Unstable Airport Express with JR Media Center 15

[N2Audio]

I'm trying to stream audio to my AE via Media Center 15. MC15 recognizes my AE zone but it is very unstable....droping the zone at very irregular intervals. Sometimes immediately and other times after a couple of songs. I've yet to make it through and entire album.

My server is Windows based XP and I'm using Norton Internet Security. I keep all software updated.

I suspected a firewall or antivirus issue and have tried many changes without any success. I've allowed Bonjour access, I've added ports to the router and excluded Bonjour as well as Air uPnp from antivirus scans. Nothing seems to matter.

Any ideas?

Thanks for any help. I've been an avid follower of this community for some time now and this is my first post.

 

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi N2Audio - Thanks for (finally) posting your question. The chances are pretty great that if you have a question there are many others out there with the same question.

 

I've used the configuration may times and had great success. You have quite a few possible causes to this problem. First and foremost I would remove Norton and disable the firewall. If you don't want to remove Norton you should disable it for sure. It can be difficult to completely disable a product like Norton Internet Security.

 

Adding ports to your router won't help here. Adding ports only helps when accessing services from inside your network to the Internet or vice-versa. All the devices on your network connected to your router use the router as a switch when communicating among themselves.

 

I would enable 802.11n at 5GHz only on the AE or connect the AE to your network via Ethernet as well as your computer. Set up the AE as just another device on the network and turn off its wireless capability.

 

Make sure AirUPnP and J River are up to date. The newest version of J River is 15.0.167 and available here http://files.jriver.com/mediacenter/MediaCenter150167.exe

 

Let me know if I've only confused you more. If we take one step at a time we should be abe to solve the issue.

 

[N2Audio]

Thanks Chris. I'm working through your suggestions and will let you know when, not if, I get this issue resolved.