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[2random]

We currently have 3 office computers (1-Windows XP Pro 32-bit, connects find, 2- Windows 7 Pro 64-bit, no connection and 3- Windows XP Pro 32-bit, no connection). The DNS-323 has a static IP address on our network and I am able to ping it from all 3 computers. All lights on the unit are blue and "on." Everything has been working fine since we purchased the unit in May of 2011. It is running firmware version 1.09. Everything worked fine on Friday, but this morning, 2 out of the 3 computers lost the network path and I cannot even browse for the assigned network drive. The one computer that is connecting lost the list under network places of the volumes, yet I can still connect via the mapped network drive, but not on the other 2. Nothing else with any configurations changed on any of the machines.

I am hesitant to restart the unit since I at least have access and can work. What if it kills my connection and then all of us are SOL. Is that my only option? Any other thoughts why it works only on the one computer?

[JavaLawyer]

Have you added any other devices to your network that may have the same static IP address? Is your router/switch reserving the same IP address for another device?

[2random]

We have not added any new devices or changed anything on the network. We literally left for the weekend and came back and 2 out of the 3 had no connectivity.

[2random]

I double checked and there are no overlapping IP addresses either. We only have 3 computers, 2 printers, 1 router and the 1 network storage.

[FurryNutz]

I recommend that you start with resetting the router and PCs first. See if this clears up the issue.

I might turn off any 3rd party firewalls temporarily while you test.

I highly recommend reserving ALL device IP addresses ON the host router and set ALL devices to automatically obtain an IP address from the host router. This ensures each device gets it's own IP address and should eliminate any IP address conflicts.

One more item I highly recommend is installing a external Gb network switch and connect all of your wired LAN devices to it. This also help eliminate unnecessary router processing and ensures good network connected between devices.

[2random]

Sorry, forgot to mention that we do also have an ethernet switch as well. Upon second glance, eveything is set to get an IP address directly from the router. I had thought the DNS was a static IP, but it is not. I had previously reset all the computers (except for the one that is currently accessing the DNS), to no avail. I checked the router and all of the devices have their own unique IP address too.

[FurryNutz]

Well if one PC is connecting to the DNS and the other 2 are not, I would review these 2 pcs for network, shares and physical connections and make sure they are set up correctly. Make sure your work group name is the same on all Devices.

Can you ping the DNS IP address from these 3 PCs?

I would remove the old share connections to the DNS on these 2 PCs, if any, and set them up again maybe.
Does the DNS show up as a device under Networking? The icon under My Computer?

[2random]

I can ping the DNS from all 3 computers. Oddly enough, none of the computers actually show the DNS Volumes under Networking (and it did previously), just not today, not even on the one that it is working on.

I disconnected the mapped network drive from one of the other computers and tried to set it up again, but it didn't find the network connection (and I verified that it was correct). All of the other networking capabilities on the other 2 computers work just fine, they just can't find the DNS anymore. All the same network and workgroup settings.

Even more strangely, I put the Dlink disc in one of the computers not connecting and the DNS did come up in the easy share utility, with the correct IP address and everything. But, when I tried to click on the share to map it to a drive, put in the user name and password (which I know are correct since I can log-in to the web based utility using those credentials), it fails to map to the drive. Go figure.

[FurryNutz]

Is there any 3rd party security programs running on the PC?

Seems like if you can ping the DNS address successfully, then something isn't connecting right in Windows.

Has the DNS been power cycled yet?

[2random]

That would be my thought as well (that something isn't connecting right in Windows). I disabled all firewalls and security software (the Windows 7 machine has Kapersky, and both of the Windows XP machines have AVG Free- 1 connecting and 1 not). Still no dice. It's just not finding the network path for some reason. All of the network settings are the same, same network ID, same Workgroup, etc. Yet I can still ping it.

I'm still afraid to power down the DNS as we have an important deadline tomorrow and as long as I can keep working and accessing files, then we should make the deadline. But ultimately I still need to fix it for the other computers.

[JavaLawyer]

The answer may be as simple as restarting the DNS-323.  After you meet your deadline, I recommend doing just that.

I experienced a similar issue with one of my DNS-343s over a year ago.  The device was fully accessible from two PCs, while the third PC was able to "see" the DNS-343, but unable to open any of the data volumes. Rebooting the DNS-343 immediately corrected the issue and I haven't had a recurrence since.

[2random]

Yes, fortunately it was just that simple (powering all the machines down and restarting the DNS). It was just so bizarre that I couldn't risk not having access to everything while trying to finish the deadline. I guess I was paranoid for no reason. Still makes no sense, but whatever- it's working now so that's all that really matters.

[JavaLawyer]

I'm glad everything worked out for you. It's always better to be safe than sorry.

My two DNS-343s have been operating 24x7 for years and I only experienced this issue once in all that time, so whatever the cause, it's not something that happens very often.

 

[FurryNutz]

Enjoy.