Mac Mini driving me nuts

[Niner]

I am having several issues while trying to play AIFF files through my Mac Mini with iTunes and Amara. My song library is all on an external drive connected via firewire cable. The issues are:

 

1. I purchased an iPad to connect with the mini, using the iTunes remote app as well as Remoter VNC and Splashtop. iPad will connect about 1 in 5 attempts. While I can connect via my Mac Pro, itouch and iMac every time. I have taken them both (iPad and Mini) into the Apple store and they connect fine. Is this coincidence or is my set up just trying to kill me.

 

2. The mini will quit playing right in the middle of songs and show a message "Mac Mini quit unexpectedly, do you want to reconnect". I can only see this message usually after several unsuccessful tries with the iPad, then I will have to use my iTouch or go in the other room and screen share with my other commuter because my iPad will not connect with the mini. I hit reconnect and it starts playing again.

 

3. Several times it will appear as though everything is playing fine except no music is coming through the speakers. iTunes/Amara shows that a song is playing with seconds counting down. I can finally get it to play after several reboots.

 

It is extremely frustrating. I'm curious to know if others are having the same issues. Can it be Amara messing the mini up? Is it my router messing up the iPad, although all the other Apple products seem to connect fine. I really want to love computer audio but the implementation part of it is killing me.

 

Thank you in advance for any help or ideas.

 

[jerry_rig]

Since it seemed to work at the Apple store, it could be your router or its settings.

 

On the other hand, I just installed the latest OSX upgrade (10.7.3) and my screen share has crapped out on me. I used to be able to access the Mac Mini via my Macbook Pro through Finder as a Guest. Now I get asked to log in and it doesn't recognize me. The keychain seems fine.

 

Now the only way I can access it directly is with Chicken VNC. And that is much more sluggish, particularly when trying to log on.

 

If anyone else has run into the same thing, that would be good to know. Thanks!