XBox Media Centre Is Really Nice When It Doesn't Drop Network Connection

I did go ahead and set up the XBox Media Centre on my old XBox. The instructions aren't the greatest, but they got me there.

The media centre is much better than I expected. It's pretty, and useable, and looks like the perfect solution for our household. I've already moved my Freevo box into the basement (it's still the media server, even if it's not connected to the TV anymore.)

One thing that was confusing. There's some kind of script on that XBox that tells it if the network is up or not - and it was forever deciding my network was down, even when it was fine. Weird, since it would correctly show the cable as being connected, and the connection being a negotiated half-duplex 100 meg. (Yep - it's an old switch - remember Rule One?) It still read 'Network Down' below.

What fixed it (and don't ask me why) was to set the XBox to Fixed Manual IP instead of DHCP. It's been 'up' ever since. It must be something in the way the various 'dashboards' interact with each other and/or the eth card - but my weirdo solution works.