iMac/HomePod cannot hold music connection

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8 points

iMac/HomePod cannot hold music connection

Hi all! I'm on an refurb 2019 iMac. I had pretty significant daily usage problems with it, and called into Apple Support and we figured out that the refurb people hadn't correctly formatted the drive. Anyway, that solved pretty much of all of my daily usage problems, but during the trouble shooting phase we noticed the keyboard and trackpad both losing Bluetooth connectivity. (Plugging them in worked fine, and now they're back to full Bluetooth functioning.)

ANYWAY--the one thing that the hard drive fix didn't fix was the computer's inability to stream audio to HomePod (Spotify, YouTube) for more than 2-3 seconds without sputtering and stopping, like a CD skipping. (This was happening pre-HDD fix.)

I've tried this with two different HomePods, same results/situation. Any chance this is hardware related? Any way to zero in on that? Thanks ya'll!

(Oh and I do *not* have this problem when broadcasting to either HomePod from my iPhone-completely flawless from it.)

iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Aug 29, 2020 1:00 PM

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Answer 1

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turingtest2

Level 10

272,811 points

Aug 29, 2020 4:22 PM in response to hadenbrecker

Pretty sure your iMac will have an Ethernet port. If you've had Bluetooth trouble then perhaps there are other issues with its wireless subsystem. Streaming 3rd party content to HomePod means the traffic has to go from your router, to your Mac, and then on to the HomePod. Going wired cuts out two wireless hops. It could perhaps be that your iMac isn't ideally placed with respect to your router, although if it were just that then you might expect to see issues in other uses, not just playing to HomePod. Either way, testing to see what factors may make a difference is worth doing, even if only to eliminate them.

tt2

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Answer 2

turingtest2

Level 10

272,811 points

Aug 30, 2020 1:50 PM in response to hadenbrecker

AirPlay uses the local network to communicate, not Bluetooth. My understanding is that Bluetooth with HomePod is only used for setup and, one assumes, handoff. Are you using any VPN software? Have you checked for malware lately? Offhand I cannot think of any obvious reasons for HomePod to have trouble streaming from your Mac when another device works properly.

tt2

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Answer 3

hadenbrecker Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 31, 2020 7:16 AM in response to turingtest2

Ahhh I didn't realize that... although that further confuses things, as I was having this problem with an *entirely* different network setup (including completely different network hardware). Yet still, only the problems with iMac-not when streaming from iPhone.

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Answer 4

hadenbrecker Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 3, 2020 3:29 PM in response to turingtest2

Hi there-

so a bit of an update-issue still not resolved. I hope you don’t mind my posting my summary from another forum!

Basics:

I bought a 2019 Amazon Renewed iMac in early August. It was sluggish, to near unusable degree. It ALSO could not play to my brand new HomePod without dropping out, stopping, etc More than about 6 seconds.

Well I got Apple support involved, and we figured out the molasses slowness was related to the HDD not being formatted correctly, as a Fusion drive. That resolved all the molassesness, but in that process Bluetooth had become spotty, and more importantly didn’t help the HomePod audio issues.

To try and trouble shoot that, I:

tried an entirely different HomePod with it. Same issue.

have tried my MacBook Air with said HomePod as well as iPhone. No playback problem at all.

Have tried Spotify as well as YouTube-same audio issues.

So here’s where things take a turn for the infuriating.

i decided to just send the iMac back to amazon and get another renewed one. Turns out it wasfrom the same outfit, and it arrived with MacOS 14.1 or so (as did the previous one), as well as the non-Fusion HDD. (I’ve since updated OS to fully current.)

Annnddd wait for it...

...exact same HomePod issue.

surely I’m missing something obvious??

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Answer 5

turingtest2

Level 10

272,811 points

Sep 3, 2020 3:54 PM in response to hadenbrecker

I'm afraid I don't have any insight, but hard not think there is going to be something about that particular model, or the way that they refurbish it. I'd be tempted to nuke and pave, but that isn't what you want to have to do with what is already supposed to be in an as new state. If you're running 10.15 now did you test it in 10.14.x? When you switched to 10.15 did you do an upgrade or a clean install?

tt2

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Answer 6

hadenbrecker Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 4, 2020 3:26 PM in response to turingtest2

Yeah, I definitely tried it in 10.14.x, no dice. the 10.15.x was an upgrade. I've also moved it (HomePod) across the room, and am looking into a wifi extender; someone else in another forum said that HomePod is extremely picky about wifi routers. I'm kind of holding out for the 10.16 before doing yet another re-install. Would you think that wise?

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Answer 7

turingtest2

Level 10

272,811 points

Sep 6, 2020 4:53 PM in response to hadenbrecker

I doubt there is anything to gain by another reinstall at this point. Try giving the HomePod a fixed IP address in your router's configuration pages. if the router does both 2.4GHz and 5GHz radio test with one of them disabled. 2.4GHz should be universally supported and has the better range.

tt2

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Answer 8

hadenbrecker Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 7, 2020 8:48 AM in response to turingtest2

Wow!! This seems to have solved it-I’ve been listening for a solid 2 mins or so, which Is a big deal so far, hah! I did both the IP allocate as well as turn off 5 ghz radio (thus, only 2.4 on). Anyway, you solved it. Thanks so very much!

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Answer 9

hadenbrecker Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 29, 2020 5:03 PM in response to turingtest2

Ahhh I see!! Since I didn’t figure I’d ever even need it I assumed the iMac didn’t have an Ethernet port. Indeed it does, so I’ll give that a look first thing Monday.

more to come...

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