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[nancam]

For 2 days I have been searching these forums and Google for help.

I thought I had the answer here:
http://www.alanchard.com/dlink323/pages/page_2.htm
 (he had the exact same problem I did)
...But I do not use Zone Alarm! I did however attempt to open up the firewall, add the static IP address to my network zone, etc etc etc. And still I cannot access the 323!

Setup:
WinXP Pro SP3, new 323 with 2x 1TB WD Caviar black drives - formatted and setup as Raid 1 (mirror)
Linksys WRT54GL flashed to Tomato 1.27

I have setup Tomato to assign a static MAC address to the Dlink

Easy Search does NOT see the drive at all -never has
I CAN access the setup screens using the static IP address I specified - so that works
I CAN ping the device on that same IP addr ... so that works
I have successfully changed the password on the 323 ... so that works
I have successfully updated the firmware to 1.08  ... so that works

What I cannot do is access the drive. I want to map the 323 to a drive letter, say "Y", and I get the exact same issue as shown in the link above ... "The OK button is still greyed-out ... "

I did have Comodo Firewall installed, tried to configure that, was not 100% sure of the results. So I have deleted Comodo and now just have the basic windows firewall on.

None of my computers can see the Dlink - it is wired with the supplied cable into my router. My main PC (Compaq) is wired into the router as well, and I have two laptops (a Dell, XP Home and a MacBook). I am trying to set this all up from the main PC (wired in).

I have checked the LAN setup on the Dlink web page, and made sure that the static IP address, Subnet, and gateway all match my settings (static from the router, others from the ipconfig /all command). The two DNS entries I did enter as the OpenDNS addresses. I have Tomato setup with my OpenDNS account name, but I have also tried the setup with my router IP as the DNS and that made no difference.

I have checked all of the services (services.msc) and the only ones that are disabled are some local services (Ipod service, web cam no longer used) or the scary ones (Remote Registry). RPC services are running. When I first setup XP Pro I disabled a lot of services I was not using but to get this going I have re-started many or at least set them to 'manual'

I have run a disk check (no problems found), and the formatting was successful. Just to be sure I didn't mess up anything I did a hard reset of the unit, then reset the password, I can ping it, etc. All other settings are the same. I have turned off the unit and restarted it - to no avail.

I typed \\ip_address_of_323 into the Run ... box and got a "the network path was not found" error.
net use \\DNS-323 password /user:user_name results in "System Error 53 - network path not found" error

I consider myself a software guy more than a hardware guy, but I have actually read the manual (really) and tried my best to get this going. Networking is not my strong point, so it is possible I have overlooked something. Seems there is a problem with networking (a service? or permissions? or ??).  

When I run "net share" from the CMD I get my hard drives, printers, and the shared folder I had before the 323, but nothing on the 323 itself.

Any help/guidance appreciated.

Robert

(sry for long post - was trying to give you the full picture ...)

[Buhric]

Hi,

Looks like you got an extreame case ... did the DNS-323 ever worked for you?
Did you made sure the Workgroup IN the DNS-323 matched your Computer Workgroup ?

also... did you try to reset the DNS-323 to Default... and  NOT reloading the settings from a previously saved file...

[gunrunnerjohn]

I'd try two things.  Boot in Safe Mode with Networking and disable all firewalls, see if you find the NAS.  Your issues sure screams firewall configuration to me.

[nancam]

Just a quick test at lunch ....

Booting into Safe Mode with Networking did nothing at all. Same as before, I can access the web interface and ping it, but not map it.

Then I disabled the Windows Firewall ... and presto! Easy Search sees it.

Have to go back to work now, so I am re-enabling the firewall for now. Since it is clearly a f/w issue, any idea on how to enable access through it? I looked at the advanced settings and am confused ...

Thanks for the tips! Progress is being made ...

Robert

[gunrunnerjohn]

You need to put your subnet in the trusted zone of the firewall.  If you have an IP address of 192.168.1.x, that's the subnet that needs to be trusted.

[nancam]

Thanks gunrunnerjohn.

I tried to add the subnet manually to windows firewall and didn't seem to be having much luck ... as I said this isn't my area of expertise. Then I saw the option to display a notification whenever the f/w blocks a packet ... within a moment I got a message that the ESU was being blocked - so I allowed it and then presto! it appeared and I could map my drive. Wonderful!

But the ultimate test was to log off and then back in - sadly the drive mapping is not permanent. The drive appears in Explorer but as 'disconnected' and when I double click on it I get a message that the "device name is already in use" and I cannot access it.

If I disconnect the drive and re-map it to another letter I get the same message. In one of the messages in this form I read about using a batch file to force the re-connect at logon (can't find the message at the moment, but i will; basically it was a cmd prompt line to establish the connection net sh or ) - would this help? Or have I not added the drive subnet properly?

Thanks again to everyone for their help - I am making some progress ... slowly...

[gunrunnerjohn]

Try this at startup:

NET USE x: \\DNS-323\Volume_1 /PERSIST:YES

Obviously, x: is your selected drive letter, and the network path is the full path of the shared resource.

[dosborne]

You shouldn't have to bother with a script. I map a bunch of drives/shares and they all persist without a problem through a reboot. There must be something else causing your grief.

[gunrunnerjohn]

I agree, but he's having a problem.

[nancam]

Thanks for all the tips. Yesterday I had a dishwasher emergency so wasn't able to get to it until now. I really do appreciate the help.

No matter what i tried I *might* be able to see the drive briefly, but within a minute or less it would disconnect. I was able to create a "New Folder" but was not able to actually rename it before I lost it again. I tried the NET USE command with persistence set, and it said it completed successfully, but the end result was still no NAS. Some readings and searches led me to the Local Security Policy (secpol.msc) and I started digging into that.

I found a few options that seemed odd, including:
 - Microsoft network server: Digitally sign communications (always)
 - Microsoft network client: Digitally sign communications (always)

For pretty much ever 'server' setting and every 'client' setting; every 'network access' and 'network security' setting I went in and made sure it was at the default values as explained. Probably 3 or 4 were different out of 21 or so. Why? Not really sure to be honest! I had a networking guru friend help me years ago (since moved away  ) he might have changed things - he was (is) a security freak.

I made one other change - I used the web interface to change the DNS-323 to dynamic IP from static. I do not plan on accessing it from outside my home, so I will try this for now ... I have heard that static is better for FTP access but if I don't need it ...

The firewall is still ON with no change over the past 2 days, yet I finally have access to the drive!!

Was it the security policy changes or the dynamic? Not really sure. Right now I am copying many GB of data onto the NAS while I still can. Its been up and working for all of 15 minutes now, but that 15 m more than ever before! I have another 105 minutes (estimated) to go, and then I will logout and try it again and see if it is persistent.

Wanted to give you all an update as well as to thank you again. Tomorrow I will let you know how the logout/reboot goes. Have not yet tried to access the NAS from another of my computers either ...

Robert

30 minutes later ...
It just stopped with an error "the resource (or name) is no longer available". No access, nothing. Back to where I was! I think I am going to go cry now ...

[gunrunnerjohn]

FWIW, my NAS units have always been static IP addresses, and I've never had this kind of issue.  It sure sounds like firewall issue to me, but it's hard to pin them down in your case.

[Buhric]

try this... if you can...

install a Virtual Copy of your windows using VMWare or VirtualBox (free)
Make sure that the virtual NIC is NOT using NAT... in other words config it to be if it was direcly connected to the LAN.

Better would be if you could actualy re-install windows on a physical computer...

but see if this works....

[nancam]

Thanks for the suggestions - will probably be the weekend before I can spent much more time on this ... plus it is becoming depressing! I do have Virtual Box already, that's a good test. But I will try them all and post the results, in case they help anyone else.

I am almost at the point of re-installing windows as a baseline, but I am planning on buying a new PC soon - I was getting the NAS first to help with file migration and then keep it for its real purpose. I hope I have better luck with the new PC ... can I have any worse luck?

R

[gunrunnerjohn]

I hope I have better luck with the new PC ... can I have any worse luck?

Be careful what you wish for! 

[nancam]

Well, the latest.

I went to MS website and found the "fix it" to reset all of the Local Security policy to the defaults. No problem.

I also went into the Event Viewer and noticed there were several DCOM errors - basically the PC I was logged into "did not register with DCOM within the required timeout." Google DCOM ....

That led me to the dcomcnfg Run ... command, checked all the properties on My Computer. Also clicked into DCOM Config folder and got several "CLSID {xxx} wmiprvse.exe ...WMI Provider Subsystem ... was not recorded under (registry value) HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\AppID .. Do you wish to record it? I answered YES to each.

I also went through the 323 web interface again, and checked all my entries. Ran the ESU once more and presto! Access. Once bitten twice shy though ... managed to copy some files over, then re-booted the machine ... the test ...

It asked me for the user name and password I setup on the 323, but it DID connect after a reboot. I am once again copying files.

Anyone have any ideas on what all this means? I basically googled every error I got plus went through event manager, looking for anything I could find. Something has worked (mostly). For now, I can live with it.

Once again, a big thank you to everyone for looking and for the suggestions. Most appreciated.
Robert