Problems Between LS-250GL and Vista

[SCADAczar]

   

I have a Buffalo LS-250GL NAS drive that I have had for about 3 years. I recently replaced my laptops running XP with new laptops running Vista Home Premium. Now I find that I'm having problems with Vista freezing up about 20% of the time when I attempt to copy or write a file to the Linkstation. I had this problem with XP but not nearly as severe. It appears that when an application is writing files to the Linkstation, the files do indeed get written but the application never acknowledges that the write operation was successfully completed and the application cannot be terminated even with Task Manager. Normally I have to shut down the laptop with the power button. I have also experienced the problem while copying files with Windows Explorer. The copy files progress bar shows about 35%-40% complete and then it just stops updating. After doing a hard reset, Windows Explorer shows that the files were copying to the Linkstation but it seems that application doing the writing/copying just doesn't know the operations status. A specific example is when backing up Quicken data files using Quicken's file backup, 3 out of 5 times it works but when it doesn't, Quicken just hangs as if it's still waiting for the write process to complete. Once again, after doing a hard reset, I can see that all 4 Quicken files did get written to the Linkstation.

I checked Buffalo's knowledge base and I made the recommended change to the Windows Registry by setting [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlLsa] "LmCompatibilityLevel" to 1 but it didn't help the situation. My LS-250GL is running firmware version 1.03 and I connect to my Linkstation through a D-Link DI-624. I have no problems copying files from, deleting files or moving files around between folders on the Linkstation. I'd really appreciate any suggestions or help in making my NAS more reliable.

Thanks,

Bill

[Kameran]

   

First thing you need to update your firmware to 1.15 at

 

http://www.buffalotech.com/support/downloads/

 

Run through that and let us know what issues follow the update.

[SCADAczar]

   

Kameran,

Thanks for your reply. I thought about the firmware update but the last time I did an update I temporarily turned it into a brick as I attempted to do it through my router. Finally someone from Buffalo support talked me through the process of updating with the Linkstation connected directly with my laptop. Unfortunately I can't rememberwhat those steps were. I'll search through the knowledge base to see if I can find those instructions. You wouldn't happen to know the tricks to it would you?

Thanks,

Bill : )

[tanjl]

   

SCAD,

 

In order not to brick yout Linkstation, make sure it is connected thru LAN directly to your PC.

 

Extract the downloaded firmware and run the LSUpdater.exe file.

 

One it starts running, it will start to detect the linkstation.

 

If it detects the Linkstation, check the IP address listed there and assign a static IP in the same range to your PC.

 

It will not flash the firmware if the IP addresses of the linkstation and the PC is different.

 

Then proceed to update the firmware.

[SCADAczar]

   

OK, with the very helpful assistance of Buffalo Tech Support I was able to perform a firmware upgrade on my LinkStation. But after spending 2 hours and 15 minutes on the phone the problem still persists. The Buffalo tech was very apologetic but said there really wasn't anything else he could do since the LinkStation appears to be working correctly with my XP machine but the hiccup only appears with my Vista machine and then only about 33% of the time. He did suggest taking a look at my firewall and antivirus programs as being the possible culprit. I'm currently using Computer Associates Internet Security Suite 2007 but I use it on both the XP and Vista machines. I guess I'd like to know what anyone thinks about a possible conflict between the security software and Vista that may cause this problem. As I mentioned in my original post, when 33% of the time when I copy files from my Vista machine to the LS-250GL the files actually do get written but Windows file progress dialog box never shows the operation complete and I can't close out the dialog box even with Task Manager. Any suggestions would be very welcome.

 

Thanks,

Bill : )

[SCADAczar]

   Well if anyone is curious I solved my own problem. I was fortunate enough to have another laptop that is identical to mine that I could use to access my Linkstation. I found that all file transfer with this laptop worked perfectly which led me to believe their was in fact something different with my laptop. Both machines were running Vista Home Premium but my Windows appearance setting was set to Windows Basic while the other laptop was set to Windows Aero. And that was the problem. When I reset my laptop to have it's desktop appearance from Basic to Aero, all the file transfers to and from the Linkstation work perfectly. I can't believe it was that simple.

[SCADAczar]

   OK, I apparently jumped the gun on the solution. When I thought I fixed the problem my Linkstation drive was completely empty except for the folders I created. Now that I've put some files on it the problem has returned. Whenever I write or copy files to the drive, they actually do get written to the drive but Vista still hangs up on the calculating time remaining dialog box. No matter how long I wait, the dialog box doesn't go away and Task Manager can't get rid of it either and I have to shutdown the laptop. It has to be Vista because my XP laptop works just fine with this NAS drive. Does anyone out there have a solution to this problem?? I'm getting desperate!

[Dustrega]

Are you currently accessing the drive by IP address or hostname? If hostname try by IP address. Vista has a small name resolution problem that should have been fixed by that patch you installed, however accessing by IP address is more direct.

[SCADAczar]

   

Dustrega, thanks for your reply. I'm not sure how to answer your question as I'm not a network expert by any means. You might have to give me directions on how to find out the answer and how to change the way I currently access the drive. All I did was use "Map Network Drive" and then I browsed to find the folders I created on the Linkstation. My Linkstation is listed as \\LS-GL96B in Window's Computer window.

 

I did some experimentation tonight and found that if I disable my WiFi and connect directly to my router from the laptop's Ethernet port, I can transfer files of any size with no problems. The problem seems to be confined to WiFi access. I have a D-Link DI-624 G spec router and my WiFi cards are also G spec and my network stats show I'm connected at 54mbps. Curiously though, after working with Buffalo's tech, we ended up deleting all my files and folders from the Linkstation. While my drive was basically empty, I could wirelessly transfer test files of up to 400mb with no problem. But as I added more files and I found that my Vista laptop would no longer transfer files and would hang on the "Calculating Time Remaining" dialog box. I finally went back to my old XP laptop and successfully transferred all my files back to the Linkstation over WiFi with no problems. I only have about 1gb of data but there are a lot of files (jpgs etc.) and it seems the more files I put on it the trouble Vista has. I hope I've supplied enough information to enable you to offer some help.

 

Thanks,

Bill : )

[Dustrega]

SCADAczar wrote:
 

Dustrega, thanks for your reply. I'm not sure how to answer your question as I'm not a network expert by any means. You might have to give me directions on how to find out the answer and how to change the way I currently access the drive. All I did was use "Map Network Drive" and then I browsed to find the folders I created on the Linkstation. My Linkstation is listed as \\LS-GL96B in Window's Computer window.

It looks like you're accessing the device by it's network name (higlighted in red above). To access by IP address in XP you would:

1. Click Start->Run 
2. Type in \\[IP_address_of_NAS] (found in the NAS Navigator)
3. Click OK
4. A window with your share folders should come up
5. Right click on the share folder you wish to map
6. Choose Map Network Drive

Go through the wizard and that should do the trick for mapping by IP. Let me know how it goes :)

[SCADAczar]

   

Dustrega wrote:

It looks like you're accessing the device by it's network name (higlighted in red above). To access by IP address in XP you would:

1. Click Start->Run 
2. Type in \\[IP_address_of_NAS] (found in the NAS Navigator)
3. Click OK
4. A window with your share folders should come up
5. Right click on the share folder you wish to map
6. Choose Map Network Drive

Go through the wizard and that should do the trick for mapping by IP. Let me know how it goes :)

Dustrega,

 

Thanks for replying. Since my last reply to you I have found out a lot more about my problem and it appears to be a problem with Vista. No surprise eh? I found that I encounter the same issues when trying to transfer a file between my Vista laptop and a shared folder on another Vista laptop. The file actually does get written but my laptop hangs up on the "Calculating Time Remaining" dialog box. I also found that by using msconfig to disable all third party software from the startup list and rebooting with only the Microsoft services that I still encounter the problem when transferring files to the NAS. But when I boot my laptop into safe mode with networking, I can transfer files to and from the NAS with no problems whatsoever so I know my hardware is working all right. So it's come to this and I am desperate to find a resolution to this problem so I can actually use my network like it should be used. I've Goggled this problem and it's well known and there's a Microsoft knowledge base article (#930771) but it says this problem was fixed in SP1, which I have. I was corresponding with a Microsoft support specialist but she seems to have deep-sixed me since all her tests seem to point to Vista being the problem. If you or anyone have any ideas I really would appreciate it. As I said I'm desperate to find a solution to this.

 

Thanks for looking in...

Bill : )

[Dustrega]

The only thing that I can come up with at this point would be the possibility of the RPC (Remote Procedure Call) Service utilized by Vista. Initially, in Vista the Name Service Provider is actually left blank instead of using the Windows Locator. You could try switching to this if you haven't already:

1. Click Start
2. Go to Control Panel->Network and Sharing Center
3. In the left side of the Network and Sharing Center click on "Manage Network Connections"
4. Right click on your Wireless Network/Local Area Connection
5. Click Properties
6. The first highlighted item in "This connection uses the following items" is "Client for Microsoft Networks"
7. Click on Properties with this highlighted
8. For Name Service Provider choose Windows Locator
9. Click OK
10. Click the Close button next to Cancel
11. Restart your computer for good measure

I'm a Vista (among others) user myself and found some of the networking procedures to be, to say the least troublesome. Chances are this might work although I can't guarantee it. If it doesn't just post back and I'll look into this issue a bit deeper :)

[SCADAczar]

   

Dustrega,

 

Thanks  for your suggestion but it did not solve my problem. However, I was doing some thinking about how when my LS-250GL was erased last week while updating the firmware and at that time I was able to transfer files to the NAS while the drive was empty or nearly empty. But once I reloaded all my the dreaded "Calculating Time Remaining" problem cropped up. It seemed to me that Vista was busy trying to check all the files in the destination folder. I Googled Vista's Indexing Service and followed the instructions below on how to disable this service:

 

 "The indexing service in Windows Vista allows Windows to search for files faster. By default Windows Vista indexes all files. This service can cause a high load on the system.  For the best performance you should disable the indexing service for all other locations other than the Start Menu Note:This will slow down your searches for other locations other than the start menu.

Use the Following steps to adjust the indexing locations:

1. Click on the Start Button and in the search bar type in "Indexing Options" and hit Enter. 
2. When the interface opens select the Modify button.
3. Next, click on Show all locations.
4. Scroll through the view and uncheck any folders you do not wish to be indexed by the operating system.  When completed select OK.
5. For more advanced indexing settings select the Advanced button. Otherwise choose close."

I followed these instructions and first indications are that it has done the trick. I was able to copy several files between 1.8MB and 40MB to the NAS drive without a hitch. I did a reboot and I was able to copy a 111MB to the NAS at a speed of 1.6MB/sec. This is the first time I have been able to do this with Vista since the drive was empty last week. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this is the answer I have been looking for for the last 7 days. What do you think of this solution to the problem and it's long term effects, if any, on my system?

 

Thanks again for your suggestions.

Bill : )

[Dustrega]

At worst the HDD could have bad sectors that aren't being marked in the file table. In the least you won't have file indexing apparently :P However, since you've got the device working thus far I would say keep us posted as developments occur. I'll look into this issue and see what I can come up with on my end.

[SCADAczar]

   

So far everything has been working as I think it should have all along. I've opened and saved files in both Word and Excel and with 1 exception everything went OK. I'm not sure what happened in that 1 exception but Excel did save the file but I had to cancel the save dialog box because it seemed to hang up. After I did a reboot I tried the same file with Excel and it saved correctly. I guess I've been too obsessed with this problem to let it go too soon and think it's solved.

 

I'll admit I'm not a Vista expert and these indexing options are new to me. Your reply has me somewhat concerned about what problems I may encounter. I looked at the location options provided by the index settings and it doesn't show my mapped drives from the NAS, only the partitions on my local drive C, D and R. Since it doesn't show the mapped drives, how did it know to try and index the files on them? I wonder if there is some way I can keep my local drives indexed without having Windows index my mapped drives whenever I try to write to the LS-250GL?

 

Thanks Again!

Bill : )

 

Edit:

 

Right after I wrote my reply I opened up Explorer and copied a 44MB file from my D partiton to a folder on the NAS and my laptop got hung up on the dreaded "Calculating Time Remaining" dialog just like before. So I guess the indexing wasn't the answer after all but it definitely has made a difference. I don't know why it works some times and not all the time. Just when I thought I'd made a breakthrough....:smileymad:

Message Edited by SCADAczar on 04-09-2009 10:23 PM