Airport Express / Airplay and Belkin Router Compatibility?

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Level 1

6 points

Airport Express / Airplay and Belkin Router Compatibility?

I have scoured this forum at length and cannot find a solution to my problem. I have a Belkin N750DB wireless router running my home network. I am using my Airport Express (N) to join this network to I can Airplay my music to any place in the house. Airport Utility sucessfully sets up my Express in this mode. After my Express goes through its initialization and the green light illuminates, all of my devices show the Airplay icon. (IPhone, IPad, and ITuneson my Macbook). I can successfully pipe my music to the Airport Express speakers. In just a few minutes, the icons disappear from all devices and I cannot use the Express unless I unplug and replug it. When I do that, the exact process repeats and, again all devices shortly lose sight of Airplay. I have tried about every wireless configuration change from security types to changing wireless channels to no avail. In fact, I even tried to have my Express join my network using a direct ethernet connection to the router (no wireless). In that direct-connect configuration, the same thing happened - Airplay only worked for just a few minutes following its power cycle.

As my latest test, I tried setting up the Airport Express as it's own wireless network (didn't join my network). I can see and join this non-internet-connected network from my devices. When connected to this network, I can Airplay to my Express without problems. This is not a good configuration since I do not have internet connectivity when on this network.

So,

-I know the problem is not in my phone, computer or IPad since they all lose the icon simultaneously.

-The problem is not in the wireless connection between the Express and the Belkin router since the same issue occured with a direct connect to the router.

-The Airport Express is not completely broken because it seems to work as a stand-alone device.

A few more hints:

- The green light on the Airport Express remains illuminated green, even when I can no longer see the Airplay Icons and cannot pipe music.

- The Belkin router still sees the Airport in its DHCP list. In fact, I can ping the Airport Express from my Macbook.

So I am stuck with the problem. I cannot have my Airport Express reliably join my home network and support Airplay.

If anyone can give me a a few hints on how to solve my problem, you can win Smart Person of the Year (at least in my heart).

Airport Express-OTHER

Posted on Oct 1, 2011 7:44 AM

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Answer 1

nick ht

Level 1

10 points

Oct 1, 2011 10:11 AM in response to garyogary

I purchased a Belkin N750DB yesterday, and am experiencing exactly the same issue.

When I put my old D-Link router back the AirPort Express worked fine. This would appear to be a compatability issue with the Belkin.....

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Answer 2

garyogary Author

Level 1

6 points

Oct 4, 2011 8:34 PM in response to nick ht

I finally contacted Belkin about this issue. Here is their response:

------------

Dear customer,

Thank you for contacting Belkin Technical Support.

Unfortunately Belkin N750DB routers would not support Bonjour services. I regret the Inconvenience this might have caused to you!

Our higher department is currently working on this concern. You would be receiving a response with in a week.

-------------

When I asked the question using their online chat, I was told that they were aware of the issue and they are currently working on it. It sounds like there could be a future firware upgrade. I think I am going to wait a few more weeks before going with a different router.

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Answer 3

BlowCorp

Level 1

0 points

Nov 19, 2011 9:53 PM in response to garyogary

I have the exactly same problem and it's been killing me for the last 2 months! Apple and Belkin both really need to get their act together on this. It can't be that I'm spending $120 on an airport express or $180 on a router which are supposed to work and no one is aware or is telling people that there actually are massive compatibility issues.

I had an Apple Extreme Base Station before and everything worked fine. Now with the Belkin router... you know the story.

One Forum member even had the conceit to flag 'go and buy an Apple router' as the right answer to his identical problem... Great work, Apple. Maybe fix your firmware so people don't feel like they're completely left behind if they don't replace all their tech with Apple products.

And oh, the Genius in the store or the less-of-a-Genius at the Apple Support Team of course had no clue what the problem was and just recommended to restart the devices... genius!

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Answer 4

Nov 29, 2011 11:44 PM in response to garyogary

Not just a Belkin issue. I have the exact same symptoms using my D-Link DIR-655 router. Something inherent with networking not the brand. Of course when I try to call their support they are closed. Grrrr.

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Answer 5

garyogary Author

Level 1

6 points

Dec 4, 2011 1:24 PM in response to garyogary

OK, I waited for the firmware upgrade. In late November, the Belkin N750DB wireless router firmware was upgraded to version: 1.00.46. Here are the release notes:

Post Date: 11/21/2011

Release Notes

Updated wireless driver to improve peak wireless throughput.
Improved long term router stability within UPNP environment.
Media server now can be re-enabled after being disabled without the need for a reboot.
Fixed virtual servers interface issues in the Firefox browser.
802.11e WMM “Off” option disabled when in 802.11n mode (According to Wi-Fi spec)

Unfortunately, it did not say that they were adding support for Bonjour services, and it did not fix the problem of unreliable connection to the Airport Express. Everything works fine if I replace the Belkin router with an Airport Extreme. For people that are not network engineers, it is really hard to know if your router will work with the Airport Express. The compatibilites are just not documented well enough. The Airport Express is a really great item but, if you buy one, be warned that it may not be compatible with your existing wireless router, unless you are going all-Apple.

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Answer 6

Dec 8, 2011 11:31 PM in response to garyogary

I have been having the same problem and finally came across this discussion. Thanks for documenting the issue. I was ready to throw out the AE 802.11n but knew there was more to the issue since it worked fine for a minute or two (even longer if I immediately started streaming music to the unit). Interestingly, I have an older AE 802.11g unit that works fine with the Belkin N750 router. I just updated to the latest firmware on the router and too continue to experience the same issue with the AE 802.11n unit not being seen within Airplay one to two minutes after being unplugged and plugged back in. Belkin claims that the unit is Bonjour compatible (see http://www.amazon.com/review/R25MXRUD3N9WQJ). Had I been aware of this issue I would not have bought this router. I will contact Belkin support next to see what their response is.

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Answer 7

Rolves

Level 1

0 points

Dec 18, 2011 10:01 AM in response to KenS_tech

Good luck with Belkin support!! Just got off the phone with them (which is an experience in itself) and was told it is an issue with the Apple TV and not their problem. Apple TV worked perefectly with my old Linksys router.........

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Answer 8

Dec 19, 2011 9:28 AM in response to Rolves

I sent an email to Belkin support and never got a response. Although I did get a quick response to my review on amazon stating that they would be happy to help me. It appears to be just lip service. I ended up buying a reconditioned Linksys E4200 for $95 and everything is working properly. I will not be buying belkin products in the future.

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Answer 9

Dec 22, 2011 8:57 PM in response to garyogary

I had the same problem until I turned off the Belkin router and then established the Airport Express connection. I created a new network for the Airport Express using the Airport Utility and then selected the new network on the Wifi dropdown menu. After I checked iTunes to make sure that it found the AE and could play music over the remote speakers I then turned the Belkin back on. Once the Belkin router booted up I switched back to the the Belkin wireless network. Even though I switched wireless networks iTunes continues to connect with the AE.

I'm not very technically astute so I have no idea why this works. I'm just happy that I don't have to buy a new wireless router to fix the problem. Good luck.

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Answer 10

Jan 7, 2012 2:01 PM in response to garyogary

I wanted to post that I have the same problem, with similar devices. I have tweaked a few settings on the Belkin router and have achieved better results.

I have the Belkin Wireless G plus MIMO Router and an Apple TV acting as my AirPlay device. Computers, iPhones, and the AppleTV are all connected to my WiFi network hosted by the Belkin router. There is also a TiVo wireless adapter connected. I use WPA-PSK encryption on the network.

Devices can see the Apple TV as an AirPlay device; but once I connect to it and start playing music, results are shaky at best. After a few seconds to a few minutes, the AirPlay is interrupted, and it appears that all devices on the network temporarily lose the WiFi connection to the Belkin router.

Just to add to what others have said, I've experimented with changing a few settings on my Belkin Router.

-- I set the DHCP lease time to be "one day" rather than the default "forever." Especially when you are having to restart your Belkin Router all the time, and have mobile deivces that connect/disconnect from your network, there is a HUGE possibility of multiple devices getting the same IP address. Lowering the time of a DHCP lease tells your devices to check-in with the router periodically, to ensure their IP addresses are still valid.

-- I set the router to "G-only", disallowing B traffic. As you all know, a B/G network downgrades to B-only when a B-device connects to the network.

-- I am in a very crowded WiFi area (downtown Chicago), so I turned ON "WiFi Protected Mode" on the Belkin router, which is supposed to help with crowded 802.11b airspace. There's very little documentation on this, but "WiFi Protected Mode" is a Belkin-only feature (I think) that basically listens for airspace before broadcasting. It helps to prevent collisions in a crowded network. I'm unsure if this setting is helping or hurting my situation.

-- Finally, I turned OFF 802.11e QoS on the Belkin router. Depending on your router firmware, you may not be able to disable this feature. However, my thought is that the Belkin sees AirPlay traffic as "streaming media" and cuts off/deprioritizes other traffic. Since we know that Belkin routers aren't specifically Bounjour-compatible, it's possible that only part of the full AirPlay network traffic was being prioritized and other "control-based" AirPlay packets were being deprioritized or dropped.

Clearly, the WiFi routing on the Belkin Router is becoming overwhelmed/crashing and restarting on its own, causing all the devices to temporarily lose their connection.

After turning off QoS, I am getting siginificantly better results with AirPlay, although occasionally the connection stil drops. I hope this helps, or at least gets others thinking...

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Answer 11

Apr 3, 2012 3:06 PM in response to garyogary

Had a similar issue when i bought apple tv and the found an update to the belkin router that fixed my issue.

You may want to update if you are not up to date. The standard update check in the router settings did NOT find this update.

http://en-us-support.belkin.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5359

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Answer 12

gfrankel

Level 1

0 points

Apr 5, 2012 10:51 PM in response to garyogary

OMG!! Edgarperez saved my life! I've been fighting this issue for "some time". The answer is a firmware update for the Belkin router. And you can get the update right from the Belkin menu screen.

If you go into the Admin page for the router (go to 192.168.2.1 or whatever in your browser), down near the bottom you'll see an "update firmware" option in the menu. Click that and you'll see that there is an update available.

Follow the directions (DO follow the directions, they're a little funky) to install that update and your life will be worth living again.

At least it worked for me.

Note that as edgarperez says, this does NOT show up under the standard "check for updates" because it's a FIRMWARE update, not a software update.

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