LnS issue with Windows 7 Media Center & XBox 360 Extender

Hi all,

Searched the forum and didn't see anyone with a similar issue, so here goes...

I recently formatted my Vista Ultimate system and installed Windows 7 and so far am very happy with the way things are running (who wouldn't be?)... however, while using Vista & LnS, I was able to use my XBox 360 as an extender with Windows Media Center without issue. I now have LnS running in Windows 7 with Phant0m's v8 ruleset as well as my own rules and have all necessary applications in exception list that are necessary for an extender. It was working for the first several days, but I now have an issue where Windows Media Center will launch on the XBox, but movies will not play... when I hit Play, the "blue spinning circle" appears and the movie never starts... nothing relevant is being logged in the LnS Log... if I disable Application Filtering & Internet Filtering in LnS, there is no change... I still cannot play movies in WMC on the XBox...

Here's the kicker: if I actually Exit the LnS application (i.e. looknstop.exe is not running in Task Manager altho LnSSvcVista.exe is always running), the Extender works fine and I can watch movies on the XBox without issue! This makes no sense to me, as I would think having Application Filtering & Internet Filtering unchecked in LnS would essentially mean that LnS was completely disabled... why would it make a difference whether or not LnS was running or not? I have tested this in several ways and it consistently works when LnS is not running at all, but does not work when LnS is running (even if Filtering is disabled)...

If anyone has any ideas about this it would be much appreciated. As I said, this worked originally, so not sure why it isn't working now... Any other random notes are below - if I am missing anything, please ask and I will give you as much information as I can. Thanks for your help!

Information on current setup:

• Windows 7 Ultimate x86, Core 2 Quad Q6600, 4GB RAM, etc.
• Windows Media Center with MediaBrowser plugin (have tried launching video files from within the MediaBrowser plugin as well as from the "Video Library" area of Windows Media Center)
• XBox 360 Elite & PC connected to Linksys WRT150n router running DD-WRT v24 firmware, both via CAT6 network cable (with LnS not running, "Tune network" wizard shows that the connection is rock solid and graph is maxed out at 100% for HDTV capable video streaming)
• No codec packs installed - the XBox seems (seemed!!) to be dealing with different AVI files much better with just the codecs that come with Windows
• LookNStop v2.06p3
  • Phantom ruleset v8b0036 as well as my own rules
  • All .EXE from C:\Windows\eHome folder are in Application Filtering exception list, as well as wmplayer.exe, wmpnetwk.exe, svchost.exe, etc.
  • Stateful Packet Filtering option is not enabled
  • "Keep Internet Filtering active after the application is stopped" and "Keep Application Filtering active after the application is stopped" are both NOT checked
  • "Enable the management of fragmented IP packets" is checked
  • "Protocols Configuration" screen looks like this, which I thought might not look quite right, although everything else about LnS appears to be behaving normally:
    http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/lonkny/ProtocolsConfig.jpg
  • Plugins enabled in LnS: PluginARP.dll, PluginEditRawRule.dll, PluginLookAtThisIP.dll, PluginMultiIPx86.dll

UPDATE: After playing with it some more tonight (while typing up this post), I do now notice that there is an event log entry that may be useful... does anyone know how I can create a RAW rule to allow this traffic to this MAC address (the XBox MAC)??

http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/lonkny/7-2-2009_Log1.jpg

http://i385.photobucket.com/albums/oo292/lonkny/7-2-2009_Log2.jpg

Strange thing is that I never needed rules other than what I have already to get this working... any help is greatly appreciated... thanks.

 

Hi LonkNY,

When you disable the two layers, try re-booting the computer and testing. If she then works, enable Application filtering and re-boot and re-test again ...

As for the particular packet blockings... They are for LLTD (Link Layer Topology Discovery -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LLTD).


Regards,
Phant0m``

 

Hi LonkNY,

Yes, as you said, stopping both filtering, or exiting the application should normally be the same.
Maybe there are some errors. You can try to open the Console windows to see some eventual errors when you disable the Application or Internet filtering.
You could also the two advanced options to let filterings enabled after Look 'n' Stop is stopped, to check if it makes a difference.

To allow the packets you have mentioned, maybe in a first approach you could just create a rule with Ethernet Type set on "Other", to see if it works. And later, if it works, a specific raw rule could be created.

Regards,

Frederic

 

Reason I suggest restarting the computer after having disabled the two layers, if some packets were blocked, might take some time after having disabled the layers to have things work properly, where simply restarting an client applications isn't enough.

And since you said "Keep Internet Filtering active after the application is stopped" and "Keep Application Filtering active after the application is stopped" are NOT checked, I didn't bother with telling you to disable the two features.


Also creating LLTD rule isn't difficult, I have one already, but I simply wanted to be sure that Application filtering wasn't at fault first.

 

Code:

[Rule0]
Statut=1
Valide=1
Direction=1
Filtrage=1
Avertir=1
Continuer=0
AlerteDlg=2
Name=LLTD
Description=Link Layer Topology Discovery:ÿþhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LLTD
EthernetType=3
IPProtocol=0
EthernetAdd_PC_Criteria=3
EthernetAdd_PC0=0
EthernetAdd_PC1=25
EthernetAdd_PC2=209
EthernetAdd_PC3=72
EthernetAdd_PC4=79
EthernetAdd_PC5=159
EthernetAdd_Net_Criteria=1
EthernetAdd_Net0=255
EthernetAdd_Net1=255
EthernetAdd_Net2=255
EthernetAdd_Net3=255
EthernetAdd_Net4=255
EthernetAdd_Net5=255
IPAdd_PC_Criteria=0
IPAdd_PC_Bas0=0
IPAdd_PC_Bas1=0
IPAdd_PC_Bas2=0
IPAdd_PC_Bas3=0
IPAdd_PC_Haut0=0
IPAdd_PC_Haut1=0
IPAdd_PC_Haut2=0
IPAdd_PC_Haut3=0
IPAdd_Net_Criteria=0
IPAdd_Net_Bas0=0
IPAdd_Net_Bas1=0
IPAdd_Net_Bas2=0
IPAdd_Net_Bas3=0
IPAdd_Net_Haut0=0
IPAdd_Net_Haut1=0
IPAdd_Net_Haut2=0
IPAdd_Net_Haut3=0
IPV6Add_Net_Haut=
IPV6Add_Net_Bas=
IPV6Add_PC_Haut=
IPV6Add_PC_Bas=
IPFragmentOffset=0
IPFragmentFlags=0
TcpUdpPort_PC_Criteria=0
TcpUdpPort_PC_Bas=0
TcpUdpPort_PC_Haut=0
TcpUdpPort_Net_Criteria=0
TcpUdpPort_Net_Bas=0
TcpUdpPort_Net_Haut=0
IcmpCode_PC_Criteria=0
IcmpCode_PC=0
IcmpType_PC_Criteria=0
IcmpType_PC=0
BlockTCPServer=0
TCPFlagsVal=0
TCPFlagsMask=0
PluginForEdition=Raw edition
NbFields=3
OffsetInbound0=12
OffsetOutbound0=12
OffsetType0=0
Size0=2
Criteria0=1
IPVersion0=1
OperatorType0=0
Spare10=0
Spare20=0
Value1_0_0=136
Value2_0_0=0
Mask_0_0=0
Value1_0_1=217
Value2_0_1=0
Mask_0_1=0
OffsetInbound1=0
OffsetOutbound1=6
OffsetType1=0
Size1=6
Criteria1=102
IPVersion1=1
OperatorType1=0
Spare11=0
Spare21=0
Value1_1_0=0
Value2_1_0=0
Mask_1_0=0
Value1_1_1=0
Value2_1_1=0
Mask_1_1=0
Value1_1_2=0
Value2_1_2=0
Mask_1_2=0
Value1_1_3=0
Value2_1_3=0
Mask_1_3=0
Value1_1_4=0
Value2_1_4=0
Mask_1_4=0
Value1_1_5=0
Value2_1_5=0
Mask_1_5=0
OffsetInbound2=6
OffsetOutbound2=0
OffsetType2=0
Size2=6
Criteria2=1
IPVersion2=1
OperatorType2=0
Spare12=0
Spare22=0
Value1_2_0=0
Value2_2_0=0
Mask_2_0=0
Value1_2_1=23
Value2_2_1=0
Mask_2_1=0
Value1_2_2=250
Value2_2_2=0
Mask_2_2=0
Value1_2_3=221
Value2_2_3=0
Mask_2_3=0
Value1_2_4=237
Value2_2_4=0
Mask_2_4=0
Value1_2_5=200
Value2_2_5=0
Mask_2_5=0

[Nb rules]
Nb=1

 

Thanks all for your help - turns out that it was Application Filtering after all... I rebooted the computer as suggested, and when I brought it back up it was showing one of the Media Center processes as being blocked, whereas before it wasn't... odd. What's even stranger is that I unblocked it, tested the XBox and verified everything was working, then rebooted the computer again a little later on... when I brought the system back up and looked at App Filtering, the same process was blocked Again! I unblocked it again and am hoping it stays that way. I also added the LLTD rule - much appreciated... doesn't seem like it's necessary, but I suppose it couldn't hurt.

If the issues persist, I'll reply again... but so far everything is working great. Thanks again for your prompt response!