Airport Express drops, stalls, disappears

I've had my new Mac Pro for a couple weeks now. Everything was absolutely fine until two days ago when data would just stop coming from the AirPort Express periodically, and apparently randomly. I've unplugged all peripherals, turned off all login items, changed pretty much every setting on the basestation - and each time I try something it'll work better for a while (like an hour), then the connection gets flakey again. Signal strength in the menu bar usually stays 2-3 bars even when I'm getting no data, but sometimes it will drop to 0 and it can't find the basestation at all. Then a few minutes later it's back. I watch the network activity while it's happening and I'll see data going out, but the green line is flat. Then after about a minute, it'll spike and I'll get a bunch of packets in, then it just stops receiving again. I've also watched the Wireless Clients log in the AirPort Utility and the Rate seems to be 1 most of the time, then will jump up to 11, then back down to 1. Other client on the system stays at 11 all of the time.
Also, have a MacBook running 10.4, and it connects to the same airport with no problems at all, and it's only a few feet away from my Pro, but in a different room. The MacBook also sees a bunch of local wireless networks that my Pro does not. I'm really starting to think I've got a bad Airport card, or the antenna isn't connected properly (they did the installation at the Apple Store when I bought it). Is there any way to test for that?
Airport Express is the older b/g model, not the n. I've tried switching to b only, g only, channels, checked for firmware updates (was already 6.3 and current), was thinking about trying to assign the MAC addresses manually, but haven't taken that step yet. Not running any funky software, have run all the available software updates (until two days ago when I stopped being able to download anything over 1 MB).
Suggestions? Do I haul this monster back to the Apple Store and have them test the card?

I've thought long and hard about what I could have done a few days ago that would have caused this to start happening. I unplugged my printer, which is wireless, but I've never configured it for wireless access. I ran all the system software updates a few weeks ago right after I set up the new computer and didn't notice any issues until two days ago. I did install my Canon camera software a few days ago, but that's the only one that I hadn't been running all this time. I didn't change any configurations on the base station before the problems started, but since then I've changed pretty much every setting, to no avail. I now have the base station configured exactly as it was before the trouble started, no deal. For the last 3 hours now I've had no signal at all, and I'm sitting here with the laptop right next to the Pro, and I've got a full 4 bars. And now, of course it just came back long enough for me to get one e-mail downloaded, then dropped again.
I don't drive, and rarely have access to a car, so getting this monster back to the store to have them look at it is going to be very difficult, and I really, really hope someone can tell me what's going on before I start losing work (and my sanity).

Similar Messages

Airport Express dropping out constantly so I can't print wirelessly

I have an iMacG5 running OSX 10.3.9. I have a DLink wireless router which creates my wireless network that the iMac connects to. Also, as my printer as at the other end of the room, I have an airport express connected via USB to the printer so I can print wirelessly. Everything worked like a dream for about 12 months. Until recently I had no security on this network and although I was aware this was risky, I was reluctant to change anything because it all worked so well. But my paranoia got the better of me and I changed the DLink to WPA security. Ever since then, the airport express has acted very strangely. The connection dropped and I was required to do a hard reset. I did that and everything worked. I felt so smug that I had worked out a computer issue! Little did I know that as soon as I shut down the system the airport express dropped out again. I have since discovered that I don't actually need to shut down for the thing to drop out. It just does it of its own accord.
I have contacted AppleCare 3 times and spent a total of about 4 hours on this to date. No luck. They suggested interference. However my airport icon usually shows either 3 or 4 bars and there is no difference when the thing drops out.
The only thing I have learned is that Airport Express does not have to be reset all the time. In my situation, it is best to just unplug it, let it rest for about 30 seconds and then you should be able to see the thing in the airport admin utility. It does take a while and several rescans in the utility, but eventually it does show up. This at least means I don't have to constantly set it up to join the network.
In fact, really it is a doddle to print! I don't know why people like to just go File-Print when you can go through the delight of getting out of your chair, unplugging Airport Express, waiting 30 seconds, looking at the dust under the cupboard thinking I really must get that, plugging the airport express back in, watching the light change from green to amber, to flashing amber, wait for it...wait for it...it's not happening....waiting...finally - green!. Back to the computer, go to Finder - Applications - Utilities - Airport Admin Utility, not showing up, rescan, not there, rescan, rescan, rescan, still not there, rescan, oh good, airport express is showing up. Now, go to Printer setup utility, delete the printer that is there, then add printer, select rendezvous, add my hp, OK......now I can hit File - Print.
Has anyone got any ideas on how I can join the boring legions of people who are oblivious to the joys of printing my way?

Hi,
I am currently replying to this as it shows in the iChat Community.
I have asked the Hosts to move it to Snow Leopard (you should not lose contact with it through any email links you get)
I also don't do Wirelss printing so I can't actaully help either.
10:01 PM Friday; July 29, 2011
Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"
 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb( 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

Airport Express drops connection after two minutes

Configuration:
Airport Express 7.4.1
iMac running OS X 10.5.6
Windows XP laptop (Sony)
Windows Vista Home (Dell)
Windows XP (Packard Bell DOT.NL netbook)
All computers are connecting smoothly through the AEX except the Packard Bell netbook. This is using an atheros AR5700EG WiFi adapter. After establishing contact with the AEX all connections will work for 2 minutes. After that, pinging the AEX is not even possible, it seams to have disappeared. XP however tells me that the connection is 100% OK.
The problem is: this machine works fine with any other WiFi access point like Linksys, Belkin etc, but not with the AEX.
Tried varying all settings in the AEX, and disabling Wireless Zero Configuration in XP, but nothing will fix the problem.

Having the same exact problem except my macbook stays connected with no drops. My toshiba laptop drops after a few minutes. the toshiba also has an Atheros wi-fi card. we tried connecting the Toshiba laptop to another AEX router and it did the same thing. AEX is conflicting either with windows vista or ths particular wi-fi card.

New topic, old problem: Airport Express dropping out

I'm aware of the many threads on Airport Express issues on here but since no solution has emerged I feel I must rake over it again in the hope that someone at Apple will pick up the ball and create a fix for AEX BDS or Bizarre Dropout Syndrome as I call it.
Playing my iTunes music, via my 2T Time Machine>MacBook>AEX (extending my network to the basement) used to work seamlessly until...approximately... I upgraded to Leopard>Snow Leopard although if I'm honest I can't swear to this coincidence. Anyhow the symptoms are the similar as other ppl report elsewhere on this forum: ie Connecting prompts a microburst of a tune then randomly more bursts of varying length, never longer then 15secs, then after an hour or so it suddenly decides to play continuously for 4 or 5mins at a time but always dropping out again ad nauseam.
I called Apple tech support who could only offer it was interference from neighbour's WiFi networks at work, I checked but my neighbours are all on different channels to me. I have tediously checked, rechecked, rebooted, reconfigured, reinstalled iTunes and OS, moved the unit even tried a brand new 11n AEX but to no avail, always the same problem (so at least I can rule out a hardware issue with the AEX unit itself). I'm hoping there is a fix out there.......otherwise the AEX units are just very expensive paperweights.

I do not know if this answer will help much, but it is based on solid experience.
I tried using wi-fi and it kept dropping out. I went through 3 routers! A local salesperson told me enough with the new routers, it's your d*mn ISP.
Well, I started using speedtest.net to monitor my ISP's performance/signal strength. I discovered that my signal FREQUENTLY dropped to very low levels.
My theory is that whenever the signal dropped, which was very, very often, I lost wi-fi connectivity.
I went to ethernet and never looked back, but with all these wireless devices, I'm wondering if I need to take a look at wifi again. My ISP has cleaned up its act, so I might do better.
Unfortunately, I haven't tried it yet, so I can't announce the results. But I thought it might possibly relate to your situation.

Airport Express dropping out

I am using an airport express to join my network and have connected a network printer to it using and ethernet cable. I have previously used this airport express to connect a windows PC and never had a problem. I recently purchased an iMac to replace the windows PC and no longer need the Airport for the windows PC, so I am now using it for my network printer. The problem is that the Airport now keeps dropping the network. The Yellow light flashes momentarily and then re-connects, and while this is happening my printer is not on-line. The funny thing is that it only happens when the iMac (which is only several feet from the Airport express) is on. If I put the iMac to sleep it works fine. If I reboot the iMac it works again for a while but eventually starts dropping out again. I have tried power-cycling the Airport and printer but to no avail. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.
P.S. all software and firmware are up to date for both the iMac, the Airport Express, and my Airport Extreme.

Welcome to the discussions!
By close the laptop, do you mean it goes into standby or a sleep mode? Or, are you using a larger monitor, closing the laptop and not using the laptop screen?
If it's the former, you need to check on the HP to see if there is a "remember this network setting", "stay alive" or something similar so the connection is not lost.
When you close the lid on the HP, it is probably blocking access to the internal antenna within the laptop. If the top is closed, the only way the radio waves can be seen would through the sides of the laptop.
Unless you are seeing intermittent drops in the wireless connection when the laptop is open, it sounds like the Express is delivering a constant wireless signal. Download www.istumbler.net to get a good look at the signal strength and noise on your network. The strength indicators on most laptops are not very accurate.

Airport Express dropping connections while streaming music

Airport Express once conected to my existing wifi network is not streaming music correctly, instead is dropping without a continuous play.
Green light is always on.
Please help

And your reminder of the channels got it fixed. Being out in the country my internet is provided wirelessly (WISP) and I remembered after your comment that the tech who installed our receiver dish said that the internet is being broadcast on the 2.5 ghz band on channel 7 and if any issues arise change the channel to a lower number. Never had an issue till now and updated the channel to 1 and back in business. A big thanks.

Airport Express drop out

Hi. First post here and I'm in need of help. I've connected my Airport Express to stream iTunes from my PC (Vista OS) to my stereo and while I can wirelessly connect to my network, after approximately 30 minutes of play, the signal drops out and the Airport Express is no longer recognized by either the utility, my iTouch remote app or iTunes.
I then tried a reset, disabled the wireless function and configured the device to stream via ethernet but now have the same problem.
I have changed my Firewall settings to allow all network and program rules access to the Utility and iTunes and have even disabled the Firewall with no luck.
Help!!

have you checked for _*wireless interference*_ ?
perhaps your neighbor's wireless networks interfere with yours. you could download iStumbler (free) or AirRadar (it has a trial period) and note the channels other networks in your vicinity are broadcasting on. change the channel of your network as far away as possible from those.
JGG

Airport Express drop-out - useless device

If you're reading this and you haven't purchased an Airport Express yet.... Don't.
I've been one of the most loyal Apple devotees for the last 15 years but have had enough. There was a time when Apple products were faultless - they always did what they were supposed to do.
Airport Express is the latest shambles to damage Apples brand even further. What is the point of making a device to stream my myriad of other Apple devices if it continually drops out? And seems there is no remedy which is evidenced by others frustrations on various blogs. TOTAL waste of money.
Apple would do well to make less products and make sure that they actually worked rather than an increasing number of products that don't eg iphone5, Airport Express.

I have purchased several of them. Unlike the cheaper routers I've tried, none have ever failed. Countless thousands of them have been working flawlessly for others all over the world for years.
Wireless networking is subject to a number of environmental variables that can preclude success no matter what product you use.
If you believe yours is faulty return it. You have 14 days from the purchase date for a complete refund.
Everyone I know with an iPhone 5 loves it too. I can only guess those who didn't returned theirs for a complete refund.

Airport Express dropping internet?

G'day all.
I've been having a long term problem with the internet dropping out while my computer is shut down. I have AT&T DSL with the Motorola modem they provided linked by eithernet cable to my Airport Express 802.11n. I have two IbookG4s and a Windows computer on the network. When the problem occurs I unplug the motorola modem from its power supply and then plug it back in. Then I see the message at the top of my screen saying "Looking for PPPoE host..." that can go on for 1 minute or an hour. Once it finds what it's looking for the internet works fine. And that can last from a few hours to over a day. Then the usual pattern is you come home or back to the computer and the internet is gone. I went through troubleshooting with AT&T and they say the modem is good, phone line is good, and check that I have the filter on the phone jack. The Airport always has a green light and I don't have to unplug it to re-establish the internet connection. Just the modem.
My suspicion is that I don't have some setting right. If not in the airport utility settings for the network then in the motorola dsl modem set up. Such as PPP location; should it be on the modem or on the computer?
Thanks,
Hugh

For most consumer-grade Internet service, your ISP does provide you with a dynamic Public IP address from a limited pool of addresses that they have been given. They, in turn use DHCP to provide these addresses to each of their subscribers.
As I mentioned earlier, ISPs that provide DSL service typically require PPPoE to authenticate the user before their DHCP server will issue one of these Public IP addresses. That's really the only difference between the two.
PPPoE, in turn, sends your user credentials (username & password) securely to their authentication server. Once verified, they send the IP address via DHCP.
Both the AirPort routers & computers are DHCP clients by default. That means, they will attempt to locate a DHCP server, and if successful, will make a request for the IP address. The AirPort routers are also DHCP servers and provide local network clients with their Private IP addresses. By default, the AirPort's DHCP server provides these addresses on a 24 hour lease. ISPs typically provide a dynamic Public IP address for several days ... so just powering off your computer shouldn't cause it to "lose" its address every time it does.

Airport Express dropping from Airport Extreme

Everything worked until a few weeks ago when I updated the firmware on an old Airport Express. The expresses (I had 2) started dropping from the network.
I now have a new Airport Extreme, a new modem and a new Airport Express. The Express extends my network. The Express is 30 feet from my main house in a guest house. It is a direct line through the window through the sliding glass doors to the room with the Extreme. In the guesthouse the Express connects to the 2.4 Ghz with a transmit rate between 100 and 150. It works (like it is working now) and then it will drop off the network.
I thought it was conflicting with my security router, which I have completely unplugged to test the Apple network. It still dropped off after working for a while. Sometimes it drops while I am using the network; other times it drops when I am not using it.
I have tried:
setting the channel to different numbers.
hard rebooting everything and resetting up the network.
getting a new modem.
getting a new Express.
getting a new Extreme (had a Time Capsule).
had my cable line redone (the cable folks thought it was frayed and maybe that was the problem).
The Extreme is on WPA2 and is now on automatic channel (having tried fixed ones I am back to automatic).
I'm still having the problem.
Advice? Help or maybe I need to finally give up on Apple, which I have usually loved....

Thanks for your explicit comments iFelix.
No luck yet.
Here is where I stand:
- home wireless network: RedFoxNetwork
-->> Cable modem connected to Airport Extreme, router connected to Airport Extreme
-->> this Network hosts iMac G5 (with iTunes, Airport card), Mac Mini, Windoz XP Dell
-->> uses channel 11
--->> uses WEP
- 2nd network (RedFoxMusic) - as you suggested
-->> this network is hardwired from router above to Airport Express
-->> 2nd network configured as you suggested
---- do not Distribute IP
---- uses channel 2
---- iTunes speakers named "Living Room"
---- no WEP
So now I have 2 networks, RedFoxNetwork & RedFoxMusic, in the Airport menu bar selector on my iMac.
When the iMac is on the primary wireless network, TheRedFoxNetwork, I do not see "living Room" as a choice in the lower right speaker selector in iTunes. Playing music in iTunes produces no music from the living room (hard wired Airport Express connection).
Just for kicks, I select the RedFoxMusic network on the iMac. "Living Room" appears as a speaker choice, ITunes plays over Airport Express & stereo.
What have I missed that I needed to select the second (hardwired) network in order for AirTunes to work properly?
Thanks in advance.
Rob
As I said "never connect to the Airport Express
network", this means "never connect to the Airport
Express network".
If I create a second wireless network, then would
I
need to switch to the network supporting the
Airport
Express?
No
If not, the remote speakers would not
appear in the iTunes Speaker selection dropdown,
correct?
They will appear as the Airport Express is still part
of your network, in fact both wireless networks are
in fact one network, but you want iTunes to go via
the ethernet connection to avoid the dropouts.
Or does the wired connection obviate the need to
switch to the 2nd (iTunes only) network?
Yes.
Which is why I said "never connect to the Airport
Express network".
iMac (iSight), 15GB iPod Mac OS X (10.4.6) 1GB memory

Airport Express drops connection

I just bought a new Airport Express 802.11n base station. After setting up the station to automatically join my existing wireless network (Airport Extreme 7.3.1), I am able to stream music via airtunes. Shortly after (roughly one minute) iTunes can no longer locate the speakers and the Airport Express base station does not show up in Airport Utility, even after doing several rescans. The only way I've been able to have Airport Utility pick up the Air Express station again is to do a soft reset. I can't figure out why the AirPort Express station stops working. The light on it never changes from green, even when it suddenly stops showing up. Any help?

Man, I think I'm kind of glad that I'm not the only one with this type of problem!!
Right now, I occasionally get disconnected from the 'net, but my network is still online (I can choose it from the drop-down menu). In Airport Admin (4.2), I can't find my AExp ! If I choose my network, without the use of my Express, I don't get full capacity of it, whereas, when my Express is being a doll, I do. Before, the only way I could work it was to hard reset my modem as well as my Express, but even then it was sketchy. Sometimes it'd work and sometimes it wouldn't.
So far, from reading various posts by users, I've tried renewing my DHCP lease at a shorter frequency (60min, rather than default 4 hrs). I've tried this "interference robustness" thing, which, everytime I restart, the changes aren't saved. Ugh! But I think this time it's stickin. I've also changed every setting dealing with range of the Express vs interference and such.
It happens most often in the afternoon / evening when I'm at home, so I'm starting to think that it may be these 2.4 GHz phones or whatever. I'm living in an apartment building, it's really a pain to figure out who's got the phones and who doesnt.
Is there any other ways to configure my 'net so that this doesn't occur again?
I've found a few other people who have this same issue as mine. If we can spread the word, it'd be great. Honestly, this is getting really annoying for me.
Thanks for the help in advance.

Airport Express drops connections

I recently bought an airport express to use for streaming music. I set it up to join my existing wireless network using DHCP to get an IP address. It works fine for a few minutes to a few hours. Then it drops the connection to the existing wireless network. Streaming doesn't work and I can't ping it. The status light remains green and I am unable to connect to it using airport utility. If I unplug it and plug it back in, it reboots and then works ok for a while. If I connect to the Airport Express using the ethernet port it reboots and then works fine for a while. The behavior has been consistent for 3 days.
My existing wireless network consists of two access points. One is part of the router that Verizon provided with my fios connection and is an Actiontec and is running in mixed b and g modes uing WPA. The other access point is a Linksys WAP54G with a wired ethernet connection to the router. Both access points use the same SSID. (I have two access points to provide adequate signal strenght throughout the entire house.)
Any suggestions?
Tom

Hi, I recently swapped an old N 450 Router to Apple Extreme (5Gen). Initially the signal was very strong and even in first floor Smart TV Netflix loading was almost instantaneous. I have a 50mbps Xfinity Blast. All nice and felt that it was such a good move and justified the cost of the router too. After 2 days, started noticing connection drop outs, IP address conflicts, unable to connect, wifi was connected but no internet. Power recycled it and things seemed okay. again after 2 days, the internet was very slow, dog slow infact to load up regular websites and pages. This time through it was something with the Xfinity modem (Motorola SB6121) which never in 2 years had given me any issues, but recycled it, seems to be marginally better, but the speed ( not the wifi signal) remained very slow. I am a IT person, not specifically Networking, but quite good with systems, configurations etc. Finally eating up my pride called the Apple Support. The guy who responded seemed knowledgeable. He asked me to walk through the set up process, which I said, I have already done it.He asked me how did I set the router up. I had used an iPad with the Apple Utility and since there about 15 devices connected through out the house, I had used the same SSIDs one for 5Ghz and another for 2.4 Ghz. Apparently using the same SSID leads to deterioration in both connectivity and signal strength. I have never heard of this as I have swapped out routers in past 12 years using same SSIDs without any issues. The Support guy told me that this is only with Apple Routers and not with other brands. I have never heard any such thing and trying to google did not get me much information on this. I reached this forum as result. I need answers desperately so that I can decide to return or keep the router. Thanks

Airport express dropping internet while streaming from computer

In the last week or so, everytime I try to stream video from my PC to my apple TV (2nd gen), my airport express (only router in my house) drops the internet connection. I thought at first it was my ISP, it then noticed it happened only when I was streaming movies from my PC ( have tried it with two different computers and same result). As soon as I stop streaming my internet kicks back in. I've restarted and reset both my Apple TV and airport express back to factory settings and still get the same result. In addition, the same problem occurs when i try to stream videos from my PC to my iPads or iPhone via the shared library. Curious if anyone has encountered this problem before and if it is a firmware problem and not a hardware problem.
SIdenote: Airplay in general has been unstable as well so I'm assuming the two problems are linked.

And your reminder of the channels got it fixed. Being out in the country my internet is provided wirelessly (WISP) and I remembered after your comment that the tech who installed our receiver dish said that the internet is being broadcast on the 2.5 ghz band on channel 7 and if any issues arise change the channel to a lower number. Never had an issue till now and updated the channel to 1 and back in business. A big thanks.

Apple Airport Express dropping out after song finishes.

I need some help finding out why my Airport Express sometimes drops out after a song has finished? Itunes has moved onto playing the next song but the sound is no longer playing through airtunes. If I pause and play the song it will come though the speakers again. This does not happen every time I use air turns but everynow and again.. Can anyone help me with this? I do have my Airport express set to get updates every week so Im sure I should have the latest updates.

Welcome to the discussions!
Tesserax discussed the reasons for this and possible improvement for this problem in a recent post. See the link below:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=11542774&#11542774

Apple Airport Express - drops wifi connections after a day or two.....??

Dear Users,
Can anyone assist me, I have 2 Apple Airport Express recievers and an Apple TV2 connected to my iMac. The Apple TV is connected via ethernet and a gigabit switch via the BT Infinity Router. The 2 Apple Airport Expresses are connected via wiresles to the BT router.
Everything works fine, music streams perfectly most of the time.
But after 24-48 hours of being dorment the Router seems to drop the wireless connections to the Apple Airport Expresses, if you reboot the router they connect again immediatley. I have adjusted the router settings to 802.1n, instead of 802.1n/b/g, which seemed to work better for a few days and the connection never dropped and now the problem has started again.
Frankly its not the end of the world, but it means I have to reboot the router everytime we want to use all zones for music, which when you have a wife that moans that 'my setup is too complicted and has to be rebooted everytime', it would be great to resolve this for once and all.....
Have a I missed something simple or do I need a new router/Airport Extreme?
Thanks in advance
Matt

The whole idea here is to test by first powering off your "extending" AirPort.
Then, take a measurement with your laptop at the location of the "extending" AirPort.....to see what quality of signal that it is receiving. Remember, it can only "extend" the quality of signal that it receives.
You would want to see a minimum SNR of 25 at the location of your "extending" AirPort Express. Higher would be better. If it is less than 25, you need to move the "extending" Express closer to the "main" router so that it will receive a better quality signal to extend.
Once you have a location with a decent SNR of 25 or higher, then power the "extending" Express back up at that location.

Airport Express drops, stalls, disappears

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for