Just a thought, how many devices do you have on your network, and how many devices does your router support.
I have the following on the wireless network:
(2) WDTV Live
(1) Roku Netflix
(1) My Book World Edition II - 4 TB
(2) Laptops
(1) Palm Pre
So a total of 7 devices on the network. As for how many devices it supports I can’t find any type of info on that.
Out of Interest.
I had a similar problem where turning on a Soundbridge internet radio caused the complete network to go down. It turned out to be the firmware on my Netgear router. I downgraded and everything was OK. May not be the same solution but it is definitely the same sort of problem.
That was it! I downgraded to the previous firmware and so far no disconnects.
Thank you!
mkelley wrote:
Okay, after a few minutes research I see that the Live can’t request a specific IP, but takes what the DHCP server (usually the router for most of us) provides. And if dynamic allocation is used (which most routers will) then the IP is “leased” for a certain amount of time (I just reset my router to 1000 minutes, in the hope that this will keep things going).
Apparently the server reply contains the lease information to the device… and I’m guessing this might be the issue with the Live. (Once again, I’m no systems programmer). It seems to me that the Live is either not honoring that lease time, misinterpreting it, or just “forgetting it” somehow and thus the connection drops (and that’s why another IP address is then assigned when another request is made, as the server still thinks that first IP is active).
My own router had the lease time set for 0, which it says is equivilent to one day. So I’d suggest at least as a test that those folks with issues look at their router and examine their own lease time (assuming they are using dynamic allocation) and adjust it upwards to see if it makes any difference – hey, it can’t hurt (I don’t think – at least it won’t explode or anything like that :>)
If you want the Live to use a specific IP address you must reserve that address in your router. The router will look for the MAC address of the Live and assign that IP address to only the Live.
I have a new Live unit, and I can’t play certain files over the network - but if I copy the same files to an extrenal WD Elements HD and plug it in to the Live unit, it plays the files fine.
This happens with mp4, mkv, and even mp3 files.
AZ-JM wrote:
I have a new Live unit, and I can’t play certain files over the network - but if I copy the same files to an extrenal WD Elements HD and plug it in to the Live unit, it plays the files fine.
This happens with mp4, mkv, and even mp3 files.
If you want any help with your problem you will need to give more information.
What firmware is on your WDTV
What operating system are you running on your computer.
Are you running wired or wireless to the WDTV
Did it work and then stop or did it never work
Are you connecting to your computer via network shares or a media server.
Can you access youtube etc from your WDTV
What exactly happens when you try to play these files.
What firmware is on your WDTV 1.02.01
What operating system are you running on your computer. Win 7 Ultimate x64
Are you running wired or wireless to the WDTV wired over a Cat6 GB network
Did it work and then stop or did it never work Never worked off my networked PC, but works when copied to Elements HD
Are you connecting to your computer via network shares or a media server. Media Server
Can you access youtube etc from your WDTV YES
What exactly happens when you try to play these files. It tells me they are unsupported files if I play over network, but off local drive, the same files play fine.
I hope this helps.
I must correct myself. Assign fixed IP’s for all other pc’s doesn’t help anything.
it is always the same. I start wd tv live. then it usually works for couple of minutes (around like 2-8), then it discnnects. After the reconnect it works. No more problems at least for the next 2 hours.
Currently if I don’t forget I just play a mp3 file and same thing happens after couple of minutes. can take a dump during that time. 
But nto really they best solution.
I’m not sure if it’s a wdtv issue oru router issue…
Don’t suppose you’re running WHS by any chance?
AZ-JM wrote:
What firmware is on your WDTV 1.02.01
What operating system are you running on your computer. Win 7 Ultimate x64
Are you running wired or wireless to the WDTV wired over a Cat6 GB network
Did it work and then stop or did it never work Never worked off my networked PC, but works when copied to Elements HD
Are you connecting to your computer via network shares or a media server. Media Server
Can you access youtube etc from your WDTV YES
What exactly happens when you try to play these files. It tells me they are unsupported files if I play over network, but off local drive, the same files play fine.
I hope this helps.
What media server are you running. Can you play the files via Network Shares.
I solved my issue, but is this networking basic and stupid. You have undo any steps you took to secure your network.
First, take all Win 7 PCs and @ Network and Sharing, make Work > Home. Second make network name on WD Live Box WORKGROUP (uppercase counts here). Third, on PC @ System, change Network, from being on a business network w/o a domain and using the Network name your Router is setup with, to this PC is part of a home network, which after a restart shows your network name as (guess what?) WORKGROUP.
After that, on the WD Live box, you will not see all your files under Network Shares. Go into settings, then File Management, and select all media using Options, Select All. Now my networking works. Whoopee since I now have most media on the Elements HD, and it plays those files faster.
Oh, the Win 7 PCs all run Win 7 Ultimate X64.
For what it’s worth…
I bought my WDTV Live on Saturday, upgraded it to 1.02.21 using a USB stick, then activated networking on a Cisco/Linksys WUSB600N.
Thus far, I’ve transferred about 300GB of video over the wireless connection, and have never had an operation interrupted. This includes transferring data from my PC to a USB connected drive on the WDTV, as well as streaming video from network shares and youtube.
mkelley wrote:
Don’t suppose you’re running WHS by any chance?
No, i have a WD external hdd attached to netgear wndr3700 router.
Just before I took couple of minutes till wd tv was connected at all. Note that this even happens when there is clear sight between the router and the usb wlan stick.
Problem is how to determine the cause of the issue (Router, stick, wd tv)
I am using a TrendNet adapter. My kids like to stream from YouTube, and that does not seem to be an issue. I run into problems when I try to copy large files on to Live from my PC.
