Synology Question

michaelg

michaelg

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Michael
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Sometimes when I try to connect to my NAS via my browser, the connection fails and none of the apps on the computer detect it as online. It only seems to connect when I switch the connection to my router to a different slot. Does anyone know why this happens as obviously if I'm not in the house trying to access it, I can't do this so it's kind of defeating the purpose of it in a way.
 
Guessing this can't be an isolated incident judging by the views! I submitted a ticket to the Synology helpdesk so I will post their response here in case others have the same problem.
 
michaelg said:
Guessing this can't be an isolated incident judging by the views!
Click to expand...
I'd guess the opposite. Lots of views means there are lots of people with Synology boxes who saw the thread title and thought they might be able to help, or at least learn something useful. But the thread title gave no clue as to what it was really about in detail, so they didn't *know* whether they would be able to help or find it useful. And no responses suggests to me that it's not a problem people have seen before.

Ironically I don't even have a Synology NAS box. Mine us a QNAP. I clicked on the thread by accident, but I thought it was only polite to say something.
 
StewartR said:
I'd guess the opposite. Lots of views means there are lots of people with Synology boxes who saw the thread title and thought they might be able to help, or at least learn something useful. But the thread title gave no clue as to what it was really about in detail, so they didn't *know* whether they would be able to help or find it useful. And no responses suggests to me that it's not a problem people have seen before.

Ironically I don't even have a Synology NAS box. Mine us a QNAP. I clicked on the thread by accident, but I thought it was only polite to say something.
Click to expand...
Okay, thanks for the explanation. I'm far from an expert on NAS so am sure it's something simple so if the explanation helps other newbies I'll be happy to share it. [emoji4]
 
I see what Neil_g is angling at, but I would be equally suspicious of the router.

Three distinct possibilities come to mind.
1) The NAS is configured to hybernate and Wake-on-LAN. Though I doubt merely plugging it into a different port would wake it up. A magic packet should.
2) Some badly implemented power saving feature.. I have a managed switch that exhibits similar behaviour when per-port power saving features are enabled. If no traffic is passed on a particular port for a while, it will port the port into a stand-by state and then, depending what is connected to it, fail to wake the port up again. Power cycling the switch fixes it. There's also a power saving feature for short links which sometimes causes problems too.
3) Link speed negotiation issue. When an Ethernet device is connected, it should negotiate a link speed, either Gigabit, 100Mbit or 10Mbit. I have seen that cause similar issues.

Does the router have indicator lights on each port? Are these flickering/lit when the problem occurs?
 
afasoas said:
I see what Neil_g is angling at, but I would be equally suspicious of the router.

Three distinct possibilities come to mind.
1) The NAS is configured to hybernate and Wake-on-LAN. Though I doubt merely plugging it into a different port would wake it up. A magic packet should.
2) Some badly implemented power saving feature.. I have a managed switch that exhibits similar behaviour when per-port power saving features are enabled. If no traffic is passed on a particular port for a while, it will port the port into a stand-by state and then, depending what is connected to it, fail to wake the port up again. Power cycling the switch fixes it. There's also a power saving feature for short links which sometimes causes problems too.
3) Link speed negotiation issue. When an Ethernet device is connected, it should negotiate a link speed, either Gigabit, 100Mbit or 10Mbit. I have seen that cause similar issues.

Does the router have indicator lights on each port? Are these flickering/lit when the problem occurs?
Click to expand...
Nope it's a steady blue. I have another Belkin dual band router that didn't seem to work with my previous 1mb/s connection but I haven't retried it since I got fibre. Is it worth a shot?
 
I just went into the Hardware and Power section of the Control Panel for the NAS and ticked Enable WOL on LAN1. Will see if that makes any difference.
 
Are you running on the latest version

I had the same problem, but went when upgraded to the latest version
 
Bullysrus said:
Are you running on the latest version

I had the same problem, but went when upgraded to the latest version
Click to expand...
I just upgraded but I have generally upgraded as I went along and only got the device about 1.5 months ago or so. Will see how I get on during the week and see if I have the same problem and wait and see what the helpdesk say.
 
michaelg said:
Nope it's a steady blue. I have another Belkin dual band router that didn't seem to work with my previous 1mb/s connection but I haven't retried it since I got fibre. Is it worth a shot?
Click to expand...

What router are you currently using?
And which Synology NAS?
 
Do your PC, router or Synology use fixed or dynamic IP addresses? Mine were all dynamic (same NAS and router as you) and I could never connect unless I rebooted all devices together, then they found each other. But as soon as I shut my PC or the router rebooted, it couldn't be found. Switched to fixed IP addresses and it's been flawless since.
 
Last edited:
Oliver Pohlmann said:
Do your PC, router or Synology use fixed or dynamic IP addresses? Mine were all dynamic (same NAS and router as you) and I could never connect unless I rebooted all devices together, then they found each other. But as soon as I shut my PC or the router rebooted, it couldn't be found. Switched to fixed IP addresses and it's been flawless since.
Click to expand...
Thanks, Oliver. Is it easy to do that for all three? I might give that a go as it sounds like the same problem.
 
michaelg said:
Thanks, Oliver. Is it easy to do that for all three? I might give that a go as it sounds like the same problem.
Click to expand...

I can't remember the exact process to be honest. I think the router was the key. You can access the settings by clicking this link when attached to its Wi-Fi - http://bthomehub.home
 
This was the info which solved it for me.

https://forum.synology.com/enu/viewtopic.php?t=97097

"Configuring a static IP on the NAS requires a little bit of homework on your part. First step is to determine what device is giving out IP Addresses to the network, ie, your DHCP server. The easiest way to determine this is by using your Windows7 machine.

Start > (Instant Search) type in cmd and click on "Command Prompt" in the search result above.
After you click on it, you'll see a black window with a cursor.
type in ipconfig /all and press enter. The command will spit out a whole bunch of information for you. If you are connected with a network cable you want to find the section with "Ethernet Adapter Local Area Connection" If you are wireless, find the section called "Wireless LAN adapter..."

You are looking for a few key pieces of information to record for your static IP assignment.
1. IPv4 Address
2. Subnet Mask
3. Default Gateway
4. DHCP Server
5. DNS Server(s)

This information is crucial in helping to assign the IP of your NAS.

Once you have written down this information, the next step is to find out the DHCP scope of your network. Your DHCP server is most likely your main router that everything connects to in your home to access the internet. If you have access to the device to make configuration changes, then log in and look through the configuration for the DHCP Scope. The scope is the starting and ending IP address range that the device uses to hand out IP addresses for use. It will most likely not be labeled a scope, so pay attention to anything that may look like an address range that is being handed out for use on the network. If you find this, write down the starting and end IP address for your scope.

If you don't have any way of determining your DHCP scope, your best bet is to assign an IP address at the opposite end of the address range.... keep reading.

Now comes the most fun part of the process, taking everything you have and combining it to determine what IP address you can use for your static IP.

Let's say for instance your configuration looks like this:

IPV4 Address: 192.168.1.2
Subnet: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server: 192.168.1.1
DNS Server: 192.168.1.1
DHCP Scope: 192.168.1.2 - 192.168.1.100

The subnet mask is used to determine what constitutes as the "Local" network. If you match up your IPv4 Address and subnet above each other like so....

192.168.1.2
255.255.255.0

Each octet of the IPv4 address that corresponds to a 255 octet of your subnet, must match the IPv4 address to your NAS... ie... 192.168.1

If the octet of the subnet mask is 0 that means you can use ANY UNSUED number in that last octet between 1 and 254.

The key is to make sure what address you assign is OUTSIDE your DHCP scope, which is why we looked it up.

So if your scope is 192.168.1.2 - 192.168.1.100 then you can assign your NAS any IPv4 address from 192.168.1.101 - 192.168.1.254.

If you were unable to find your scope and your router is .1, I would assign .254 to the NAS after determining there are no active devices on that IP.

To determine an IP unused, use the command prompt window and type in ping 192.168.1.254 (the address you want to verify) and press enter. You should see a timeout. Let it timeout all four times then type in arp -a and press enter. If you do not see a result for the address you ping'ed then there is no active device on that IP and you can use it. Remember... this is not fool proof if you don't know the DHCP scope, it is just ensuring it is open at the moment but there is a potential for a device on that IP.

The rest of the settings in your NAS should match your W7 machine... subnet mask, default gateway and DNS servers."
 
Oliver Pohlmann said:
This was the info which solved it for me.

https://forum.synology.com/enu/viewtopic.php?t=97097

"Configuring a static IP on the NAS requires a little bit of homework on your part. First step is to determine what device is giving out IP Addresses to the network, ie, your DHCP server. The easiest way to determine this is by using your Windows7 machine.

Start > (Instant Search) type in cmd and click on "Command Prompt" in the search result above.
After you click on it, you'll see a black window with a cursor.
type in ipconfig /all and press enter. The command will spit out a whole bunch of information for you. If you are connected with a network cable you want to find the section with "Ethernet Adapter Local Area Connection" If you are wireless, find the section called "Wireless LAN adapter..."

You are looking for a few key pieces of information to record for your static IP assignment.
1. IPv4 Address
2. Subnet Mask
3. Default Gateway
4. DHCP Server
5. DNS Server(s)

This information is crucial in helping to assign the IP of your NAS.

Once you have written down this information, the next step is to find out the DHCP scope of your network. Your DHCP server is most likely your main router that everything connects to in your home to access the internet. If you have access to the device to make configuration changes, then log in and look through the configuration for the DHCP Scope. The scope is the starting and ending IP address range that the device uses to hand out IP addresses for use. It will most likely not be labeled a scope, so pay attention to anything that may look like an address range that is being handed out for use on the network. If you find this, write down the starting and end IP address for your scope.

If you don't have any way of determining your DHCP scope, your best bet is to assign an IP address at the opposite end of the address range.... keep reading.

Now comes the most fun part of the process, taking everything you have and combining it to determine what IP address you can use for your static IP.

Let's say for instance your configuration looks like this:

IPV4 Address: 192.168.1.2
Subnet: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server: 192.168.1.1
DNS Server: 192.168.1.1
DHCP Scope: 192.168.1.2 - 192.168.1.100

The subnet mask is used to determine what constitutes as the "Local" network. If you match up your IPv4 Address and subnet above each other like so....

192.168.1.2
255.255.255.0

Each octet of the IPv4 address that corresponds to a 255 octet of your subnet, must match the IPv4 address to your NAS... ie... 192.168.1

If the octet of the subnet mask is 0 that means you can use ANY UNSUED number in that last octet between 1 and 254.

The key is to make sure what address you assign is OUTSIDE your DHCP scope, which is why we looked it up.

So if your scope is 192.168.1.2 - 192.168.1.100 then you can assign your NAS any IPv4 address from 192.168.1.101 - 192.168.1.254.

If you were unable to find your scope and your router is .1, I would assign .254 to the NAS after determining there are no active devices on that IP.

To determine an IP unused, use the command prompt window and type in ping 192.168.1.254 (the address you want to verify) and press enter. You should see a timeout. Let it timeout all four times then type in arp -a and press enter. If you do not see a result for the address you ping'ed then there is no active device on that IP and you can use it. Remember... this is not fool proof if you don't know the DHCP scope, it is just ensuring it is open at the moment but there is a potential for a device on that IP.

The rest of the settings in your NAS should match your W7 machine... subnet mask, default gateway and DNS servers."
Click to expand...
Thanks a lot for this! Hopefully this will solve it! Will report back once I've tried it.
 
Don't use a static IP address!!

Create a DHCP reservation for the Synology NAS on the router. That means that the NAS will always get the same IP address when it's connected to your own network, and won't need reconfiguring in order to get access to it, if for any reason your network range changes .. for example, switching internet provider and getting a new hub/router.

There is however a magic check box in the Synology configuration which will makes it act as "master browser". That could well resolve your issue. Incidentally, I read that making the Syno NAS act as master browser for Windows Workgroup will stop it from hibernating.
 
afasoas said:
Don't use a static IP address!!

Create a DHCP reservation for the Synology NAS on the router.
Click to expand...
I have to admit I am confused by what Oliver has said. First he said he created fixed ip addresses and implied he used the BT hub to do it. So that implies to me he used DHCP reservation as you suggest. But that long quote does suggest just picking a random (and apparently not used) ip address.
I agree anyway, you should still use DHCP but just use a reserved (fixed) ip address. Not using DHCP is a problem waiting to happen unless you really know what you are doing.
I suspect the home hub is similar to most routers. eg somewhere in the configuration there is a network page which deals with the DHCP. Hopefully it will show a list of the connected devices, you can then select one and tell it to fix it's IP address.
afasoas said:
That means that the NAS will always get the same IP address when it's connected to your own network, and won't need reconfiguring in order to get access to it, if for any reason your network range changes .. for example, switching internet provider and getting a new hub/router.
Click to expand...
I don't think you meant that last bit. Changing your router will obviously mean you need to reconfigure the new one if you still want reserved (static) ip addresses. It does mean you can safely configure the new router to allocate the same addresses (which I suspect is what you meant?)

afasoas said:
There is however a magic check box in the Synology configuration which will makes it act as "master browser". That could well resolve your issue. Incidentally, I read that making the Syno NAS act as master browser for Windows Workgroup will stop it from hibernating.
Click to expand...
I am curious, what is a "master browser"?

Michael, just in case this is getting confusing a quick explanation of how ip addresses are allocation....
It is important that a particular ip address is only used by one device on a network of devices will get confused who they are talking to (probably obvious).
The normal way of doing this is to use a DHCP server - devices can then request an ip address from this server which keeps a list of all devices to make sure there are not clashes. This DHCP server is normally in your router (home hub in your case). Normally the DHCP server will put a expiry time on that address. eg it can be used for say 24 hours before the device must request it again. This is to prevent an address be permanently tied up just because a device visited the network once but is never seen again. So when a device requests a new ip address is might get the one it had before or it might get a completely new one.
This is called dynamic ip addressing and generally works fine. However sometimes things can get out of step and a device uses an address it should not.
Static ip addressing is where a device keeps the same ip address all the time. There are two ways of doing this.
1) Still using the DHCP server. But the server reserves a particular ip address for the device and so makes sure no other device will use it. This is generally he best way of having a static ip address as it prevents any confusion - the DHCP server is still in charge of allocating all ip addresses.
2) Manually assign an IP address in each device. So, on a windows machine you would go into the network settings on that machine and tell it use use a fixed address rather than ask the DHCP server for one. This works but can lead to confusion. The DHCP server doesn't know you have done this so could allocate that address to some other device. Not a good thing to happen. There are ways round this (easiest way is to make the manual addresses outside the DHCP allocation range) but this can start getting messy and you have to be careful. Hence option 1 being safest.

I hope this helps rather than confuses (or is telling you how to suck eggs!)
 
neil_g said:
Nothing wrong with setting a static IP as long as its outside of the dhcp range.
Click to expand...
which is what I said above except....
you need to be damn sure you have set the dhcp range right and don't accidentally duplicate the ip address. Also don't do it with something that might roam to another network (eg a laptop or phone). Much better to set static addresses at a central point. ie via DHCP reservation. You would have to have a pretty broken network for this not to work ;)
Just my opinion though. Like you say, handled properly there is nothing wrong with it.
 
Its not the end of the world if you accidentally duplicate an IP, just isolate and change.

Mobile devices yes best not to be done, but for a nas/static device, perfectly acceptable.

Re the master browser, in very rough terms its normally an elected eligible machine on the network that is responsible for the list of devices on a network. Although that wouldn't be set as default, and a quick ping by name (which uses DNS, which would normally be the router) or IP (would also rule out DNS issues) should rule that out.
 
neil_g said:
Nothing wrong with setting a static IP as long as its outside of the dhcp range.
Click to expand...


For clarity, a static IP is assigned to a client device itself (e.g. NAS, PC etc) - often configured in a settings page/dialog or configuration file. And yes, in principle that's fine.

A dynamic IP is assigned to a device by a DHCP server when it is switched on/joined to a network. There's no guarantee that a device will always get the same IP address when it's dynamic IP leases expires and is renewed or when the device is switched off and then switched back on again.

Most devices on your home network will have dynamic IP addresses which are assigned by the DHCP server running on your home hub/router.
You can reserve a particular IP address on the DHCP server (your hub/router) for a device so that said device always gets the same address, which is pretty much the same as configuring the device itself with a static IP address.

There is one advantage in using a DHCP reservation for devices that you can't attach a keyboard/monitor/mouse to, like NAS boxes. Say for example you have a home hub which uses the network 192.168.1.0/24 and you give you NAS box the IP address 192.168.1.20 in that network. Then the home hub breaks and is replaced by one of a different make or model that uses a different network, say 192.168.0.0/24

If you have given a static IP address to the NAS box by configuring it on the NAS box itself, then you have a problem. You can physically plug the NAS box into your new 192.168.0.0/24 network, but because it's address is in a different network (192.168.1.1/24) you won't be able to access it. If on the other hand you had used a DHCP reservation on the old hub/router box, that reservation has gone away and you need to set-up a new one, but in the meantime the NAS box gets an address on the new network and is still accessible.

Of course, in the static IP address scenario you can still get access to the NAS by taking a computer, connecting via ethernet to the NAS and configuring a static IP on the computer in the old 192.168.1.0/24 network. Once you have done that, you can access the NAS again and give it a static IP address in the new network.
 
brman said:
I am curious, what is a "master browser"?
Click to expand...

It's a key feature in the way that NETBIOS works. NETBIOS is a mechanism for providing services over a network - including hostname resolution - if a computer wants to know what IP address a NAS box on the network has, the computer could very well use a NETBIOS query to find out.

In a Workgroup network (N.B. a non-domain network) each Windows machine will be subject to an election process where by one of the Windows machines will be elected 'master browser'. The 'master browser' machine maintains a register of all the Windows devices on the network. Then, when a Windows machine which is not the master browser desires to know where another machine on the network is, it will emit a query which the master browser can answer.

There are a number of things that can influence which computer on the network can become master browser.
1) Operating System - machines running more recent versions of Windows will win out over machines running older versions
2) Uptime - machines that have been switched on for longer are also more likely to be elected master browser
3) Other stuff probably

When I first started using a NAS box, I found that I couldn't always get to it - I resolved it by:

1) making the NAS always act as master browser - it running NETBIOS under SAMBA basically feigns an unrealistically high OS version trying to guarantee that it wins the master browser election
2) leaving the NAS on so it always had a full 'register' of the other devices on the network. One of my theories was turning on my desktop meant that it got elected master browser, but because it was new to the network it didn't know about the NAS and so my laptop never got an answer from the new master browser when looking for the NAS
3) knobbling the registry on the desktop so that it couldn't become master browser

To be honest, NETBIOS is a PITA and really not required where there's DNS, but there's no way of disabling it and Windows will insist using it. If it is the problem then your only recourse is the above three steps. The 3rd step is only necessary if 1 and 2 don't work on their own. It's possible to find out which machine is master browser at any given time, hopefully a search should yield results on how to do this, as well as change the registry to disable master browserage.
 
afasoas said:
For clarity, a static IP is assigned to a client device itself (e.g. NAS, PC etc) - often configured in a settings page/dialog or configuration file. And yes, in principle that's fine.

A dynamic IP is assigned to a device by a DHCP server when it is switched on/joined to a network. There's no guarantee that a device will always get the same IP address when it's dynamic IP leases expires and is renewed or when the device is switched off and then switched back on again.

Most devices on your home network will have dynamic IP addresses which are assigned by the DHCP server running on your home hub/router.
You can reserve a particular IP address on the DHCP server (your hub/router) for a device so that said device always gets the same address, which is pretty much the same as configuring the device itself with a static IP address.

There is one advantage in using a DHCP reservation for devices that you can't attach a keyboard/monitor/mouse to, like NAS boxes. Say for example you have a home hub which uses the network 192.168.1.0/24 and you give you NAS box the IP address 192.168.1.20 in that network. Then the home hub breaks and is replaced by one of a different make or model that uses a different network, say 192.168.0.0/24

If you have given a static IP address to the NAS box by configuring it on the NAS box itself, then you have a problem. You can physically plug the NAS box into your new 192.168.0.0/24 network, but because it's address is in a different network (192.168.1.1/24) you won't be able to access it. If on the other hand you had used a DHCP reservation on the old hub/router box, that reservation has gone away and you need to set-up a new one, but in the meantime the NAS box gets an address on the new network and is still accessible.

Of course, in the static IP address scenario you can still get access to the NAS by taking a computer, connecting via ethernet to the NAS and configuring a static IP on the computer in the old 192.168.1.0/24 network. Once you have done that, you can access the NAS again and give it a static IP address in the new network.
Click to expand...

Something I've found consistently over the years, with multiple broadband routers, is more often than not, it's the DHCP server element on the router that crashes forcing a restart to get things rolling again. I'm not talking daily here, but when the whole thing just clogs up, it's usually devices failing to obtain an IP address.

You're not wrong in anything you say, but static addresses in a properly configured network are really nothing to be afraid of, and actually, can be quite a reliability boost.
 
Furtim said:
Something I've found consistently over the years, with multiple broadband routers, is more often than not, it's the DHCP server element on the router that crashes forcing a restart to get things rolling again. I'm not talking daily here, but when the whole thing just clogs up, it's usually devices failing to obtain an IP address.

You're not wrong in anything you say, but static addresses in a properly configured network are really nothing to be afraid of, and actually, can be quite a reliability boost.
Click to expand...

I suppose I'd agree with that, but if the DHCP server is non-functional then the whole network is stuffed until the router is restarted anyway?



Reminds me of a weird problem I had at home the other night actually, where nothing on either the guest or main home networks would get DHCP addresses. The funny thing is, each of those networks has a different DHCP server. I could see the DHCP servers receiving the DHCP discover from the clients and issuing a DHCP Offer, but there were no DHCP requests/acknowledgements being recorded. Thirty minutes into investigating the problem, it resolved itself. I'm putting it down to an issue with the wireless access point as it's the only thing that clients on both networks had in common. I was forced to give my laptop a static IP address in order to access the DHCP servers and see what was going on :/

I still prefer to generally rely on DHCP because it means that there's only one place to configure stuffs, in terms of DNS servers, Gateway etc. and I've seen more strange issues by devices being added to a network with incorrectly configured statics then I have DHCP problems.

I hope the OP gets there issue resolved soon ....

This page shows how to manually find the master browser - shouldn't be too laborious on a small network: http://scottiestech.info/2009/02/14/how-to-determine-the-master-browser-in-a-windows-workgroup/
 
afasoas said:
I suppose I'd agree with that, but if the DHCP server is non-functional then the whole network is stuffed until the router is restarted anyway?
Click to expand...

Not at all - only those devices with dynamic IP addresses at the end of their lease. Anything static will work just fine - that's kind of the point.

afasoas said:
Reminds me of a weird problem I had at home the other night actually, where nothing on either the guest or main home networks would get DHCP addresses. The funny thing is, each of those networks has a different DHCP server. I could see the DHCP servers receiving the DHCP discover from the clients and issuing a DHCP Offer, but there were no DHCP requests/acknowledgements being recorded. Thirty minutes into investigating the problem, it resolved itself. I'm putting it down to an issue with the wireless access point as it's the only thing that clients on both networks had in common. I was forced to give my laptop a static IP address in order to access the DHCP servers and see what was going on :/

I still prefer to generally rely on DHCP because it means that there's only one place to configure stuffs, in terms of DNS servers, Gateway etc. and I've seen more strange issues by devices being added to a network with incorrectly configured statics then I have DHCP problems.
Click to expand...

It's a fair approach. Incidentally, if you can still maintain DNS etc through the router by using the router as the DNS address on the end user device.

Personally, I use static addresses for my router (obviously!) and other permanent installations (NAS, Printers, Sky Boxes etc). It means that devices tend to stick around on the network better, and are always available for other devices to find when needed - back to the OP's point. You can clearly achieve the same with reserved addresses within the DHCP server, but that's just another component to fail, so I prefer to cut it back to the basics; it does require a bit of thought upfront, but nothing significant.
 
Wow this has gone way above my level of IT understanding! But will give this all a go soon. Am on holiday this week and given my day job is looking at a monitor all day I'm trying to avoid it for now!
 
afasoas said:
It's a key feature in the way that NETBIOS works. NETBIOS is a mechanism for providing services over a network - including hostname resolution - if a computer wants to know what IP address a NAS box on the network has, the computer could very well use a NETBIOS query to find out.

In a Workgroup network (N.B. a non-domain network) each Windows machine will be subject to an election process where by one of the Windows machines will be elected 'master browser'. The 'master browser' machine maintains a register of all the Windows devices on the network. Then, when a Windows machine which is not the master browser desires to know where another machine on the network is, it will emit a query which the master browser can answer.

There are a number of things that can influence which computer on the network can become master browser.
1) Operating System - machines running more recent versions of Windows will win out over machines running older versions
2) Uptime - machines that have been switched on for longer are also more likely to be elected master browser
3) Other stuff probably

When I first started using a NAS box, I found that I couldn't always get to it - I resolved it by:

1) making the NAS always act as master browser - it running NETBIOS under SAMBA basically feigns an unrealistically high OS version trying to guarantee that it wins the master browser election
2) leaving the NAS on so it always had a full 'register' of the other devices on the network. One of my theories was turning on my desktop meant that it got elected master browser, but because it was new to the network it didn't know about the NAS and so my laptop never got an answer from the new master browser when looking for the NAS
3) knobbling the registry on the desktop so that it couldn't become master browser

To be honest, NETBIOS is a PITA and really not required where there's DNS, but there's no way of disabling it and Windows will insist using it. If it is the problem then your only recourse is the above three steps. The 3rd step is only necessary if 1 and 2 don't work on their own. It's possible to find out which machine is master browser at any given time, hopefully a search should yield results on how to do this, as well as change the registry to disable master browserage.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. I have to admit that after I posted the question I remembered what it was. In fact I remembered I have my nas as master browser for exactly the reasons you mention above...... :whistle:

I have to admit I have got a bit lost here as to what the recommendation for Michael is now?
- Tick the box to make the nas master browser
- give the nas a reserved IP address in the router
or manually fix the nas IP address because the home hub is so crap its dhcp cannot be trusted?
 
brman said:
Thanks for that. I have to admit that after I posted the question I remembered what it was. In fact I remembered I have my nas as master browser for exactly the reasons you mention above...... :whistle:

I have to admit I have got a bit lost here as to what the recommendation for Michael is now?
- Tick the box to make the nas master browser
- give the nas a reserved IP address in the router
or manually fix the nas IP address because the home hub is so crap its dhcp cannot be trusted?
Click to expand...

I've one more question to the OP - how are you referring to the NAS when trying to connect to it? By name or by IP address?

If it's by name (and I assume it is) what happens when you try to 'ping' the name in a terminal / command window? Does it resolve the name to an IP address immediately (when you're having issues connecting to it).

If not, the master browser approach may be your fix.

If when you're having issues connecting by name, try connecting by IP address. If that works, again it's the master browser problem likely
 
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