Apple AirPort Express - Streaming Music on iTunes - Frequent Music Drop out

I had the same problems when streaming from my mac mini to AE connected to the stereo. I had had no problems when doing this with a linksys router, but time capsule wouldn't mount. I returned this to apple and got a replacement and changed the linksys for an adsl modem connected to the time capsule. TC worked perfectly right from the word go! Airtunes was a disaster. Contacted apple who insisted the problem was the location of the mac mini. I had also just upgraded to itunes 8 because of the wife's 3g iphone. Forums blamed itunes and other airport settings, apple blamed the signal from the mac mini. As it turned out, the new network setup necessitated a change of position for the mac mini and I now have NO problems streaming from any of the 3 macs connected to the network and the phone used as a remote. I have kept all the automatic settings on the TC router and use WEP.

elliotw100 thanx so much!!

I had said it must be iTunes, because I had ruled out the AirportExpress, BThub, and Vista and I couldn't see any new Wifi drivers on the Vaio update site. I was almost convinced by my Apple-loving friends that it must be Vista, as iTunes8 was working without any dropout whatsoever on their Mac/AExpress/AppleTV hardware. I even starting doing ping tests and also tried the Vista antilag utility as suggested elsewhere, just to have the hard evidence that it is neither my LAN nor the OS.

Turns out that Intel has released updated drivers for the internal Wifi cards found on many laptops, just updated mine (I have the Intel Wifi Link 5100).

A big thanx again for pointing me to the right direction (i.e. Intel's web site).

just to add my comment to the post above...I have a completely Apple based system and cannot listen to iTunes as the music will over time, and unpredictably, drop out. I am not looking for an alternate music delivery software as this is unacceptable.

My CD player's HDCD light will blink on and off, indicating signal loss all the time (streaming digital out for an AE to the digital in of my player.

Warren

To add to Warren's comment, esp. for new Airport Express users... Dropouts have been a source for complaints since the 1st generation of the AE, that's why there's a page (by Apple) with tips on how to eliminate them:

http://support.apple.com/kb/TA21538?viewlocale=en_US

...but many people (in this thread and elsewhere) are complaining about recent problems, mostly related to the streaming source (PC/Mac/laptop), rather than the link between the AE and the main Wifi router. If you think it's the latter, you may be able to find the problem, by connecting your computer to the main router/modem via ethernet.

Hope this helps.

This is all so frustrating, and I have a new wrinkle to throw in.

I have two PC's at home, both running Vista. Both on the network.

One of the PC's streams music through the AirPort with no hitches. Listened
last night for four hours, no hitch.

The other one, I get a dropout every minute.

My wireless adapter is a Linksys WMP54G version 4.1

So, based on this, it can't be ITunes, it can't be Vista, it can't be my router, it can't be AirPort.

Unless my logic is faulty, it looks like the fault of my Linksys Wireless adapter. Correct?

I tried new drivers, have been on the phone with Apple and Linksys, but I think I'm about to go get a new wireless card or something.

Grrr.

Hope this helps the discussion, in any event.

If the dropouts happen regularly (eg every min or so), you may want to try this: ping apple.com -t 🙂

Maybe your 2 Vista PCs are not 100% identical, i.e. are they both SP1 and fully updated with the MS patches, firewall on/off, lag problem (google vista antilag to see whether it does anything for you), wireless connection marked as "private" or "public" etc. Also, on the wireless connection properties, switch off the flag that says "connect to a better network if available".

In my case the dropouts have a schizo pattern, I could go for hours without a single dropout, then they would start happening at a relentless rate to the point of stalling the connection; sometimes I can't stream at all after a few seconds of playback. Clearly nothing I'd call regular and not related to the lag problem.

There are many different manifestations of this disease, you have to decide which way to dig based on your symptoms 😉

I tried the Ping Thing. Don't know what it means, but it
keeps telling me "request timed out". The rest of the vast
internets tubes are fine.

I did turn off the "connect to a better network" flag, which is
buried deep indeed.

I'm going to test now to see if that helps.

THANK YOU for your thoughts, dkk0!

Try a different site, eg google.com. This is just a simple test to see whether you get the infamous ping spikes other people have noticed (ping times are supposed to remain practically constant). If you see "spikes" in ping times in a recurring pattern, you may wanna try the anti-lag solutions that people here (and gamers elsewhere) have suggested.

Thanks, Google works.
Yup, I'm getting the infamous ping spikes. And I downloaded
and am running Vista Anti-Lag. Doesn't do a thing, unfortunately. 😟

Sooooo frustrating.

I bought an Airport Express on Friday, and had this problem. I had it set up as a standalone device, not attached to my current network, but as it's own. Sunday, I tried again, and it worked fine, for about 3 hours. Did not make any changes to anything that I can think of. Hope it stays fine.

Weird

Craig

Hi.

I have tried all relevant suggestions in this thread - except the removal of the flag 'connect to a a better network'

But I'm not able to find this flag - where is it located?

Thank you in advance.

It's under the Wireless Connection properties. You can get to it by first bringing up the "Networking and Sharing" screen (under Control Panel). There you see the connection to your WLAN, whether it's a private or public network, its status, sharing properties, etc. On the left side of the screen, there must be a "Manage (network) connections" option, not sure about the name as I'm not in front of a Vista computer right now. Click on it and you should see your Bluetooth conn, Wireless conn, Ethernet conn, etc. Right click on your Wireless Connection, choose Properties.

I have the "connect to better networks" flag Off and "auto-connect even when the network SSID is not visible" On. I don't think that it matters but, just for ref, my Vista firewall is on and my WLAN is indicated to Vista as "private" (you have to let iTunes through the Vista firewall in this case). I didn't touch any of my wireless adapter (driver) settings, or my home router settings; too advanced for me and one shouldn't have to tinker with IPv6, static IPs vs DHCP, etc just to please AirTunes.

My first impression with the updated drivers from Intel (Elliot's finding) is that it may have solved the problem for me. I left the computer streaming overnight and didn't have a cut. Still too early to tell with certainty.

For reference, my Airport Express is the 1st generation product with the latest firmware (6.3), interference robustness on, a client that joins my wireless LAN, for which I use the factory router settings (WEP, automatic channel, b/g mode). The only thing that I had done a long time ago was to make my WLAN closed (not broadcasting my SSID). I pick up 15 other WLANs, with strength varying from 100% down to 10%, at various channels. I use channel 7 currently but channel 3 has also worked very well for years in my environment.

You may want to take a look at this thread too:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1715679

Good luck.

the problem is far more pervasive than this thread alone. Please see below:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1715679&tstart=0

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1704022&tstart=0

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1702916&tstart=0

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1840751&tstart=0

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1842547&tstart=0

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1851851&tstart=45

Also bought AE to join Airport Extreme network for streaming iTunes. After several frustrating hours, I got the green light to come on! The music drop outs started immediately. Tried everything suggested on several forums with no success UNTIL I changed the wireless mode to "N" only, 2.4 GHz. Did the trick! Changed the setting on the extreme. Seems everyone's scenario is different. Good luck.