[UPDATE} After contacting local Draytek support in Australia they have provided me with a beta firmware that re ads the port trigger menu to the web interface. I have not installed this as the method below has been working solidly for the last month, but its worth trying if the instructions below look daunting. Updating your firmware on the draytek devices isn't difficult at all and leaves less room for error then my instructions below.

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This post outlines how to connect multiple Xboxes to Xbox live and achieve Open NAT. This post relates directly to achieving this with a Draytek Vigor2830 ADSL broadband router.

If you would like a general guide to opening the correct ports for Xbox live, I highly recommend this youtube video which covers everything you will need.

Background:

I have 2 Xbox consoles which I need to connect to Xbox Live. Both are hard wired to a Draytek Vigor2830 ADSL broadband router. Currently I can do this but I receive an error stating my NAT setting is moderate.

Viewing the video linked above, you will find the best practice for this is to use a combination of uPnP and port triggering.

The issue with this is that for some reason, port triggering has been removed from the Vigor2830 web interface, and such can't be configured.

This guide will show you how to configure port triggering for the Draytek Vigor2830 via telnet.

Before you begin

• If you are not comfortable using command line interfaces and making changes to your router you should not proceed.
• This post assumes you know the IP address of your router and how to access this.
• Part of this configuration change includes changing the web management port for your router, this means in future you will need to specify the new port whenever logging into your routers management interface.
• DISCLAIMER: I will not be held liable for any issues you have by following this documentation. Any changes made to your equipment is done at your own risk.
• My Vigor2830 is using firmware 3.3.6.1db - if your firmware is different, your may encounter different results. 

Updating your Vigor's web management interface port.

1. Go to 'System Maintenance' -> 'Management'
2. Select 'User defined ports' under 'Management Port Setup' and change the HTTP Port to 90 (or another non conflicting port of your choice)
3. Click OK and confirm. Your router will then reboot.

Connecting to your Vigor2830 via telnet and configuring port triggering

Once your router has finished rebooting you will need to connect via telnet. To do this you will need to use a telnet client.

1. Open a telnet connection to your router.
2. When prompted enter the same admin user name and password as you use to connect to the web interface
3. First we need to confirm port triggering isn't configured. The commands provided in this post assume this is the case. to confirm this type:

   srv nat trigger -v

   The output returned should show all available trigger spots as disabled and no labels/comments should be present. The output should look like:

   %%      Port Trigger Rule status:
   Index  Status  Comment  TProto  TPort  IProto  IPort
   -----------------------------------------------------
   1 Disable
   2 Disable
   3 Disable
   4 Disable
   5 Disable
   6 Disable
   7 Disable
   8 Disable
   9 Disable
   10 Disable

4. Once we have confirmed there are no configured port triggers, we can add the needed entries using the commands below. Enter each line once at a time followed by enter/return.

5. srv nat trigger 1 -c XBLA1 -e 1 -p 3 -t 53 -P 3 -i 53
   srv nat trigger 2 -c XBLA2 -e 1 -p 3 -t 80 -P 3 -i 80
   srv nat trigger 3 -c XBLA3 -e 1 -p 3 -t 88 -P 3 -i 88
   srv nat trigger 4 -c XBLA4 -e 1 -p 3 -t 3074 -P 3 -i 3074
   srv nat trigger 5 -c XBLA5 -e 1 -p 3 -t 1863 -P 3 -i 1863

6. Once these have been entered, run the trigger query command again:

7. srv nat trigger -v

   The output should now look like the following:

   Index  Status  Comment  TProto  TPort    IProto      IPort
   -----------------------------------------------------
   1   Enable   XBLA1     TCP/UDP  53       TCP/UDP  53
   2   Enable   XBLA2     TCP/UDP  80       TCP/UDP  80
   3   Enable   XBLA3     TCP/UDP  88       TCP/UDP  88
   4   Enable   XBLA4     TCP/UDP  3074  TCP/UDP  3074
   5   Enable   XBLA5     TCP/UDP  1863  TCP/UDP  1863
   6Disable
   7Disable
   8Disable
   9Disable
   10Disable

   If your output looks like the above the trigger ports have been configured. At this time I logged back into my router and rebooted it. Probably optional but doesn't hurt.

8. On your xbox, you will need to go into System Settings and then Network, and wired network and make sure this is set to configure automatically (don't use manual addresses).
9. Run a test connection to Xbox Live and you should find this is now working without a moderated NAT warning on both xboxes.

For those wondering here are the switches for srv nat trigger command:

1. srv nat trigger n [-<command> <parameter> | ... ] n: rule number
   -c: comment
   -e: enable/disable this emety [1/0]
   -p: trigger proto.   [1-TCP, 2-UDP, 3-All ]
   -t: trigger port.
   -P: incomming proto. [1-TCP, 2-UDP, 3-All ]
   -i: incomming port.
   -d: delete
   -v: show port trigger setting

    

   References:

   YouTube Video

   Xbox NAT Guide

   Xbox KB article regarding Kinect video chat port

    

   Comments/Queries:

   Feel free to leave any comments or queries (including alternate work arounds) for this issue.

Click the bluetooth icon under ‘Internet & Wireless’

Select the Bluetooth keyboard and click the gear icon near the bottom of the preference pane and select ‘Rename’

Enter a new name and click ‘Rename’

Please leave all comments/queries in the comments section of this post.

You may have checked your Mac OS X console and seen something similar to the following flooding your logs:

7/01/12 10:59:34.698 PM com.apple.launchd: (com.google.keystone.daemon[52566]) bootstrap_register() erroneously called instead of bootstrap_check_in(). Mach service: com.google.Keystone.Daemon
7/01/12 10:59:34.700 PM com.apple.launchd: (com.google.keystone.daemon[52566]) Exited with code: 1
7/01/12 10:59:34.700 PM com.apple.launchd: (com.google.keystone.daemon) Throttling respawn: Will start in 10 seconds

These logs relate to Google’s software updater which keeps any Google software on your system up to date.

Additionally, this uses quite a bit of disk space, as it logs all of this to /Library/Logs/GoogleSoftwareUpdateDaemon.log - my log file was 356 MB, but reading online some users have logs up to 2 GB.

Resolution:

Google’s method

Google’s official response, which can be found here states you need to uninstall ALL Google software and then uninstall the update software using one of the following commands at a terminal (Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal).

Uninstall for a specific user:

~/Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate/GoogleSoftwareUpdate.bundle/Contents/Resources/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent.app/Contents/Resources/install.py --uninstall

Uninstall for the whole system: (needs root access)

sudo /Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate/GoogleSoftwareUpdate.bundle/Contents/Resources/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent.app/Contents/Resources/install.py --uninstall

Once you’ve done this you should notice two new entries in your console log that looks something like this:

7/01/12 11:00:29.156 PM sudo:   username : TTY=ttys000 ; PWD=/Users/username ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/Library/Google/GoogleSoftwareUpdate/GoogleSoftwareUpdate.bundle/Contents/Resources/GoogleSoftwareUpdateAgent.app/Contents/Resources/install.py –uninstall
7/01/12 11:00:29.315 PM com.apple.launchd.peruser.501: ([0x0-0x1d01d].com.google.Keystone.Agent[276]) Exited: Terminated: 15

This shows I’ve run the command for the system wide uninstall and that the agent process was killed during the uninstall process.

As per Google’s notes in the link provided above, if you attempt an uninstall of the software updater without uninstalling ALL Google applications you will find these may not operate correctly, or that the update software will be automatically reinstalled next time you launch these.

Alternative methods

The methods listed here have been collated from around the internet. I have not tested these. The goal here is to permanently uninstall/disable the Google Software Updater while leaving the Google software (ie. Chrome) installed. If you have had success with any of these methods, or have an alternative method please post this in a comment below.

Twenty Ways: Permanently disable Google Software Update on OS X

• Involves removing the .plists, creating empty .plist files and updating the permissions on those files. Check the link for exact commands.

Time Sinker: Stopping all OSX Google background ‘updater’ apps

• Involves renaming .plists and also editing other .plists to stop them loading at launch. Again, checkout the link for exact instructions.

Feedback and Comments

As always, if you have any feedback, or alternative resolutions please post these below.

So I’ve just run system updates on my realtively new Early 2011 17″ MacBook Pro only to find that iTunes 10.2.2 will not run and crashes when opening.

oh noes!

Console logs show the following:

23/04/11 11:04:45 AM	[0x0-0x19019].com.apple.iTunes[233]	objc[233]: Class  is implemented in both /System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Versions/C/AppKit and /System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Versions/C/AppKit. One of the two will be used. Which one is undefined.23/04/11 11:04:45 AM	[0x0-0x19019].com.apple.iTunes[233]	objc[233]: Class  is implemented in both /System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Versions/C/AppKit and /System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Versions/C/AppKit. One of the two will be used. Which one is undefined.23/04/11 11:04:45 AM	[0x0-0x19019].com.apple.iTunes[233]	objc[233]: Class  is implemented in both /System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Versions/C/AppKit and /System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Versions/C/AppKit. One of the two will be used. Which one is undefined.23/04/11 11:04:45 AM	[0x0-0x19019].com.apple.iTunes[233]	objc[233]: Class  is implemented in both /System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Versions/C/AppKit and /System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Versions/C/AppKit. One of the two will be used. Which one is undefined.23/04/11 11:04:45 AM	[0x0-0x19019].com.apple.iTunes[233]	objc[233]: Class  is implemented in both /System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Versions/C/AppKit and /System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Versions/C/AppKit. One of the two will be used. Which one is undefined.23/04/11 11:04:46 AM	com.apple.launchd.peruser.501[132]	([0x0-0x19019].com.apple.iTunes[233]) Job appears to have crashed: Bus error23/04/11 11:04:46 AM	ReportCrash[235]	Saved crash report for iTunes[233] version 10.2.2 (10.2.2) to /Users/spathi/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/iTunes_2011-04-23-110446_Abed.crash

Solution:

Download the 10.6.7 Mac OS X update from Apple and reinstall this. After I reinstalled the update iTunes worked as expected.

Note if you use an Early 2011 MacBook Pro you need to use a specific update file. I have included links to both of these below.

Mac OS X 10.6.7 update

Mac OS X 10.6.7 update for Early 2011 MacBook Pro

Feedback:

Please leave a comment if this resolved your issue, or If you are having similar issues and have found an alternative solution, please post the solution you have found.

The command:

unzip *.zip

displays the error:

caution: filename not matched

The easiest way of fixing this is by adding ‘single quotes’ to the file portion of the command, for example:

unzip ‘*.zip’

Which will unzip all of the zip files in the current directory.

Mac OS X users: you can access the unix terminal by running Terminal, an application found in Applications -> Utilities.

The screen capture options in Mac OS X are quite robust, offering solutions for not only capturing the entire screen but for capturing windows of running applications, or a manual selection of the screen itself.

It is important to note screen grabs are saved to your desktop as PNG files by default.

For those looking for the commands without more information the list is below. Read on if you would like an explanation.

Command-Shift-3 – Screen shot all displays to PNG files on the desktop.
Command-Shift-4 – Screen shot a specific selection of the screen using the cross hair.
Command-Shift-4 followed by Space bar – Screen shot a running application window.

Adding Control to any of the above will copy the image to your clip board rather then a file on your Desktop.

Below is an overview of the different inbuilt methods.

Capturing the whole desktop

Pressing Command-Shift-3 will capture all desktops (in the case of multiple displays) and place the files on your Desktop. If you would prefer to copy the screen shot straight to you clipboard as opposed to a file on your desktop, add the Control key to the combination above. For example,  Command-Shift-Control-3 - Please note this appears to only copy the primary Display to the clipboard in the case of multiple displays.

Capturing a manual selection of the screen

Pressing Command-Shift-4 will change your mouse cursor into a set of cross hairs. Using this you can click a point on your screen and then drag (while holding down the mouse button) and select the area of the screen you would like to capture. When you release the mouse button the screen shot is taken. As with the previous method you can add the Control key to copy the selection directly to your clipboard. For example, Command-Shift-Control-4 will allow you to select a portion of the screen and place this in your clip board.

Capturing a specific application window

Pressing Command-Shift-4 will bring up the cross hairs as above, now instead of making a selection press Space bar. The cursor will change from the cross hairs to a picture of a Camera. You can move this around the screen and you will note when you hover over an open window it will be highlighted to show it has been selected. From here click on the desired window and it will save this to a PNG on your desktop. As before, you can add the Control key to the mix to copy the selection directly to your clip board rather then to a file. The complete command would like like the following. Command-Shift-Control-4 followed by the Space bar.

I hope you find this information useful, please feel free to leave any questions or comments below.

Unfortunately, my state doesn’t participate in this ritual, and I woke at what I thought was 4.30 am to find it was actually 3.30 am

To fix this, you need to go to the ‘Settings’ app and then select ‘General’ and select ‘Date & Time’.

If you have ‘Set Automatically’ turned on, turn this off. You will now be able to select a Time Zone.

Set your relevant time zone and then turn ‘Select Automatically’ back on.

Your phone will now keep your phone up to date an use the correct time zone.

After some investigation I found this is caused my an option set for each individual file in iTunes itself.

To fix this find the music video in your iTunes library and right click (or control-click) the file and choose ‘Get Info’.

From there go to the ‘Options’ tab and deselect the ‘Skip when Shuffling’ option and click OK.

Things to note:

If you sync your iTunes library to your Apple TV (as opposed to streaming) you will need to resync after making these changes

You can do this to multiple Videos at once by selecting them all and then right clicking (or control-clicking) ‘Get Info’. The process is the same except you may be asked if you would like to work on multiple items at once. Also when you reach the options tab you will have a slightly different layout and will need to check the ‘Skip when Shuffling’ option and choose ‘No’ from the drop down box.

As always, I hope you find this useful and if you come across any problems, would like to share any further information or even if this just helps – please leave a comment below.

27/03/10 4:59:21 AM com.apple.launchd.peruser.503[107] (com.akamai.client.plist[323]) Bug: launchd_core_logic.c:4103 (23932):13
27/03/10 4:59:21 AM com.apple.launchd.peruser.503[107] (com.akamai.client.plist[323]) posix_spawn(“/Applications/Akamai/loader.pl”, …): No such file or directory
27/03/10 4:59:21 AM com.apple.launchd.peruser.503[107] (com.akamai.client.plist[323]) Exited with exit code: 1
27/03/10 4:59:21 AM com.apple.launchd.peruser.503[107] (com.akamai.client.plist) Throttling respawn: Will start in 10 seconds

After some googling I found several people experiencing the same issue. It appears this revolves around the use of the Akamai Download Client, which in my case was used when downloading an Adobe trial product.

The Akamai client was never uninstalled properly, either because I trashed the folder in /Applications/Akamai or because the uninstaller didn’t work correctly.

I did a spotlight search and found I still had a copy of the Akamai installer disk image – AkamaiDownloadManagerInstaller.dmg (If you don’t have this, go back to Adobe’s site and choose a new trial product to install, the Akamai client will then be reinstalled).

I reinstalled this and then ran the following from the terminal to uninstall the package correctly.

/Applications/Akamai/admintool uninstall -force

After running this, no more entries in my logs!

• Apple Discussion Thread

I have a Dell Mini 9 Laptop with built in HSDPA modem using Vodafone (AU) but also an iPhone 3GS with Optus. While trying to diagnose an issue I switched sims, and somehow my iPhone kept the Message Centre Number for Vodafone – Even while my Optus sim was present in my iPhone.

I tried reseting the Network settings as suggested on some sites, and even resorted to Restoring my phone (effectively wiping it) however this didnt fix the issue.

The following shows how the issue was resolved.

Step 1 – Check the Message Centre Number

Go into the phone app, and choose the keypad. Enter the following:

*#5005*7672#

and hit call. You will receive a message such as:

Setting Interrogation Succeeded
Service Center Address
+61415011501

The message above indicates the MCN is for Vodafone when it should be Optus.

Step 2 – Change the MCN

To change the MCN you enter the following into your keypad as done previously:

**5005*7672*+xxxxxxxxxxxxx#

Replace the x ‘s with the MCN for your mobile provider (See resources below for a world wide list). You can enter the + symbol by holding down the 0 button.

In my case, I was changing from vodafone to optus. Optus advises on their support page that their MCN is +61411990001 , so I would key in the following:

**5005*7672*+61411990001#

Followed by the call key.

You should now receive a message such as:

Setting Succeeded Service
Center Address
No Address

You can now try send an SMS. If you continue to have issues, please repeat step 1 to confirm your MCN has been entered correctly. Failing this I’d advise you call your mobile provider to run through other options.

Further Resources:

SMS Message Server Worldwide List (MCN List)

Optus SMS Troubleshooting

Feedback:

Please leave a comment if this resolved your issue, or if you have any further solutions to this problem. If you are having similar issues and have found a solution, please post the solution you have found.