Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[winchesterstoke]

Hi, I've been using my NAS for about a year now, and it's recently started having a problem. I use it to stream films (in mkv format) normally to a media player over an Ethernet connection. The films use to stream perfectly. Now they've started losing frames, and then suddenly - after less than 25 minutes, the film stops playing.

After some trouble shooting I've worked out it's almost certainly the NAS - playing the same media from a PC showed after roughly 20 minutes the frame rate dropping almost to a standstill (a frame every 30 seconds or so), and then picked up slightly (but never to a watchable level). I guess the media player (AC Ryan Mini)  just disconnected when faced with the data coming through at such a slow rate?

Any ideas please? I've tried upgrading to the latest firmware on the NAS - but that didn't affect the problem.

Many thanks in advance!

[ivan]

Have you changed anything on your network?

What is the temperature of the NAS?

Have you checked that there are no kinks in the network cables and that all cable plugs are secure in their sockets?

What other equipment do you have on your network?

Is the router overheating?

Have you tried a direct cable connection between your PC and the NAS?

Have you tried just using PC <-> router <-> NAS and if so what were the results?

Just a few questions that you might not have looked at.

[winchesterstoke]

Have you changed anything on your network?

What is the temperature of the NAS?

Have you checked that there are no kinks in the network cables and that all cable plugs are secure in their sockets?

What other equipment do you have on your network?

Is the router overheating?

Have you tried a direct cable connection between your PC and the NAS?

Have you tried just using PC <-> router <-> NAS and if so what were the results?

Just a few questions that you might not have looked at.

Many thanks for the reply. Here's what I've got so far:
NAS is running at 43 to 47 C. It didn't appear to get any hotter when it stopped.
Checked the cables and re-seated them (and moved to a different port on the router).
No network changes made.
Lots of other equipment on the network (Sky box, Xbox, PS3, tablets, phones, laptops, etc.) - nothing added recently.
Router appears to be OK - I'll check more closely on my next test (but it doesn't have any problems streaming HD youtube videos to several other devices at the same time).
PC can't be connect directly - but media player is plugged directly into the router as is the NAS (I use a switch for some of the other devices).
PC<->router<->NAS is the normal config.

Any idea please?

many thanks

Any ideas

[cable2]

Hi,
Sorry no answers but some questions.  How are the drives in the 320 formatted?  Have you run or checked the S.M.A.R.T. status of the drive(s)?  If the fast test is ok, consider running the extended one. Also consider running Scan Disk.  Have you tried a simple reboot?  Is anything else moving a large amount of data on your network?  That is all I can think of at the moment.  Good luck

[winchesterstoke]

Hi,
Sorry no answers but some questions.  How are the drives in the 320 formatted?  Have you run or checked the S.M.A.R.T. status of the drive(s)?  If the fast test is ok, consider running the extended one. Also consider running Scan Disk.  Have you tried a simple reboot?  Is anything else moving a large amount of data on your network?  That is all I can think of at the moment.  Good luck

Many thanks!
The disks are described as "Standard" - i.e. no RAID.

Have tried the SMART tests - nothing identified. 
I've also tried using a flash drive connected to the NAS - same problem  - so I don't think it's a HDD problem?

Have tried a reboot, a power down (including full disconnect from power supply).

Have tried watch HD YouTube videos - and these seem fine - so I don't think it's a network throughput issue.

Any more suggestions/help really appreciated!

[cable2]

Hi again, 2 more questions.  I know you are using a media player but is that accessing the 320's media server or a network share?  How full are your hard drives?

[winchesterstoke]

Thanks again.

I've used both network share and DLNA.

The main drive is 97% full (43G free), the second drive is 46% full (973G free).

I was going to move data from the full one until I did the test using the USB stick (plugged the USB stick into the NAS and streamed from there - which caused the same problem). Would it be worth shifting some of files?

Cheers!

[cable2]

Hi again,
I would definitely try getting that 97% drive down to at least 85% just to see it it improves at all.  The cost is your time.  I do know that a drive that full will almost alway demonstrate some kind of performance issues.  What do you have to loose?  Good luck

[winchesterstoke]

Hi again,
I would definitely try getting that 97% drive down to at least 85% just to see it it improves at all.  The cost is your time.  I do know that a drive that full will almost alway demonstrate some kind of performance issues.  What do you have to loose?  Good luck

Will move some of the data over to the other drive (have moved quite a lot already but it keeps on getting filled again  ) - but it does take an age to move data on the 320 doesn't it.

Will report back - thanks again!

[ivan]

Out of curiosity is your network an all cabled network or are there some wireless connected units?

If it is the latter does the slowdown start when there is wireless usage?