Airport Express stuttering

[Xanderzdad]

I have finally got my Airport Express hooked up wirelessly and the music is sounding lovely out of my sitting room hi-fi but....

the music jumps back and repeats itself for a fraction of a second every minute or so. It is really annoying and since the original lossless AAC file is fine I assume it must be the WiFi stream (I only have Netgear g router, not N).

Any ideas, as I'm at a loss. Thanks

 

[John Duncan]

Xanderzdad:
I have finally got my Airport Express hooked up wirelessly and the music is sounding lovely out of my sitting room hi-fi but....

the music jumps back and repeats itself for a fraction of a second every minute or so. It is really annoying and since the original lossless AAC file is fine I assume it must be the WiFi stream (I only have Netgear g router, not N).

Any ideas, as I'm at a loss. Thanks

Windows or Mac? Bet I can guess...

 

[John Duncan]

Actually, forget that - I guess Windows, and I guess Vista (edit- actually I forget now whether it's XP - anyway......). Google disabling WZC or "Windows Zero Configuartion", the point of which is I think to find new wireless network every.....minute or so.

 

[Xanderzdad]

Thank you, thank you, thank you etc......

You have saved my sanity - it was actually driving me mad (like the old water drip torture).

Trouble is the family couldn't hear it and thought I was crazy - as usual.

 

[John Duncan]

Don't thank me, thank professorhat, whose instructions in this thread helped others. Did you fix it?

 

[Xanderzdad]

Yes - hence all the thank you's. It is no longer torturing me LOL.

 

[John Duncan]

Cool, sorted.

 

[Xanderzdad]

JD, help..

I have stopped the relevant service on all PC's in my house (5 of them) and thought I had cured. It is not as obvious but I still experience the occasional stutter. It exhibits itself as a momentary (fraction of a second) change in the tempo like its skipping a beat. It only does this via the Airport Express.

I am running windows XP SP3 - any other ideas of cause. BTW the WiFi signal is quite strong although only a wifi 'g' system, not a new shiny 'n'.

Thanks

 

[Anonymous]

If you have a lot of applications running in the background, occassionally demanding processor power, this might account for it, no? E.g. your antivirus wakes up, tries to check for updates, then goes back to sleep again.

If somebody else can confirm that this could be a possible cause, it would be worth downloading something which can show you exactly what your PC is doing in the background, and thus allow you to manage it (i.e. turn off all the unecessary stuff).

 

[Anonymous]

Is it doing this at regular intervals, say, about once a minute?

What services did you stop, and are you using Vista or XP?

 

[professorhat]

Xanderzdad:I am running windows XP SP3 - any other ideas of cause. BTW the WiFi signal is quite strong although only a wifi 'g' system, not a new shiny 'n'.

Shouldn't be a problem with a 'g' network as this is all I run. I think in my original post I recall mentioning running a closed network had sorted the issue for some people (which is what I actually run). A closed network will be an option on whichever device is actually creating the wireless network - it simply means the name (or SSID) of your wireless network doesn't appear in the list of available networks when you do a search, you actually need to know the name and type this in manually to connect.

The other thing to consider is interference - quite often my music will skip in the kitchen when I switch the microwave on. Mobile phones, other wireless devices etc. could also cause interference so it's worth noting if anything happens when it skips e.g. you receive a text or some such.

 

[Xanderzdad]

I have checked all 5 of my PC's and they all have the WZC off.

I also isolated the network and hid the SSID, although this last option stops the iTouch Remote from finding the network.

It is still missing a beat every minute or so. It is quite subtle but is wrecking my enjoyment.

Any other ideas as I am getting quite frustrated. I thought the Airport Express was meant to be a simple solutiuon :-(

 

[Anonymous]

I can more than sympathise!

The problem isn't with the AE, it's with itunes. When Apple introduced itunes 8.x, the problems started, and to my knowledge Apple haven't responded to all the complaints.

I did some research into this, and the wzc fix works about 75% of the time. Basically, if the software drivers provided with the card/chip in your pc don't require wzc, you've a good chance everything will be fine. If they do, and that's increasingly the case, then there's problems. In my case, one pc requires a cable connection to the router to work, while my other works fine when wzc is turned off.

Go into services and check to make sure that wzc isn't being turned on by your wireless network drivers, despite your turning it off. If it is, disable it, but be aware you may have to re-enable it in order to find the network next time you boot.

If that doesn't work, then there are two possible fixes. Firstly, try connecting a pc containing your itunes library to your router using an ethernet connection, then create a workgroup using that pc with the itunes library shared as a resource for the others to use. You'll still have to disable wzc on the other pcs.

Alternatively, and far easier, go back to itunes 7.x. You'll find several places where you can find it if you google.

 

[John Duncan]

The fact that there are five PCs on the network might be an issue, unless you have a particularly robust one. Two questions - what happens when you turn all but the iTunes machine off, and are you certain none of the network PCs are running 802.11b?

 

[Anonymous]

I have three PCs in the house running on a wireless network. I tried everything suggested by Apple Support Forum but still my AE "stutters". In the end, I gave up fiddling with settings etc and upgraded to a N1 wireless and after that, everything worked beautifully! So my problem was solved by having a more powerful wifi signal, may not work for you but wifi N routers are so cheap now......

 

[Xanderzdad]

Thanks for all the advice. I know nothing is running at 'b' as I have the router set to 'g' only to prevent that. Also the router is connected to my main PC (containing iTunes) by ethernet.

The WZC is definitely off on all machines. It is isn't as noticeable as before but it is still happening.

I'll keep trying.

I must admit the idea of an 'N' router seems logical except that the throughput is still quite good and any cost is still a cost!

 

[John Duncan]

What happens if you connect your PC to AE with ethernet temporarily? I'm just trying to isolate the problem to wifi or elsewhere......

 

[Anonymous]

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