Router: WRT54G Version 3
Firmware: Tomato Firmware found here.
Setup – Basic Setup
I had “static IP” which didn’t automatically configuring the IP address, mask and gateway of the provider. I was told by my provider to set this to “DHCP” so when the provider ends the lease on the current IP (whatever that is) I won’t loose my internet connection. This is very important because when the provider changes the IP address (because that particular IP lease is over) you wont be effected since you have it set to “DHCP” which automatically updates the IP coming in from the provider. By Factory default, this is on “DHCP” so do not change it.
Security – Firewall
By factory default the firewall tab has “Block Anonymous Internet Requests”, “Filter Multicast” and “Filter IDENT (Port 113) checked”. We also see “Filter Internet NAT Redirection unchecked”. Do not edit.
Application and Gaming – Port Range Forward
Here I have two entries: The first entry is start 3074 to end 3074 at both protocols for the Xbox 360 IP. The second one is start 30000 to end 30000 at both protocols for the Xlink program. Make sure you check the box at the end of each entry and make sure the IP for the box 360 is correct. Lastly the obvious, make sure you save the settings you change. For all possible ports please go here.
Application and Gaming – QoS
There are four ports here. Set the port that your 360 is connected to – to “High Priority” and leaving the “Flow Control” enabled for that port.
Please leave every other tab or settings at factory default if I didn’t mentioned them. Hope that helps. Please leave your comments and findings.
Also see:
The Show Radio 
Kunushi
October 7, 2007 at 3:06 AM
You rock <33333
Andrew Alliance
October 7, 2007 at 2:09 PM
God bless you Kunushi.
A.A
justin
October 27, 2007 at 6:33 AM
HELP!!!! I’ve tried everything else I can think of and still cannot get the same performace as my buddy. We both use the same ISP and have the same upload and download speeds. He is using a Netgear wireless-g router and is getting way better transfer rates over the wireless xbox adapter.When I go to the Test Xbox Live screen it lists my NAT as OPEN and everything is confirmed. If my NAT is OPEN should I even bother setting the priority and port range forwarding?
Why did they make these things so f-ing hard to setup?
Andrew Alliance
October 28, 2007 at 3:08 PM
I guess you dont have to if you are able to access live. And I’m not sure why they made it so hard to setup. At any rate if you dont want to set the priority flow or port forward then you dont have to Justin. The goal for this post was to help newbs like me get the nat open who needed it open for halo 3. I was not concerned about transfer rates. my box is wired on my wrt54g router. If any thing double check ur friend’s settings. That might be enlightening for you. It wont hurt if you set the priority and port range fowarding. But as always do what is best for you. I also wanted to add that I have static ips for my xbox, my 360 and even my wireless laptop. I like static ips versus the dhcp setup.
justin
October 29, 2007 at 4:46 AM
thanks…i tried the static ip, priority flow, and port forwarding. It didn’t help in fact my NAT went from OPEN to MODERATE. Good thing I back up all the settings. I guess I’ll just buy the same router as him and if i still get slow transfer speeds I’ll just return it.
Andrew Alliance
October 29, 2007 at 6:43 PM
Fair enough. Thats another option. I was determined to get this nat deal working with my router because I didn’t even want to consider buying another router. What ISP do you have anyway? What city and state are you in. Gamertag? Let me know. We can talk online one of these days.
justin
October 31, 2007 at 6:06 AM
I’m in kentucky my gamertag is Nard Bagman
Bacon
November 9, 2007 at 5:20 PM
This worked – I had to upgrade my routers firmware (I had a v2 wrt54g). I found it easier to set a static IP on my xbox so the port forwarding always pointed at the same IP.
On the xbox:
198.168.1.124 for the IP
255.255.255.0 for mask
192.168.1.1 for the gateway
Andrew Alliance
November 11, 2007 at 5:16 PM
Glad it worked for you bacon. I have static Ips on my system also. I find them much easier to work with. Thanks for the post.
Xavier T
November 14, 2007 at 9:12 AM
Hi Andrew,
I realised that port 30000 is not required for NAT to be detected as OPEN in XBOX360. The most important piece of setting is “Filter Internet NAT Redirection unchecked”.
Nonetheless, Thanks for the tips.
Andrew Alliance
November 14, 2007 at 1:53 PM
Fair enough. You’re welcome. Thanks for posting.
Major Mango
November 24, 2007 at 3:17 AM
Thanks! Worked. Great, clear directions!
Andrew Alliance
November 28, 2007 at 3:36 PM
you’re welcome
Steve p
December 5, 2007 at 4:20 AM
Thanks a ton, i used the mac address of my xbox and then set that to high priority, this way i dont have to worry about static of dynamic ip address. Thanks again for the info.
gamertag: pennington15
Andrew Alliance
December 5, 2007 at 12:50 PM
You’re welcome Steve.
Shakkan
December 13, 2007 at 3:10 AM
Thanks a loooooot!
It worked here too. I was trying to find some instructions to do it and your blog is the best. Great job!
Andrew Alliance
December 13, 2007 at 7:49 PM
Glad it worked out for you. ^_^
You’re welcome.
gohanrocs12
December 20, 2007 at 3:03 AM
my router is a WRT54gs ……will these instructions still work?
gamertag: Gohanrocs12
gohanrocs12
December 20, 2007 at 3:54 AM
and were do i get the ip adress for the Xlink??? and wats static ip??
Andrew Alliance
December 20, 2007 at 1:15 PM
Static IP is an IP address that does not change once you set it. for example my 360 is 192.168.1.5, my xbox is .6. I set it because its easier to do stuff with the router than having it assign the address automatically, which is dhcp.
When you run xlink, from what I’ve understood, it can look to one IP or automatically selects and locks according to what you have going on – on your network. My laptop is .4 so if im using .2 (my pc) it will lock to whatever I have on no matter what client (computer) im using to run xlink. I can run it on the pc, laptop or I can set it to have the little driver to run and use xlink with Xbox media center.
for more information on xlink: http://www.teamxlink.co.uk/
As far as the intructions, they should work if the firware options or menu are similar. I going to assume that they are. If you have trouble we can do a checklist to see if you are missing anything if you’d like. lemme know.
on a side note: I recently changed my firmware to the tomato firmware. It was a learning curve for me when I first put on the firmware but the basic principles of getting the NAT open is the same. Be bold and understand that the router can do stuff by default but some things (like port forward 3074) you have to tell it to do.
gamertag: xxuriahxx
gohanrocs12
December 20, 2007 at 7:50 PM
aight, well my 360 ip is 192.186.1.101……my comp is 192.186.1.100….so for the xlink on the port range fowarding i used my comps ip address, was tht the right thing to do??………and btw i did everything u said to do and my xbox went from moderate to open, so thnx, so now i jus wanna make sure i put in the right info….i didn’t really know wat to do on the setup-basic setup prt of ur instructions so i went straight to the othr steps, but i did evrything else.
Andrew Alliance
December 20, 2007 at 8:45 PM
Sweet, Progress.
Using your PC IP is fine, run xlink on it (the PC) and see if you are able to join and host games. I’m glad that things are working out for you. on the basic page, on the top, that first section that says dhcp, just leave it dhcp. That part is the ISP provider data so don’t mess with it. If you change that part to static, when the ISP changes their IP info as they do every so often your settings wont change to accommodate because you set it to “static”.
For instance, If their IP was .31 (and lets say you had that part static) and they changed their numbers to .16, you wont have any internet access; so leave that part DHCP = automatic. Your only concern is your internal network; thats it. Yeah they provide you with internet/broadband but you are paying for the services that they are rendering.
so the IP for your box is 192.186.1.101
ur gateway is exactly like ur lan IP 192.186.1.x
subnet varies but usually its 255.255.255.0
ur dns is the same as ur lan IP – 192.186.1.x
make sure all of ur settings are consistent and you will be fine.
check this out: http://lampiweb.com/tomato/basic-network.htm
see that part that says “WAN / Internet”. See how its at DHCP and the MTU is set on AUTO. You leave it just like that in your config page.
and then the fun start. If your router has a full duplex setting – leave that auto also. The router will adjust to what it needs when it needs it. You want your router to open enough so you don’t loose any packets or get lagtastic and closed enough to keep your privacy on your wireless and wired network. After that you wont have to worry about it.
Capiche?
gohanrocs12
December 20, 2007 at 9:08 PM
o allright…well….i just rememebred tht Xlink is a program…and i don’t have it….do i need it?
Andrew Alliance
December 20, 2007 at 9:13 PM
not if you have xbox live….I play halo 2 on it once in a while so I use it for that…
gohanrocs12
December 20, 2007 at 10:29 PM
ooo, ok, well then, thnx for all ur help bro….i sent the link to this pg to all my friends tht had NAT problems, keep up the nice work!
xwabombwx
October 4, 2008 at 6:59 AM
i just wanted to let you know that static routing means that you configure the routing tables yourself…as you say in your little speal it says it configures it for you….dynamic routing configures your routing tables for you….just though you should know before people think static actually configures their tables for them..
Andrew
October 4, 2008 at 3:13 PM
thanks, thats what I meant, guess it didn’t convert well on the blog from my mind. I made some adjustment to the post.
Connor
June 3, 2009 at 9:25 PM
DUDE I LOVE U (NO HOMO)
WORKED LIKE A CHARM
Andrew
June 3, 2009 at 10:34 PM
Im glad that folks are still benefiting from this post. As far as my setup, it is still relatively the same. I actually run the tomato firmware (whichever is current) with the same router. Microsoft also has a page that shows all the possible ports you can forward and here is the link to the page: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/908874
Thanks for posting Connor.
Candice
July 9, 2009 at 4:51 AM
awesome, thanks so much
JXB14
February 21, 2010 at 9:44 PM
Hi i have this type of router and my uncle is the high tech computer guy and he set up the NAT settings and it was set to open and a while ago it went back to moderate because the IP changed so i fixed and in like for days again it went from open to moderate and i have done everything on this page like 4 times and it still hasn’t worked do you have any other solutions?
Andrew
March 3, 2010 at 9:23 PM
Greetings, The only solution that I would suggest is this support page: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/908874 and if that doesn’t help I would the turn off the upnp functions of the routers (if it is on). If that doesnt help I would consider changing the Firmware (ddwrt or tomato by polarcloud if you can). If that doesn’t help I would check if the router is compatible to begin with. Which router/router version are you using. As of this day 3.3.10 I am using a wrt54g v3 with the “teddy bear mod”. My setup is Cable Modem-router-8 port switch-360. Hope that helps.
LastSerrano911
March 3, 2010 at 3:25 PM
Thanks i watch all them youtube vids no help thanks agian
my x romance
June 14, 2010 at 5:59 AM
FOR THE QoS i dont know which port that my xbox is connected to 😦
i have so much confusion on how to set up the QoS i need step by step help… PLEASE SOMEONE
Stephanie
July 29, 2010 at 3:44 AM
The port that your xbox is connected to is the port where you ethernet cable connected to the xbox is at.
For example, my xbox is connected by the ethernet cable to the first port therefore I enable the settings for the first port.