Ok, so heres the run down of what makes up my network:
Mikrotik router 750gl, configured and functioning well.
2 Custom built PC’s (1 intel, 1 AMD) with windows 7 ultimate on them both
2 Laptops (1 Intel Sony, 1 Toshiba AMD) with windows 8 and 7 respectuflly. (wireless)
1 24 port D-link unmanaged switch.
1 trendnet 8 port (4 port poe) switch.
4 IP cameras.
1 NVR
1 Ubiquity access point AUP
4 Samsung Galaxy Tablets (wireless)
Obitalk 110 sip device
1 Sharp TV
1 Yamaha AV receiver
4 older WD TV live devices (1 original wd tv live, and 3 wd tv live Plus)
1 Patriot PBO
1 HP printer hp8600
1 Wii
1 Xbox360 (not networked)
The problem is simply that after what seems to be a random amount of time (from 2 hours to 2 days) the WD products forget the network shares previously configured to them. I have latest firmware on everything, and updates are current on everything. I searched and found talk about Master Browser and Computer Browser. Performed suggested configurations for both and the problem seemed to go away, or at least take a day to forget the network share versus just a few hours.
I’ve made 4 calls to WD support and had 2 level 2 techs remote into my machines to attmept a fix. They’ve added multiple users (Administrator, Everyone, the specific user, Anonomous, and so on) to the permission security and sharing. They have run some WD network scanner tool. WD has had me reset the device 5 times. Even changed password sharing and had me specify a unique device name for everything especially the wdtv lives.
The only fix and it seems luck of the draw is to reboot different things (the wd tv live itself, a computer and not necessarily the computer for which the share it forgot is on, and the router)
It should also be mentioned that IF the Patriot PBO is connected to the network, the WD tv live will forget the network shares, but if I unplug the Patriot PBO the wd tv live immediately sees the shares again.
And to further confuse things, the network share is sometimes forgoten all together OR the wd tv live sees the share but says the username or password is bad OR the wd tv live says “theres no media in the current folder” (or something very similar). Note that all devices on the network are Statically assigned an ip address from the router. DHCP is setup for guests wireless connection only. the workgroup is WORKGROUP for everything.
There are some user themes that can be changed, there were 6 themes to choose from that I changed to, but found I couldnt change back to the orignal them. Also, after changing themes some buttons were removed from the dashboard like RSS, Live TV, and Games) the only way to get back to the original theme and get the missing buttons is to device reset. After device resetting 5 times the themes are no longer available, I only have two themes in the list that previously had 6.
This problem has spanned from the original wd tv lives, to the current version. but since the older versions are not supported I understand we will only discuss the latest version wd tv live. Also, a close friend of mine that lives elsewhere has the same problems. Because all of this i dont think its a defective device.
any help, suggestions, insight, would be greatly appreciated. Please dont suggest the device is defective as thats really remote (literally like 1 in a million) since this only affects wd tv live devices (legacy and current models) as well as another friend with wd tv live devices has the same problem. Thanks in advance.