I had overlooked the worgroup name setting on the WRT610N which is hidden within the Storage\Adminstration section.
However, having now changed this setting to WORKGROUP and put all of my PCs into WORKGROUP , I am still experiencing exactly the same 30 minute network dropout as I was before. I have also verified with NETSTAT that WORKGROUP is the only registered NetBIOS group name.
So, my conclusion remains unaltered that there is still an underlying networking fault with the HDTV Live that occurs every 30 minutes when playing MP3s off an external media server which is NOT Windows related.
I am having the same issues. I have a Win2003 server, Win XP, OS2, Windows 7 mixed network. All using SMB networking. This problerm only seems to have happened since the WDTV upgrade to latest firmware but I cannot be 100% sure as yet.
My DHCP server and primary DNS was on the OS/2 box and recently I changed over to using the Win2003 DHCP server and also DNS server. I will have to go back to the OS/2 box as the DHCP and DNS server. I don’t think it’s going to make any diffrence though. But I have have to try it.
If you are still getting dropped connections download wireshark to see what it going on with the network. It is the only way to troubleshoot things like this. Trying to change settings and guestimate what the problem is can take forever. I know it can be frustrating but often when you find the cause the result is that the entire network works better because you fixed a problem that was likely effecting other things as well.
Thanks, but no thanks. This is a bug that I expect WD to fix. I have spent more than enough time on it already.
Hate to be the bearer of bad news but there is no bug in the WDTV Live networking for them to fix. The box runs linux and uses the standard linux network libraries and programs found in millions of devices and computers. It has the same file system support, same network code , same chipset for the interface as a linux pc.
The only thing I can think of they could do would be to make the smb.conf editable by the user so people could change things like workgroup names. Other than that there really isn’t much that will fix the situation for people who have a windows networked home. People are just going to have to learn that windows isn’'t the only way of doing things.
The way WDTV Live handles samba shares is wacky. There should be a way to manually enter a network share through the interface (like XBMC.)
I also had problems with disappearing shares. Like you, I have the WRT610 and used that as the master browser.
If I ssh into the WDTV Live (requires hack), and run smbclient I can see the Windows 7 host and share. But these shares do not show in the interface.
I have also set the WDTVLIVE workgroup to the same as all other PCs. And NBTSTAT confirms the only device on the network running the master browser service is the wrt610n. All other computers on the network can see the win 7 shares and visa versa through SMB. They include a MAC and 2 Linux boxes.
This morning the Windows 7 shares were there (as well as the Linux and Mac ones). Later in the day the Win 7 shares were gone. Tonight, I decided to start the master browser on the Win 7 PC. Now the Win7 shares are showing up under WDTV Network shares, and the master browser has automatically been shut off on the wrt610N.
I wonder how long they will stay this time. But either way it seems if SMBCLIENT on the LiveTV was able to see these shares then they should be listed in the interface.
This morning I got up and the shares were still showing on WDTVLIVE. I started another Win7 computer and it showed up under Network Shares too. Cool.
Later I checked to see what happened to the Master Browser service. Low and behold it is running on the WDLive TV. All hail the hacked firmware. So far so good. I wonder what decides the master browser election service. It is very wierd and seems like a bad idea.
I’ve noticed if there is a multi-homed or RAS machine on your network becoming the browse master. It could become the master browser for the wrong subnet so disabling the Computer Browser service on that computer might be a good idea.
If you can’t disable it, unbind client for MS network or File and print sharing from adaptors that are on another subnet and have no use for this… Hamachi, VPN connections et c etc.
Anyway something I wanted to ask, is having the master browser running on the WDLIVETV the best option? I thought having it running on the router would be but that turned out to be a problem.
My symptom: When I first got them WDTV live, I accessed video files on my Windows Vista machine via shares. With the early firmwares (1.01.11 I believe), network playback of video would stop after 10-15 minutes. Later firmwares seemed to fix this (1.02.21 and later), but then at some point (a day or so later), my server completely disappeared from the WDTV menu. My network printer was always visible.
My solution: It turns out that my printer was always visible because I had reserved an IP address for it in the DHCP server on the DIR-655. Once I gave my Vista box a reserved IP address, everything worked fine. Note, I tried a fixed IP before this (outside of the DHCP range) and that didn’t work either.
All 3 PCs have access and can see each others Network Shares in windows and can also see WDTV Live in Networks.
However, from the WDTV Live, only the XP shares are visible. Win7 shares from both PCs never get detected no matter what.
After reading this thread, I checked which PC had MASTER BROWSER status. After a few hours of testing and rebooting, I conclude that my WRT610N always gets MASTER BROWSER status.
SOLUTION:-
Changed WRT610Ns storage workgroup to HOME. (storage-administration tab)
VOILA. 1 of my Win7 PC got MASTER BROWSER status and the WDTV Live can now see all Network Shares from all PCs.
