iTunes loses connection

[brianosmi]

I have been trying to share my iTunes music library with another pc in my wireless network. The wireless pc is on the other side of my house, and is equipped with a wireless pci card. I have a WRT54G and a WRE54G in between the two pcs to form my wireless network.

On the wireless pc I do not have any problems with dropped connections EXCEPT when trying to access my iTunes library. I get a couple of songs in, then the connection is severed some how.

I have not been able to find anything so far with anyone having this same problem with iTunes. I'm not sure if it is my wireless network, the pc I have the music library on, or iTunes. I work from the same end of the house with the wireless pc on a laptop quite often, and I do not have any problems with dropped connections.

Figured I'd post here and see if anyone has any ideas....

Thanks

[sjamaan]

Did you ever fix this problem? It's bugging me as well, and I'm desperate!

[brianosmi]

I wish... I can stream Internet radio, such as XM, with only the occasional hiccup. But when it comes to sharing music with iTunes I get about 4 or 5 minutes in and then the connection drops. EVERY time...

I don't know if it is the equipment or iTunes or what. If anyone else has any input it would be greatly appreciated!

[sjamaan]

Did you try hooking both machines to the WRT45G? I hooked both to my modem (speedtouch 546) and it worked. As soon as I hooked one to the WRT54G and the other to the modem, the connection drops occurred. I haven't tried with both devices hooked to the WRT54G yet (one is a server, I don't really want to move it).

Also, wired or wifi doesn't matter, so it's not an issue of channels/signal strength or something.

Do you run iTunes proper, or something else? I run daapd under NetBSD on my server. Client runs iTunes under OS X.

[brianosmi]

Thanks for the reply. No, I didn't try hooking both up to the WRT54G because I need one of the machines to be wireless, but I have long suspected that it is an issue with the linksys equipment. It seems to only be able to handle the large data stream for so long without choking.

Both machines are running with Windows XP, newest version of iTunes.

[sjamaan]

Hmm, interesting theory. I just did a small experiment:
- Hooked up my machine with a wire to the network
- Connected to the share
- Once it started playing, unplug the cable

It plays on for a short while, using up its buffer. After that, the share just disappears and the machine doesn't even try to reconnect. So it behaves differently than with an MP3 stream off an internet server (there it will just try to reconnect)

EDIT: This is very strange, since I use Network Beacon to proxy the server. The disappearance of the share should not happen (network beacon still advertises the share, even though it doesn't exist). iTunes can still see the share's mDNS response so it shouldn't be gone.

This is exactly what it looks like when I run the share over the WRT54G, so I think your statement's true. The WRT just can't handle large bulks of data very well.

I do think it's strange MP3 streams don't suffer short skips or jitters.

Also: I didn't mean physically hooking up both machines to the WRT54G, but just connecting them both to it, via either wifi or cable. I want to eliminate the possibility that it's because there are two hops between server & client. Perhaps if we can narrow the problem down we can send a detailed support question/bugreport to Linksys so they can fix it in the next firmware release.

[sjamaan]

I just filed a support question with Linksys.

Your Question has been Submitted
The reference number for your question is '060604-002046'.
You should receive a response from our Support department within the next business day.

Let's hope they fix it with a new firmware release!

[brianosmi]

Awesome, thanks for the update. If I ever get time to move my second machine closer to the WRT54G and connect directly to it rather than through the repeater I'll post here and let you know how it goes.

[wiredless]

I have a WRT54GX2 - I had to adjust fragmentation threshold and RTS threshold to upload large files to another computer, otherwise the connection was lost before it completed. Fragmentation threshold 2050 - RTS threshold 2051 is what I'm using. I also up'd the beacon interval and DTIM interval a tad, but this shouldn't have much if any effect.

[brianosmi]

I had to adjust fragmentation threshold and RTS threshold...

Thanks wiredless.
Mine are set to Max (2346 and 2347, respectively). I will try adjusting them and post back here the results.

[sjamaan]

Thank you for contacting Linksys Technical Support.
We apologize for the inconvenience; this case has already been forwarded to our Product Engineers for further investigation.
We will get back to you as soon as we get the results.

That was Friday the 9th of June... No response yet. I sure hope they're busy hacking up a fix for the bug.

[sjamaan]

Thank you for contacting Linksys Technical Support.
Im sorry for the inconvenience that this has caused you. Right now we
havent confirmed any problem regarding itunes. I suggest that you to
re-flash your firmware. It is possible that the current firmware on
your router, although the latest version, is unstable or corrupted.
Download a new copy of the firmware, load it on your router, hard
reset it and then reconfigure it. You can use the links and
instructions below as your reference.

Just *great*

[brianosmi]

Just *great*

Yeah, and I can also report that adjusting the fragmentation threshold and RTS threshold did nothing to fix the problem for me... However it was a good suggestion.

[sjamaan]

Now what?

Maybe a good strategy would be for you guys to independently file a bugreport on the same bug. They can't keep ignoring it if they're being pointed at it by three different people.

You can find an e-mail link under support->technical support->technical support contacts at http://www.linksys.com (Direct link)