New Apple TV loses connection to iTunes 1…

Mar 17, 2011 4:23 PM in response to Toasty!

I have similar issues but use HomePlug instead of Wi-Fi (much better).

My problem is that occasionally my router resets causing IP addresses to be re-assigned. I found this out because I used my iPad to VNC into my two iMacs and whenever the problem of my Apple TV's occurs (I have 4), I often find that my VNC needs to be reconfigured with a slightly different IP address before it will log on - sometimes the IP's swap over between computers.

So basically the AppleTV's decide that they are communicating with a particular IP address on the network only to find that it no longer exists (to it). Perhaps it would be useful for Apple to, in the event of a timeout, to search for a home sharing source as it must when you turn off home sharing and turn it back on again (which is one way of restoring contact).

Now, why does my router reset? Is it a faulty router - NO. I know this because 3 of my work colleagues (we all work from home) use the same ISP and the same thing happens to them. We suspect that the ISP's are, periodically remotely reseting the routers - why, I know not - of course we could be wrong.

I am considering looking into how to force particular IP addresses on all my computers and devices (if this is actually possible) - it should alleviate most of the problems if I can.

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Mar 17, 2011 10:09 PM in response to Toasty!

Hi guys, thought you might also want to watch this thread with same topic: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2753196&tstart=0

As a quick fix which I mention in the thread, I turn the wireless on my Mac Pro off and then right back on, as I find it faster than doing that with Home Sharing since HS always asks for my password.

Cheers.

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dlloyd99

Level 1

0 points

Mar 27, 2011 6:09 AM in response to Prograham

Here's another one... XP, Wireless connection (Linksys), wired connection (Cat 5); either way, loses the connection between ATV and the Itunes library on the XP box. Sigh. Usually in the middle of a song or a movie. Double Sigh. never drops the Netflix though...

Add me to the ATV is not-ready-for-primetime fan club

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sotto354

Level 1

0 points

Apr 2, 2011 3:24 AM in response to Toasty!

I recently had my apple tv running off my belkin router. Then I purchased an aiport extreme and bridged it to my belkin router and wow life was so much better. Quicker streaming to the atv and all idevices got further range and quicker loading times. The PROBlEM was that my atv as soon as it went to sleep would drop the apple wireless network. Each time I turned it on I would have to re-enter the wpa code which got old really quick. Fortunately its an easy fix. Simply (1)click your airport wifi symbol on the top right of your screen. (2) Open Network Preferences (3) Advanced (4) Check the box Remember networks this computer has joined! That did it for me hope this helps!

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sotto354

Level 1

0 points

Apr 2, 2011 3:28 AM in response to Toasty!

I recently had my apple tv running off my belkin router. Then I purchased an aiport extreme and bridged it to my belkin router and wow life was so much better. Quicker streaming to the atv and all idevices got further range and quicker loading times. The PROBlEM was that my atv as soon as it went to sleep would drop the apple wireless network. Each time I turned it on I would have to re-enter the wpa code which got old really quick. Fortunately its an easy fix. Simply (1)click your airport wifi symbol on the top right of your screen. (2) Open Network Preferences (3) Advanced (4) Check the box Remember networks this computer has joined! That did it for me hope this helps!

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cgapperi

Level 1

9 points

Apr 10, 2011 10:12 AM in response to Toasty!

Same issue here with ATV2. I am not having ANY problem with any other device on my network. I have no problem sharing iTunes with any other machine or accessing the internet via wireless from any device on the network. It is the ATV device that is the issue. Period. I have tried numerous access points in my house and the ATV2 exhibits the same behavior with all of them. I am ready to return the frustrating device.

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CJ2010

Level 1

4 points

Apr 11, 2011 12:44 PM in response to Toasty!

I recently purchased 2nd Gen Apple Tv and almost from day one had the same issues described here. The wireless internet connection is good and remains constant however the library drops off randomly, sometimes after 10mins, sometimes after 1hr. I am using a Belkin N router and Windows Vista. The ports in the router firewall (ports TCP 3689 and UDP 5353) were open and still the problem remained. I then opened up ports 6000 to 6005 UDP (these ports are for itunes sharing.....and..... so far ..... although early days, the problem has gone....

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drlambda

Level 1

6 points

Jun 17, 2011 2:06 PM in response to Toasty!

Just bought a 2nd gen ATV, set up with Cat5, all relevant firewall ports open.

Same story as everyone else - what a dissapointment, Apple. Wish I had seen these posts before I invested in a box that I cannot use. 😟 ATV software is up to date but "computer"/HomeShare connection gets lost after 10 mins to an hour. Need to pull/re-insert power on ATV to re-establish. Nothing else works.

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Jun 22, 2011 5:09 AM in response to Toasty!

I have been following this Thread since a while now, hoping for Apple to come up with a solution. Sadly, this has been an issue for over half a year and still not solved.

I really want an ATV II, but not with this "connection-issue".

Please Apple, get this solved! (I know you're listening... 😉)

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Jul 9, 2011 2:14 AM in response to Toasty!

I bought a 2nd gen ATV, loved it but was getting connection errors every couple of hours (using DLINK 2680), got that fed up with it, bought an airport extreme, I havent lost connection once since !! Not a cheap solution, but go the apple route, and everything works as it should.

Works that well, thinking of buying more ATV 2's for the rest of the TV's in the house !!!!

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TheWall

Level 1

4 points

Jul 27, 2011 8:28 AM in response to Toasty!

+1

I have an all Apple setup at home and I have to reboot the ATV once a day. What is frustrating is the fact that it sees the network, it just refuses to stream the video. Once I reboot, it works fine. I tried changing the network settings and the multicast rate to no avail. It used to work perfectly at my previous appartement. It's been doing this since we moved only.

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Jul 29, 2011 11:04 AM in response to Dougychoi

I wish I could agree. I have a Time Capsule (dual simultaneous model) and an Airport Express (802.11n, used as a repeater and as a bridge with the Ethernet port). I run the Apple TV 2 wirelessly (I use the Ethernet for the TV which did not come with Wireless). So I have all my router devices from Apple, and have the same problems everyone here has. I am now running all the latest software on everything (Lion on the Mac Pro, etc) and the problem persists.

I place this problem squarely with Apple. Who knows, maybe iOS 5 for the Apple TV 2 will fix it. I'm not holding my breath, however. It seems that selling < .5 million of anything a quarter for Apple these days is not an important business....

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Aug 14, 2011 9:39 AM in response to Toasty!

Three cheers for our $99 paperweights! This is absolutely pathetic on Apple's part that they can't get the firmware right. The previous firmware update seemed to fix our dropped connection issue for the most part, and the latest version a couple of weeks ago has once again reintroduced the problem...or it could just be a coincidence...not sure.

In any case, same typical setup with us:

ATV2 (latest firmware)

iMac and iTunes 10.4

wi-fi using Apple AirPort

We can't even get a single movie to stream without having to reboot the ATV2 at least once or twice.

PITA for sure.

APPLE: FIX THIS!!!!!

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Aug 14, 2011 10:43 AM in response to janericster

Same problem here. All apple gear, latest everything. The movie tab just seems to disappear on a regular basis.

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Aug 14, 2011 11:05 AM in response to Toasty!

Forgot to mention, we should ALL report this issue on the ATV feedback page:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/appletv.html

Here's what I had submitted:

Ongoing issue since we got our Apple TV 2. Everything works for awhile (as little as 10 minutes), and then ATV will lose all connection to the mac running iTunes connected via home sharing. The network still works elsewhere (Netflix, etc.) but we have to constantly restart the Apple TV in order for it to find the movies that are streaming from the iMac running iTunes.

It seemed to have worked better during the past couple of months, and then it is broke again with the latest updates (ATV and iTunes -- not sure which broke it). Usually it happens about 2 or 3 times in a row during the first 10 to 15 minutes of watching a movie. Then after the 2nd or 3rd unplug and replug of the ATV2, it seems to stabilize and we can watch the rest of the movie. The next time we use ATV2, it is all repeated again.

Please fix this as we can't even watch a single movie without having to restart the ATV2 at least 2 times.

ATV2 with latest firmware (as of Aug 14, 2011)

iTunes 10.4 (80)

iMac running 10.7

8 GB of RAM

Have tried both wi-fi and ethernet (both lose connections to iTunes)

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New Apple TV loses connection to iTunes 10.0.1