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Figo

macrumors newbie
Jul 6, 2012
6
0
I had this problem and used to have a problem with airplay dissappearing too.

It was an issue cause by the IP address not renewing after wake. Everything now has a manual ip address assigned and works hunky dorey :)

Stumbled on the thread, have the same issue too. cheers :)
 

CylonGlitch

macrumors 68030
Jul 7, 2009
2,956
268
Nashville
Ok, I've removed the ATV out of the equation; it HAS to be the server or something on it. Why? With Home Sharing turned on, and having disconnected itself, I used another machine with iTunes to try and connect to the library and it does the same thing as the ATV was doing. Stuck on the "Loading <machine name> Library. . . " If I go to the server and disable and re-enable home sharing, then it picks it up and it works fine.

Thus I'm now convinced it has NOTHING to do with the ATV's (in my case), it has to do with the server. I need to figure out what's going on, maybe a full wipe of iTunes and a re-install.
 

mroberts48

macrumors newbie
Jul 3, 2012
8
0
I agree that it has nothing to do with the apple TV. When the issue occurs, home sharing no longer works on any of my apple TVs, my iPhone, or my iPad. Simply close and restart iTunes and I'm up and running again perfectly on all devices.
 

buzzlightbeer

macrumors newbie
Jul 16, 2012
2
1
ATV2 doesn't drop anymore

Took some suggestions from other posts - kept having to restart iTunes to connect to iPhone - ATV2 and ATV3.

Restarted itunes and set the ATV2 - wireless - to never go to sleep. ATV3 is hardwired to Airport Extreme - only because it's right beside it - and so far have yet to restart iTunes for a couple of weeks.
 

CylonGlitch

macrumors 68030
Jul 7, 2009
2,956
268
Nashville
I've been spending a lot of time on this problem and trying to get it resolved. It seems like most people are not having the issue and thus I'm trying to figure out why I am having the problem.

Here is my setup :
- ATV1 running OSX 10.5.8
- Latest version of iTunes
- External USB Seagate hard drive (3TB) - formatted NTFS
- NTFS Software installed
- a few minor apps installed, but almost nothing else.
- HomeSharing turned ON in iTunes, and "Share my library" turned OFF
- All machines authorized and logged in with the same AppleID

Problem :
- After a period of time, I haven't yet figured out how long, HomeSharing, while running won't let anything access the library, it gets stuck at "Loading <machine name> Library."

What I know :
- This happens if I use the same library on a windows machine running iTunes.
- It is not network routing, I had no problem when everything was DHCP, and then it started. I've since moved to static IP addresses for EVERYTHING on the network and have had no chance.
- It is not AppleTV related, if I try to access the iTunes library with another PC or Mac, it does the same thing.
- Happens with devices that are WIRED in as well as those on WiFi.

What I need to test :
- Is it the iTunes library itself? (Current Test) I have removed the external drive, and created a very small internal iTunes library on the Server's hard drive [1 movie, 1 TV Show, 1 Song] by using content ONLY from Apple. Will this show the problem? If it does, then it isn't likely the library, if it doesn't it isn't iTunes itself, but something with the format of the Library.
- Could it be that the Library was used on both Apple and PC systems at one time or another?
- Could it be that I have several machines that have home Sharing turned on, one being my primary laptop, can that be causing the HomeSharing features of other iTunes libraries to become unresponsive? Need to turn off ALL other home shares and see if that fixes the problem.
- Need to figure out how long before it times out; could be an indication of what's going on.
- Could it be the external USB drive powering down? Need to setup a batch file that 'touches' a file every few seconds to keep it alive.


Anyone have any other suggestions, or tests to run?
 

CylonGlitch

macrumors 68030
Jul 7, 2009
2,956
268
Nashville
Update :
- Internal new iTunes library has not has this problem yet; it has been 3 hours, but since I don't know how long it normally takes to cause the problem, it is just a data point.

- I eliminated drive format from the issue. I have an older version of my library that NEVER had an issue; it is also formatted NTFS. I thought maybe NTFS wasn't saving some permission or something right; but that doesn't seem to be the cause of the problem.

- I'm going to let the internal library run for a day and see if the problem comes up, if it doesn't than we know that iTunes itself isn't the issue, but it is something within the library.

- New test #1 : I'm going to go back to the backup library if the internal test library works. I know that one never had an issue. If that works without a hitch, I'll go on to Test #2 below.

- New test #2 : wipe out back up of library, create new iTunes library on it and re-import all the data from that library (letting iTunes manage the copying over). But this is a HUGE test and will take several days to run; so I need to get ready for it.

Update #2
- Somewhere between 6 and 10 hours after setting up the test, the problem is back. Seems that it is something unrelated to the library. It may be the operating system, I have my old operating system back (There are two different OSX 10.5.8 for ATV1, I am currently using a different version than I used before when I had no problems. I downloaded the same one I used before and will try that one again. If it works, then we know it is an OS setting and not iTunes itself. If it doesn't work, it is something to do with iTunes -- which is what I suspect).
 
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CylonGlitch

macrumors 68030
Jul 7, 2009
2,956
268
Nashville
Update #3
I've run just about every course of action, and still, no success. I've reinstalled iTunes, I've used clean databases, nothing, still happens.

My plan for this weekend will be to reformat my ATV1's hard drive with the original operating system I was using and see if that makes a difference. If it does then I will know it was a setting in the operating system. If it doesn't then we know it is a problem with iTunes.

I feel this to be mostly a moot point because I was able to use my son's Windows 7 machine and get the same issue. It could also be the firmware on the Airport Extreme, that is a possibility . . . I wonder if others experiencing the same problem are using Apple's Airport.
 

CylonGlitch

macrumors 68030
Jul 7, 2009
2,956
268
Nashville
I am using a Time Capsule

Same basic machine. I know that around the time that this started for me (I had been running fine for years) there was a firmware upgrade for the Airport Extreme (although I had several things at one time, failed hard drive in my ATV1 resulting in a different version of OS being installed, updated ATV firmware, updated iTunes). Trying to narrow things down; too many variables.

----------

I am using a Time Capsule

Same basic machine. I know that around the time that this started for me (I had been running fine for years) there was a firmware upgrade for the Airport Extreme (although I had several things at one time, failed hard drive in my ATV1 resulting in a different version of OS being installed, updated ATV firmware, updated iTunes). Trying to narrow things down; too many variables.

Another question. People having this problem, do you have multiple AppleTV's or just one?
 

mroberts48

macrumors newbie
Jul 3, 2012
8
0
I am a cordcutter. iTunes runs on Mac Mini. Total of 5 apple Tvs: 2 connected by Ethernet and 3 by WiFi. (2 Apple Tv 2s, 3 3rd generation) Also iPhones and IPads connected through home sharing in my household. When the problem occurs, cannot connect on any device until iTunes restarted. Happens approx once to twice per day.
 

CylonGlitch

macrumors 68030
Jul 7, 2009
2,956
268
Nashville
I am a cordcutter. iTunes runs on Mac Mini. Total of 5 apple Tvs: 2 connected by Ethernet and 3 by WiFi. (2 Apple Tv 2s, 3 3rd generation) Also iPhones and IPads connected through home sharing in my household. When the problem occurs, cannot connect on any device until iTunes restarted. Happens approx once to twice per day.

Very similar to myself; same problems. Just trying to figure out how to get everything to work. I've assigned IP addresses to everything, nope, didn't work. 2 of my 4 ATV's are wired, 2 are wireless.

The twice a day seems about right for me as well. Although it could be more, but it does seem that once it is working, it works for about 6 to 12 hours before going out again. Not sure if it is time based (ie everyday the same time) or time-out based (ie. 6 hours after the last use).

I have an old AirPort Extreme that hasn't been upgraded (I don't think) yet; maybe I should try that one and see if the problem persists. At least it would be another point of data.
 

DrNoellyG

macrumors member
Nov 25, 2011
51
0
I had the same problem and I tried many solutions and none worked. The problem would go away and then come back a few days later. For me it was so frustrating that I went to another app to solve my needs.
 

ElZeus

macrumors regular
May 26, 2008
239
128
If you're pulling files from a windows based pc try this regedit

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3206725?start=45&tstart=0

"
1. Open registry editor ( Start search – regedit)
2. Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa
3. Create a new DWORD value with the following properties:
NAME: LmCompatibilityLevel
VALUE: 1
4. Restart your PC and try the connection again
"
 

murdoc158

macrumors regular
Jan 8, 2007
217
1
West Bend, WI
If you're pulling files from a windows based pc try this regedit

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3206725?start=45&tstart=0

"
1. Open registry editor ( Start search – regedit)
2. Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa
3. Create a new DWORD value with the following properties:
NAME: LmCompatibilityLevel
VALUE: 1
4. Restart your PC and try the connection again
"

I tried this on my Windows Home Server this morning. Hopefully this fixes it. I'll report back later this week.

Edit: Worked for about 2-3 days, now it's back to dropping daily.
 
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CylonGlitch

macrumors 68030
Jul 7, 2009
2,956
268
Nashville
Looks like I might have had success. This morning I reinstalled the other AppleTV1 operating system. (There are two, 1) Full Leopard, 2) Reduced footprint Leopard) Originally I was using #1, and everything worked great. Then the hard drive failed, and when I went to get the OS again, #1 wasn't being seeded so I got #2 [along with a lot of other updates, iTunes update, Airport Update, etc..]. Ever since then I've been experiencing this problem.

I've been slowly working my way backward through all different things trying to get back to a working system one thing at a time. Nothing was working. So, now after eliminating all the easy things, and having found OS #1 image again, I figured I'd give that a try. I seriously didn't think it would make any difference. But I set it up this morning at about 11am and forgot about it. It is now 9pm my time and just tried it, it was there. That's a great sign!

I'll watch it for a few days and if anything changes, or even if it doesn't. I'll report back here and let you all know.

But as it stands right now, it seems like it is something in the operating system, maybe a setting or a driver, or something like this. So if you're experiencing this problem and you're running OS-X, maybe a clean install is the trick you'll need.
 

TheBantam

macrumors newbie
Jul 23, 2012
2
0
ATV3 and iTunes

ClyonGlitch:

Interested to hear how your experiments go! I have the same problem, which started when I upgraded from ATV1 to ATV3 - that said, there was a software update then too so it could be hardware or software. Just thinking out loud:

My media library is on my iMac which is CAT5 to my AppleTV - certainly not IP address linked, although that was my initial guess. Stating the obvious, but it MUST be the way that iTunes and ATV connect, hence why restarting iTunes gets it working again. With ATV1 it used to appear in iTunes as a device (like an iPhone does), whereas now it does't, so I assume that is a switch to homesharing and thus the problem.

The old (stable interaction) appeared to be much more two-way - iTunes and ATV exchanging data back and forth which meant a persistent connection. Now ATV just seems to 'dip' into iTunes library and hence iTunes cuts it off after a few hours of quiet. Does homeshare have built in connection timeout? Maybe in a plist?

I have a couple of iPhones, and couple of iPads, a couple of Airport Express, and a couple of Mac laptops all accessing the network and all access the iTunes library (usually via airplay). This to me seems another big soft spot which might be resulting in ATV being kicked off (although didn't happen previously).

My playing for a solution has fallen off with Mountain Lion likely out in Thursday as a) it might be fixed in that update; or b) and solution I find my not work in 3 days!.:D
 

CylonGlitch

macrumors 68030
Jul 7, 2009
2,956
268
Nashville
Well, I'm disappointed. After 24 hours, problem persists. :(

I'm now wondering if it is multiple devices on the network. I am thinking of setting up the ATV3 and the server on it's own network, both with fixed IP addresses and see if that fixes the problem. It would be an interesting test.
 

d.steve

macrumors 6502
Jan 6, 2012
351
150
So I've had chronic issues with home sharing disappearing on atv2, iPhones, and iPad since I started using it.

Mac wired to airport express, express joined to airport extreme wireless network, other devices directly attached to extreme or wirelessly.

Every 4-48 hours, itunes drops out of home sharing. Rebooting the express usually brings it back until it disappears again, so I felt this likely had to do with bonjour proxy service somehow.

I recently had to change my wireless password to something shorter and less complicated because the crappy directv device I upgraded to wouldn't handle the password I had.

Lo and behold, it has been rock solid ever since. 8 days straight, more than twice as long as ever before, at least.

I don't think it had to do with the password itself, as when home sharing dropped out, all other functions were still fine over wireless. I have to assume that it somehow reset the express config in some way.

FWIW.
 

CylonGlitch

macrumors 68030
Jul 7, 2009
2,956
268
Nashville
New update, or bit of information. Tonight I tried something again, I hard set the IP addresses on the ATV server and the ATV3. I then tested the network connection on the ATV3. It fails, saying it cannot connect to the Apple Server. I get this when I try to get a movie from iTunes as well. But Netflix and Youtube work perfectly. So why is it not able to connect? I have no idea; but it could be the source. Not so much iTunes dropping Home Sharing, but maybe, ATV is dropping it's authentication to the Apple Server?

----------

More interesting information :

1. Hard coded my IP Address
2. I logged out of my account from the main menu - settings
3. I tried to log back in, but it failed to Communicate with Apple
4. Worked fine with Youtube and Netflix.
5. Unplugged the AppleTV
6. Plugged in the Apple TV
7. Tried to go to Movies in the Cloud
8. Prompted for Login User ID and Password
9. Now can communicate to Apple
10. Everything seems working at this point (need to wait until tomorrow and see).

I found it interesting that it needed my ID when I went to a cloud meaning it had no idea what it was. Now it should. Maybe, just maybe it's fixed?
 

CylonGlitch

macrumors 68030
Jul 7, 2009
2,956
268
Nashville
I think it's fixed. 24 hours later and everything seems perfect. Next step will be for me to put the AppleTV and ATV Server back to DHCP and see if everything stays the same. I get the impression that it might now that I've reset the password to iTunes.
 

Wavell

macrumors regular
Nov 7, 2007
123
6
Essex, UK
I think it's fixed. 24 hours later and everything seems perfect. Next step will be for me to put the AppleTV and ATV Server back to DHCP and see if everything stays the same. I get the impression that it might now that I've reset the password to iTunes.

I've found that upgrading my iTunes media server to mountain lion appears to have fixed my homesharing dropout issue. I'd have swore blind until then that it was an iTunes issue but, for me anyway, it appears to have been caused by the lion OS.

//EDIT

Famous last words - after two days of it working fine I've just had to restart iTunes on the media server to allow the library to be read by ATV3. Apple, I hate you at times :0(
 
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CylonGlitch

macrumors 68030
Jul 7, 2009
2,956
268
Nashville
Famous last words - after two days of it working fine I've just had to restart iTunes on the media server to allow the library to be read by ATV3. Apple, I hate you at times :0(

Damn it, it must be the weather. After several days, mine is doing the same thing as well. :( It was working, and now dead in the water once again. :( Really frustrated with this, especially since the ATV and the Server are wired, it shouldn't be WiFi.

I did see something odd this morning though. My ATV3 switched to WiFi (which in my case has no access to the network) so I had to reset it and finally figured out that the Ethernet cable had worked it's way out just slightly.
 

Wavell

macrumors regular
Nov 7, 2007
123
6
Essex, UK
Mine's all wired too - I just don't get why it's taken apple this long to (not) fix this. It's been a known issue for something like 4-5 months now
 
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