XBOX 360 Wireless Adapter Feb 4, 03:28 PM

I bought an XBOX 360 this weekend and set it up on my wireless network at home so I could join XBOX Live. I bought the XBOX 360 Wireless Adapter for it, and this is a quick note about configuring it.

My network uses an Access Control List for the MAC addresses of machines that are allowed to join the network. I looked on the back of the Wireless Adapter because most wireless devices have their MAC address listed somewhere on them for this very reason.

The problem is that the MAC address listed on the physical Wireless Adapter is not the MAC address it uses! After a half-hour of frustration, I stumbled upon a screen buried in the System menu of the XBOX that reported a different MAC address!

So if you are having a similar problem, just go look at the following screen, System / Network Settings / Edit Settings / Additional Settings (tap right to get there, it’s the tab at the top) / Advanced Settings (tap down once you’re in Additional Settings). Below the menu on the left you’ll see the screen say, “Wired MAC Address” and that will be the MAC that your WireLESS Adapter uses. So to summarize, the actual MAC address of the Wireless Adapter is reported in a screen that is buried 6 levels deep, and its actually called the wrong thing!

I think the XBOX is pretty cool so far, and I like their games (I purchased it out of frustration about the lack of decent games now for my GameCube and PS2), but this kind of crap is one big fat reason I hate Microsoft. The verdict is still out on whether I will pay for XBOX Live Gold or not.