Everytime I tried to connect to a shared folder in a xp home edition machine, my linux (smbd -V => Version 3.0.13-1.1-SUSE) ended to hang up. This has been happening for months, as I wasn't very interested in solve it. Actually I do need to get samba access to a win2k, but it has always worked perfectly. But I have just discovered that removing a file named 'template.htm' located in the shared folder of the xp laptop, the problem just dissapears!!!. If I create a new file in the shared folder of that xp, I can't connect to it again.
sounds like you are using smbfs or the cifs fs. Those are kernel modules that are supported outside the Samba project. You probably want to try the linux-cifs-client@samba.org list if you are using the cifs fs. If you are using smbfs, I would recommend testing the cifs fs.