BigDisappointment

WD Legacy Products WD TV Live & Live Plus
1

Recently got a WDTV Live based on all the hype on the web and the promises made on the box. This thing is great - when it works. Trouble is, it malfunctions at a much greater rate than it ever works. I would guess that, 9 times out of 10, when I power it up, it will have lost network connectivity and I will spend hours trying to get it to find my network shares. I share, I unshare, I fiddle with advanced network settings, I reset to factory defaults, I light incense, I chant - then suddenly it decides that it wants to share the network. Before any of you say try this, check out this website, or spin around 3 times while singing Kumbaya; I’ve done it all and it still loses connectivity on a regular basis. There’s a very high probability that the network shares are gone if it is turned off for more than 24 hours. I am not some noob that doesn’t know how to spell computer, I have several homebuilt machines running on my home LAN so I have a pretty good idea of what I am doing. This thing is running on a wired LAN connection thru a WRT54GS router to a new (less than 6 months old) quad core PC running 64-bit Windows Ultimate. Upgraded to the latest firmware with no improvement in performance. If this is as good as it gets, WD needs to pull this POS off the market or do a serious firmware upgrade. I don’t think most families will be able to keep this thing running on a regular basis. Based on the forum traffic, I am not alone in experiencing these maladies. It’s too bad I let WD dupe me out of my hard earned cash for a product this bad.

2

Although I didn’t chant or burn incense (though I’ve got to admit I swore a lot :angry:), I was experiencing problems with network shares. One day they would be there, the next day - gone. It was really p*ssing me off. The thing is, I could always get to my NAS, but the network shares on my own PC (running Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit) would disappear. My WD TV Live Plus worked flawlessly, but my PC would stop being shown under network shares, and no matter how many times I rebooted the Live Plus or fiddled with the sharing on my PC, it would still happen sporadically.

I have multiple systems on my network, and they are all on the same Workgroup. I finally realized that the loss of network shares happened when (because of rebooting some of the PCs) the one PC I don’t have log on access to (and it didn’t have access to my PC) was becoming the Master Browser. When that happened, I could get to the NAS without issue, but my PC’s shares disappeared from the WD TV Live Plus.

My solution was to put the WD TV Live Plus on a different workgroup, and put my PC on that same workgroup. My PC, no matter how many times I reboot it, will always ‘win out’ as the Master Browser over the WD TV Live Plus, and I haven’t lost my network shares since, and I can still get to the NAS every time without any issues.

This isn’t a WD problem, but related to how Windows sharing gets done. Don’t know if it will work for you, but it solved some very frustrating network sharing issues for me.

1 Like
3

hi

yeaa


try  [“
thru a WRT54GS router
” Â ï»ż]   to change the place your plug in your rj45 cable to your router , rebot check and back to its previous position [rj45 port I mean]

regards

pawson

4

Masch wrote:
Recently got a WDTV Live based on all the hype on the web and the promises made on the box. This thing is great - when it works. Trouble is, it malfunctions at a much greater rate than it ever works. I would guess that, 9 times out of 10, when I power it up, it will have lost network connectivity and I will spend hours trying to get it to find my network shares. I share, I unshare, I fiddle with advanced network settings, I reset to factory defaults, I light incense, I chant - then suddenly it decides that it wants to share the network. Before any of you say try this, check out this website, or spin around 3 times while singing Kumbaya; I’ve done it all and it still loses connectivity on a regular basis. There’s a very high probability that the network shares are gone if it is turned off for more than 24 hours. I am not some noob that doesn’t know how to spell computer, I have several homebuilt machines running on my home LAN so I have a pretty good idea of what I am doing. This thing is running on a wired LAN connection thru a WRT54GS router to a new (less than 6 months old) quad core PC running 64-bit Windows Ultimate. Upgraded to the latest firmware with no improvement in performance. If this is as good as it gets, WD needs to pull this POS off the market or do a serious firmware upgrade. I don’t think most families will be able to keep this thing running on a regular basis. Based on the forum traffic, I am not alone in experiencing these maladies. It’s too bad I let WD dupe me out of my hard earned cash for a product this bad.

Masch,

There are a couple of things you should consider if you’re physically dropping off the network:

  1. Try a different cable to make sure that the cable is not bad.   
  2. Make sure that the port lights are working on the back of the device, in case it’s a bad port.
  3. Check you DHCP lease time, and maximize it, to see if that keeps the device connected.
  4. Make sure that you’re connected directly to your router and not through a switch or hub.
  5. Finally, try setting the WD TV up in your DMZ to eliminate any router firewall issues, to see if that fixes it.  I wouldn’t recommend leaving it there, though.

If you’re just not accessing your shares, but your pc shows up on the WD TV, then you most likely are dealing with a Windows 7 permissions issue.  Oh, and are you attempting to access the share using Media Server?  If so, then try it with Samba.

5

The way I read his post, it seems he has problems with his shares and not his network. Masch, correct me if I’m wrong.

6

bill_s wrote:

 

Masch,

 

There are a couple of things you should consider if you’re physically dropping off the network:

 

  1. Try a different cable to make sure that the cable is not bad.   
  2. Make sure that the port lights are working on the back of the device, in case it’s a bad port.
  3. Check you DHCP lease time, and maximize it, to see if that keeps the device connected.
  4. Make sure that you’re connected directly to your router and not through a switch or hub.
  5. Finally, try setting the WD TV up in your DMZ to eliminate any router firewall issues, to see if that fixes it.  I wouldn’t recommend leaving it there, though.

If you’re just not accessing your shares, but your pc shows up on the WD TV, then you most likely are dealing with a Windows 7 permissions issue.  Oh, and are you attempting to access the share using Media Server?  If so, then try it with Samba.

 

MAGuy is correct I believe.  I can access internet content without a problem - I just can’t reliably access my Network Shares.  To answer your questions above:

1.  I don’t have another 50-foot cable available, but I can access internet content without a problem so that rules out a cable issue.

2.  The port lights are working and, based on 1, it seems like the port is OK.

3.  I have not checked the lease time.  I can try that.

  1. The WDTV is connected directly to the router through a 50-foot cable.  No switch, no hub.

  2. I have not tried the DMZ and I agree that I wouldn’t want to leave it there.  However, I have been able to connect to the Network Shares in the past.  The problem is that they don’t stay connected if I don’t use the WDTV for a couple of days.  When they go away, everything goes away.  I can select any of the media types (video, pictures, or music), then select Network Shares, and nothing happens.  It just sits there, no PCs listed, nothing.  I’ve let it sit for hours with no indication of any activity.  When the shares are working, my files show up in seconds.

Thanks for trying, I appreciate the input.

7

Masch wrote:
I’ve done it all and it still loses connectivity on a regular basis.> >>> Then you haven’t done it all. :wink:> It’s too bad I let WD dupe me out of my hard earned cash for a product this bad.

I guarantee the problem is your network or PC’s.   Most likely a flaky Master Browser on your network.

See if this tutorial for troubleshooting helps:

http://community.wdc.com/t5/Networking/Troubleshooting-Windows-File-Sharing/m-p/92642#U92642

8

I’m using network share too. Once in a while WD would not find my network share file or even connect to my PCs.
What I did is to reset e WD and it works again.

9

Wdtv live has a lot of issuses. But network connectivity is not one of them. The problem is your network or a lemon wdtv device. But on average it works better than most network enabled devices. Once you start using it you’ll find that the real issue is firmware updates. Wd engineers like to focus on the newest web toy instead of ensuring that the wdtvs core features are bug free. That’s why most of us remain on older firmwares.

10

MASCH,

As stated in the above posts the WDTV Live has a number of issues regarding movie playing; electronically the WDTV Live is a reliable device. There have been instances of a bad flash affecting the WDTV Live performance. Download a copy of the latest flash, follow the instructions and flash the WDTV Live twice. That will ensure that the flash ram has been erased and burnt properly.

If flashing the WDTV Live has not made a difference; as stated previously, a technically experienced person would confirm that all the LAN cables and devices are working correctly.

For diagnostics purposes, a technically experienced person would possess a LAN crossover cable.

If your digital TV has a LAN port, Connect the WDTV Live directly to the Digital TV using a LAN crossover cable. If not take the WDTV Live to a friend’s house and test the WDTV Live on a digital TV that has a LAN port.

Confirm that the WDTV Live and the Digital TV HDMI handshake.

Copy a movie to a thumb drive and play the move.

Once you confirm that the WDTV Live is working correctly, disconnect everything from your network except your main movie machine and internet connection.

Reconnect your WDTV Live to the network. Does the WDTV Live work correctly with the Windows network? If not there is a 99% chance that your Windows networking is NOT set up correctly or you have a bad LAN cable or device.

Download PS3 Media Server and install it. If PS3 Media Server malfunctions you definitely have a faulty LAN cable or device. Swap the LAN ports on your router. Swap the LAN cables. If all your LAN cables malfunction, then check your wired LAN cable for LAN compliance wiring. ie Sharp twists and 90 degree bends in the cable; LAN cable stapled to the support beams, etc.

If PS3 Media Server works and streams a movie correctly, check your Windows network setup. If the Windows networking still refuses to work with the WDTV Live, disconnect the main movie machine from the network and try another computer on the network. Confirm that Windows network is working correctly. If not install PS3 Media Server. If PS3 Media Server malfunctions you definitely have a faulty LAN cable or device. It a just a process of elimination until you find the culprit. If PS3 Media Server works and streams a movie correctly, double check your Windows network setup.

If the WDTV Live still malfunctions return the unit for a warranty replacement.