XBox 360 wifi addon issues

[Brian Dead]

I have just brought 2 consoles, one for my son and for myself and was quite pleased until my son got the microsoft wifi addon to put it upon my home network. Plugging the device in cause a nice bright amber light to glow but, alas, nothing else. The console seemed unaware that a wifi addon is plugged in and all options relating to wifi networks are grayed out. So I then tried it upon my own console with the same result. Upon this I call the xbox helpline and spoke to a nice indian woman who couldn't seem to grasp the concept that nothing relating to wifi was accessable and kept telling me " not possible " and to open ports upon my router and access the xbox wifi network settings! So after a rather frustrating 5 minutes conversation I gave up and hung up. I told my my son that the addon must be faulty and to replace it, which he did but still no good. Am I missing something basic? Surely the Xbox must know when a wifi device is connected? Is it possible Microsoft have an issue with a batch of xboxes or wifi addons? I am pretty good with wifi networking and do know about ssid, addresses, mac codes, wap encryption, etc. Looking upon google brings up scores of entries saying how easy the wifi addon is to use! So if anybody has had the same problems, or has some insight that may help, I would be grateful of any suggestions. Thanks Folks

[Joshua]

Do you have the ethernet cable still plugged in?

[Brian Dead]

no ethernet cable connected.
I have tried the xbox wifi addon in the standard usb ports too
still doesn't see it!
grateful for any suggestions.

[csvt98]

Do you have anything else in your house working on the wifi from your wireless router?Sometimes the router itself has a firewall on it and doesnt allow things to connect through WIFI.Try looking through all the settings on the router itself.

[Brian Dead]

Thanks for your reply but, alas, because the 360 is unaware of the official wireless adapter plugged into it, any other problems relating to router and firewall are irrelevant. I've been researching this problem on the web and it seems a more common problem than I first thought, you just have to get the syntax right. I just used the search phrase " xbox 360 wifi options greyed out ", and found quite a few people have encountered this problem. The main reason I'm chasing this is I don't know where the fault lies. Do I keep returning dongles or xboxes? have ms done a hardware or software revision upon the 360 itself. It would seem getting a working wifi adapter is largely a matter of luck. It appears someone at ms must have messed up bigtime! Considering the thing costs 3 times the price of a standard wifi dongle you would think quality control would be higher.

[RningOnFumes]

Have you tried paging through the Xbox menus to see if there is a setting that should be on so that it knows you've got internet for it?

[Brian Dead]

yeah, I been through all the settings
I've even updated it the xbox on a wired ethernet connection. Thanks anyway.
Update!
Received 2 replies from ms regards this issue, both with same innate message.
Apparently all I have to do is unplug it, check socket, replug it, ensure light is on, reboot xbox.
Gosh! That hadn't occurred to me! ( yes, I am being sarcastic. LOL! )

[MrSchmo]

Hmm, that seems to be a big issue. My little brothers was doing the same thing. I went over to his house and just unplugged it and re plugged it in, tested connection and it worked.

I know you did, but it MUST be in the back USB port.
You can also try Resetting Factory Defaults, see if that works.

Its hard to think of what settings to try with out sitting in front of the Box.

[Brian Dead]

thanks for the all suggestions, folks, but I think I'll have to give up on this one.
I'm on my 3rd non-functional wifi dongle.
If ms had made software like it's hardware, we would all be probably using macs.
It seems a mysterious process, I think my house is on a ley line and ms gear appears incompatible.
now where did I put that mandrake root?

[Amrinder67]

did u try changing the wired connection to wireless