Help me: the Airfoil Speaker keeps dropping

SuzePrich · Jan 18, 2013

I have a MacBookPro with OS X version 10.7.5, and I use Airfoil (most recent updated version) and Airport Express to listen to streaming music or news on Pandora or Safari by pushing the stream to the speakers on a Bose "radio/stereo." I launch Airfoil (from the dock) and choose to push to the "computer" and to the Bose speakers. A few minutes later, the Bose speaker drops off the Airfoil window. The computer stream stays on. Can you help? I didn't set it up so I cannot tell you anything else. It seems to drop more w/ Safari, not Pandora as much.

pendlewitch · Jan 19, 2013

SuzePrich said:
I have a MacBookPro with OS X version 10.7.5, and I use Airfoil (most recent updated version) and Airport Express to listen to streaming music or news on Pandora or Safari by pushing the stream to the speakers on a Bose "radio/stereo." I launch Airfoil (from the dock) and choose to push to the "computer" and to the Bose speakers. A few minutes later, the Bose speaker drops off the Airfoil window. The computer stream stays on. Can you help? I didn't set it up so I cannot tell you anything else. It seems to drop more w/ Safari, not Pandora as much.

Hi,
Firstly can you check what version of Airfoil you have running? It should say it somewhere in the menu if you open it up.The latest version is 4.7.5 Download Airfoil for Mac - Send audio from any app to AirPort Express/Apple TV and more. MacUpdate.com and some bugs, hanging and crashing issues have been fixed.

If that doesn't help I would try deleting the speakers from the setup and adding them back in again.

SuzePrich · Jan 21, 2013

Airfoil update

Thanks for your help. I do have the most recent version of Airfoil. It seems to be the problem? Can you give me a bit more advice on "deleting the speakers" and re-adding? I am a neophyte.

pendlewitch · Jan 21, 2013

SuzePrich said:
Thanks for your help. I do have the most recent version of Airfoil. It seems to be the problem? Can you give me a bit more advice on "deleting the speakers" and re-adding? I am a neophyte.

Hi there,

How are your Bose speakers connected (what model are they please)? I'm assuming that they are plugged into the Airport Express ?

SuzePrich · Jan 21, 2013

Yep - it's a older model Bose "Radio" that's one unit - I have a cord connected to the Airport so it can transmit the stream.

pendlewitch · Jan 21, 2013

SuzePrich said:
Yep - it's a older model Bose "Radio" that's one unit - I have a cord connected to the Airport so it can transmit the stream.

Sorry,
I should also have asked what generation of Apple Express you have..is it the latest version.. the one with a power cord or is the unit plugged into a power socket?

In any case I'm going to suggest a hard reset.

Power down the Bose speakers, remove the cord from the mains socket and disconnect them from the Express.

Power down the Express, in other words pull the cord from the mains socket.

Wait a minute or so for the equipment to settle down.

Power back up the Express and wait for a minute or two until Airport Utility picks it up.
Power the speakers back up and reconnect to the Express.

SuzePrich · Jan 21, 2013

OK that was a disaster! Now the Airfoil pop-up indicates that the speakers on the Bose are "Active," but they aren't transmitting the stream at all!

pendlewitch · Jan 22, 2013

SuzePrich said:
OK that was a disaster! Now the Airfoil pop-up indicates that the speakers on the Bose are "Active," but they aren't transmitting the stream at all!

Hi,
Sorry I took so long it was getting late here.

Ok so the software is up to date and your equipment is reset and working. Can you quit the Airfoil app and then relaunch it... before you do this, in Airfoil/Preferences, is anything checked in 'Automatically transmit to'..?

I found this http://rogueamoeba.com/legacy/downloads/Airfoil-Version-3-Manual.pdf. I don't have access to the latest version but the fundaments would be the same I guess.

SuzePrich · Jan 23, 2013

Thanks for sharing the documentation. Do you think I should check those "automatically transmit to" boxes? They are unchecked at this point. Quitting out and going back into Airfoil to try again isn't getting it to work.

pendlewitch · Jan 23, 2013

Hello SuzePrich,

Yes by all means for whatever your speaker/express set up is called.

SuzePrich · Jan 23, 2013

Thanks so much, Pendlewitch! Nice of you to help me - so clueless, here (my ex was computer guru! LMAO) I will let you know what happens.

pendlewitch · Jan 23, 2013

SuzePrich said:
Thanks so much, Pendlewitch! Nice of you to help me - so clueless, here (my ex was computer guru! LMAO) I will let you know what happens.

LOL! Hey no problem let's see what happens. Just a thought, have you moved anything near to the Airport Express recently, such as anything metal, or bulky, table lamp that kind of thing...you can get interference from all sorts of things which may cause drop-outs but let's get a connection back first!!

SuzePrich · Feb 12, 2013

Hey Pendlewitch: So I have been still experiencing dropping of the AirFoil, and the strange thing is, today I got a random Pop-Up on the desktop that is titled "AirPort Utility" there was a red "1" near the "Time Capsule, so I clicked on it, and it lead me to a page that updated it. While updating, all three buttons for Internet, Time Capsule & Airport Express were yellow while it updated. The first two went green, but the one near the AirPort Express isn't lighted. This is all on the pop-up, on the desktop. The dialogue box that pops up next to the AirPort Express icon says "This version of AirPort Utility doesn’t support this base station. Use AirPort Utility 5.6 to configure or manage this base station. AirPort Utility 5.6 is available at AirPort Service and Support." When I go to download it, I find 5.6.1 but that appears to be for an earlier system ... my version of OS X is 10.7.5 Any idea what this means?

SuzePrich · Feb 12, 2013

By the way, not sure if this has any effect on Airfoil... perhaps it does not!

pendlewitch · Feb 13, 2013

Hello again SuzePrich,

Airport Utility Version 5.6.1 supports OSX Leopard and above, you are on Lion and the current version for that is 6.1 so I don't know what the problem is there unless you've missed an update along the way.

Go Finder>Applications>Utilities> right click on the Airport Utility icon, choose 'get info' and report back what version you have please.

There's a link here to updates http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1998

Oh and we never got to the bottom of what version Airport Express you have

SuzePrich · Feb 13, 2013

Hey there: I have version 6.2 of Airport Utility ... my updates are all in - I checked that by clicking the Apple and looking at "Software Update." How do I find out what version my AirPort Express I have? The button/light next to it in the popup (when I double-click it in the Utilities) is still blank, by the way - no "green light."