External Wireless Hard Drive - Can't Access Files

[davjos 0]

I have been using a Buffalo LinkStation Pro LS-250GL High Speed NAS Wireless External Hard Drive and all of a sudden I can't network with it. It has worked fine for over a year on my primary XP (SP2) laptop until recently, and 2 other laptops I own (both XP SP2) are currently having no problem accessing the hard drive and its files.

 

I can actually access the LinkStation Drive through its web interface and I can log in and change settings -- it just won't let me access any files. I can ping the drive and have no problem finding it but it just doesn’t show up as a letter drive. I have no problem with other wireless connections to other devices, just this one.

 

I have done the following:

• Uninstalled the LinkStation program, then re-installed it

• Downloaded the latest LinkStation firmware

• Deactivated Norton Antivirus

• Turned off Windows Firewall

• Tried to re-map the drive

• Spoke to tech support for LinkStation and Norton – both said it’s a Windows issue

• Used the reset button on the LinkStation; also shut off and re-started it

• Re-booted the laptop several times

 

I have been in contact with BuffaloTech support as well as Symantec/Norton and both insist that something changed in Windows to cause access problems. I have disabled and re-enabled Norton Antivirus and uninstalled and re-installed the Buffalo LinkStation software and updated their firmware to no avail.

 

I haven't used the external drive for a month, maybe 2 months, and I don’t know if I could even rollback far enough to a system restore point to see if that would solve the issue.

 

Any ideas as to why/how this happened? Could it have been a Windows Update that caused a conflict?

[peterh 1]

I would check the following settings in the web interface:

 

1. Network

1a. Workgroup/Domain. Make sure the Workgroup name (not a domain) matches the one configured on your PC. On XP, it defaults to XPHOME, on Buffalo it may be WORKGROUP!

1b. Check authentication matches your Workgroup setup (I cannot read settings from manual)

 

2. Disk Management.

2a. Run a Disk Check on disks to ensure they are ok.

 

3. Shared Folders.

3a.Make sure a share called 'Share' is set up otherwise you need to configure it again.

3b. In the permissions, make sure all the relevant users have rights to access the share(s).

 

4. User Management.

4a. There are two users will access by default but you may have added new users. Check them here and if password is wrong, change it here. Make sure users have rights to the share (see above).

[thomaspark89 0]

If you cant access shared files on other computers as weell, and the laptop has recently been updated by Microsoft then the following could of happened.

 

The NeBIOS Feature in your Network Adpater could have been Unchecked. This will stop you from accessing anything on the network, depending what other feature of the network adapter are enabled.