# Unable to Start Network Services



## alexcohen (Sep 27, 2006)

Since the update I've been unable to connect my HR23-700 to my home network I get this error message "Unable to start Network Services (<301>)". Anyone have any ideas? Thanks!


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

MediaShare is broken I believe, and shouldnt be dependent on Network Services, but you can always manually configure them as long as two units dont use the same port numbers. Thats what I did here.


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## TBlazer07 (Feb 5, 2009)

Network services aren't needed for anything at this time. Don't worry about it.

What do you mean by you "can't connect to your network?" If you are unable to get Widgets, DOD or media share working you probably have other (local network) issues.

Medaishare is not broken in the NATIONAL RELEASE.



alexcohen said:


> Since the update I've been unable to connect my HR23-700 to my home network I get this error message "Unable to start Network Services (<301>)". Anyone have any ideas? Thanks!


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

Simple fact, folks. Network Services is a completely unused part of the DVR's system. Please do not concern yourself with Network Services AT ALL.


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## pjsauter (Jan 6, 2008)

Perhaps it's just a coincidence, but I had never been able to get DTV apps to work on my HR21. I have a Linksys WRT-54G router, and saw a post on the DirecTV forums that suggested trying to turn off the router's firewall, start network services (by configuring the ports manually), and then enabling the firewall. 

I tried starting network services w/o stopping the firewall, and got the 301 error. Then I stopped the firewall, started network services - got the "success" message, and then turned the router's firewall back on. 

Sure enough, the DTV apps now work.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

It was probably stopping the firewall that solved your problem, and network services had nothing to do with it.


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## pjsauter (Jan 6, 2008)

Could be, I guess, but I also had to open the network services ports in the firewall and direct traffic to those ports to the HR's IP address. And once network services were started successfully, I was able to turn the firewall back on. The apps definitely didn't work until network services started successfully, though I've had no problems downloading on-demand content. I'll have to try rebooting the HR, and see if the apps still work w/o diddling with the firewall and network services.


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## Voix des Airs (Mar 23, 2009)

Stuart Sweet said:


> Simple fact, folks. Network Services is a completely unused part of the DVR's system. Please do not concern yourself with Network Services AT ALL.


I hate to ask the obvious, but... why is it even there?

Actually, in my experience the entire "Network" configuration menu hierarchy is completely broken. It says it isn't connected when it is; it rarely, if ever will connect to the network from that menu (following the instructions in the manual); sometimes it connects but gets stuff like its IP address or dns server address wrong (it's great to have a device on your network that thinks it's at a different address than it is supposed to be); it will sometimes connect all by itself - sometimes after a reboot... sometimes not. It also tends to bring down the network it's connected to every few weeks. I gave up on networking some time ago and just unplugged it.


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

I disagree with you that the network setup is completely broken; It does have some issues in some configurations, I'll agree with that. 

As to why the Network Services option is still there, call it a vestigial appendage like the front USB port on an HR21, nipples on men, etc.


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## pjsauter (Jan 6, 2008)

I got the update today, and, sure enough, the apps quit working. So, I disabled the router's firewall. The apps still didn't work. So, I enabled the firewall (and verified that the apps still didn't work, which they didn't). Then I went into Network Services, and selected "connect now." Got the "Unable to start Network Services" 301 error. Tried the apps - still didn't work. I then disabled the firewall again (and checked the apps - they still didn't work). I then went back into Network Services, selected "connect now," and got the "Congratulations! Network Services is running successfully." message. Tried the apps - sure enough, they now work. I then enabled the router firewall again, and the apps still work.

So, it seems as if there's *some* correlation between network services, DirecTV apps, and the WRT54G hardware firewall. Not sure what, though. I looked at the router logs, and the apps only seem to make standard http requests on port 80. The only other thing I saw was the HR making a DNS request on port 53. There are one or two of inbound requests on the Network Services port (27177), but that's about it.


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## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

The problems you are having relate to uPnP, if you remember to disable the firewall, do the connect now after a DVR reboot, then restart your firewall it should pretty much always work.


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