Apple TV Drops from Home Sharing

Thought I would throw my two cents in here. Like all of you I have been fighting this for months and just hit on something promising.

My issue has been different in that no amount of restarting or restoring or reinstalling would get it going again. Some of you say you can restart atv or iTunes and you could get it to work for a while. In my case it was not working at all. To be clear, I could stream movies but not see my iTunes library.

Tried router settings, tried uninstalling and reinstalling all apple software, went from wifi to direct connection, etc. and nothing worked even for a little bit. then the new iTunes and ATV came out I installed them Both and it worked for about a day and then went away again.

Reading an earlier post about bonjour got me thinking. I uninstalled bonjour 3.0 and searched for and installed bonjour 2.0.2.0. Instant success. i can push my itunes to atv through airplay and atv can see my library. no other changes were made. The program is called bonjour print services.

I have a theory that this works for a while but that apple comes along and automatically updates my bonjour to the latest versions which causes the home networking to stop. So I disabled the automatic software updates for apple.

Fingers crossed that i stay up and hope that helps someone out there.

Hello Tampamartin,

My girlfriend had the same issue last year when I bought her an Apple TV 2. Our fix was the same as your solution. On her Windows 7 pc, we uninstalled then reinstalled bonjour. No more drop outs since the reinstallation.

I do not know if this remedy would apply to Macs.

Ok, I think I managed to solve my problem! After updating to iTunes 11 I noticed it started to take longer for the problem to occur. The connection dropped by the end of a movie, which was much better than every 5 to 10 minutes, but the problem was still there. As I knew the problem wasn't related neither to the Apple TV, nor to the network cables or appliances (check my last post), I knew it had to to with some Windows' configurations, and probably something specifically related to iTunes, and configured by iTunes update/setup application.

So, I decided to check Windows' firewall’s configurations and I discovered that the list of allowed programs contained many repeated entries for iTunes and for Bonjour. It seems that some of iTunes’ updates simply created new entries instead of checking if they were already there. And those repeated entries had different configurations (i.e some were enabled for both private and public networks, others were enabled for just one of them). There were also entries for 32 and 64 bit versions of Bonjour (while only the 64 bits is used). I think all those entries caused Windows to sometimes allow the connection, and sometimes to block.

So I deleted all repeated entries, leaving just one for iTunes and another one for Bonjour. I also opened the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\SharedAccess\Parameters\Fir ewallPolicy\FirewallRules

and deleted all entries containing the terms “iTunes” and “Bonjour”. After that I went to Control Panel > Programs & Resources and repaired both iTunes and Bonjour (which recreated two entries for Bonjour and one entry for iTunes under the above registry key).

After doing this I've already watched three full movies without connection drops and also with no need to restart anything!

I hope this helps other ones facing the same problem.

Richard

Okay I am posting this on all four threads that describe this issue.

THIS IS A FIRMWARE BUG IN APPLE TV AND APPLE ARE IGNORING THE PROBLEM. WHEN STREAMING FILM/TV FROM iTUNES THE NETWORK STACK CRASHES AND RESTARTS.

• This is not a DHCP issue. Changing your router, network, DNS settings, re-installing iTunes, wearing a foil hat etc. won't fix it.
• Repeated reboots of the ATV unit are a temporary fix, but the issue returns - usuallly after being on standby - because most of the proposed "fixes" involve a reboot at some stage, this gives the impression they've worked, but they have not.
• Using a wired network connection removes the problem, so it is primarily a WiFi issue.
• The last two firmware updates have made the problem worse. I have four ATV 3's and can confirm this, since they are all using the same iTunes and network but have three different firmware versions between them. Although the iOS "remote" App finds all the ATV's faster and more consistently since the last iTunes update (11.0.1.12).
• All four Apple TV's are now all but unusable on WiFi.
• The problem occurs in the first 60 seconds of playback. If you get past that point, in all but a few cases, the film or TV show then plays to the end.

If this isn't a memory leak or similar bug in the network stack, then it is most likely a timeout issue with ATV DRM verify to iTunes. So WHY Apple haven't you admitted the problem and FIXED it?

Would you kindly explain why I am unable to replicate this problem on any of my Apple TV's.

Hi ArithonUK,

Several people, including me, have found solutions for their own Apple TVs that are indeed network related and cannot be attributed to Apple's software. Different solutions are appearing from different users. It is impossible to say whether these are different ways of solving the same problem or there are separate problems, it cannot be universally stated that the problem is due to a bug in Apple's product.

Apple's failure is in not providing guidance in avoiding these known (and predictable, for a knowledgeable engineer) gotchas. We, the users, are stuck fumbling in the dark looking for answers. Surely Apple could put together a FAQ?!?!

Subset of solutions reported to work:

- enable multi-cast packets on wireless router (my solution, since Bonjour uses this packet type for network discovery)

- install older version of Bonjour (Kranepool)

- firewall registry cleanup in Windows 7 (xwolve)

- use wired-only Ethernet and avoid Wifi (multiple - Note: this could be the same solution to the multi-cast problem I found)

- turn off hard drive "sleep" mode for power savings

Cheers,

Rocket

Rocket,

It's been a simple process of elimination. I've changed everything.

• I've use four different routers and played all the configuration games with Multi-cast etc. - no change.
• If bonjour is the problem why does ATV "bedroom" work while at the same time ATV "bedroom 2" does not?
• If Windows was the problem, then why do the hard-wired ATV's work fine and the WiFi ones work intermittantly?
• The PC running iTunes is hard wired to the router and runs Windows 8, but I had the same issue with Windows 7 and the last two versions of iTunes.
• My hard-drives never sleep, until they're dead.

The problem lies in the WiFi operation of the ATV units and if it isn't the hardware (which worked when I bought the first two ATV3's) then that leaves the firmware "update" which arrived the same time the homeshare failure did.

Regards

ArithonUK

Hi ArithonUK,

That truly *****. It still doesn't prove it is solely an issue with Apple's product, though. (I work in support for a high-tech company and have seen it all.) Of course, it could be - Apple has bugs in their products and really hate to admit it and support their customers sometimes. It could still be an interoperability issue with external devices that was made worse in the latest software update. It's impossible to tell.

In the end, whatever it is, I agree that Apple should get on the ball and support their customers, whether it is an interoperability issue or an Apple bug - support their customers, Apple! Especially if it is a compatibility issue, Apple really HATES supporting interop with other manufacturers (the "use Apple" mentality at work). They do not play well in the sandbox.

(I wonder how many users with an "all Apple" system can't resolve this issue?)

Best of luck,

Rocket

We have the same problem on 3rd generation. Really disappointed in the quality of this.

I've followed everyone's comments on this but sadly with no luck... I'm really keen to know if my router is the "cause", which I say in quotes as it's pretty clearly really something for Apple to fix with this many people finding their Home Sharing system is unreliable...

My issues are specific from what I can tell form the posts - I can't see anyone with exactly the same issue.

This is my set up:

• 2007 iMac, using wireless networking
• 3rd gen ATV, wired, with all the firmware updates as they have been issued. Have tried wireless, it makes no difference.
• iPhones and iPads with Remote app. We've had different phones (3S, 4 and 5) and two 3rd gen iPads over time, with all the updates as they have come out.
• Billion 7300N Router. This model is mentioned in quite a few cases online as known to have a problem.

Whatever happens, a router restart fixes the problem but obviously that shouldn't be necessary...

Stuff that happens:

• Streaming films to ATV from its built in iTunes catalogue is always faultless
• Very hard to even get a film to play from my iMac so haven't been able to test if it works
• Remote will lose one or both of the ATV and iMac at some point without fail, normally within an hour; never comes back without a router restart in my experience
• iMac, iPads and iPhones all lose AirPlay after a few hours (icon just dissappears); timing very random; requires router or full computer restart to bring it back; ATV similarly loses connection with my library at a random point
• Music will stop after some period of time, perhaps an hour, perhaps three, but it will always stop at some point. It also drops out intermittently for a second very occasionally. If playing from my iMac (ie AirPlaying from there to the ATV), a router restart restores the AirPlay connection and of course the audio will just have carried on on the computer so it just picks up where it has got to in the playlist or whatever.
• The very weird bit is that if the audio to ATV cuts out, which is guaranteed to be accompanied by remote losing sight of the iMac and ATV and the devices will all lose AirPlay, if I just leave it it will connect back again. This can take about 30 mins. Nothing else comes back, ie AirPlay is not available and the ATV can't see the library on my iMac, but it does play again for a while...

Does anyone else have the same, and do any of the technical elite amongst you see anything in this, especially the final part, that might help Apple (if not me!) fix it?

And just out of interest, if I just ditch the Billion router and get an Apple one, will that fix it or are there some people having this problem with Apple routers too?

Thanks 🙂

PeterD

After literally troubleshooting this for hours and messing with router firewall settings we finally realized it was the ANTIVIRUS settings which were causing the issue. We made the IP address static for the Apple TV then configured the network settings within the antivirus to ALLOW that specific IP address.

Hope this helps you also.

FYI - we called Apple support and finally came to this conclusion.

Hi folks, I've been having problems with Home sharing and my iMac and apple TV. I thought it was an issue with the iMac's wifi but after reading some of the posts here I'm not so sure.

What happens is when playing a video from the Computers on the Apple Tv the video sometimes plays but more often it stops and the iMac disapears from Computers. To fix it I'd have to turn off WiFi on my iMac and it would work for a while. Maybe. Airplay from other devices (2 iPhone 5s, an iPad 1 and an iPad 3) work very reliably.

On the iMac athough the Wifi signal is shown as good I also lose access to the internet. Does this also happen for anyone else?

I am in the UK using BT infinity although I don't use their hub, I use an Airport Express. I was planning trying using ethernet to the BT hub or maybe taking the iMac to the Apple shop.

Alan,

I've been having the same problem. I bought my Apple TV a month ago in the US and I'm now using it in the UK. I assume it's the most recent version and my system is currently updated (no software updates available).

What's not working:

- Mirroring works for a day, then doesn't work for 30 days. I'd like to find a solution to this.

- Note: I'm mirroring from my iPhone 5 (which when it doesn't work, it doesn't show up as the Apple TV to play on). Same thing with my iPad 3.

Everything is connected to the wifi and it's not working.

What's working:

- Apple TV is connected to the internet (Netflix works, Radio works, Remote works)

Apple Support - please assist.

Thanks.

Jay, mirroring works fine from iOS, haven't tried from my iMac for a while. Onlt thing that doesn't work is playing a video from my iMac which is where most of my videos are....

Alan, does it see your computer from the Apple TV? From playing around, looks like there's the sync to iTunes account. i'm assuming you did that?

Any thoughts on why my AppleTV from iPhone and/or iPad would only work very occasionally?