Networking/Notification help needed

[Dale-D]

I have an Apple Script app that I run to connect me to my NAS box. I used to get notifications when my mapped drives/folders would be disconnected. For some reason I'm no longer getting notified (I think someone... the wife... clicked on "don't notify me" on one of the disconnect messages, and I don't know how to turn it back on.

 

[Dale-D]

If it would help I can post a copy of the script.

 

[r0k]

If it would help I can post a copy of the script.

Yes please post the script. Be sure to delete any user names, ip addresses, host names, etc. We don't need to know that stuff to help you with this.

 

[Dale-D]

OK... Here it is:

tell application "Finder"
mount volume "cifs://Username: password@BA-35B126/Music"
end tell

A pretty basic script. There are 6 more entries for various shares on the NAS like Video, Pictures, Public, Software, and two different user shares. I guess I should also be looking at WHY either my rMBP or the NAS is causing the disconnects, but nothing had changed when the problems started to occur. About four weeks before hand I had changed some network cables from standard CAT5 to CAT6e SSTP, but everything was fine (see below).

Also, this script has been working great from when I first got the NAS (about 6 months ago) until about a week and a half ago. And it may not have been the wife that clicked on the "ignore this message" button when there was an error with the connection to the NAS... it may have been me that either told her to do it, or me who did it. This may have actually happened while at the in-laws where I could obviously NOT connect to the NAS.

 

[Dale-D]

I may very well have solved my own problem without knowing it...

On my wireless network I have IP address reservation set up, along with a MAC address list for all allowed devices. No device that is not on the list can connect. I recently redid the list because of a problem with two devices. The whole list was scrapped and re-done. It just so happens that there were two entries for my Macbook... one for OS X and one for Windows7 under bootcamp. Neither off them is why I recreated the access list, but doing so seems to have solved the problem as I no longer run Win7 (it outlived it's usefulness), and no longer have two entries for the same MAC address.

Over the past few days I haven't experienced any dropped connections to the NAS. Before I call this one "solved" it will take at least another week for me to feel comfortable with calling it so.

Any thoughts on this?

 

[r0k]

I may very well have solved my own problem without knowing it...

On my wireless network I have IP address reservation set up, along with a MAC address list for all allowed devices. No device that is not on the list can connect. I recently redid the list because of a problem with two devices. The whole list was scrapped and re-done. It just so happens that there were two entries for my Macbook... one for OS X and one for Windows7 under bootcamp. Neither off them is why I recreated the access list, but doing so seems to have solved the problem as I no longer run Win7 (it outlived it's usefulness), and no longer have two entries for the same MAC address.

Over the past few days I haven't experienced any dropped connections to the NAS. Before I call this one "solved" it will take at least another week for me to feel comfortable with calling it so.

Any thoughts on this?

I can't imagine how mac address filtering settings in your router could affect your Mac's ability to see and stay connected to an NAS drive. It sounds like you re-did all the settings and that caused your router to reset. The fact your router resetting happened around the time everything started working makes me wonder about your router. Is your router also your switch? It could be the router is causing your intermittent issues and they may start up again after "a while." If they do, try simply resetting/rebooting the router again to see if everything starts working fine again. Rebooting happens whenever you change a setting like the admin password or mac address list but there should be a menu to simply reboot without changing any settings at all.

I used to have a lot of intermittent issues with the internet in my house when I had Zyxel, Netgear and D-Link routers. They were all good routers, but every time Comcast decided it was time for me to get a new ip address, the router would go belly up and my internet for the whole house would go down. This seemed to happen on a monthly basis. Then I got an Apple router. I have not had to reset it since (except for occasional software updates).

 

[Dale-D]

Well r0k, the problem does indeed seem to be solved by re-doing the MAC address connection list. I had also replaced my old router (a Netgear WNDR 3400) with a new Netgear WNDR 4500. The old router was causing connection issues... not with wireless clients, but between the router and cable modem. It was replaced a few months ago, before I dumped my bootcamp partition. The problem did not occur until after deleting it.

Also, the router was not resetting itself. Other clients attached to the network, and to the NAS box, did not experience the problem. It was only my Macbook.

I want to clarify the MAC address thing... I wasn't filtering but restricting access to the router (wireless of course, not wired clients) and only allowing clients with known MAC addresses to connect. It prevents the neighbors, or someone parked close by in a car, from attaching to my network. I was only loosing the mounts to the NAS, not loosing connectivity to the network.

I think with having the same MAC address entered into the list twice (once for OS X, and once for the bootcamped Win7) did actually cause the problem. How I'm not quite sure, but since deleting the bootcamp partition AND re-doing the MAC address allowed client access list I've had no problems with loosing the mounts to my NAS box.

Interesting problem you had with Comcast (I'm stuck with them too). In all the years I've been running a router with Comcast cable internet I've never run into an issue like that. My IP rarely changes, however. It only changed recently after switching DNS providers (from OpenDNS back to Comcast... long story there on why). Before then I had the same IP for nearly three years.

Still, if anyone has an explanation for the problem I had been experiencing please chime in.