Sync Won't Complete

[brian0526]

I installed my Apple TV yesterday. Long story short, 36 hours later, I still only have about 2 GB of my 40 GB hard drive with any content on it. I have an iPhoto library of about 3,500 pictures (I'm guessing about 10 GB) that will not complete a sync. It keeps stopping and starting. But, bottom line is it is running very slowly and never gets all my folders over there.

I called Apple Care and they had me reset to factory settings. I did that about five hours ago and still only have 2 GB synced over (photos only).

My network is a Linksys Router 802.11n. It works just fine with my MacBook. So, I don't think the network is the problem. When I look at iTunes, it tells me I won't be able to sync all my music (I knew that when I bought the 40 GB Apple TV, but I thought it would cache and just grab music off the iMac when it needed it.

When I try to play music from my iTunes library through the Apple TV it sounds like it's skipping and the timing is off. I guess that's probably because it's still trying to sync photos. But, I'm losing patience after a day and a half of trying to figure this thing out.

Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated.

 

[Cave Man]

It sounds to me like you're getting bandwidth choking. I assume that your iTunes library is on your MacBook? Is your MB 802.11g or 802.11n? Just to test, can you connect your ATV to your MacBook via an ethernet cable and see if syncing works that way? If it does, then your problem is most likely the wireless router.

 

[brian0526]

It sounds to me like you're getting bandwidth choking. I assume that your iTunes library is on your MacBook? Is your MB 802.11g or 802.11n? Just to test, can you connect your ATV to your MacBook via an ethernet cable and see if syncing works that way? If it does, then your problem is most likely the wireless router.

I guess I wasn't clear about my setup.

I have a new Intel iMac- that's where my iTunes library is
I have a new Linksys 80211.n router that I bought about a month ago
I have MacBook that I use on the wireless network.

AFAIK, the network is fine. I have no problems using the MacBook on the network. I transfer files between the MacBook and the iMac all the time. The signal strength on the network is great. The router is maybe 50' from the TV. (through a couple of walls).

I let the sync run all night and I got the same problem. If the problem is the router, how would I fix that?

I guess I could unplug the TV and direct connect to the iMac or to the router. But, I don't know why the problem would be network bandwidth.

Something I just thought of that might be important. I was not using the Wireless (Airport) connection on the iMac. Since my previous iMac was hardwired into my router, this one is also. So, Airport was turned off on it. I turned Airport on (shouldn't make a difference?) and am trying it again.

Thanks for the help!

 

[brian0526]

OK. I unplugged the TV from the family room, brought it into the office and connected it via ethernet cable from the router. The sync is running now and it is faster. So, I guess this means I have a network problem?

This is fine for the initial sync. But, I'm concerned how streaming will work if I'm having a problem with my wireless network. How do I figure that out? I've had no problems using my MacBook on the network, the signal strength is great. I've transferred files back and forth across the network many times and not noticed any problems.

Still perplexed....

 

[Cave Man]

OK. I unplugged the TV from the family room, brought it into the office and connected it via ethernet cable from the router. The sync is running now and it is faster. So, I guess this means I have a network problem?

OK, this is good. You've isolated the problem. If you have a new iMac with 802.11n and it is connected to your router by ethernet cable, that means you should be able use your Airport card from your iMac as a wireless router. Turn on your Airport card and activate sharing through the card (Sys Prefs -> Sharing -> Internet -> Share from Ethernet). Note, you must have your iMac connected to your wireless router by an ethernet cable for this to work. Once set up with the proper password (test it with your MacBook), see you you can get your ATV to see the iMac and then log on and try to establish it as your sync computer.

Although non-Apple wireless routers should play nice on an Apple network, they sometimes don't. This is one of the reasons I bought an AEBSn (in addition to hard drive and printer sharing).

 

[brian0526]

OK, this is good. You've isolated the problem. If you have a new iMac with 802.11n and it is connected to your router by ethernet cable, that means you should be able use your Airport card from your iMac as a wireless router. Turn on your Airport card and activate sharing through the card (Sys Prefs -> Sharing -> Internet -> Share from Ethernet). Note, you must have your iMac connected to your wireless router by an ethernet cable for this to work. Once set up with the proper password (test it with your MacBook), see you you can get your ATV to see the iMac and then log on and try to establish it as your sync computer.

Although non-Apple wireless routers should play nice on an Apple network, they sometimes don't. This is one of the reasons I bought an AEBSn (in addition to hard drive and printer sharing).

Thanks Caveman. I'm still confused as to what was/is going wrong. I did experience the TV dropping off of iTunes even while hard-wired into the router. I shut down iTunes and restarted it once. But, once it got past syncing the photos, the music seems to be syncing up fine. I've got the TV syncing wirelessly right now and it seems to be working OK through the wireless router.

I might try setting up the iMac as the wireless router. I didn't realize that was possible.