Airplay icon missing from multiple devices; receiver missing from local network
I am at a loss after Airplay suddenly stopped working (icon disappeared and iphone/PC no longer recognizing my hardwired Denon receiver as a network device) and has not come back after extensive troubleshooting. If anyone is willing to plod through the following and hazard a guess at a viable solution or otherwise provide helpful advice, you would have my undying gratitude.
I had Verizon Fios installed about a month ago and they gave me an ActionTec router, model # MI424WR, which I'm told is their most current offering. I have one device connected directly to the router via ethernet cable -- a Denon AVR 1913 receiver, and several devices connected wirelessly, including the following: Windows PC (running Vista), two Samsung 7000 series smart TVs, two Cisco DVR set-top boxes (courtesy of Verizon), a wireless printer, and an iPhone. For the first few weeks of this set up, everything was great. I was able to successfully stream music to the Denon (1) by accessing songs physically stored on my iphone, (2) using Spotify Premium from my iphone, (3) using Pandora from my iPhone, and (4) using iTunes from my PC.
One day the Airplay icon disappeared without warning (and seemingly not in response to anything) from both the iphone and PC, and I noticed that the Denon receiver was no longer showing up among network devices in my PC's "network and sharing center," whereas it once did. (The iphone also did not show up in the network and sharing center, but I can't recall if it ever did.) When I entered the router's ip address in my web browser and looked at the devices in my network, both the Denon receiver and the iphone are there. Furthermore, I can access the Denon by entering its IP address in my browser and I can play internet radio using the Denon. I also tried pinging it and all were packets were received, none lost. Clearly the router is recognizing the Denon and it's connecting to something; just apparently not my local network, or at least not anymore anyway (I cling to the belief that it will one day work again, because it once worked great!)
I found one temporary work-around that is not a solution, but may be relevant diagnostically: when I connect my PC directly to the router using an ethernet cable (so that both the Denon and the PC are connected via ethernet cable -- everything else remains wireless), the Denon suddenly appears in my PC's network and sharing center. Furthermore, the Airplay icon re-appears, and it works just fine from itunes on my PC. However, the icon does not re-appear and does not work from my iphone, nor does the iphone appear in my network and sharing center. And as soon as I disconnect the ethernet coonnection to my PC, the icon disappears.
Two other observations, in case they are relevant. One is that when I access my router by entering its IP address in my browser and look at the devices in my network, the Denon is identified by it's MAC address. When it used to show up in my PC's network and sharing center, before this all started, it was identifed by it's "friendly" name, which is the following: [Denon:AVR-1913]. The other observation is that I have the Denon iphone app, and it has also stopped recognizing the receiver as an available device to connect to. Before this all started, the app used to recognize the receiver, also by it's "friendly" name. When I tried manually entering the IP address for the Denon receiver into the Denon iphone app (temporary IP address assigned by DHCP that is), I got an error message saying something to the effect that the device is not available and cannot connect. However, if I enter the IP address for the Denon receiver in my iphone's Safari browser, it accesses the receiver.
After calling tech support for Apple, Verizon, Denon, and Actiontec, and combing these support communities for posts, the majority view seems to be that it must be a router issue; the minority view is that it could be a receiver (Denon) issue. Nobody has been able to pinpoint the issue or solve it, except to the extent that I can stream from my PC by connecting my PC directly to the router using ethernet. (This is impractical as both router and receiver are stored on a high shelf in a closet; furthermore I can apparently only stream from iTunes as there doesn't seem to be an Airplay icon for the desktop version of Spotify Premium).
I can confirm the following:
- I have tried unplugging everything, performing factory resets on both the router and the receiver, and then reconnecting everything one device at a time, to no avail.
- I have tried disabling firewalls (Verizon, Windows and AVG) and temporarily disabling security software (AVG). (Should not matter as the problem affects the iphone in addition to the PC).
- I have tried temporaily disabling WPA2 security. (Again, problem affects the iphone too, so shouldn't be relevant).
- All firmware and/or software is up to date in all devices (i.e. itunes, iOS, router, receiver)
- I have opened all the Airplay ports by manually configuring my router as suggested here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4046029?start=0&tstart=0
(This post is from someone in the UK; could ports be different in the U.S.?)
- My network is not hidden and does broadcast a unique name
- MAC address authentication is disabled
- The Denon's network settings are as follows: DHCP is set to "on"; IP control is set to "always on." The network standby feature is set to "on."
Thanks in advance (very, very much) to anyone willing to help me grapple with this.
iPhone 4S, iOS 5.1.1