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Wake on Wireless LAN

childoftheko4n

childoftheko4n

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 18, 2011
270
83
Hey All,

Before i start, i have searched and see numerous threads but it seems all have been resolved? I also see my cousin has similar setup and is working, so i have to check what i am possibly doing wrong. Here is what i am trying to accomplish:

Apple TV - Sharing iTunes library. MBA has iTunes library located on external drive connected to network.

When MBA is awake with iTunes open my Apple TV reads it fine. If i close my MBA (with iTunes open) then Apple TV will not see my library.

I have Wake for Wifi access checked in power settings, so I am unaware of why this is not working?

Thank you!
 
justperry

justperry

macrumors G5
Aug 10, 2007
12,558
9,750
I'm a rolling stone.
AFAIK an AppleTv can not access a network drive directly, there seem to be a few brands of NAS which have iTunes servers in them, if you don't have a NAS that support this it won't work without a Mac in between.
 
childoftheko4n

childoftheko4n

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 18, 2011
270
83
Hey,

Well i am running the media through my Mac, which works fine when my mac is awake. The problem is the "wake for wifi access" on my mac is not apparently waking it. If Apple TV will trigger the MBA to wake, then the media will stream fine.

Its just getting the "wake for wifi access" to work properly..
 
B

bluewooster

macrumors member
Jul 18, 2007
88
27
This is something I tried to establish with various routers and equipment and was never able to resolve. Though I may have hallucinated the whole event, I could swear it used to work for me with my ATV2 and snow leopard. However, I tried downgrading to snow leopard and was still unable to wake the Mac from my Apple TV. I also tried both ATV2 and ATV3 without luck. Finally, I even bought an Airport router (as suggested by the apple web site) but this didn't solve it either. I thought it may have to do with the external drives as well as both my macs (MBA 2010, Mac Mini) seem to like randoml "ejecting" my USB drives improperly if they go to sleep. I also noticed that I could sometimes wake the computer successfully before the Apple TV had gone to sleep but, again, not consistently and not very useful!

Admittedly, I gave up on this about 8 months ago and just have my Mac set to "never sleep". If someone has found a way to consistently wake their iTunes server from sleep over WiFi, I'd love to hear it!
 
childoftheko4n

childoftheko4n

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 18, 2011
270
83
bluewooster said:
This is something I tried to establish with various routers and equipment and was never able to resolve. Though I may have hallucinated the whole event, I could swear it used to work for me with my ATV2 and snow leopard. However, I tried downgrading to snow leopard and was still unable to wake the Mac from my Apple TV. I also tried both ATV2 and ATV3 without luck. Finally, I even bought an Airport router (as suggested by the apple web site) but this didn't solve it either. I thought it may have to do with the external drives as well as both my macs (MBA 2010, Mac Mini) seem to like randoml "ejecting" my USB drives improperly if they go to sleep. I also noticed that I could sometimes wake the computer successfully before the Apple TV had gone to sleep but, again, not consistently and not very useful!

Admittedly, I gave up on this about 8 months ago and just have my Mac set to "never sleep". If someone has found a way to consistently wake their iTunes server from sleep over WiFi, I'd love to hear it!
Click to expand...

i see a few people on here that just set the mac to never sleep, is that putting it in any potential harm though? i can't see any good following leaving it running, awake forever..
 
B

bluewooster

macrumors member
Jul 18, 2007
88
27
I agree it seems a very "un-Apple" like solution to keep your computer running 24 hours a day just so you can watch your movies occasionally!

It seems like lots of people are doing it without issue though so I'm hoping that I'm not frying my computer ahead of its time!
 
M

Mrbobb

macrumors 603
Aug 27, 2012
5,009
209
According to this Apple's Doc, one paragraph above Key Features, portable Macs must be on AC, have lid open or be attached to an external display for this to work.

----------
bluewooster said:
I agree it seems a very "un-Apple" like solution to keep your computer running 24 hours a day just so you can watch your movies occasionally!
Click to expand...

This is not an Apple official solution, this is user's work-around.

From Apple's point of view, nobody should be using a laptop for this purpose, they want you to buy buy a desktop Mac. ;)
 
M

Mrbobb

macrumors 603
Aug 27, 2012
5,009
209
bluewooster said:
And I did (Mac mini) and it still doesn't work.
Click to expand...

That's a bummer.

Apple's doc suggests some kind of protocol (Bonjour) is at play. With a Windows machine, this is much simpler, one tells the iTunes' box WIFI adapter to wake up the machine when ANYBODY is trying to talk to it. No complicated protocol required. This is why at another post I have come to realize the Apple world is great when everything works and is easy, but when there is a problem, is a black box.

We need a unix expert, but I don't think they hang around this forum much.
 
childoftheko4n

childoftheko4n

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 18, 2011
270
83
Looks like i got mine to work. Not sure if when i initially tested it what part i was missing, but with lid open and plugged into outlet it seems to be working now :)
 
C

ColdCase

macrumors 68040
Feb 10, 2008
3,360
276
NH
I'm trying to figure out how to keep my laptop from waking up every now and again. Apparently a firmware bug and OS 10.8.3... :(
 
M

Mrbobb

macrumors 603
Aug 27, 2012
5,009
209
ColdCase said:
I'm trying to figure out how to keep my laptop from waking up every now and again. Apparently a firmware bug and OS 10.8.3... :(
Click to expand...

Some can't wake it up, some cant keep it asleep... Boy there is no pleasing u people :D

No idea, one reason why I don't update unless there is a specific reason to do so and THEN I maintain an image backup of my old so I can always Go Back.
 
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