AirPort Express skipping
I just got my AirPort Express yesterday, plugged it in, set it up (set up was very easy by the way), and started up iTunes to use AirTunes. It worked great for a minute before it started skipping. It's exactly like if you were streaming music from another computer and the stream had to rebuffer, but no "rebuffering stream" window pops up, the music just stops and iTunes stops playing. iTunes doesn't pause, the "elapsed time" counter just stops for a few seconds (and sometimes as long as minutes at a time) than starts again and I get music.
I'm not using this as my basestation right now, it's just being used to stream music, I have a Netgear 802.11b router in my basement. My signal strength is about half, and that goes up to three quarters at night, but that should have no effect on my ability to stream to APExpress, right?
Any idea why this might be happening? The APExpress is connected to the stereo with an optical cable that I know works, and the light on the unit is steady green, indicating that it is functioning properly. I doubt very highly that it's a reception issue, because the unit is sitting on top of a dresser and there is even a clear sightline between the unit and the computer streaming the music, not only that, but they're maybe 10 feet apart.
I've tried resetting the APExpress, restarting iTunes and the computer, moving the computer and the APExpress around, and messing with the settings of the unit. I've had no luck except for about a 25 minute period yesterday when it worked flawlessly. Than it started to skip again.
I checked activity monitor and the Data Out when the music is playing gets as high as 300kbps, when it skips, the data out drops as low as zero. Running the top command in terminal reveals that CPU usage is normal. Any ideas as to why this is happening?
I'm not using this as my basestation right now, it's just being used to stream music, I have a Netgear 802.11b router in my basement. My signal strength is about half, and that goes up to three quarters at night, but that should have no effect on my ability to stream to APExpress, right?
Any idea why this might be happening? The APExpress is connected to the stereo with an optical cable that I know works, and the light on the unit is steady green, indicating that it is functioning properly. I doubt very highly that it's a reception issue, because the unit is sitting on top of a dresser and there is even a clear sightline between the unit and the computer streaming the music, not only that, but they're maybe 10 feet apart.
I've tried resetting the APExpress, restarting iTunes and the computer, moving the computer and the APExpress around, and messing with the settings of the unit. I've had no luck except for about a 25 minute period yesterday when it worked flawlessly. Than it started to skip again.
I checked activity monitor and the Data Out when the music is playing gets as high as 300kbps, when it skips, the data out drops as low as zero. Running the top command in terminal reveals that CPU usage is normal. Any ideas as to why this is happening?
Comments
so, maybe a faulty airport?
The AirPort Express isn't being used as the router right now, it doesn't have an ethernet cable running into it, so I'm not getting my wireless signal from it, just trying to stream my tunes there.
Is your computer trying to access BOTH the AirportExp AND the NetGear simultaneously ??? The pauses could be when your Airport card is accessing the Router, then it resumes playing as it switches back to the AirEx... etc, etc.
It shouldn't happen, and it WON'T happen with "normal" Routers... it could be a bug in the "AirTunes" side of things, maybe.
Just a thought.
I replaced it with a basic Cisco Linksys 1000E router. Now it works like a charm. Didn't make any other change to the setup.