Bizarre SMB share breakdown, no obvious fix

[boypolar]

So the setup is:
Boxee on ATV 3.0 patched.
Two OSX Snow Leopard laptops connected (one a Macbook the other a Pro)
Both have successfully been connected as network sources on Boxee in the past. Months of hassle-free viewing (after a painful setup)
However came back from Christmas, turned the router, ATV etc back on, and one of the Macs (the Macbook) can no longer connect - it reads "No files found at source".
However the Pro continues to work fine.
Tried removing the Mac as a source and adding it again. Its workgroup name appears in the list of available sources, but upon trying to add the folders, it comes back "Operation not permitted", followed by "No files found at source".
ATV and laptops all running on a static IP and - bizarrely - have exactly the same system prefs in the Network and Shares panel.
REALLY don't want to do a factory restore on the ATV. Anyone else come across this seemingly illogical problem?

[boypolar]

Oh and I should add the following:

- All my shares are okay on the Macbook, SMB sharing is on - basically it has just decided to stop working for no obvious reason.

[boypolar]

Just also tried deleting all user data on boxee and tried adding users again - no luck.
Also tried adding a new user just for the Macbook and it is seeing the Macbook in the network shares list, but still saying "No files found at source" when you try to go into it.

[NomadDNA]

Of all the problems on the forums, this kind of problem is a nightmare to problem solve... Not only is ATV not the ideal Boxee platform, but wirelessly networking TWO additional computers leaves a lot of room for hardware issues, not to mention software issues. Not to mention that you previously had the setup running before, and now has mysteriously stop working, which leaves us to assume that you know how to set up the wireless network, and thus are technologically savvy enough to figure out the problem. So, if you're not getting much response on the forums, this may be why...

To be explicitly clear, this is how I understand your setup:

You have an ATV hacked with Boxee, connected to your TV. It's content is delivered through a wireless network, to which two Mac laptops are also wirelessly connected. One laptop, the MBP provides content to your ATV without issue, but your MB has stopped working.

I would start by asking you if you're able to connect to the two laptops via OSX on your ATV... but since ATV doesn't have OSX, I'm a bit miffed.

[boypolar]

Thanks for taking the time to look at this! I am pretty competent with OSX and Boxee, which is why, after 7 hours of fiddling around, I am at a loss as to why it's suddenly gone wrong.

The setup is:

ATV 3.0 hacked with Boxee running version 0.9.14.6992
ATV is connected to router on Ethernet with static IP.
Macbook and MBP both running snow leopard and connected wirelessly to router on static IPs. Both Macs see the ATV in iTunes.
SMB Workgroup is called WORKGROUP and is identical on both Boxee and the Macs.
On both Macs the media files for sharing are in the Public folder. Permissions for this folder are Read/Write for everyone.
Both Macs have SMB sharing on, but have AFP and FTP off.
Until Christmas both Macs were able to connect, via one user account, and deliver network sources. Over Christmas we turned the router off as we were away for a week. The problem has begun since we came back and powered back on.
Obviously it's okay in a pinch because one of the Macs is still talking to Boxee. However the owner of that Mac goes away for a week next week leaving the fail Mac owner behind with no Boxee.

Already tried:
Removing shared folders in Sharing prefs and adding them again.
Removing Boxee user data and re-adding users
Putting each SMB share in a different Boxee user account.
Numerous re-starts of the router, Boxee, ATV and the Macs. Including powering all of these off for 5 mins and then re-starting.

Any ideas?

[boypolar]

Well I don't know how or why but the problem fixed itself this morning.

Here's what I tried...

I added a manual source by IP address (NOT prefixed with smb:// or anything else),
Then entered my Mac account username and password (case sensitive).
This then revealed the shared folders, added them as a source, and they seem to be there in a stable way (came out of Boxee, put ATV into standby and then carried on as usual).

I am sure I did this yesterday. Who knows how long they will remain??