XigmaNAS

I've gone through a million help pages to figure this out. I had my NAS4Free box working really well for over a year at my old house. I've moved now, the only things I've changed now are:

1. changed from fixed IP address to DHCP (even though my new bt homehub 5 assigns a static ip)
2. the ip address range has changed from 192.168.123.x to 192.168.1.x
3. I tried changing the netbios name and domain of the NAS4Free box

The box shows up in the router, I can ping it, I can access the box's admin via the domain \\NAS or the ip address through my browser.

I can't view it through windows explorer. I don't have another PC lying around to see if it's possible to access via that, but I do have a tablet and ES File Explorer easily found it on the network and I can access it without problems.

I'm wondering if there's some corruption in my Windows 7 or in the Samba conf file on the NAS4Free box.

Any ideas where to begin to fathom this out? Thanks, Dan

Does the box not appear at all on Windows explorer or do you just have no access to it?
What happens when you enter \\netbiosname in the adress line of Explorer ?
Are PC and NAS really in the same IP range?
Any typos on the Workgroup/Domain settings on NAS and/or PC?
Did you try assigning fixed IPs in your router for PC and and NAS?
Did you change the network settings in Network|LAN Management ?

Thanks for your amazingly quick response!

- doesn't appear in windows explorer at all
- can't access in explorer address bar using netbiosname or ip address
- pc and nas are in the same ip range
- no typos in workgroup domain settings
- pc and nas are assigned to fixed ips
- only to set it to dhcp rather than fixed ip. have tried both.

I just tried changing the name of my PC and noticed that that no longer appears under the network now in windows explorer (on the same machine). Before it appeared, but if I clicked on it, I got a message to say I didn't have permission or something. Feels like a windows 7 problem to me...

I just remembered that I have an XBMC box that I can try and access the NAS4Free box from, so I'll fire that up soon. That should pinpoint if it's the NAS4Free settings, or the windows 7 machine.

Ok, definitely something to do with the windows 7 machine. I can access the samba share via my phone on ES file explorer using smb:\\192.x.x.x\sharename

I just tried changing the name of my PC and noticed that that no longer appears under the network now in windows explorer (on the same machine).

Hmmm, on your Windows PC you can right click on 'Computer' go to 'Properties' and change the Computer Name and Workgroup/Domain settings to any other Names, apply the changes, reboot, then re-apply the old name and Workgroup/Domain settings and reboot again. Just to see what happens...
Do you have any strange events listed in the Windows eventlog?

whats the setting for master browser?
http://wiki.nas4free.org/doku.php?id=do ... _smb_samba

Thanks both - I've tried renaming computer and domain and restarted etc. The setting for master browser I've tried as yes and no.

I'll check on the event log later. Thanks.

Ok, so I've now checked the event log and there's nothing that indicates any problems, warnings or information. Any other bright ideas before I consider re-installing windows 7 (definitely don't want to have to do that right now...!)

Thanks

Do you see any other network devices on your windws machine under Explorer | Network?

I can see the BT Home hub and my Epson printer which is wireless. There aren't any others!

Thanks, Dan

Make sure that both machines have the same net mask. If they differ they would have different broadcast addresses. Make sure the work group name does not have any special characters, leave it to the default workgroup if possible. Check that the windows firewall is turned off and there is no anti virus extra firewall service running.


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Thanks!

Ok, so I've turned off windows firewall and that's not helped any. Everything is set to DHCP, so can't change the net masks anyway. Workgroup is back to WORKGROUP. The only antivirus I use is Microsoft Security Essentials. Any other ideas?

I'm still unable to get this to work...

The only thing I can think of is that before my broadband service arrived here, I had the box directly connected to the PC and was using it just fine. Once I connected it to the router, is when the windows 7 box couldn't locate it.

Any other ideas anyone?! Thanks.

I had the box directly connected to the PC and was using it just fine. Once I connected it to the router, is when the windows 7 box couldn't locate it.

What kind of network cables do you use? You probably have a crossover cable, which does not work on the router, this is just for direct connection.

the bt homehub has its own implementation of samba. maybe this is interfering.

bit late now but reboot bthomehub. Some people get a day , some a week some a few hours before it starts to collaspe the stack.

also check masks and gateways on both pc and nas4free.

yuo should be able to logon via ip address from ie or chrome etc... if not and mask/gateway/dns okay then physical problem but you see it on bthomehub which shows it must connect to bthomehub.