4.1.7 Slow To Respond To SMB Network Discovery...

Hi Pudsp1,

pudsp1 wrote:
yeah thanks but I think that I'll just use an external hard drive instead, it's a lot less maintenance.

I don't blame you for looking elsewhere. This lack of support from Netgear is *most* disappointing. I am also considering my options. It is quite embarrassing dealing with all the frustrated users I suggested/sold ReadyNAS units to. I am seeing the same problem on all 4.1.7 units.

Regards,
Ian.

Hey guys,

I've got a bug open with the dev team, but can you guys that are experiencing this issue still try a few things here?

Firstly try the SMBNoDisconnect add-on and see if this makes a difference:
http://www.readynas.com/download/addons ... ct_0.2.bin

Another thing you may want to try are these registry tweaks:

[Start] [Run] [Regedit]
Registry Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RemoteComputer\NameSpace

Modify/Create the Value Data Type(s) and Value Name(s) as detailed below.

Disable Scheduled Task Checking
Value Name: {D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}
Delete the sub-key in the left pane of Registry Editor

Disable Printer Checking
Value Name: {2227A280-3AEA-1069-A2DE-08002B30309D}
Delete the sub-key in the left pane of Registry Editor

Exit Registry and Reboot

Hi Siigna,

I think you are missing/forgetting some of the details of the issue. In my case some of the devices being affected are domestic appliance type PVR (Personal Video Recorder) / media player devices. They don't run Windows and don't have a registry. They are a Linux based appliance with no user access to the underlying operating system. Everything was working fine with 4.1.6. Problems started when 4.1.7 was installed. The issue is with the ReadyNAS and not the external devices.

What does the SMBNoDisconnect add-on do in this scenario? I understand that the add-on makes all connections to the ReadyNAS permanent even if they remain inactive for long periods. There is a warning with the add-on that doing so can stop the ReadyNAS from freeing up unused resources. Won't this cause problems later on down the track? Can the add-on be removed if it doesn't help, or causes other problems?

This add-on was never required for past versions of RAIDiator. Installing it now seems counter intuitive to the situation. It would appear that you are expecting the patch to make the first connection painfully slow but then by keeping the connection alive, permanently, that the issue will go undetected until the connection is broken. This is likely to happen every day when I turn on and use any of my PVRs. This would appear to be yet another work around to the problem and not a real fix.

Please advise.

Regards,
Ian.

I agree with Ian - this "patch" is likely to cause other problems.
I rather stay with the current workaround: toggle CIFS once after each reboot of the NAS (which does not happen so often in my case).
To keep SMB connections permanently open will not help much; for each PC the first connection would still be painfully slow. And I'm not sure about negative side-effects.

I still asume that the problem is caused on the NAS side (some samba-specific settings). What we know for sure is that the samba version has changed.

PS: it was reported that NFS is also effected (with the same "trick": toggle NFS will temporarily resolve the issue); the idea that this could be related to the name resolve order has turned out to be wrong.

The NoSMBDisconnect add-on has been around for a quite a long while, well before the most recent firmware. If it doesn't have a GUI, I believe reinstalling the add-on would change things back to the default settings. Also in the event resources get used up you could always reboot the NAS would free up resources.

Hi Mdgm,

The NoSMBDisconnect add-on suggestion appears to be another work around suggestion that avoids any real effort to identify and resolve the real underlying issue. This work around appears to come with its own risks.

This issue has been outstanding for *far* too long. It has been well over six months since the problems were reported. If Netgear don't want to fix the problems with 4.1.7 then they should offer any affected users an equivalent replacement models that uses the 4.2.x series of firmware.

Regards,
Ian.

Whether or not the NoSMBDisconnect add-on fixes the problem it is worth trying it. This addon is a bit like doing a registry tweak except it's the Linux equivalent. It's reversible and I don't see it as a risky thing to try at all.

If NetGear can reproduce a problem and identify it's a problem with the firmware then they work on a fix. Since they haven't released an update since 4.1.7 it would seem it's not a widespread issue or it would be easy for them to reproduce it.

Hi Mdgm,

The NoSMBDisconnect add-on will not fix the problem. Its documented functionality indicates that it may possibly camouflage the issue. The add-on will likely cause its own issues over time. This add-on was *NOT* required for the previous firmware release why should it be required now? I asked Netgear a direct question regarding the suggestion but they have not given me the courtesy of a reply.

I, for one, offered Netgear direct access to my network so that they could see the bug in action. They have, to date, never taken me up on the offer. This seems to indicate that they already have an example of the problem, know what the issue is and haven't/can't fix it or they have a significant lack of interest in identifying or fixing the problem. What ever the case they are handling this issue very poorly.

The length and number of reads of this thread indicate that there is some interest in the topic. There are also a number of threads with similar content. Perhaps some users may choose to not post but are monitoring the thread for an answer. I suspect that the issue is more widespread than your post would suggest.

Regards,
Ian.

IanSav wrote:
This issue has been outstanding for *far* too long. It has been well over six months since the problems were reported. If Netgear don't want to fix the problems with 4.1.7 then they should offer any affected users an equivalent replacement models that uses the 4.2.x series of firmware.

Reverting to 4.1.6 may be a viable option for some users. Given all the reports of issues with 4.1.7 I decided to stay on 4.1.6 despite wanting (but not needing) some of the enhancements in 4.1.7, and as every day passes without any sign of progress I'm more and more glad I did.

Milhouse wrote:
Reverting to 4.1.6 may be a viable option for some users. Given all the reports of issues with 4.1.7 I decided to stay on 4.1.6 despite wanting (but not needing) some of the enhancements in 4.1.7, and as every day passes without any sign of progress I'm more and more glad I did.

Well, for me those new features (lower fan RPM on disk spin-down, support for larger disks) are important.
Furthermore it's not really an option to stay on an outdated version - just because the latest version is buggy and the vendor seems to be unwilling to fix the bugs. I do not want to decide between missing features and unfixed problems - why should I make any comprimises?

I still have two more years of guaranteed warranty.