I recently bought a WD My Net N750 because I wanted to try dual band and it was inexpensive. I thought I would share my experience in case it helps anyone else avoid wasted hours of frustration. Hopefully this is the right location for my post. This also applies to the N900 as you'll see below. If you are successfully using the N750 or N900 with an HDHomeRun Tuner, I would love to know if you did anything special to make it work other than my workaround I describe below.
Net:
I haven't tested any other WD / HDHomeRun product combinations but I would NOT recommend buying the N750 or N900 currently if you have an HDHomeRun Prime or Dual tuner.
Problem:
The N750 or N900 combined with either of the HDHomeRun tuners I mention causes a hard lock with either or both of my xboxes in under 5 minutes. It is a hard freeze and the xboxes can only be physically turned off with the button at this point. The freezing occurs whether playing a game like Borderlands 2, watching streaming movies via Netflix, etc or connecting to a Windows 7 computer running Windows Media Center. I do not play in the multiplayer mode. I use the online xbox cloud storage for saving my games.
Up until this point I had had zero problems with either xbox locking, freezing, etc under any circumstances.
The problem started as soon as I installed the N750. It goes away if I go back to *ANY* of my older routers (DIR-655, WRT-54gl, USR5461, DIR-601) and returns the moment I reinstall the N750 or N900. I even tried just using the N750 in AP (access point) mode behind my DD-WRT 54GL and the locking continued. I'm not a network guru but that makes no sense to me.
I tried all of the tips I could find online related to the WD Nxxx setup e.g. (turn off WMM, QoS, UPnP, manual port forwarding, clearing xbox cache, etc) but nothing worked. I contacted WD and RMA'd the N750. They sent me a new replacement N750 and it did the same thing. I contacted WD again and they replaced the N750 with a N900 and it's doing the exact same thing also.
Eventually, I narrowed the issue down to some sort of problem between my HDHomerun Prime tuner from Silicon Dust and the N750/N900 that causes either or both xboxes to completely lock up. I can play on the xbox for hours using the WD router but as soon as I turn on the HDHR tuner, the xbox 360 locks within a few minutes. I contacted silicon dust (HDHR manufacturer) and they said they have seen this problem before with a WD router but couldn't tell me with which model. I have also discovered putting an HDHomeRun Dual on the network causes the same issue in combination with the N900.
WD support experience:
My experience with WD support started off rocky. First of all, apparently they start their warranty from manufacture date. When I first contacted them for help, my brand new router was already out of warranty so I had to send in a copy of my receipt before I could get help.
Then I had to deal with the WD first responders who's emailed response completely ignored what I wrote (that I had already tried the big 3 several times) and told me to reboot, reset, and flash firmware. Then I got ignored for over a week i.e. no response at all.
Eventually I discovered that WD actually monitors their support community forum *and* that egg place's customer reviews. I posted my issues both places and WD became very responsive. They will even call you at home to help. Since I've started dealing with Level II support, I must say I'm pleased. Only problem is they haven't fixed the issue yet. I assume it will take a firmware update and I realize that's not going to happen in a day.
Environment:
I have internet service via comcast cable.
The locking occurs whether I use the comcast tm502g modem or the tg862g modem. Currently I am using the tg862g modem which is set to router use only. The tg862g wifi feature has been turned off by Comcast.
Connected directly to my wireless router via Ethernet are 2 computers plus an 8 port trendnet switch with 7 devices directly connected via ethernet. I also tried replacing the trendnet switch with an ASUS 8 port switch and have the same problems. One of the devices connected to the switch is an HDHomeRun Prime Cable TV tuner. Several of the computers are running Win7, one is running Win8, one is running OS X Lion. There are many wireless devices including ipods and one ipad.
I have one original xbox and one 4GB xbox. Both are directly connected to network via Ethernet. Both show the same symptoms of locking within 5 minutes if I'm using either the N750 or N900 combined with either the HDHomeRun Prime or Dual.
Workaround:
FYI, if anyone else encounters this problem, I have discovered a partial workaround. Install a second nic in the Windows Media Center server and connect the HDHomerun directly to that computer using the instructions below. Your WMC will be able to record TV and your xboxes can still be used as extenders but of course, you lose direct access to the HDHR prime from any other device/computer.
There are instructions on how to do this here:
http://www.silicondust.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?t=4088
under the topic "Connecting the HDHR to a PC without a switch/router". After I set up the NIC, I ran the HDHR setup again, then the WMC setup, and had to reboot several times before windows kind of caught on that things had changed. At first I kept getting the "there is no tuner available" error in WMC but it corrected itself after like 2 reboots.
Net:
I haven't tested any other WD / HDHomeRun product combinations but I would NOT recommend buying the N750 or N900 currently if you have an HDHomeRun Prime or Dual tuner.
Problem:
The N750 or N900 combined with either of the HDHomeRun tuners I mention causes a hard lock with either or both of my xboxes in under 5 minutes. It is a hard freeze and the xboxes can only be physically turned off with the button at this point. The freezing occurs whether playing a game like Borderlands 2, watching streaming movies via Netflix, etc or connecting to a Windows 7 computer running Windows Media Center. I do not play in the multiplayer mode. I use the online xbox cloud storage for saving my games.
Up until this point I had had zero problems with either xbox locking, freezing, etc under any circumstances.
The problem started as soon as I installed the N750. It goes away if I go back to *ANY* of my older routers (DIR-655, WRT-54gl, USR5461, DIR-601) and returns the moment I reinstall the N750 or N900. I even tried just using the N750 in AP (access point) mode behind my DD-WRT 54GL and the locking continued. I'm not a network guru but that makes no sense to me.
I tried all of the tips I could find online related to the WD Nxxx setup e.g. (turn off WMM, QoS, UPnP, manual port forwarding, clearing xbox cache, etc) but nothing worked. I contacted WD and RMA'd the N750. They sent me a new replacement N750 and it did the same thing. I contacted WD again and they replaced the N750 with a N900 and it's doing the exact same thing also.
Eventually, I narrowed the issue down to some sort of problem between my HDHomerun Prime tuner from Silicon Dust and the N750/N900 that causes either or both xboxes to completely lock up. I can play on the xbox for hours using the WD router but as soon as I turn on the HDHR tuner, the xbox 360 locks within a few minutes. I contacted silicon dust (HDHR manufacturer) and they said they have seen this problem before with a WD router but couldn't tell me with which model. I have also discovered putting an HDHomeRun Dual on the network causes the same issue in combination with the N900.
WD support experience:
My experience with WD support started off rocky. First of all, apparently they start their warranty from manufacture date. When I first contacted them for help, my brand new router was already out of warranty so I had to send in a copy of my receipt before I could get help.
Then I had to deal with the WD first responders who's emailed response completely ignored what I wrote (that I had already tried the big 3 several times) and told me to reboot, reset, and flash firmware. Then I got ignored for over a week i.e. no response at all.
Eventually I discovered that WD actually monitors their support community forum *and* that egg place's customer reviews. I posted my issues both places and WD became very responsive. They will even call you at home to help. Since I've started dealing with Level II support, I must say I'm pleased. Only problem is they haven't fixed the issue yet. I assume it will take a firmware update and I realize that's not going to happen in a day.
Environment:
I have internet service via comcast cable.
The locking occurs whether I use the comcast tm502g modem or the tg862g modem. Currently I am using the tg862g modem which is set to router use only. The tg862g wifi feature has been turned off by Comcast.
Connected directly to my wireless router via Ethernet are 2 computers plus an 8 port trendnet switch with 7 devices directly connected via ethernet. I also tried replacing the trendnet switch with an ASUS 8 port switch and have the same problems. One of the devices connected to the switch is an HDHomeRun Prime Cable TV tuner. Several of the computers are running Win7, one is running Win8, one is running OS X Lion. There are many wireless devices including ipods and one ipad.
I have one original xbox and one 4GB xbox. Both are directly connected to network via Ethernet. Both show the same symptoms of locking within 5 minutes if I'm using either the N750 or N900 combined with either the HDHomeRun Prime or Dual.
Workaround:
FYI, if anyone else encounters this problem, I have discovered a partial workaround. Install a second nic in the Windows Media Center server and connect the HDHomerun directly to that computer using the instructions below. Your WMC will be able to record TV and your xboxes can still be used as extenders but of course, you lose direct access to the HDHR prime from any other device/computer.
There are instructions on how to do this here:
http://www.silicondust.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?t=4088
under the topic "Connecting the HDHR to a PC without a switch/router". After I set up the NIC, I ran the HDHR setup again, then the WMC setup, and had to reboot several times before windows kind of caught on that things had changed. At first I kept getting the "there is no tuner available" error in WMC but it corrected itself after like 2 reboots.
