DGN2200v4 - Airplay stops after a short period or won't start, ONLY ON THAT WIFI.

[MincedSalad]

My Netgear DGN2200v4 has major problems with Airplay, ONLY when the iphone/ipad/ Macbook sending the audio is on the DGN2200v4 wifi (it will work fine on the two other Wifi access points on the same LAN, even with the sound passing through the DGN2200's ethernet).  

The setup:

Netgear DGN2200 as main router (with DHCP, NAT, connected to Cisco cable modem for internet).  Wired ethernet connections go from DGN2220 to a TP-Link switch and on to two other routers being used only as wireless access points - a Netcomm NF5 and and D-Link.

The airplay devices - one is a Yamaha RX-V573 Receiver, wired directly to the DGN2200v4 router.  The other is a jailbroken ipod touch on Wifi to the Netcomm access point.

The problem:

- Airplay will often not even start.  Phone will start counting seconds on the song, then stop, with no audio emerging.  Mac will try to connect, and fail to do so (WMM on or off)

- Or it will start playing, with stutters, and receiver not knowing the name of the song, before failing after something like 20 seconds (with WMM on)

Airplay icon will always show on my idevices, unless I turn on wireless isolation.

Things I have already tried:

-I have updated firmware on the Receiver, the DGN2200, the other routers, and tried resetting and restarting all of them, AND all my idevices.

-Turning QoS on and off on the DGN2200

-Turning WMM on and off on the DGN2200 (when on, it works intermittently, and it doesn't seem to work at all when off).

-Checking for wifi congestion - There are no other AP's anywhere near channel 8 on which the DGN2200 is set - we are not in a congested area.  Problem occurs even with only one device on that Wifi.

- Changing the wifi speed mode from 300 down to 150 and 54

- Changing the region from Australia to Europe (I'm in New Zealand)

- Changing the Wifi fragmentation length to 2304 and CTS/RTS Threshold to 2307 as recommended in another forum I found (I've since changed them back to default)

- Trying Wifi long/short preamble.

- Unchecking the WPS settings

- Turning uPNP on and off

Nothing has worked so far, except turning WMM off makes things worse.  Airplay works really, really well over wifi on the Netcomm NF5 and D-Link access points, to either the receiver or the jailbroken ipod, and has never worked reliably OVER WIFI on the DGN2200 since I installed this router.  (Again, it works fine if say I connect the laptop via ethernet to the DGN2200 or wifi to the other AP's). 

I'm sure Apple's protocols are not without their flaws, but that doesn't stop it working perfectly fine with two other Wifi access points, one newer and one older.

Any help is much appreciated.  This router is missing some of the features that other forum users have changed to fix the same problem which seems a bit endemic with Netgear.

[DarrenM]

Hello Minced Salad 

Are you still having issues with Airplay or have you found a solution to the issue?

DarrenM

[MincedSalad]

Hi,
Still having the same persistent issues.  Netgear opened a support case for me then closed it after some days of inactivity (I've been very busy).  I found that amusing considering I've been waiting months for help.

[DarrenM]

Hello MincedSalad

You may have to open another support case you have tried everything that I would suggest to try and fix it they will be able to troubleshoot more with you and replace the modem if it is defective for some reason if the modem is still under warranty.

http://support.netgear.com/general/contact/default.aspx

DarrenM

[MincedSalad]

Thanks DarrenM,

I just tried open a support case and that isn't a default option unless I pay money. 

I don't think that's reasonable considering the router should be able to natively do airplay, just like my other D-Link and Netcomm routers.   It's probably about time I hunted out a new main router - one that isn't a Netgear I'm thinking!

Cheers

[MincedSalad]

I've finally got a solution to my airplay woes.  I bought a new router.  Airplay now works fine on all AP's on the network.  And internet is significantly more snappy, especially on the inital load of a web page (we are on 50 Mbps cable so you'd hope so).

The main reason I bought a new router is actually because the Netgear DGN2200v4 one died.  It only ever ran for a total of 20 months! (with another 2 years in storage from 2013 to 2015). I'm still not clear exactly what went wrong but from Wednesday this week it stopped serving internet (a reset would sometimes fix it for a few minutes before it died again), and going to its admin web page, it would display the title bar, but get stuck on a wheel of death on displaying any of the pages (ocassionally it would display one). 

It's now in the bin where it belongs.  I'd be intrigued to know what physically fails on this router from an electronics or software point of view.  Surely there's not much on the PCB to wear out?  It was never in the sun and always had good ventilation and space around it.  

FWIW the new router isn't a Netgear but a highly reviewed AC1900 model from another brand.  If Netgear had provided any help in fixing the above problems I might have been left with a sliver of brand loyalty.  Bit sad really.