I have a ethernet wired house with 3 TV’s each with a WDTV Live. Also on the network is a QNAP TS 409 Pro NAS, 2 cable boxes and an Apple Time Capsule. Until recently everything was working great with each of the TV’s being able to independently access files from the QNAP through the WDTV Live boxes. The boxes were left on at all times and played back avi, wmv and mkv files via network share or media sever (Twonky) without any issues. Now the WDTV Live boxes lock up. By this I mean I can still navigate through the QNAP folders but the file preview does not work and the files does not start playing, ,just a spinning blue wheel. Also I cannot pause or stop a file once it is running. The only solution is to pull the plug and restart or to reset to factory default but this only lasts for about 30 minutes before it locks up again. The WDTV Live boxes work fine on USB files when not connected to network. I have replaced one of the WDTV Live boxes with an Iomega ScreenPlay TV Link Director box and this works fine all the time, so I know the issue is not my network or QNAP NAS. Any thoughts or solutions would be gratefully appreciated as getting very frustrated.
Welcome to the forums.
First of all, you say it only lasts about 30 minutes – you mean you start playing a file, it plays for 30 minutes and then locks up? Because the symptoms you describe can be caused by a “bad” MKV file, but it would lock up when you first start to play it, not 30 minutes into it. Just to make sure though, take a known good file (but NOT an MKV file) and play it all the way through on a local drive. Now use this as your test file on the network and make sure it also locks up on you.
Also, I’d investigate to make sure you don’t have MS Live Assistant anywhere on your network. The symptoms don’t fit that, but come close, and I’d just want to be sure (check ALL the computers attached to your net).
After you try the known good file and report back I’m sure Tony (our network expert) will chime in here.
If I reset the WDTV Live box or remove power and then start up the thumbnail previews will work for about 30 mins approx before they stop working. I can typically play any file (only have a few mkv) and it will continue to play but again after an arbitary 30 minutes I loose control in that I can’t pause or stop the file from playing but can still navigate though the NAS. The sound continues though even when navigating. I will try your suggestions, mkelley, and report back my findings. I have also removed from my QNAP NAS the mkv files I have added recently to see if they were the cause. I only have 1 pc laptop on the network, the rest are MacBook Pros, and have removed this also for the time being. Thanks for your suggesions.
So, you said initially that both Net Shares and QNAP’s media server (Twonky) used to work fine, but under which condition does it hang?
In other words, does it hang if you use ONLY Network Shares?
Does it hang if you use ONLY Media Server?
Yes both used to work fine but I tended to use network share more than media server as some files did not show up under media server. This was related to their files attributes but I have since resolved this and now all files show up under both.
Before the summer things were working great but since recently they stopped. I did a number of things such as updating the Windows laptop, updating the firmware on the Qnap, installing Plex Media Center on the Macs. I did have some mkv files already on the NAS but added some new ones, added a third WDTV Live box all around the same time so have spent a few weeks trying to eliminate the issue. I just watched an avi file of about 40 mins via media server and it played fine and stopped at the end as normal but now it will only navigate backwards. I went backwards and chose network share and it works as normal and previews and plays. I then went back and chose media center and it works fine again! In the past it has hung on both.
Have unplugged the windows laptop and it appears to be working ok. Will do a proper check over the wekend. Any suggestions as to what I need to do with the windows laptop?
Check the laptop to see if it has Windows Live ID Assistant installed (just for chuckles – symptoms don’t really match but I’m curious).
Everything works fine without the laptop on the network, but as soon as the laptop is online the WDTV Live boxes hang. Yes it did have Windows Live installed. I have since formatted and reinstalled WIndows 7 but have turned off the automatic updates and all is well with the world. Thanks to all for thoughts, comments and suggestions.
