WD box won't login to Samba server

This thing is making me crazy.

First a little history: I’ve had various WD TV boxes for years. They’ve always worked pretty well for me. I’m currently running a WD TV Live Streaming Media Player. I build file servers (NAS boxes) for myself and friends out of old computers, using Ubuntu Server and Greyhole drive pooling software, which uses Samba. They work great with the WD box. Far, far nicer and less bug ridden than the latest Windows Home Server crapola software (earlier versions were reliable - new ones… not so much).

So I built one for a friend. Once it was all set up and working good I took it to his house and plugged it into his network. Fired it up and went to the WD TV box to give it user/pass and login. Should be simple, right?

But when I try to login with the WD TV box, the WD takes a long time and then complains that the username/password is invalid. It’s NOT invalid. I’ve checked and rechecked over and over again.

I brought my (identical) WD TV box and swapped it for his. It won’t login to the NAS while in his network either.

I can take his NAS server box to my house, plug it into my network and my WD TV box logs in normally. No complaints about username/pass at all. It just works.

Next day I went back to friend’s house, taking his new file server and my own. I plug mine in and start up his WD TV box. I login and am playing movies right away. Good.

So I unplug my server and plug his in. Once again, the WD box won’t login to it, claiming the user/pass is invalid. There’s nothing wrong with the user/pass. I pull the ethernet cable out of the back of the WD box, plug it into my CrunchBang netbook, login to Samba and play movies, no problem. Plug the ethernet wire back into the WD box and no login. Grrrrrr…

So I pack up and take his WD box home with me. I replace my WD box with his in my network and test. Of course I can login to any of the three Samba servers here, including friend’s, with no problems whatsoever. They’re the same WD box - I can’t tell his from mine.

I’m completely confused. This should work, but it doesn’t, and I have no idea why.

EDIT: Just tested the server by logging in from a Windows 7 box. It logs in and accesses files on the server shares perfectly. This is on my network though. I don’t have any portable Windoze machines to test with at buddy’s house (he’s a Mac guy).

It’s possible there’s a credential conflict somewhere. What if you try with a factory reset?

Regards,

The box has been factory reset several times. No change.

I’m leaning toward a problem with the guy’s network. I need to spend a bunch of time there figuring out what’s going on with it. I’ve seen some strange things happen with that network, like 40 second delays every time I switch from one share to another (on a PC). I don’t have good details yet - I’m only there a few hours at a time, struggling with horrible Apple software - nothing works like it should (for one thing, they have none of the standard keyboard shortcuts that Windoze/Linux have - have to mouse everything with their terrible mice). It doesn’t help that it’s DSL Telus **bleep** equipment, with Optik TV. I hate that router interface SO MUCH.

Fixed it.

Friend’s new server install was Ubuntu Server 14.04. My older server was Ubuntu Server 12.04.

I wiped his box and reinstalled with 12.04. Including everything, it took me two hours. When I was done I took it to his house, plugged it in and the WD TV box logged in normally and works great.

Bonus: The file transfer speed on the 14.04 install was pathetic - around 6 to 8 MB/s. I had been blaming it on the old mainboard. Once I installed 12.04 it jumped to a very normal 22 to 27 MB/s. And the weird 40 second SSH and Samba delays went away.

I’ve come to the conclusion that Ubuntu 14.04, both server and desktop (which I run on my main computer) are a buggy mess, and it seems like nothing is being done about it.