router has more than one variety of LAN-side interface. There are public proxied subnets, public routed subinterfaces, and private networks. Then of course, there is the DMZ.

So, there are potentially up to three different subnets associated with the LAN side of your router. (Four if you count the DMZplus.) All of them may not be in use, though. Which of them are enabled on your router?

The gist of my previous post is that if your laptop is in one of the four subnets and your zune is in another, that may cause them to be unable to communicate.

When your laptop is connected via the wireless adapter, does it appear in any of the subnets?

What subnet does your Zune appear in when it is trying to connect or actaully acheives connection?

When your laptop is connected by the ethernet cable adapter, does it appear in a different subnet? Is this the same one as the zune appears in?

If the answer to the last two questions is yes, you need to reconfigure your router such that your laptop's wireless adapter is assigned to the same subnet as the Zune. You may have to open ports ("poke pinholes" per the language of your router's documentation) in the firewall to allow compatibility for any applicaitons you use.

Also, your router appears to support WPA, so you should be able to just turn it on and then update the settings on your laptop and on your zune. You may not want to attempt this until after you get the Zune wireless sync working though.