I can not see my WDTV live hard drive when my laptop is on wifi but I can when it is hardwired

Here is my setup:

   

  • Standard AT&T 802g wireless router/modem (wifi not used)
    • Netgear 802n wireless router (hard wired to AT&T modem) 
      • Xbox (hard wired to Netgear)
      • WDTV Live Media Hub with a 1TB hard drive (hard wired to Netgear)
      • Laptop w/ Windows 7 Home (hard wired to Netgear and also on wifi to Netgear)

My goal is to utilize the 1TB storage space I have on the WDTV Live Hub for storage of files such as pictures. 

Before I bought the Netgear router I had everything networked through the standard AT&T unit and it all worked OK.  The 802g speeds were crippling slow when moving large files over wifi so I bought a refurbished Netgear 802n to try to get faster wifi speeds.

That being said when I do large file transfers I now do it on a hardwired network but I want to be able to browse and access pictures and other files over wifi at a quicker 802n rate so I want to be able to access the WDTV hard drive from my laptop when my laptop is on wifi.  I used to be able to do this through the AT&T router before the purchase of the Netgear unit so I know that it is possible.

Now…

  • All of my devices can access the internet through the Netgear router

    • 3 iPods
    • Laptop
    • WDTV Live Hub
    • Xbox
  • My Xbox can stream media from my laptop when my laptop is on wifi to the Netgear.

  • When my laptop is hardwired I can see the WDTV hard drive as an available network storage drive.  I have mapped it to the Z drive for ease of use.

  • When my laptop is on wifi I cannot see the WDTV hard drive and the laptop tells me that the drive is not online although the network connectivity setup on the WDTV menu (visible through the TV) says that it is connected OK.

  • I was able to see the WDTV hard drive one time when my laptop was on wifi but after a rebooted it would not reconnect.

 I am rebooting my laptop between all network changes so that everythign reestablishes connection.

I figure my network settings are correct since I can routinely see the WDTV hard drive when the laptop is hardwired but I am puzzled as to why I can’t see the WDTV hard drive when my laptop is on wifi.  I have proven that the laptop on wifi is still part of the network because it streams media to the Xbox. 

What puzzles me even more is that it worked once.  At this point I am thinking that something is funky with Windows 7 or my refurbished Netgear router has a problem.  I tried switching the WDTV Ethernet cable to another port on the Netgear router and that did not change thing anything.

Any ideas?  I appreciate the help!

Try using WD Link Software while you are using a wireless connection for your laptop.

http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=1010&sid=110&lang=en

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I solve the problem over the weekend and it happend to be a combination of my old router holding onto the old IP address and the fact that I had to use the discovery tool software to find the drive.