I'm glad Jayson was able to chime in on Parallels (he's probably one of the most advanced Mac users around here) - I use VMWare Fusion, which is the same basic concept, just with different settings/options. ** If you don't get this part figured out, don't bother going further. Your Mac OS and Windows should have IP's on the same range (same first 3 sections - eg: 192.168.75.x) - they won't be the same IP - but only the last set of numbers should be different.
For the record, PITA stands for Pain In The A**.
You want to have your computer connected through the router, and the XEP connected through the router. The crossover cable direct to the XEP is an option if you're more comfortable with manual networking; if you're not, it'll never work - you need the router to give the XEP an IP address.
Once you've hooked it all up correctly, boot the XEP up fresh; either disconnect the power while you fix the cabling, or pull the power after and wait a few seconds - either way, boot it up fresh once it's hooked to the router.
Hopefully just straightening out the network hookups will make it start working. If not, you may have the same problem I did... I had to do the steps below to flip from dhcp to manual and back to dhcp before mine would start working... These are from the XEP manual in the troubleshooting section:
Forcing the DHCP/IP Address Settings to Known Values:
An M1XEP with bootware version 1.1.0 or later supports an easy method for forcing the M1XEP from a static IP address to DHCP mode or vice versa. This is accomplished with the use of Jumper JP2 located beside the metal housing of the RJ45 connector.
- Power down the M1XEP. Place a shorting jumper across the two pins of JP2. Power the M1XEP back up.
- After a few seconds, the green LED on the RJ45 connector will blink five times. About 30 seconds later, the green LED will blink and repeat in a “coded†fashion, indicating either DHCP or STATIC modes. If set for DHCP mode there will be 1 quick blink. If set for STATIC mode there will be 2 quick blinks. When the M1XEP is forced to STATIC mode its address will become 192.168.0.251.
- If the blink indicates the wrong mode, power the unit down and back up to force it to the opposite setting. 4. When the green LED indicates that the M1XEP is at the desired setting, remove the shorting jumper from JP2 and allow the M1XEP to continue booting up. This may take another minute.
And don't worry about the other steps for finding it on the network just yet - we'll come back to that if this stuff doesn't work.