This issue really gets to me, as we all have been trying to fix this since the beginning of 2007.

It is ridiculous that no one from Microsoft Support Center came up with a logical explanation for this and with a fix.
What’s more ridiculous is that i get the feeling that they are relying on the forums and bloggers to find the fix.
Ok, i get it, the crowds can share more, but the answers we get when calling or e-mailing MS for this very issue are just a waste of time.
Today, after getting one other comment asking for help, i decided to make a checklist and look at this from a different angle.

We have:

• A 360
• A modem
• A router: with integrated firewall and without
• A connection: wireless, direct connection to a router, direct connection to a modem, a slow connection, a fast connection
• An ISP
• A NAT: open, moderate, strict
• A gamerzone: Pro, Underground, Recreation, Family
• Family Settings on 360

I will be listing few possible solutions, some of them also mentioned in my other entries.

Situation 1:

You are connected to a router and your NAT is open or moderate. You could play before with your friends and now you can’t unless someone else hosts the game.

Possible solution:
Disconnect the internet cable from your 360.
Shut down your 360 now. Unplug all cables from your modem and let the modem offline few minutes. (make it 5)
Reconnect the modem and connect your 360 directly to it instead of your router.
Restart your 360 and connect to a friend you couldn’t chat or play with before.
Check your gamer zone. If your friend’s gamerzone is “Underground”n try setting yours the same.
Now see what happens.

Situation 2:

You are connected to a router and your NAT is set to Strict.

Solution:
Open the NAT. Go to PortForward.com and find your router.
Follow the intructions. Note: you’ll need a computer or a laptop in order to do this.

Situation 3:

You are a minor and your parents have set up your 360.
Your parents know what they are doing and you shouldn’t challenge their judgement.

Possible solution 1:
Wait till you’re 18.

Possible solution 2:
Explain to your parents that you can’t play anymore with your friends. Good luck with that!

Situation 4:

When playing with others your “ping” is red and you keep falling off the game and even game-lobby.
You also start having problems connecting to your friends using the same ISP.

Possible solution:
Contact your ISP.
In some countries the ISP’s are offering a limited bandwidth (the rip-off packs), so you can either upgrade your pack or wait till your new band reset.

Situation 5:

You’ve been able to play and chat with your friends and suddenly you can’t do that anymore. Your ping is fine, your NAT is open, your Gamerzone the same as your friends, your router is fine and the same, your connection is fast and you even connected directly to the router, but nothing seems to fix it.

Possible solution:
You’ve been prompted to install a game update or you’ve downloaded a game add-on or map and it is either corrupted or incomplete.
This can cause issues.
Remove any recent downloads from your hard drive.
Now clear your 360′s cache as following:
Go to your Dashboard, System blade , Memory and then Hard Drive.
Highlight the drive and press Y for the options. Now press X, X, LB, RB, X, X.
Now confirm the system maintenance.
Once the maintenance has been done, reboot your 360. Now try a voice chat with one of your friends with whom you’ve had issues.

Some other tricks that may fix this:

• Reset your modem and router.
• Buy a new router
• Buy a hub
• Reset your Internet connection via your pc by going to your router’s control panel and clearing all the packs, and maybe restarting the router via this panel.
• Check the family settings. Maybe you’ve made some changes recently that are causing you issues.
• Check your privacy settings on your 360 profile.
• Check to see if you’ve put any of your frinds on “mute” by mistake. Do this by viewing their profile via your xbox 360.

You guys, i really hope that one of these solutions will help you, because if they don’t, then i am really out of options here. If anyone has any other solutions, please contribute.

The other entrie can be found here:I can’t join a friend’s game or do a voice chat on Xbox Live