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

I have been having this problem for months and in various versions of iTunes, various Airport Express' (g and n versions) and various different routers.

One thing I have noticed that I haven't seen mentioned –

I have an iMac G5 and MacBook Core2Duo on my home network. When iTunes drops it's AirTunes connection to the AE, Finder also looses it connection to the shared folders of the networked computers i.e. the connected mac disappears from the 'shared' sidebar in the finder window. Could this mean it is a Bonjour issue?

I have found turning off Airport in the menu bar and turning it one again usually gets the connection back.

I have just now turned off IPv6 in sys prefs and I'll let everyone know how I get on with that. But I have to say it's a disgrace this issue has been going on for as long as it has. I do remember one update to iTunes to 'correct' the problem when it initially reared it's ugly head but not a peep since then.

Apple, please sort this out or stop selling it as a feature of your AE units.

My Airport Express has its wireless off and is connected to my network over ethernet but I am still having issues...that said I haven't checked the IPv6 settings on the Airport Express so that's the next step!

Turning off IPv6 did nothing. Still getting dropped internet connections and loss of connection to AirTunes. The internet comes back if I manually renew the DHCP lease. Airtunes won't come back until I turn Airport off and on again in my menu bar.

This is really starting to p**s me off.

Mine is intermittent. It was working as long as I quit iTunes, then launched it again with 'multiple speakers' selected. Now, that doesn't work, either. Also, if I turn off the Airport in the menu bar and turn it back on, it still doesn't work. Still get the dreaded -15000 or -15006 message.

This reminds me of the bad old days of DOS. What is the world coming to?

S

I figured it out!!!!! .....at least for my setup and for the time being. Here's what I found:

My kids unplugged the Express from my stereo receiver without my knowledge. This was while I was trying to connect the Airport to the Express which I thought was plugged into the receiver. This is when I was getting the -15000 message. I reconnected the Express to the receiver (Aux input). Then I shut down iTunes. I reopened iTunes and started it playing and it now connects to the Express! I don't understand why the Express needs to be connected to an amp to be in contact with the Extreme, but, hey, it works! Maybe my kids unplugged the Express from the amp input when it was communicating with the Extreme? I dunno... let us know if this makes any sense.

thanks for that post u got my airtunes working after i upgraded my router 😀

Hi, I'll second this solution. I've had the same problem for a few months, VERY infuriating. I'm using a EDIMAX EW-7416APn and all seemed fine, then one day, pop! My AE wouldn't work anymore, same 15006 errors. I even stepped the security back from WPA(TKIP)/WPA2(AES) to just WPA, which is exactly the wrong thing to do, according to BabylonByBus's solution. In your wireless router, switch from WPA to WPA2 security (and not WPA/WPA2 either). Once the router's happy and your computers can access the network, reset your AE, configure it and all should be hunky dory!

I am so relieved, but also quite concerned that Apple haven't fixed this earlier!

it seems to be SYSTEM issue ,
not airport Express.
after 1 month since I got the new mac pro and Snow leopard,
suddenly I have this -15000 error on my mac PRO, try and try. same error.

I open my macbook, and it works just fine, no delay. Previous OSX.

that makes me think the problem is not with the AE.:)

Have had the same problems. Today I finally nailed it.
Started out with error -15006.
Changed the Airport express to use a static IP.
This made the 15006 disappear. But now iTunes just hanging saying it tries to connect to the Airport Express.
The I turned off wireless and tried with a wired connection still static IP.
That worked everything ran as expected iTunes found it fast and no dropouts.
Wireless hmm...
I then removed all encryption I ran WPA/PSK (AES) Added a Mac filter instead.
Maybe not a smart move but one gets a bit desperate.
Now it works like a dream.

*So my recipe:*
Fixed IP, no encryption, protect with MAC Filter.
At the moment it runs on my 2.4Ghz I have a Netgear WNDR3700 that has two radios.
At the moment the 5Ghz is turned off. In a couple of days When my blood pressure is back to normal 😉 I will turn on the 5GHz and see what happens.

Okay, don't know if my setup is close to what you guys have but here's to hopefully helping someone out. I am using an Airport Extreme Base Station and an Airport Express. The Extreme is setup with a check mark under Wireless\Wireless Network Name\"allow this network to be extended". The Express is setup under: Wireless\Wireless Mode\"extend a wireless network".

The key for me was to configure the Extreme under: Advanced\IPv6\IPv6 Mode\"Tunnel". Once I selected "Tunnel" vs. Link-local only or Host - it worked. Hope it works for you too!