headless mac mini iphone remote wierdness

[eforer]

Hi all,

 

I've been lurking for the last year but this is my first post. I went ahead and ditched my pc based music server in favor of an old G4 mac mini + usb non-bus powered external hard disk. It is connected by its internal wi-fi card to my network. I have opted to run it headless as in my small listening room, the screen is a pita. I use my Iphone 3gs as a remote. About 50% of the time it works great. Sometimes however, my iphone connects and then displays the "loading" message continuously. It does this even after its restarted (itunes automatically starts with the machine). It can be infuriating, and then typically just goes away on its own after sitting idle for awhile (ie many minutes to hours) and starts working again.

 

It seems to me like it has something to do with the usb hard drive. Its almost as if the drive doesn't wake up or unmounts itself. I have the mini set to never sleep or shut off hard drives. I'm just finding it very annoying.

 

Any thoughts or experiences with similar problems would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

-Ed

 

[Bob Stern]

I've never seen a "loading" message on my iPhone, but I have seen a message that it's looking for my iTunes Library. Is that what you're seeing?

 

If so, in iTunes prefs on the music server, try turning on "Share music library on local network." Then, in the Remote app on your iOS device, go to Settings and turn on Home Sharing.