AirPlay immediately turns off

[cYCL157]

I seem to be having an issue with AirPlay right now, when to cast an audiobook and noticed the device was not available. I could see that it was off and when I turn it on, it immediately turns off. Any suggestions on how I can troubleshoot to fix or provide meaningful information??

[RchrdCambl]

I had the same problem. In my case the configuration file /etc/shairport-sync.conf had somehow become corrupted. To troubleshoot, view the airplay log by clicking on the AirPlay label next to the button used to enable AirPlay.

Here is my log:

pacman -Q shairport-sync; systemctl status shairport-sync

shairport-sync 3.3.8-1
× shairport-sync.service - Shairport Sync - AirPlay Audio Receiver
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/shairport-sync.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
Drop-In: /etc/systemd/system/shairport-sync.service.d
└─override.conf
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Sat 2021-08-14 20:24:16 CDT; 11s ago
Process: 7246 ExecStart=/usr/bin/taskset -c 3 /usr/bin/shairport-sync (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
Main PID: 7246 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
CPU: 54ms

Aug 14 20:24:16 rAudio systemd[1]: Started Shairport Sync - AirPlay Audio Receiver.
Aug 14 20:24:16 rAudio shairport-sync[7246]: fatal error: Line 8 of the configuration file "/etc/shairport-sync.conf":
syntax error
Aug 14 20:24:16 rAudio systemd[1]: shairport-sync.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Aug 14 20:24:16 rAudio systemd[1]: shairport-sync.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.

Note the line:

Aug 14 20:24:16 rAudio shairport-sync[7246]: fatal error: Line 8 of the configuration file "/etc/shairport-sync.conf":
syntax error

Use secure shell (ssh) from a terminal window to log in to the rAudio machine and examine the configuration file as follows:

ssh [email protected]
[email protected]'s password: ros
rAudio:! # cat /etc/shairport-sync.conf

The result should look something like:

general = {
name = "rAudio"
}
sessioncontrol = {
run_this_before_play_begins = "/usr/bin/sudo /srv/http/bash/shairport.sh";
run_this_after_play_ends = "/usr/bin/sudo /srv/http/bash/shairport.sh stop";
}
alsa = {
output_device = "hw:1";
mixer_control_name = "( not available )";
}
alsa = {
output_device = "hw:1";
mixer_control_name = "( not available )";
}

In my case, the first alsa = { line looked like this in the vi editor:

general = {
name = "rAudio"
}
sessioncontrol = {
run_this_before_play_begins = "/usr/bin/sudo /srv/http/bash/shairport.sh
";
run_this_after_play_ends = "/usr/bin/sudo /srv/http/bash/shairport.sh st
op";
}
\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200
\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200
\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200
\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200\200alsa
= {
output_device = "hw:1";
mixer_control_name = "( not available )";
}
alsa = {
output_device = "hw:1";
mixer_control_name = "( not available )";
}

Use your favorite editor to delete the first alsa stanza:

alsa = {
output_device = "hw:1";
mixer_control_name = "( not available )";
}

Reboot your rAudio machine.