I am having problems reading files located on a Windows 2000 server from Linux using smbfs. The files were all written using the same Linux box and the same smbfs connection. Most of them can be read without a problem. However with some (maybe 20% of them) if I read them using any of several means - cp, cat, cksum etc - the read hangs for several minutes and then gives an 'input/output error' message. It is repeatable - if a file fails to read once, it will fail if retried, and if it reads without a problem (which takes milliseconds) it will dependably read if retried.

The files are Windows .doc and .xls files - ie binary files of varying sizes; the ones that fail are neither the largest nor the smallest.

I am running a reasonably up to date version of Debian.

Any clues as to what is wrong or how I could work round the problem would be gratefully received.