Airport Express error (-15006) when trying to connect as a remote speaker?

I have been using Airtunes for over a year without any problems, until december last year. Then the dreaded -15006 problems started showing up...

This is my setup:
Windows XP laptop running iTunes over wifi.
Apple Airport Express (AE) in client mode, connected to home stereo.
Devolo wifi access point, connected via powerline to Zyxel internet router.

In december I started getting problems connecting to internet, especially with wireless clients. So I bought a new wifi access point, no luck however. This is when the -15006 errors started coming, but since I was still having problems connecting to internet, I expected these problems were related.
I reported the problems to my internet provider, and they sent me a new router without charge. This solved my internet problems immediately. Performance was back to normal, also over the new wifi access point, but the -15006 errors remained...

These are the symptoms: I start iTunes, which sets up the connection to AE, everything fine so far. But then after about an hour the music stops, and iTunes displays the familiar error message "Can not connect to remote speakers". The activity light on my AE stops blinking, but stays solid green. When I try to connect to it using the Airport Utility, it does not get detected. I can still ping it however, so there is connectivity. Power cycling the AE "solves" the problem, iTunes can connect again and I have another hour or so of joyful playtime.

I have tried just about anything to solve the problem: downgraded iTunes and Airport (firmware), swapped laptops, enabled/disabled IPV6, disabled firewalls on router and laptop, changed wifi channels, no luck...
Then I decided to reinstate my old, trustworthy Linksys WRT54GL, running DD-WRT firmware. As said before, I replaced it because I thought it to be broken. But that problem was eventually traced to my internet router and solved.
So I switched off my new Devolo wifi access point, switched on the Linksys, and it is stable now for three days in a row with no problems at all!

I am beginning to suspect that some access points handle multicasts differently than others. The AE connection depends on Bonjour multicasts to announce it's presence to iTunes, so this could be the problem. I will make a couple of Wireshark sniffer traces over the coming days to determine if I can find any differences in multicast handling.
Will keep you posted...

I have an ADSL modem. My router is an Airport Extreme, but not the latest. I have an Airport Express (N version), and a new Apple TV. I have configured the Airport Extreme's DHCP to always assign the same IP address every time to each piece of hardware that I normally connect to my network.

My (sadly temporary) solution to the "-15000" problem is to first disconnect the power from all of my wireless devices including my modem and Airport Extreme.

Then, I plug in the modem and wait until all the status lights are green.

I plug in my Airport Extreme and wait for it to "go green" as well. Then, I plug in my Airport Express and Apple TV.

This always works for a while. I added my Apple TV only last week, and I have seen the problem much more often since then. I don't know if there is any connection.

Same issue here. -15000 message. Airport Extreme with Express to run my music. Problem started happening after Snow Leopard install. Comes and goes. First I thought it was because the Express was behind the stereo receiver, plugged into the powered outlet. I unplugged it and plugged it into a more 'visible' outlet. Same issues. Then......unexplainedly, it worked yesterday! Trying various 'turn-on, turn-off' scenarios doesn't explain it. I tried a couple of the things suggested here, but no help, yet.

If I could get rid of Snow Leopard, I would; just to see if that does it.

More troubleshooting today and will let you know what happens.

S

OK. It works, for now. Here' s the sequence: 1) Launched iTunes this morning (it's set up for multiple speakers, including my remote run by Express), then started one of the playlists 2) Got the brief message that a connection to the remote was being attempted, then it disappeared (this is where I usually get the -15000 message), but this time, no -15000 message. 3) Went to the remote receiver and turned it on. 4) iTunes were streaming to it! I plan to let it run all day (maybe forever) cuz I have no idea why it works, now. I think I have done this very sequence before with negative results, ie -15000 message.

Let me know if this works for anyone else, and how long it works. I will come on later and let you know if it stops, or not.

It is still working, but I am reluctant to turn it off......

I noticed there have been some 12k views of this thread. I wonder if any of the views have been by Apple engineers?

Boy....wouldn't it be cool if a civil engineer (me) figured out an EE issue with this real-world problem?

Ha!

S

I posted on Dec 16th 2009 already.
Since then, many things tested (firewall, etc...). I tried going back to wifi: it works, but my wifi connection is very unstable (thick walls i guess).
Since Sunday, it seems I have found a stable solution: in the airport express settings, i have switched from 'automatic DHCP' to 'manual' and I gave a fixed IP directly there (also setting all other parameters of course).
Since sunday, my AE works fine, which had never happened for months!

I have had a difficulty when connecting a third AE: two of them disappeared. So for now I stay with two and try to see if it is stable.

I'll keep you posted.

Guillaume

I just launched iTunes and started playing from "Music". "Connecting to Remote Speakers" came up briefly, and it is working again. Now, I will have to try to make it fail to figure this out, but I am very reluctant.

Had the same error code today - trying to stream iTunes (9) from my Extreme to Airport Express - both are on 802.11n only, 5 GHz band only, and I have them as fixed IP addresses. Both are the latest firmware, and there are no other wireless devices on that WLAN.

Resetting the AE did nothing, resetting the Extreme fixed it.

Checked the error logs on the AE (Advanced/Statistics/Logs and Statistics) - found the following:

Jan 19 15:43:26 Severity:5 Clock synchronized to network time server time.apple.com (adjusted +18475854 seconds).
Jan 19 16:29:04 Severity:3 AirTunes time sync receive error: -6710
Jan 19 16:29:04 Severity:3 AirTunes time sync receive error: -6730
Jan 19 16:29:04 Severity:3 AirTunes too many time sync negotiate failures: 64/0/63
Jan 19 16:31:06 Severity:3 AirTunes time sync receive error: -6710
Jan 19 16:31:06 Severity:3 AirTunes time sync receive error: -6730
Jan 19 16:31:07 Severity:3 AirTunes too many time sync negotiate failures: 64/0/63
Jan 19 16:31:17 Severity:3 AirTunes time sync receive error: -6710
Jan 19 16:31:17 Severity:3 AirTunes time sync receive error: -6730
Jan 19 16:31:17 Severity:3 AirTunes too many time sync negotiate failures: 64/0/63
Jan 19 16:34:04 Severity:3 AirTunes time sync receive error: -6710
Jan 19 16:34:04 Severity:3 AirTunes time sync receive error: -6730
Jan 19 16:34:04 Severity:3 AirTunes too many time sync negotiate failures: 64/0/63
Jan 19 16:36:23 Severity:3 AirTunes time sync receive error: -6710
Jan 19 16:36:23 Severity:3 AirTunes time sync receive error: -6730
Jan 19 16:36:23 Severity:3 AirTunes too many time sync negotiate failures: 64/0/63
Jan 19 16:37:00 Severity:3 AirTunes time sync receive error: -6710
Jan 19 16:37:00 Severity:3 AirTunes time sync receive error: -6730
Jan 19 16:37:00 Severity:3 AirTunes too many time sync negotiate failures: 64/0/63
Jan 19 16:37:54 Severity:5 Disconnected from network.
Jan 19 16:39:12 Severity:5 Joined BSS 00:1e:52:79:98:0e
Jan 19 16:39:13 Severity:5 Installed unicast CCMP key for authenticator 00:1e:52:79:98:0e
Jan 19 16:43:26 Severity:5 Clock synchronized to network time server time.apple.com (adjusted +0 seconds).
Jan 19 16:45:00 Severity:5 Connection accepted from [fe80::217:f2ff:fe0c:386b%bridge0]:49279.

So it looks like a clock sync error of some kind - which then prevents the two devices from communicating. The (adjusted +18475854 seconds) statement is very odd - looks like it picked a totally different time for some reason!

You can see at the end when I reset the Extreme (16:39:12), the AE re-syncs it's clock, and everything started working again.

Check you error logs next time it happens - I think this could be key.

I'm having the same problem. Have Airport Express working just fine, no changes to my network or computer, all of a sudden it stops and I'm getting the 15006 error when I try to play through it in iTunes.

Tried all sorts of things to fix it 😟

Mine is fixed! Do not know why, but if I quit iTunes at the end of a session, then launch it the next day, the connection to the remote speakers works fine. I have not had the dreaded -15000 message in a week. I even replugged Express into the rear of my receiver where it is hidden, and it works fine. No clue.

S

SUCCESS!!!

I found this out there:

http://jeremyherbert.net/post/by/id/67

For me it has worked. Quick, easy and simple, and I'm no geek.

I rang my ISP and they took me through the steps in 5 minutes. I then reset the AE for the new WEP password and it works....

If you have two networks setup on an Airport Express (5GHz and 2.4GHz) they seem to share broadcast domains but collision domains are questionable. Switch the PC you are broadcasting to the Airport Express to the other network and try it. It resolved the problem for me. Not exactly a fix but more of a work-around as it should work on both.

It's shameful Apple hasn't fixed this issue. I was under the impression it was just my units getting old when really it's an issue with the device firmware.

My setup is2 airport express base stations, using WPA with AES only, no TKIP variable, and a wireless router with 4 wired and 4 wireless nodes.

The AE in question will come up after a power reset but then falls off the network, though the light stays green, as soon as i try to connect using iTunes...dreaded -15006 error. This happened even when the AE was 10' away from the router with no walls or plumbing interrupting.

Given the absence of apple's engineering team on this (and the failure of the TKIP, IPv6, and port forwarding suggestions), it seems the resolution for this issue is to find a less expensive device to perform airport functionalities. Suggestions?

Hello,

As far as I am concerned, I did finally completely solve my issue.
I posted earlier my configuration. I use a "CPL" connection, which means I use my wired electricity network with Ethernet connectors (I don't know the english name for this technology).
I use a third party router (Freebox).
Every time i rebooted my AE, they appeared in the iTunes and Airport Utility, but then after a few minutes, i had a 15506 error and they disappeared even though the light stayed green.

I tried a thousand things until this: I just assigned a fixed IP to the AE, but not using the router, but instead doing it directly on the AE with the Airport utility (Internet tab).
Since then (more then 3 weeks), it works perfectly.
But it only worked perfectly when ALL devices where set-up this way. As soon as i added one with automatic DHCP, they all disappeared.
Of course, it looks like a bug, rather AE or bonjour bug and not OSX related, as i had the same problems with PC's on my network.

I use OSX 10.6 latest version.

Hope it will help some of you.

Guillaume

I've had this problem the past two days, and I solved it this morning. If you haven't done so already, unplug your modem, your wireless router, and your base station. Also shut down your computer. Wait 30 seconds or so, turn everything back on, wait for the solid green light on your basestation, and try again. I don't know if it matters, but I turned them back on in the following order: modem, router, basesation, computer. Hope this helps.