will a crossover or direct connection work?

[ffamas]

Spent a many hours reading and trying to get my live plus to play vid/music/pic from a win7 64 pc via wired network.  I am more than frustrated.  Trying to keep it funtional is a pain. 

Is it possible to use a cross over cable directy from the the pc to the live+?  Or any other direct connect.  It seems networking brings in so many varibles that its hard to maintain.

[TonyPh12345]

Whether it's connected via a LAN or direct cabling, the network setup is still required.

So if you can't get it to work across a regular LAN, chances are you won't have any better luck doing it directly connected...

[ffamas]

I was afraid of that. 

Maybe you could suggest a guide that might help. 

I am able to see and access the pc and shared files I want the live+ to play from a 2nd pc on the network. Live+ does 2 things:

1-will not show that pc as existing or 2- if it does show up it says no media in the files.

I am not using homegroup, and have tried both home and work network.  File sharing "seems" to be correct as access from other pc indicates. 

I have made many tweaks since starting this process but it seems live plus is being finicky in its discovery of network shares. 

[thepanoguy]

@ffamas,

You have not disclosed your hardware configuration. There are too many variables to post a guide. Early versions of Windows 7 64bit suffered from a number of issues due to buggy motherboard and network drivers. Most of the issues were addressed on various Windows 7 forums in conjunction with the various Windows 7 64bit updates. Most of the issues were resolved with just a bios and driver updates.

I would suggest that you Google by your motherboard make and confirm that your bios and system drivers are all current versions; then read the Windows 7 forums for any current Windows 7 64bit networking issues.

http://www.sevenforums.com/

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/

http://www.windowsnetworking.com/

http://forum.thewindowsclub.com/

http://www.theeldergeek.com/

[ffamas]

 Thanks panoguy,  had not seen 64 bit issues mentioned.  Shows my nubness to networking.

I have the option of using win7 32  or even xp 32.  As I have no need for a network other than access for my live+ to media storage, would either of these be a wiser choice for a more stable wired network?

I understand the need for config specs for specific help and will provide them, but if I a 32 bit os is more network friendly I am more than willing to make the change.

Thanks again.  

[ffamas · Accepted solution]

Added a $9 nic, ran cable from it to the live+ then bridged that connection to the existing lan.  Seems live+ and Win 7 64 like this setup. All is good.