MCE Connecting to the internet & Connecting RCA inputs

Being new to MCE (2 days) i am having a couple of problems:

1) I cannot get MCE to connect to the internet. I realise that you have to
assign a connection in the 'Network Connections' folder as a default
connection. However I use a Local Area connection which is always on and
cannot assign it as my default connection.

2) How can I get MCE to detect an external appliance connected through RCA
cables?

I am using an ASUS A7J6 notebook. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

1) Do you have network drivers for the Asus motherboard installed? Or if the
network adapter isn't on the motherboard, do you have drivers for the USB or
PCCard network adapter installed? Go to Device Manager to find out. Assuming
you do, then bring up a DOS window and do "ipconfig /release" and "ipconfig
/renew". The renew should force whatever is upstream (i.e., a router) to
send you an IP address. At that point you should be able to ping other
machines on your lan (assuming they all have the same workgroup name). Once
you can ping the other machines (and the router) then the Internet should
work.

2) What tuner do you have? Since it's a laptop, I'm assuming a Hauppauge USB
tuner as that is the only one MCE supports. If you go into the MCE setup,
you can tell it you have a "set top box" to get it to look for input on the
composite or sVideo inputs. However, to do this you must have a MCE remote
control plugged into a USB port.

3) Does your ASUS have a MCE-supported video chipset?

Dana Cline - MCE MVP

 

Thanks for your replies Dana!

1) I think i may have been a bit misleading in my first question. The
internet is already working and I am able to connect to it. It is an
always-on LAN connection which is in my apartment complex (i.e. from a socket
in the wall). The actual Media Centre program states it its help file that it
needs an internet connection to be right-clicked and designated as your
"always use this" connection for it to recognise it. However since i am
connected through a high-speed LAN connection, there is no right-click option
to designate it as my "always use" connection.
I think this problem may be related to the Tools>Internet
Options>Connections Tab in Internet explorer not having any connections in
the Dial-up and VPN window.

2) I don't know the exact model of the TV tuner but it is internal (here is
my laptop: http://www.i-store.com.au/product/?CategoryID=29&productid=7266).
I fiddled around and got it to recognise via the way you stated but i have
not yet tried to use the supplied remote as the defualt remote so i shall do
that.

3)I am thinking it does as I was able to connect my coaxial cable to my
notebook and get a signal. Which raises another question, is there anyway to
tune individual channels or are they preset?

Once again thanks,
-DK

 

Interesting PC - not sure what the integrated tuner is, but if they claim
MCE certification, that's good. The fact that you're in Australia might have
something to do with it, I don't know. When you setup Media Center, it will
step you through the configuration of the tuner, and the guide (assuming Oz
has a guide). If it does, then all your channels and their names will show
up. Otherwise you'll have to add them by hand.

Dana Cline - MCE MVP

 

Hi Dana,
Well that's the problem. I can't get the media centre program to
recognise my always on LAN connection as my default internet connection,
whcih in turn means i cannot access the online guides (if we have them). Oh
*shudder* It is always tricky...
Thanks again,
D.K.

 

Does it fail to recognize it when you "test" the connection in MC setup? Or
does the test pass and it fails when you attempt to download the guide? Or
does it fail when you try to get a list of cable providers based on your
postal code?

Dana Cline - MCE MVP

 

It fails to recognise the connection when i test in the mc setup.
thanks
-D.K.

 

You might check your firewall settings. I can't think of anything else
offhand...

Dana Cline - MCE MVP

 

Ok i will try that, thank you for all your help .
- D.K.

 

Just letting you know Dana, that diasabling my firewall workder.
Thanks for all your help, i couldn't have done it without you.

-D.K.

 

Now the hard part starts - figuring out how to get the firewall working
again without this problem...

Dana Cline - MCE MVP