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valeech

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 3, 2007
4
0
I just bought an Apple TV. I exchanged it thinking there was a problem with the original one I purchased but this problem is still happening.

I am using Cisco Aironet 1231G access point running in G only. There is NO security on the SSID. I have 8 other devices associated with the AP that include a printer, a couple of servers, my mac book pro and a few other laptops. These systems all work fine! I am getting excellent transfer rates over the wireless for the existing devices.

Now for the problem. I am running iTunes on both my MacBook pro and a Windows workstation. When I first installed the Apple TV (both times) I get through the initial setup. I have to assign a static IP as I do not use DHCP. Once I set the IP, I can download movie trailers but I cannot associate with either iTunes computer. If I do a power reset, the Apple TV can then peer with the either iTunes computer. This peering will remain for a few hours but will eventually stop working until I reboot the Apple TV again.

I have not done a packet capture yet but that is my next step. I just wanted to drop a note here to see if anyone else has seen this or can think of anything else I can try to get this peering to be a little more persistent.

TIA

PS - I have not tried a wired connection yet. I will be testing to see if the peering persists over a wired connection versus wireless...
 

roland.g

macrumors 604
Apr 11, 2005
7,409
3,134
I kept having mine disconnect from my g airport base station and called Applecare. They said it was most likely interference. I moved it from inside my tv armoire where it was directly on top of my dish rec'r which has a uhf antenna for the upstairs tv in addition to the armoire having doors (though I think it was interference from multiple devices, mainly the dish rec'r) and placed it on top of the armoire and no more problem.

Try moving it to a new location.
Applecare also said that cordless phones, wall conduit and other electrical configs in your home can affect it.
 

valeech

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 3, 2007
4
0
Makes sense! i will try that as soon as I get home.

Thanks for the reply!
 

eddyg

macrumors 6502
Sep 5, 2003
331
0
Christchurch, New Zealand
Makes sense! i will try that as soon as I get home.

Thanks for the reply!

I've noticed that once it disconnects it isn't very good at reconnecting to the iTunes share (even though the wireless is up). If I restart iTunes on the destination Mac it all comes right again.

This only happens to me if I shutdown iTunes on the Mac whilst AppleTV is using it. Then it requires some mucking about to get it all working again.

Cheers, Ed.
 

intendedaccel

macrumors member
Jun 23, 2003
79
0
Brooklyn Park, MN
Are you doing anything fancy on the aironet like vlan's or anything? Not sure how it works for sure, but I would bet that the appletv would need to be in the same broadcast domain as the machines running itunes.
 

valeech

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 3, 2007
4
0
The only thing I am doing out the ordinary is a bridge. I have some equipment in a room that has no cable drop. I installed an AP in that room and bridged it to the main AP to provide network services to that room.

I tried moving the AppleTV and that seems to be clearing it up. It is puzzling why that affects only the iTunes connection and not the connection to the Movie trailers.

I do notice that I have to reboot after I moved the AppleTV for it to reconnect, similar to what edyg is seeing. It is not in it's permanent home yet. Once I get it there I will monitor for a few days and report back.
 

makemineamac

macrumors newbie
May 25, 2007
9
1
I had the same problem as well......

Turned out it WAS interference.

When I first got my Apple TV, I had no other wireless devices in "proximity" of it apart from my MacBook Pro, which it was syncing from acrosss the room. No problem - it worked great.

Then, I thought I would move my Mac Mini out into the living room so I could also plug it into my new LCD TV so I didn't have to run it on a projector in my bedroom anymore.

Well, that's when I started having problems with Apple TV. It just stopped syncing properly. And I tried everything to make it work again too. Multiple factory restores, rebuilding my wireless network from the router up and so on. Nothing would work.

It has been very frustrating for the past couple of weeks just trying to figure this out. The speed, when it did attempt to sync, was beyond pathetic.

Tonight, I read an Apple help document about interference and thought what the heck, I'll move the Apple TV to the kitchen and try syncing it - and of course, it is now happily syncing away.

Don't know what my long term solution will be, but it needs to be relocated I guess. Hopefully there will eventually be a way to insulate all these wireless devices, my Wii included, (which also sat below the tv), so they let each other live together.
 

Deimo

macrumors member
Apr 26, 2005
67
16
Not sure how else I can move my setup around anymore.... the AppleTV is literally 2 feet from the Airport Extreme (g) WiFi and it can be trusted to lose connection every couple of weeks. The setup is in my parents house, and every time i go home to visit them (about every 6 weeks), I have to re-enter the password for the network to reconnect.

I've also had the same problem in my apartment with the Airport Express base about 4 feet from the AppleTV.

Any thoughts?
 

plinden

macrumors 601
Apr 8, 2004
4,029
142
Not sure how else I can move my setup around anymore.... the AppleTV is literally 2 feet from the Airport Extreme (g) WiFi and it can be trusted to lose connection every couple of weeks. The setup is in my parents house, and every time i go home to visit them (about every 6 weeks), I have to re-enter the password for the network to reconnect.

I've also had the same problem in my apartment with the Airport Express base about 4 feet from the AppleTV.

Any thoughts?
2 feet? 4 feet? Use ethernet cables. For a fixed machine like an AppleTV you don't need wireless unless you really need it. Is there any reason other than aesthetic for you to use wireless?
 

valeech

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 3, 2007
4
0
2 feet? 4 feet? Use ethernet cables. For a fixed machine like an AppleTV you don't need wireless unless you really need it. Is there any reason other than aesthetic for you to use wireless?

Yeah, because Apple says it should work!

After messing with my wireless settings and moving the box around, I go to thinking, why would wireless work just fine to connect to the Internet to get the Movie Trailers, but not to get to my iTunes library? Hmmm... After doing a bit of research there must be a multicast problem. I have no problem doing any other type of multicast on my wireless network and there are no firewalls between my ATV and my iTunes library. I am at a loss. My last effort is to break out the packet sniffer and trace this sucker.

Anyone else experiencing the same issue?
 

buffalo2wheeler

macrumors newbie
May 6, 2008
1
0
Apple TV lost connection after iMac's OS was restored

Yeah, because Apple says it should work!

After messing with my wireless settings and moving the box around, I go to thinking, why would wireless work just fine to connect to the Internet to get the Movie Trailers, but not to get to my iTunes library? Hmmm... After doing a bit of research there must be a multicast problem. I have no problem doing any other type of multicast on my wireless network and there are no firewalls between my ATV and my iTunes library. I am at a loss. My last effort is to break out the packet sniffer and trace this sucker.

Anyone else experiencing the same issue?

My Apple TV worked fine until it was necessary for me to restore my iMac, and now the Apple TV can't find the wireless network. Have tried EVERY thing that every support forum has suggested, as well the Apple support site and even called the Apple Genius Bar at the nearest mall, all with no results.

I even tried plugging in an ethernet cord, which meant disconnecting the Apple TV from my TV (the router is on one side of the room with my iMac, the TV is bolted to the wall on the other side of the room). My router listed the Apple TV in its LAN>DHCP Client List at that point, even after I unplugged the LAN cable, which suggests to me that I had a wireless connection that was made possible by the Apple TV's proximity to the wireless router and/or moving it away from something near the TV that causes interference. But again, I had this working FINE before I had to restore my iMac (OS 10.3.9), so if there had been interference, that would have been a problem before the OS restore, too.

I know I've said I tried EVERYTHING, but if you have any suggestions, I'd be willing to try anything. I especially want to avoid driving to the mall to keep the Genius Bar appointment I made.
 

gwsat

macrumors 68000
Apr 12, 2008
1,920
0
Tulsa
All this interference talk leads to me to believe that I’ve just been lucky. My Apple TV is less than a foot from the wireless Adapter I use with my TiVo Series3 and they have peacefully coexisted ever since I got the Apple TV in February.
 

HudsonsHalfHour

macrumors member
May 19, 2009
63
0
so has this problem ever been solved?

My Apple TV is connected by Ethernet to a Time Capsule, which in turn is connected by Ethernet to my Mac. Everyday, iTunes loses touch with the ATV and I have to quit/open iTunes a few times for it to appear back in the devices area.

Not a huge pain but I would like to know why :cool:
 

dkenz

macrumors newbie
Jul 9, 2009
4
0
I had this problem before...
I was able to solve mine by changing my security encryption.

I use to have wpa then experimented.

i'm using wep with 128 ascII with 13 characters password.
it's working fine for me now......
 

davegod75

macrumors newbie
May 27, 2009
4
0
problem loosing connect with 3.0.1 update

ugh, mine ATV is loosing it's wireless connection all the time now. I think maybe after it goes into screen saver. This also only started happening with the newest ATV update.

Anyone else experiencing this?


When I go to reconnect from the ATV, I can see my network and it connects with full signal strength......it will just loose the connection in a matter of hours.
 

rtb90

macrumors newbie
Mar 4, 2009
4
0
Tx
Lack of access to the Itunes store/movies

I am having the same problem as well. I only get movie trailers and no access to the Itunes store unless I troubleshoot for about 1 hour with endless factory restores. I really am disappointed with the latest software update! The previous version worked great for me but now I regret owning an :apple:TV.
 

xraydoc

Contributor
Oct 9, 2005
10,740
5,169
192.168.1.1
I have 3 AppleTVs. At one point, they were all running via WiFi (802.11n-only) and also would occasionally drop off from the iTunes list. A reboot of either the AppleTV or a restart of iTunes usually did the trick. This was with OS X 10.5.x.

Now, running 10.6 and having two of the three connected via ethernet, I've got no dropped connections at all. Even the one still connected via WiFi seems to be solid (going on 3 months connected).
 

nando2323

macrumors 6502a
Aug 15, 2007
662
0
Don't mean to highjack but this is related

I am having an issue with my 2 ATV's disconnecting that only happens when I reboot my iMac into Bootcamp. I have both my ATV's connected to my iTunes library on the Mini and whenever I reboot my iMac into Windows both of the ATV's disconnect from the iTunes on the mini. This is weird and I have no idea where to even look for a solution. The only one thing that I did was rename the windows drivers for HFS so that windows does not see the HFS partitions, this did nothing.
 

nando2323

macrumors 6502a
Aug 15, 2007
662
0
Weird Issue

I posted this before in the Mac OS forum and also on the Apple Forums but got no bites so I'll try here.

I am having an issue with my 2 ATV's disconnecting from iTunes that only happens when I reboot my iMac into Bootcamp. I have both my ATV's connected to my iTunes library on a Mac Mini and whenever I reboot my iMac into Windows both of the ATV's disconnect from the iTunes on the Mini. This is weird and I have no idea where to even look for a solution. The only one thing that I did was rename the windows drivers for HFS so that windows does not see the HFS partitions, this did nothing.

Ooops double post sorry.
 

blipper

macrumors regular
Mar 31, 2006
105
2
Baltimore, Maryland
ugh, mine ATV is loosing it's wireless connection all the time now. I think maybe after it goes into screen saver. This also only started happening with the newest ATV update.

Anyone else experiencing this?


When I go to reconnect from the ATV, I can see my network and it connects with full signal strength......it will just loose the connection in a matter of hours.

Yes, even worse it's spread to my MacBook Pro since I installed the last OSX update. The ATV will lose its connection if it is as much as paused for a few minutes.
 

rph10

macrumors newbie
Jan 31, 2010
1
0
ATV loses connection to iTunes

I have two Apple TV's in two separate states. In one home it is connected by ethernet cable to the iMac, in the other it is connected wirelessly. With both situations (2 separate ATV's, 2 separate iMac's) the situation is the same: i lose the connection. Closing iTunes and opening a day or so later > Itunes fails to find the ATV. I must get a new syncing number and sync all photos and tunes all over again every time!! It can't be a defective ATV, iMac or have anything to do with the physical vs. wireless connection since the problem is the same with both. Very frustrating.
 

mstrze

macrumors 68000
Nov 6, 2009
1,915
0
I have had luck with moving my ATV and also moving my Wii which was right next to it, but now is 5 feet away. I think sometimes the interference betweem WiFi equipment can affect whether or not the ATV can be easily seen by iTunes.


I noticed that the recent OS X security update seemed to have brought me problems when I had a nice stretch of no concerns for a month or two.

After moving my Wii though, I have had no issues...3 days and counting. :D
 
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