iPad nor Apple TV can connect to iTunes with Home Sharing

I received an AppleTV 2 as a gift and spent a few hours setting it up.
I was able to set it up, but ATV wasn't able to see iTunes. I remembered that when I installed the iPad (1.0) Remote app, it was, similarly, unable to see iTunes when Home Sharing was set up.
It would spin for a few minutes and then say that it was unable to connect.

I called Apple tech support, they said to make sure six ports were opened, which I did.
I called Apple back and they had me try a ton of stuff, including trashing iTunes and downloading a new copy, refreshing ATV, rebooting everything, to no avail.
Two appointments at the Genius Bar, spanning, 3 hours, as well as a 90 minute call to Apple and I'm back at square one.
I'm not using a firewall, nor antivirus
After fiddling with it (for hours) I realized that I can connect if I use a new user.

Here is the latest

• I created a new user
• I went to new user and set up Home Sharing and iPad can see iTunes (with Remote app)
• I went back to main user and dragged iTunes music folder to shared drive
• ---all steps below in new user account---
• I went to new user and dragged a song (not the whole folder) to new user's iTunes
• iPad can see iTunes
• I dragged all my songs (not the folder) to new user's iTunes
• iPad can see iTunes
• I quit iTunes and reopened it (just to see what would happen, and...)
• iPad can not see iTunes

I'm stumped....any ideas?

Very frustrating!

(yes, both in same WiFi network, both using same Home Sharing ID)

Thanks, but I tried using a manual IP address.
It's not necessarily an ATV issue, since the common denominator (both iPad and ATV fail) is iTunes, or more precisely, the way it handles the library.
I used a virgin set up (new user, fresh copy of iTunes after completely purging it from the system) and iPad connects.
I can also drag in music and it connects. However, within a few seconds of quitting iTunes and reopening, the connection was lost. No rebooting (thus there was not an IP address issue).
The problem (not an expert here) is something 'breaks' when iTunes closes...maybe it writes to a file on quitting, who knows, but 9 hours+ with experts (Apple tech and geniuses) a few dozen reboots, purging and downloading and reinstalling and...I'm having Dell flashbacks!

anyone? any ideas?

HackerJL said:

I know its trivial, just a question though. Did you try it wired? Is it even an option?

Click to expand...

As the problem is between iTunes (laptop) and iPad also, this is not an option, nor can it be a solution.
Thanks, in any event.

steve09090 said:

I can't see it being anything else but your router. Wireless has problems like this with tv and iTunes. It may not sound logical, but see if you can borrow a new router. Or if you can't, and the problem is till happening with the TV then try a wired solution and see if you can replicate the problem. If it's not replicated, then you've found your solution.

Click to expand...

Error recreated at Apple Store with iPad and MacBook, thus eliminating the router as culprit.
Genius Bar's iPad also failed to see iTunes.
Apple TV can see my computer. It can't see iTunes.

Follow up...
Apparently a few years ago I installed Water Roof firewall and trashed it a day later. Unfortunately it left behind a file that was blocking traffic (sudo ipfw list). Removing it from ??? /library/resources/daemon fixed the issue.