Index: libsmb/clientgen.c
===================================================================
--- libsmb/clientgen.c	(revision 11975)
+++ libsmb/clientgen.c	(working copy)
@@ -481,6 +481,7 @@
 /****************************************************************************
 Send a keepalive packet to the server
 ****************************************************************************/
+
 BOOL cli_send_keepalive(struct cli_state *cli)
 {
         if (cli->fd == -1) {
@@ -495,3 +496,36 @@
         }
         return True;
 }
+
+/****************************************************************************
+ Send/receive a SMBecho command: ping the server
+****************************************************************************/
+
+BOOL cli_echo(struct cli_state *cli, unsigned char *data, size_t length)
+{
+	char *p;
+
+	SMB_ASSERT(length < 1024);
+
+	memset(cli->outbuf,'\0',smb_size);
+	set_message(cli->outbuf,1,length,True);
+	SCVAL(cli->outbuf,smb_com,SMBecho);
+	SSVAL(cli->outbuf,smb_tid,65535);
+	SSVAL(cli->outbuf,smb_vwv0,1);
+	cli_setup_packet(cli);
+	p = smb_buf(cli->outbuf);
+	memcpy(p, data, length);
+	p += length;
+
+	cli_setup_bcc(cli, p);
+
+	cli_send_smb(cli);
+	if (!cli_receive_smb(cli)) {
+		return False;
+	}
+
+	if (cli_is_error(cli)) {
+		return False;
+	}
+	return True;
+}
Index: client/client.c
===================================================================
--- client/client.c	(revision 11975)
+++ client/client.c	(working copy)
@@ -3088,7 +3088,12 @@
 		goto again;
 	}
       
-	cli_chkpath(cli, "\\");
+	/* Ping the server to keep the connection alive using SMBecho. */
+	{
+		unsigned char garbage[16];
+		memset(garbage, 0xf0, sizeof(garbage));
+		cli_echo(cli, garbage, sizeof(garbage));
+	}
 }
 
 /****************************************************************************