Difficulty in connecting to "FromToPC" folder wirelessly from a laptop.
2013-09-11 by <mqphan@...>
After many hours of trying over several days, I managed to wirelessly access the FromToPC folder on the Disklavier from a PC laptop. I am writing this up in case someone can relate, and also to seek comments from those who know better.
Network Setup: A cable modem is connected to a VOIP Ooma unit which is connected to an Apple Airport Extreme Router (in bridge mode to avoid double NAT conflict with the VOIP unit). An Apple Airport Express (that looks like a wall plug) picks up the Wifi signal from the Apple Router and converts it into Ethernet to be hardwired to the Disklavier (DGB1KE3) by a regular Ethernet cable. The network involves several wired and wireless desktops and laptops, both PC's and Mac's, printers, iPad, iPod touch, etc... all working properly. The Disklavier can play Disklavier Radio and can be wirelessly controlled from an iPad or iPod touch using the free Disklavier E3 app from Apple.
FromToPC: I had a hard time picking up the DKV from a Mac or a PC. Windows 8 would not automatically pick up the DKV unless I repeatedly run a search for network devices, Windows 7 would not pick up even if I clicked on the Network refresh icon many times, but once in a while it does for some unknown reason. When it does show the DKV, clicking on it does not give access the FromToPC folder unless the DKV is also shown under "Computers" in the right hand side pane of the Network window on a PC. If it is only shown under "Other Devices" without showing under "Computers", clicking on the DKV icon under "Other Devices" only returns some info about the DKV software version without access to the "FromToPC" folder. My workaround is to make a Desktop Shortcut when the DKV happened to appear under "Computers" in the Network window (on a PC). From then on, clicking on this Shortcut from the Desktop would force the PC to look for the DKV and connect to it.
The fact that the DKV can play Disklavier Radio and can be wirelessly controlled by the Disklavier E3 app (running on an iPad or iPod touch) without a hitch made me think that my Apple Extreme + Express network is setup correctly. But I can't explain the difficulty of seeing the DKV wirelessly from the laptops. As I said, once in a blue moon, the DKV should show up under "Computers" in the Network window, and only in that case making a Shortcut on the desktop would allow successful and consistent connection later. I found the workaround for the PC, but ironically so far I have no similar success with the Mac on this Apple-centric network.
Any comments or insights are appreciated. Thank you.
Minh