You might want to read The Samba Checklist. If you are still stuck, refer to Analyzing and Solving Samba Problems. Samba has been successfully installed at thousands of sites worldwide. It is unlikely that your particular problem is unique, so it might be productive to perform an Internet search to see if someone else has encountered your problem and has found a way to overcome it.

If you are new to Samba, and particularly if you are new to Windows networking, or to UNIX/Linux, the book “Samba-3 by Example” will help you to create a validated network environment. Simply choose from the first five chapters the network design that most closely matches site needs, then follow the simple step-by-step procedure to deploy it. Later, when you have a working network you may well want to refer back to this book for further insight into opportunities for improvement.