cannot connect to server

[bmsecs]

To cut a long story short my problem is that whilst i can RELIABLY access my MEDIA using XBMC on the WINDOWS machines, the RASPBERRY PI reliably DROPS out.
The only way i can then access my shared folders on the W7 SERVER is to do a complete reboot of the W7 SMB server.

I have been doing this for months now and can reliably say that WINDOWS XBMC to windows server never fails whilst PI to windows server fails reliably often. Almost ? Every day in fact. But only ALMOST every time which is very confusing.




I have both a REV A and Rev B RASPBERRY PI along with a laptop and desktop which use Windows 7.

All are used as PLAYERS, running XBMC 12.2 on the Pi's and GOTHAM on the Windows 7 LAPTOP.

One of the Pi's is wireless which i think has no relevance but all info is good info .
The xbmc player W7 laptop, W7 Desktop and the other Pi are connected to the W7 SERVER via CAT5 ETHERNET through an 8 port gigabit switch.

All are connected to an i7-3600 Windows 7 SERVER via SMB.
There's then plenty of grunt, and the cabling is recent and short (10mtrs max).
The SERVER has several attached SHARED USB Hard Drives storing and supplying mainly VIDEO media.


I used to have a full head of hair before i embarked on my home theatre and media distribution journey about 6 months ago.

Obviously after this amount of time i have had the opportunity to experiment and explore many options and fairly well conversant with the idiosyncrasies of the setup i have here.

BUT MY NEVER ENDING FRUSTRATION is that whilst the windows MACHINES NEVER MISS A BEAT connectivity wise, the two Pi's are slowly sending me to an early grave, as i try to fathom what THE CONNECTIVITY PROBLEM might be.

They seem to work fine when i get them going.
Then, and usually after an 'AWAKE' from to servers SLEEP via AWOL (advanced wake on lan) which usually works (and does always with the W7 boxes), they wont.

The usual message is "CONNECTION TIME OUT" followed by " CANNOT CONNECT TO SERVER"

THE ONLY WAY I HAVE FOUND TO TEMPORARILY GET THINGS GOING again for the PI's when this happens is to do a FULL shutdown ( a restart or logoff/on does not work)

This, i have never suffered with the W7 LAPTOP or the W7 DESKTOP..

This FULL REBOOT of the SERVER and ONLY THIS then allows the PI's to again 'SEE' the SERVERS SHARES.
The W7 boxes seem to remain unfazed and unaffected.

Another observation is that i also have a DLNA SERVER - PLEX, running, which i can i think, almost always SEE when attempting to ADD SOURCE..

YES, I have also experimentally DISABLED THE PLEX DLNA SERVER in case it conflicted but - NO it made no difference.


I had the idea that maybe the XBMC PI SSH, FTP, SAMBA etc services might conflict with SMB and have DISABLED them but to no avail.

I also have set STATIC IP's on the Pi's, tried DIFFERENT RELEASE VERSIONS, DIFFERENT SD CARDS, POWER SUPPLIES, ETC.

I came across AN ITEM OF INTEREST regarding UTORRENT, being the cause of NETWORK ISSUES in a LAN.
I have cause to believe that UTORRENT and maybe even other P2P clients may indeed disrupt SMB but cannot 'nail down' any specific indicators.


AS YOU CAN PROBABLY ASSESS BY NOW, i know a little of a bit of hundredth as much as is necessary to express and explain my issue let alone correct it.

My hope beyond hope is that someone out there in 'the ether' will be educated enough to explain this phenomena and advise what i can do to repair this MOST VEXING of issues.

Regards
Brendan the frustrated
Merry holiday season (politically correct ?)

[bmsecs]

CORRECTION APOLOGIES - CLARIFICATION

The 'FULL SHUTDOWN' refers to the SERVER........."""""THE ONLY WAY I HAVE FOUND TO TEMPORARILY GET THINGS GOING again for the PI's when this happens is to do a FULL shutdown ( a restart or logoff/on does not work)""""""

[Phill Rymer]

don't know if this helps but I watched a youtube tutorial on installing xunity and they recommended switching rss feed of to improve stability its found in settings - appearance located at the bottom of the page

[Pi-Ro]

SMB is noted to not be the best... FTP works well for xvid, wouldn't try HD. Best I found for HD 1080p MKVs is probably the DLNA/UPnP. I have a friend who has the same issues as you, as if it is dropping network (odd is still hits internet, just not local).
He does a lot from local and was using a standalone to transfer to and stream from, but simply had windows 7 using the SMB over a wired connection.
We installed the XBMCbuntu (12.2) image to his laptop. Built his libraries and scraped content, and turned on Web Server to share out.
His OpenELEC/XBMC Pi, and Raspbian w/ XBMC Pi both pick it up consistently, 1 Pi stays on 24/7 and can always hit via UPnP. The other is on and off with the Bedroom TV, never has a problem connecting.

By far the best way to stream from a local server, but it is not bug free.

Sometimes items in his library (on the server side) don't appear to be available from his Pi, if a file doesn't have metadata it won't be available (think that was purely a folder issue, had home videos in movie folder scraped by imdb...could cause issues).

And I am sure there are a few other issues, but nothing as bad as what he WAS experiencing.

Windows to Linux communications will lack in comparison to Linux to Linux and Windows to Windows, especially on something like a proto or dev board like the Pi. Expect bugs going multi-platform "DIY" Media streaming and home automation, at least in my experience...

If you can do it, it is worth it. XBMCbuntu is a nice build, can even get it with PVR built in... You can attach that PC to a TV so it is feeding 1 room TV direct, and via UPnP you can share out to other devices on your network. You can feed to game consoles, tablets, smart devices ( a couple of Raspberry Pi running XBMC 12.2 on OpenELEC 3.2.4). If you want to go Gotham then do it on ALL devices, I know Eden didn't communicate with Frodo right, and am sure it will be the same with Frodo to Gotham... A great way to get Gotham on OpenELEC is RJeb builds or get Leopolds repo and use the Dev tools for openelec, great addon that allows up and downgrading of OpenELEC, even can upgrade Gotham, and go back if you don't like it.

Note* You can't scan the server library to the Pi over DLNA, but when you access the host, if IT has been scraped (this is why xbmc serving out is also nice, can do plex too as it also scrapes fanart and such) the Pi will display the fanart and movie info from the Source Menu when using DLNA... Not as nice, but still gives you nice artwork when browsing the menu, just can't assign it to the home menu like when you did SMB.

[Pi-Ro]

Also, as low E as the Pi is, why not leave it on 24/7 instead of WOL. Maybe I misread that part... But if it isn't waking proper, then leave it on. It probably costs about 30 cent a month tops. I have a 14 month old Pi that spent half of that time never being shut off, works fine.

[jrbown]

bmsecs - did you ever find a resolution?

I am suffering exactly the same problem, and can't find anyone with a solution. I have a Raspberry Pi running XBMC (Gotham 13.2) on OpenELEC with a Windows 7 machine with fileshares (for music & recorded/live TV using ServerWMC).

Frequently (every few days maybe - I'm not sure of any cause/effect), the Pi will not be able to access any shares on the Windows 7 Server using SMB. The only solution is to restart the Server service on the Windows server (or reboot it).

What I don't get is that the Pi is causing a problem on the Windows Server, and not on the Pi itself. Also, at the same time the Pi has lost its ability to connect the Windows Server, other PCs can connect to it with SMB, and the Pi can also connect to shares on other PCs successfully, the state of who's Server service it hasn't yet managed to screw up.

Any help appreciated. I know this is an old thread.....

Also I know SMB isn't great (when talking Linux), but other protocols are not an option in this scenario unfortunately.

[Seba DGA]

Hi,
I was facing same issue, although I have Windows 10.

The fix I found is described here: http://www.pctools.com/guides/registry/detail/54/

Generally I don't know how it was working before I started having this connectivity problem, nevertheless, now it seems to be fixed.

Seba