intermittent network share

[Pierre Forget]

Hi,


I have a wireless network with 8 Aspire 5520 computers (Vista Home premium),
and I need to have only one of those computer to share one


folder (the public folder). I did all that is normally recommended
(researched a lot on the Internet) and did


whatever is needed (network discovery, private network, etc). If I connect
the computers by wire (cat 5e), I


can see the folder rapidly and constantly without any problem.


If I try to do the same thing with the wireless network (I tried a Trendnet
and a Dlink routers with WPA


personal), sometimes I can see the folder after 5-10 minutes and I can
access it. If I wait another 10 minutes


and come back, the network share is not found, even thought I can access the
Internet (meaning that the netowrk


is running).


I can ping the computers without problem.


Even though all the machines are configured exactly the same, some have more
trouble seeing the network share,


on an intermittent basis. If I reboot the computers, sometimes it finds the
network share, sometimes not. But


even after the network share is found, sometimes it disappears after a few
minutes.


Windows updates are all done (automatic and manually), the antivirus is NOD32.


I tried to disable ipv6, but to no avail. If it would be a firewall issue, I
wouldn't be able to see it at all.

more details:

same workgroup name (workgroup)
Network Discovery: ON
Network set to Private
File Sharing: ON
Public Folder Sharing: ON
Password Protected: OFF

Thanks,

 

[Jay Moore]

I've found the number one problem with file-sharing is sharing stuff over a
wireless link...sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. It's not a problem
for the computer that accesses the data, but it is for the computer that's
serving that data to the network. Connect the computer that has the stuff
you want to share over the network using cat5e and not wireless.

 

[Pierre Forget]

Hi,

Thanks for the post, but those 8 computers are notebooks and they are
already on the wireless network for the Internet (which works fine all the
time). Using cat5e is out of question for 8 portables, because they are using
them in different locations in the building. I've had other computers sharing
on wireless without problem, but they used XP or 2000. To my understanding,
something has to be fixed in Vista or the wireless nic driver (I have the
latest, and it came from a Windows update).

I saw some other posts on the internet with the same problem. see
http://www.techsupportforum.com/mic...-intermittent-network-drive-connectivity.html

 

[Warren]

Interesting post, I have the same problem. Windows Vista help says it's a
fact of life with Home editions, but I'm trying to improve the performance
also. Don't understand what the problem is either.

 

[Pierre Forget]

Hi,

This is surprising to me that "Windows Vista help says it's a fact of life
with Home editions". Do they mean that Home Edition is not intended to share
folders with wireless network?

Not to compare, but with Linux Slackware (the old distribution for older
sysop...), when there is a problem, it's always there, and when it's fixed,
it's fixed forever. I hate problems that come and go at random. And at least
I can dig in the source code if I can't get any help.

Thanks for the post.

 

[+Bob+]

This is surprising to me that "Windows Vista help says it's a fact of life
with Home editions". Do they mean that Home Edition is not intended to share
folders with wireless network?

I don't know if this will help or not, but I just solved a similar
problem (another thread here).

I was losing connections while actively working and also having
serious problems resuming from a standby or locked WS mode. I solved
it by changing two power settings. One is in Power Settings where you
set the Network card to "Maximize Performance". The other is in Device
Manager on the Network Card itself - deny Windows the right to power
down the card.

So far, so good, I solved both my dropped connections issue and my
return from lock/standby.

 

[Pierre Forget]

Hi,

Just tried the solution you gave me, but the problem is still the same.
Talked an hour with Acer support, but they can't help. What also seemed to
help was the command (run as admin):
netsh interface tcp set global autotuniglevel=disabled

But it eventually comes back.

What I also saw on the Internet is a race condition for being the master
network browser. If I make one computer the master network browser, and all
the other computers disable the service, then what happens if any of those
computers go on another network? Those are notebooks and are susceptible to
go on other network. Same thing if I apply a fixed IP, which I tried, but
Vista seems to forget it has a fixed IP and when you come back after a
reboot, sometimes, it has the fixed IP and the next time, it's back on DHCP.
Another intermittent problem!