Hatin' Computers

I set up Xbox Live for Michael a few weeks ago. I had severe doubts about my ability to make it work, but it went pretty smoothly. Basically, I set up his PC with internet sharing (it connects to the home network via a wireless USB antenna); then I connected his Xbox to the PC through another NIC card in the PC and a crossover ethernet cable. Worked great (and Xbox Live is really pretty cool).

He plays Halo against (and teamed with) people from all over the world; and he can talk to and hear 'em through the headset. It plays fast and effective, and it's pretty impressive.

Until about a week ago.....he shut it off (properly); and later when he tried to connect again, it wouldn't connect. It kept flinging errors about being unable to validate the IP address; or unable to verify the DNS through the network gateway....bunch of crap, frankly. Nothing had changed.

And I've now done everything I can think of to get it back online. I've manually set IP addresses on the PC and the Xbox (and tried every permutation of manual IP addresses on one box with automatic addresses on the other); I've set up alternate MAC addresses and DNS addresses and and and....nothin'.

I tried for about two hours last night....nothin' worked. Yeesh. Monumentally annoying. Trust me -- monumentally.

I'm going to talk to Wowway today, though -- maybe they can give some specific insight into what to try.