Hi all,
I have a WDTV Live SMP with the latest firmware. I can see my WDTV fine from my Windows 7 desktop upstairs, it shows up on the Network and I can log into it via the browser. However from the WDTV, I sometimes loose connection with the Network Shares, but most of the time, I see my shares fine, it reads the folders and I can browse the file structure, however when I select a file to play (either music, photos or video) all I get is the spinning wait icon.
I have Norton Internet Security smart firewall, but that’s outside my home network right? Is there some setting I should put into the firewall exceptions? I’m at a loss.
Thanks,
Wm
BTW, what is this Master Browser issue that I keep reading about? Could it be what’s giving me problems?
I have a somewhat complicated ethernet setup at home because I have Bell FibeTV which is basically IPTV. I have the router/modem which goes out to the internet/TV, but its not gigabit, so I also have a DLink DGL-4500 hooked up to it for all my gigabit and wifi needs behind the Bell IPTV modem/router
192.168.2.1 - Bell IPTV modem/router
connected to
192.168.2.254 - DLink DGL-4500 (3 other desktop computers)
connected to
DLink 5-port 100/1000 switch (PS3 as well)
connected to
192.168.2.22 - WDTV
Hmm… maybe its not the Master Browser problem, its reporting that I have two Master Browsers at the moment, my desktop computer (Windows Shares) and my WHS home server, but my WDTVLive is not a Master Browser.
wm_cheng wrote:
Hmm… maybe its not the Master Browser problem, its reporting that I have two Master Browsers at the moment
That’s a problem. There should be ONE and ONLY one master browser on your network.
No way for me to know in your environment who should have won the “election,” but whoever lost should have ceded the role to the winner.
wm_cheng wrote:
BTW, what is this Master Browser issue that I keep reading about? Could it be what’s giving me problems?
For a great discussion about master browser, AND a free program (lanscan) to check for master browser, go here:
http://scottiestech.info/2009/02/14/how-to-determine-the-master-browser-in-a-windows-workgroup/
If you do have two master browsers showing, suggest you turn off all PCs and entire network, including gadgets connected to it. Then, start up things again in this order: modem, router, your main PC and finally the WD unit. Wait for each device to get fully booted before turning on the next one. Now, using the lanscan, program check for the master browser (It could take a while since you have just turned things back on.)
Once your main PC is confirmed as master browser, turn other network devices on and then recheck with lanscan. If you have two master browsers again, I don’t know what to tell you!
Thanks for the link to that lanscan program…
Well, my WHS server was in a different workgroup, so that explains the 2 Master Browsers, each workgroup had one. My WHS server is now in the same workgroup as my desktop and WDTV and now I have only one Master Browser which is my desktop (which contains the network shares).
With all this corrected, my WDTV still couldn’t read the actual files, but could browse the file structure of my shares. I did a RESET to factory and that did it. It now works again (but for how long?). I’ll update the link if it comes back and I have to do another RESET.
Thanks so far.
Well, after turning the WDTV off for a day or so, its back to its original problem. It can see my network shares and browse the files structure showing all the folders and files, but when I select the files themselves to play (doesn’t matter if its a photo, music or video file) I just get the spinning icon.
Do I have to reset the WDTV everytime I want to use it?
I tried another Lanscan and the WDTV is not the Master Browser, however my WHS Server is now the Master Browser. My media network shares are on my desktop - does that mean the WDTV will only access the shares on the Master Browser machine? At least I only have one Master Browser on my network.
Additionally, my WDTV is wired (not wireless) connected and my desktop network share is running a Windows 7 64bit OS - it seems there are connection problems with Win7 64bit on these boards?
Any other ideas please?
You probably turned off your PC, and the server took over if it was still on. Hmmm, I’ll ask one of our resident experts, Tony, to jump in here to help.
wm_cheng wrote:
Well, after turning the WDTV off for a day or so, its back to its original problem. It can see my network shares and browse the files structure showing all the folders and files, but when I select the files themselves to play (doesn’t matter if its a photo, music or video file) I just get the spinning icon.
There’s a longstanding issue that if you ask the WDTV to play a file it doesn’t like, the above symptoms appear – it won’t play anything else until you reboot it (reset is not required, just a cold restart.)
See if you can rule that out.
Your right, a Device Restart was required and it worked. However, I need a to restart the WDTV everytime I use it now, it always allows me to browse my shares either on a Win7 64bit desktop shares or my Windows Home Server v1 (Windows 2003 server) shares but I get the spinning icon whenever I actually access the file until I do a Device Restart. Then it works for the day, until I turn it off or leave it overnight at which case it reverts back to the original condition. The thing is it does this even if I never try to get it to read or stream an incompatible format.
Is there anything to else to do (other than restart everytime I want to use it?). I guess I should just get a big HDD to connect to locally? Can I use a USB Hub to expand the number of HDDs connected to the WDTV?
Additionally when I watch one of my movies, at the end of the movie (after using the WDTV for 2hrs) I can’t stop it, it keeps playing. When I press stop, it get out of the movie and back to the moviesheet screen, but I can continue to hear the movie credits in the background. Nothing I do will stop the movie from playing other than turning off the WDTV. Is there some setting I’m missing or is this a related network error?
