Buffalo NAS - randomly drop from network, mobile works!

[Andeh1]

I have a Buffalo NAS, it's old but generally works. Occasionally if it isn't used in ages it drops off the network, but a power cycle brings it back on!

However, over the last week it is truly playing silly buggers! When I try to load it from 'My network' it comes up with an error message of:

'an error occurred while reconnecting to *drive*.
Microsoft Windows Network: the local device name is already in use. This connection has not been restored'

\Via the Buffalo NAS software, it is also not detected on the network.

After repeated power cycles, over a couple of days it eventually did come back to life & i had to remap the drive, but it has fallen over again.

However, through my mobile/file explorer on it I can still connect to it without any problems!


Any pointers on where to start looking to repair windows / why Windows fails but through my mobile it works?

Cheers,

[hersh]

Hi

Had a Buffalo nas but the recent versions of Windows don't support the older versions of snb, this is (probably) your problem

I had the same problems as you are having, lots of info on the net

Eventually bought a bare synology nas drive and transferred the drives

Move one, format, transfer data, move second drive (assuming you are mirroring drives)

The synology nas are far superior, add files to the buffalo and they take ages to appear, synology are instant

Plus lots of apps which buffalo don't support

Not cheap but is a damn good upgrade

Lots of apps available too

Personal experience, Synology are far, far better than buffalo

Hope this helps

[Timothy Bucktu]

Are you connecting to it using the IP address or network name?
Can you still ping the NAS's IP address?
Can you access the shares using the IP i.e \\192.168.1.xx\

[OldGermanHeaps]

I have lost count of older nas drives, dvrs and nvrs which have started to give random faults and it has been down to the 12v power adapter giving out an unstable voltage as the caps age. Do you have a similar power brick to test by substitution ?

[Andeh1]

Thanks for the replies all!

Timothy Bucktu said:

Are you connecting to it using the IP address or network name?
Can you still ping the NAS's IP address?
Can you access the shares using the IP i.e \\192.168.1.xx\

How would I ping the IP address? Via a command prompt?

hersh said:

Hi

Had a Buffalo nas but the recent versions of Windows don't support the older versions of snb, this is (probably) your problem

I had the same problems as you are having, lots of info on the net

Eventually bought a bare synology nas drive and transferred the drives

Move one, format, transfer data, move second drive (assuming you are mirroring drives)

The synology nas are far superior, add files to the buffalo and they take ages to appear, synology are instant

Plus lots of apps which buffalo don't support

Not cheap but is a damn good upgrade

Lots of apps available too

Personal experience, Synology are far, far better than buffalo

Hope this helps

There could be some milage in this! Through curiosity I found an old yoga book and that works without any issues!!! So came in here to ask why two laptops, one works and one doesn't.... But the older windows vs newer windows stacks up here!

The buffalo NAS is coming up to 11 years old turns out.

[Andeh1]

OldGermanHeaps said:

I have lost count of older nas drives, dvrs and nvrs which have started to give random faults and it has been down to the 12v power adapter giving out an unstable voltage as the caps age. Do you have a similar power brick to test by substitution ?

Thanks, I did wonder this as I know degrading power supplies can cause all manner of anomalies with electronics. Unfortunately, I don't... But I tried a different USB plug (more powerful one) just in case!

[camel_landy]

Andeh1 said:

How would I ping the IP address? Via a command prompt?

Yep

ping <ip_addr>
ping <hostname>

ping 192.168.0.1
ping my_nas

HTH

M

[hersh]

Andeh1 said:

There could be some milage in this! Through curiosity I found an old yoga book and that works without any issues!!! So came in here to ask why two laptops, one works and one doesn't.... But the older windows vs newer windows stacks up here!

The buffalo NAS is coming up to 11 years old turns out.

As said, been there....

My first nas (and second) were buffalo, great drives, but are dated

[Andeh1]

Thanks all, I got my hopes up...my older Laptop also fails to detect the NAS...but I am sure I managed to get it work last week when I tried it.

My issue still persists though. My phone and my Kodi box can connect to it stil and can download, upload, play files etc without any issue; but the Buffalo Phone apps fail to detect it, and I cant connect via Web Access (albeit it its flakily at the best of times).

I also can't work out how to find the IP address of it, is there a way via android or Kodi of extracting it from the connection I can muster?

I hate network systems, despite 4 x MESH network, and a full switch/patch panel/CAT6A backbone round the house... this NAS is a pain in the ass & funds don't allow a proper Synology replacement just yet. The fact my phone can still extract it means there's something blocking it in Windows.

Edited by Andeh1 on Tuesday 31st December 13:19

[hersh]

I have an app on my android phone call "fing"
It tells me all the connected devices on my network, complete with ip addresses and mostly with device name
Dowloadable from google playstore
Try that

Edited by hersh on Tuesday 31st December 21:39

Edited by hersh on Tuesday 31st December 21:39

[OldGermanHeaps]

Make sure your mesh wifi isnt causing double nat.

[camel_landy]

Andeh1 said:

I also can't work out how to find the IP address of it...

You can probably find it in your network management/setup console.

There's usually a screen which will display the details (MAC, IP, etc) of all connected devices.

M

[Andeh1]

OldGermanHeaps said:

Make sure your mesh wifi isnt causing double nat.

Ah, so this could be a suspect! I ran a trace and the first two IPs are private / 192.168.x.x etc. which implies I am double NAT.

When I open up my plusnet router though, it has 'bridging' disabled by default. DECO Mesh is also operating in WI-Fi Router mode which enables NAT and DHCP server by default.


''Enabling Bridge mode means Routing, NAT, DHCP Server and Local DNS will be disabled.

The Plusnet Hub will only act as a modem.'' [b] [disabled] [/b/]

Edited by Andeh1 on Thursday 2nd January 10:42

However, when I 'enable' bridging mode to enable my Deco Mesh to manage it all.... it kills the internet connection?

Edited by Andeh1 on Thursday 2nd January 10:42

[Andeh1]

And there we go. Double NAT was the issue! Thank you OldGerman & the suggestions from everyone else

As soon as I disabled it on my Mesh network (per the above post, where the internet drop'd out when I enabled bridging mode on my router) the NAS box appears.

I would still prefer DECO to be the master & the plus net router in bridge mode, if anyone has any suggestions as why enabling bridging on my Router kills the connection?