Why does a shared drive keep disconnecting on my network?

[Hokie]

I have a small home network with two desktops and a laptop. I am running XP Home on one desktop and Vista Home Premium on the other. The are both wired to a D-link 624 router. I have the Shared Docs folder mapped as a drive on the Vista machine. It seems to disconnect quite often. It is a pain since I use a printer attached to the XP machine as my main printer. If I reconnect the shared drive the printer will work also. I think it may be disconnecting on router reboots. I know how to reconnect it but my wife is lost and has to call me to get the printer to work. I think I have the same problem from the laptop running XP Home and connecting with a wireless card.

Just a general comment: I have found problems all along with running Windows XP on a peer to peer network. Mapping drives makes it easier to reconnect but I still have disconnects and slow response at times. Are there better routers or ways to set up shared resources? I have run the Windows network setup wizard on all of the machines.

[Hokie]

1. I may have found a fix - LLTD Responder

I think this solved my problem. I had to install something called Link-Layer Topology Discovery (LLTD) in order to query the other devices on the network to determine how the network is organized. It is a download from Microsoft for XP. This must be the new version of the old network browser in XP that was riddled with problems. I installed this on the XP machine and rebooted. So far so good.

http://tinyurl.com/25tvod

[Hokie]

2. Maybe not...

The XP machine still disappears from the network window on the Vista machine after a while. I ran the net work set up wizard on the XP machine and made sure they were in the same work group. The shared folder is still accessible if I click on it however.

[trotsky]

3. I have a DI-624 (rev C) and was plagued by constant reboots.

An otherwise solid router, this one flaw made it darn near unusable at times.

Fortunately someone took matters into their own hands and made their own firmware for the device. The interface looks different but otherwise has all the same features. I've been running it for a few weeks and am happy to report it has been up SOLID. Not a single reboot that I'm aware of.

Of course now I'm having a bear of a time finding the discussion thread detailing where to get this firmware and how to do the update. I'll keep looking and can give you the link if you are interested.

[Hokie]

4. I have seen some reboots on my DI-624

I don't think that is the problem though but I will start checking the router log. I am running firmware version 2.76 dated August 2006. Are you talking about the Surecom firmware mentioned here: http://tinyurl.com/2w4vss ? I have upgraded firmware before but this one sounds risky.

[trotsky]

5. That's the thread!

Yes, the process sounds very risky. I even went to Best Buy and bought a new router to have on hand just in case the process turned my DI-624 into a brick. But I had also been running the D-Link 2.76 firmware and constantly had reboot issues. The update is tricky - the D-Link's firmware detects that it is not a "valid" (i.e., D-Link) firmware image so you have to go the emergency recovery route. But it does work, and I'm glad now I did it. (Plus now I get to take the new router back to BB and get my money back.)