Vista - For Brink: ref the Network Idle Session Time Tutorial

This is my first post - hope I'm doing it properly. It is directed to "Brink", whoever you are! I think I may have to send brownies or chocolate chip cookies or my first-born child (just kidding ) to you. You have saved me incredible frustration and many $$$ hiring a tech to fix the problem I was having. I'm not used to failure when I'm working on computer problems, but this one had me stumped: "The specified network name is no longer available."

I have Googled this problem countless times and have spent countless hours trying to come up with a solution. I found many people who were having similar problems but never quite what I was experiencing. I tried a few of the suggested solutions but no joy. Well, except for one person http://www.home-network-help.com/vista-network-map.html where I found out I needed to download an update to the XP laptop. That didn't solve the whole problem, so that's when I found this forum/thread.

PROBLEM: I have an XP laptop that I'm using as a file/print server, with two Maxtor external USB drives, and an HP color laser printer. I have a home network to which I've connected several computers (a wireless XP laptop and two Vista desktops, one Ethernet and one wireless). When I first booted up all the computers in the morning, my Ethernet-connected Vista desktop could access the HP printer and the Maxtor external drives. Thereafter, at some time later, I couldn't get to the XP laptop, nor the printer, nor the Maxtor drives. When I would click on the mapped network drive, I would get the "The specified network name is no longer available". If I rebooted, all was well -- for a time. I could never figure out a sequence of events that was causing the problem.

UNTIL... I came across this thread and your tutorial Network Idle Session Time to Automatically Disconnect ... OMG!!! THE SOLUTION. Life has been SO good since I set the autodisconnect to 'never'. Disconnect. Geez. I had no idea there was such a thing as Network Idle Session Time.

If I could think of any more ways to say Thank You, I would. I only created an account so that I could post this message.

My very best regards to you.

You're most welcome Sewlady, and welcome to Vista Forums.

I'm so happy to hear that you were able to get your problem sorted.

I hope that we will be able to help you with any other future problems as well.

Shawn

Shawn,

Oh darn. Darn it all. Darn darn darn.

This morning, I am back to not being able to access the mapped drives and the printer shows as "offline" again. I can't believe everything worked beautifully for a whole day, but now has gone back to the same problem as before.

When I did the "View Full Map" in the Network and Sharing, I got the error "\\SONY1 is not accessible. You might not have permission to use this network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions. The specified network name is no longer available."

Why it works for a while, and then doesn't, is still beyond me. If you have any other suggestions to try, I'm all ears.

Otherwise, thank you for "almost" solving the problem.

Regards, Connie

Hi Connie,

I'm sorry to hear that. I'm afraid that I'm not real familiar with mapped drives. You might post this issue as a new thread in this forum to see if someone may know more about your problem that can offer a solution hopefully.

Shawn, thank you for your encouragement. This morning, I'm back to being able to access the mapped drives and the printer. Go figure.

I'm going to TRY & let this go and quit wasting my (and others') time. In my heart, I really think it's a Vista issue which Microsoft has not addressed.

The thing that really bothers me is not being able to come up with a reason or fix. One day, I expect I will. Or...the problem will magically disappear when I upgrade to the next OS. *IF* that happens.

Thanks again,
Connie

You're welcome Connie.

So far Windows 7 is running great though.

Hey, Shawn - just a quick update: Since my last post, I've been able to access my network drives almost all of the time. Just wanted to say that I'm a happy camper. Phew.

Connie, I'm happy to hear that it seems that you got it sorted out. Thank you for keeping us updated.