Port 49212... and counting?

If anyone else has windows and can download CurrPorts from:
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/cports.html

let me know if you have 8 attempts to open a port that increments within a common range whenever you press the Sync button in iTunes for the Apple TV. The incremental port access attempts also come in as TCP Wait which (correct me if I misunderstand the true meaning of these kinds of messages) i believe means that the TCP connection is waiting to be established... and never does.

I also noted that I have 3 established connections to the Apple TV port 3689 which is to be expected i assume and that the port numbers that increment in batches of 8 are coming from port 3689 on the local (iTunes) side. again, this is occurring during a sync when my Custom Sync'd library is unable to stream un-synced content to the Apple TV (or vice-versa the Apple TV cannot stream the un-synced content from the Custom Sync'd library, it just doesnt show up on the Apple TV at all...) i've even tried checking the "show only synced content" check box, syncing the Apple TV, and un-checking the "show only synced content" check box and syncing again. absolutely no change in behavior.

probably the best thing I could note is whether or not those incremental port connections ever establish or occur when everything is working fine (just after linking the library).

i will try tonight and post results

Message was edited by: pocket8077

yes it is definitely 492xx. Just now started taking a look at it again. Looks like during a sync where a file is actually transferring over to the Apple TV, iTunes has port 3689 open and the 492xx port is open on the ATV. The TCP session is established during this time.

I had re-linked the library and so far it doesn't look like there is any noticeable behavior pattern difference between syncs when the un-synced content streams and when it doesn't.

I believe the 492xx ports are just generic TCP ports used when traffic goes in the direction of the Apple TV, i would bet that what I am seeing as 149x and up ports are when traffice goes from Apple TV to the iTunes computer. Just a guess but thats what it looks like.

Looks like this would be a dead end... i already knew it would sync whether the un-synced content sreamed or not...

I might as well take advantage of the opportunity to see whats going on while the streaming is intact i guess...

capaho wrote:

Anybody know if this is normal operation?

when your computer connects to a service on another computer, the outgoing packets aren't bound to any specific port, so your computer finds an available port in the upper range as needed and uses it to send outbound packets, that's why those port numbers keep changing.

thanks! part of what i was hoping to find was something connecting (establishing) when the streaming works that wasn't establishing/connecting when it doesn't work.

yeah...
i was just thinking though... nothing different between when streaming unsynced works and doesn't work... only thing that happens is the pc restarts and poof

i just want to know what the poof is so i can figure out if it can be un poofed

i don't even get an error message! at the very least if i had that it would point to something, even something vague would be better than poof - it dont work!

good advice... but i've tried it all.

in july i upgraded from 2.0.2 to 2.1 and after this is when the issue began.
i was running xp sp2 at the time.
i did some investigation into the issue and found that if i rolled back to 2.0 that streaming unsynced content would work fine regardless of restarting anything. quickly i thought to myself "ok, its a 2.1 bug, i'll wait it out and apple will fix it"
august comes and goes, i'm using my library as a shared library at this point just so i can use all my content, limited on the photo features (can stream them but can't use them in the screen saver, i'm not that picky i just happened to notice) also remote app on iphone doesnt browse shared library atv content so i was really looking forward to a bug fix.
September rolls past and near the end i began to grow concerned about the idea of an update... maybe one wouldn't be coming... maybe i needed to make sure i couldn't fix this myself... maybe no one else is having this issue any more (not many people speaking out on it anymore, maybe they gave up)
so here's what i ended up doing (possibly not in this order but...)
rolled back ATV to 2.0 shipping firmware several times (works fine)
upgraded to 2.1 several times (every time i restart pc, issue occurs)
upgraded xp to SP3 from SP2 (no change)
upgraded linksys router firmware (no change)
bypassed router with cisco 4948 data center switch (no change)
upgraded atv to 2.2 from 2.1 (no change)
rolled back ATV to 2.0 (works fine)
upgraded direct from 2.0 to 2.1 (issue occurs after pc restart)
uninstalled and re-installed itunes (yesterday afternoon) (no change)
windows firewall is and always has been turned off. nothing happens between streaming unsynced content working and not working other than restarting windows.

at least nothing visible.

at this point the only thing i haven't tried is blowing xp away on my home computer which i feel i shouldn't have to do to prove the issue exists. it doesn't exist when ATV is on 2.0 so... that's why i don't feel like its an issue with my xp computer.

i'm glad to hear that more windows users complain than mac users actually. i plan on acquiring an iMac for the house in the next year or two so i'm very glad to hear that things can be expected to be better. already have a macbook pro at work so having a mac at home for all my other mac stuff makes perfect sense. just takes a while to get there (everytime i put gas in my tank i think, there goes my iMac... 😟 )

thanks for all your suggestions. everyone that has posted replies has helped me think this issue through as far as i have. fixing to get some sleep now. maybe something will pop in that i havent thought of yet. i would say i'm about to give up and wait for an update, but i know myself better than that 😉

thankyou for your input. it is appreciated.

I have tried examining the behavior of the issue with my Linksys Router removed. In its place I borrowed a spare Cisco 4948 Data Center Class switch and had only the computer, the DSL modem, and the Apple TV connected. The results were that while running 2.0 on the Apple TV, I could stream un-synced content just fine and restart my computer and still be able to sync. When I upgraded to 2.1 (prior to 2.2's release) i was able to stream the un-synced content, but as soon as i restarted my host computer, the streaming stopped working. I can sync new content but no streaming.

I thought about seeing what wireshark would see, i've used it before, but i don't think it would do me any good since i've already tried removing the router from the equation.

It works fine in ATV 2.0 though. It only breaks when 2.1 or 2.2 are installed.

Nothing else seems to affect it.

Well i've already tried an iTunes reinstall. I'm actually thinking about trying the "shut down" of all startup apps except for iTunes helper and qttask to see if that does anything. Also try eliminating services as a possibility.

I did notice that Bonjour is running on port 5354 instead of 5353. I assume this is normal? Hopefully? anybody else ever see Bonjour on 5354 instead of 5353?