[icuubi]

Hi all - I'm an XBMC forum newbie. I've had my modded xbox for a little over a year though.

So I'm having some issues with my network and the ability for XBMC to stream via the workgroup. I'll preface this with my network setup.

Cable modem --> Dlink Router w/4 port switch. The router supplies both my PC's and also sends a 60ft cable run to a HP 8 port switch. From the Switch I have cables running from there to my roomies laptop and also a 50ft run to the xbox downstairs.

My issue is that when the roomies laptop is off or removed from the network, XBMC can no longer find the workgroup. It does however pull an IP and I have full FTP functionality. When the roomies computer is on theres no problems with streaming media from my pc.

All computers and XBMC are set to the same workgroup. What can I change to get full functionality?

[SleepyP]

easiest solution is to change your Sources so they point at IP addresses instead of Computer Names. It sounds like the laptop is acting as the "master" computer in the workgroup. Basically that means it got picked to be the computer in charge of keeping track of what address each computer name is associated with. As a result, when browsing the workgroup, client systems are basically asking the laptop how stuff is setup. Since XBMC works the same way, its trying to get information from the laptop, which is off, and thus it can't figure out how to navigate the workgroup properly.
The alternative is you can try to force a different machine to become "elected" as the new master of the workgroup. I think this may be as dumb this:
-Turn the laptop off and leave it off for the rest of this procedure
-Reboot one of the other Windows boxes on your network
-When that box comes back online, attempt to use the network from that box. (By this I mean go into Network Neighborhood or Network Places, then go through the Entire Network option).
-Doing that should force a new election to take place, I think...
-Then you can bring the laptop back online and it shouldn't be the Master anymore.

If you are a big nerd and want to read how this stuff works, here's a good article:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages...browse.htm
Some other information I used to post this:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive...x?mfr=true