Problems with SMB share

[Tinton]

Hello, I'm having problems with XBMC on my original xbox. I'm using windows sharing, sharing from 2 Windows 7 computers to the xbox. Most of the time it works fine, I can browse to SMB in the xbox and navigate the workgroup to play my files. After a while however, the xbox just stops seeing the workgroup. Up until a week or so ago it didn't do this, and I haven't really changed much else in my setup, so it has me stumped. If I disconnect my laptop from the network, and reboot my desktop, and get the laptop on the network after the desktop boots it fixes the problem and the xbox can see everything fine. Resetting the router doesn't fix it.

I thought it was related to some of the other things I'm running. I'm running a ZEQ2 (old quake 3 based game) server and recently had a problem with it not seeing the master server, I had to specify it manually and this problem with the xbox seems to have started the same time I started doing that. But I turned my laptop (what runs the server) off last night and woke up today to the problem, so I don't know. On my desktop I have to turn the date back to 26/09/2012 to play a certain game and I thought that was causing it, but yesterday I was watching a movie on the xbox, didn't set the date back on my desktop or mess with it in any way and the xbox did it again.

So....cliffnotes: XBMC initially sees the workgroup and plays files fine, but after a few hours it can't see the workgroup. Resetting the router or the xbox doesn't fix it. The only thing that seems to fix it is resetting my desktop.

Is there a workaround? Is there some better way of sharing files I should be using?

Edit: other info: when it does this, the Windows 7 computers don't have any problems with the workgroup, they see the workgroup and each other and share files just fine. I have a WDTV live on another TV that encounters similar problems, but not always at the same time as the xbox. The xbox also has these problems regardless of having the WDTV in the setup.