Airport Express premature death

Unfortunately I believe my Airport Express is dead. A few days ago its led has gone amber and it has dropped out of my WDS. Airport Utility can't find it and repeated factory resets have been fruitless. One interesting symptom is that the led stays solid amber but blinks green occasionally. This makes me believe that it’s trying to reset itself without any success, thus my conclusion of its death. A premature death, for I've been using it for only two years, which seems to me like a very short live span for something so expensive. Does anyone know any last thing I may try to resurrect my AE?

First off I'd like to know the procedure you used to reset the Airport Express?
Second did you try unplugging the express from AC then wait about a minute then plugging it back in?
If this does not help then make sure you have all your settings saved for the WDS setup, either go to file and select Save as or write down on the settings by hand.
Then reset the Express back to factory defaults:
Use a pen or a paper clip to press and hold the reset button until the
status light flashes quickly (about 5 seconds). The following will occur:
AirPort Express restarts with the following settings:
AirPort Express receives its IP address using DHCP.
The network name reverts to default Apple Network.
The AirPort Express password is reset.
Now that it is reset, configure the Express for WDS.
If this does not work post back and we will see if we can verify your WDS settings, and possibly attempt a different type of reset.

Similar Messages

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    Use the search as this has been done to death ..
    Bob Timmons is the expert on this.. look at his answers here.
    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4274187?start=0&tstart=0
    https://discussions.apple.com/message/21856077#21856077
    This has been automated in the v6 utility. I am used to doing it manually in v5 utility which is also fairly easy.
    Apple doco is also good to read.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4145
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4259
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  • Itunes 8.2.23 upgrade, now won't stream music via airport express

    i (mistakenly) installed yesterday's upgrade to itunes and now when i stream music to my airport express it will play a couple of songs and then i won't get any sound. the song is still "playing" in itunes but it isn't being streamed to my digital receiver. if i pause the song and start it again i'll hear it but after a bit a new song will do the same thing.
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    Message was edited by: Spitta9999
    Message was edited by: Spitta9999

  • Airport Express no longer works in "Enterprise Arrangement" Long

    This is going to be somewhat long, so bear with me as I will try to be as detailed and complete as possible. I just was hung up on by Apple Technical Support after Michael waited until 6:01pm PDT so I could not call back, so any help would be appreciated.
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    Powerbook G4   Mac OS X (10.4.7)   Airport Express 6.03

    I called AppleCare this morning and Sean helped me out in a huge way. In all of my attempts, I had not done a factory-default reset on the main base station and apparently some sort of endless loop had occurred between those two stations. Sean was very helpful and patient with me, but now the system is working as promised. Moral of this story is if a factory default rest doesn't help on the "problem" base station, try resetting all of the units.

  • Hard drive, printer, PS3, etc to Airport Express

    Hi guys.  I have a few devices that I want to hook up somehow but am not quite sure how to go about it.  I have some knowledge but when people provide highly technical responses, I sometimes get lost in it all so please go easy on me.    I've already read several threads and I think I've gotten myself completely turned around so I thought I would ask you fine people.
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    Here are some facts to consider:
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    2) PS3
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    If you cannot locate the printer close enough to the Express to be able to connect to it, you will not be able to use the printer that you have.
    In that case, consider a wireless printer to connect to the network wirelessly. Then, you can locate the printer anywhere you want as long as it is in range of the wireless signal.
    I have one cable outlet so the cable modem and airport express have to be in one particular corner.
    Leave the cable modem where it is. You can run an Ethernet cable any length that you need from the modem to the AirPort, so you can locate the AirPort anywhere the Ethernet cable will go. Cables come in 10 feet, 25 feet, 50 feet etc lengths in any color that you want.
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  • Airport Express Faliure to Setup

    Hi Mac heads.
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    First, welcome to the discussions.
    See if this link will help you.
    http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/airtunes.html
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  • Airport Express REALLY stopped working

    My Airport Express has really stopped working: dead as a dodo, defunct, etc. It doesn't show in Airport Admin Utility or in iTunes, and the front light is also dead. I have tried changing the easy-access fuse but it makes no difference.
    I assume it has rather annoyingly just died, but why or how I do not know. Is there anything else I can try or do? Is it worth having it repaired, given the relatively low cost?

    Apple has already killed the main thread about this topic months ago, and have left isolated thread to develop a bit before sometimes deleting them: http://www.hardmac.com/news/2006-08-25/#5851
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    other APX series manufacture with a serial starting with 6F are much much less prone to die after the end of the warranty.
    Please record your defective APX via the following link:
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    and visit hardmac forum to follow the story: http://forum.hardmac.com

  • Before I give up on AirPort Express for good

    I have two AirPort Express base stations which are behaving in exactly the same way, which is to say they won't talk to the world. Even attempting such tends to put both AirPort Admin Utility and AirPort Setup Assistant into a very bad (i.e. spinning-disc, force-quit-needed) mood, or at best the dreaded "An error occurred communicating with the selected base station."
    I am told that I can perform a factory default reset as follows:
    " 1. Unplug the AirPort Express from the power outlet.
    2. Press and hold the reset button.
    3. Plug AirPort Express back into an AC outlet (still holding the button).
    4. Continue holding the button until you see the light flash green four times, which should happen after a few seconds.
    5. Release the button."
    I've done this many times with both units. The lights do not behave as decribed: there is a lightning-quick green flash, then a solid amber. After maybe 20 seconds after releasing the button, the solid amber changes to flashing, and it never comes back.
    There seems to be just no communicating with these things. I've tried both crossover and regular Ethernet cables. I've tried changing IP addresses on both of my laptops -- which are working fine wirelessly with my third and only functioning AirPort Express, which is connected to the DSL router -- as best I can discern from the support documents. I've done this for many hours over several months while pondering those docs, and the next thing I'm going to try is throwing these little disasters against the wall and watching them shatter into hopefully at least "X" pieces. It won't exactly make me happy, but at least it will be a resolution of sorts.
    In truth, even when it was working, this product was a disappointment. It was somewhere while trying to resolve its flaws that the amber flash of death began. I was hoping to use one machine with a large external hard drive as a music server, wire-connected to an Express, to talk wirelessly to a local laptop, which would then talk wirelessly to the stereo in whatever room I was in. Surely, a truly smart network could arrange to send the music directly from the server to the stereo, bypassing the intermediate machine. Yet Apple's is not such a network, and the audio dropouts from the two consecutive wireless transmissions (which were each only one room apart) became too much to be tolerated, and I began messing with things.
    Perhaps I messed too much...yet, surely, there must be a way to start again. I've got two laptops which are happily talking to an AirPort Express which is happily talking to the Internet via my DSL router, and two other AirPort Expresses which aren't talking to anything. Is there any way to save this union? Any advice would be very, very much appreciated at this point.
    MacBook Pro   Mac OS X (10.4.8)  

    you are just too confused right now. there's nothing wrong with the two express routers. its just a relationship of hardware to the software, which the user must come to grips.this is just the way it it with these routers. What would I do(since I've had the problem but since have learned to deal with it) reset the Express and I use a wireless Mac to "find" the routers---which must be selected under the Airport icon BEFORE using any Airport Utility to confirgure the routers. I don't use the setup assistant but configure the routers manually. Yes you may have to reset and or unplug the Express to do the above but sooner or later you must learn the oddities about it anyway. Remeber you did introduce some other variation to the routers and the software setup.
    If you can't find your network name under Airport icon then use your system preferences/Netwrok/Airport/preferred drop down menu. If found there then select and apply then select under Airport icon then use the utility. If not found then use the + button and if that does not work then type in the network name. Bottom line all of the above countermeasures have never failed me on the Exprexx and the new Extreme routers. Its just a learning experience. Maybe Apple could have made the experience easier to use or maybe that's the way it is but I got mine up and running soild for 2 months now with out issues. Power failure they just come back on I do nothing except reset my Vonage by unplugging it for a minute. Hope this helps you and don't give up.

  • OLD Airport Express + NEW Time Capsule (dual) = nightmare

    ok i have been trying all day to get my (very very very old, like 5 years old) AE working again, but simply cannot. feel like a total meathead, and have perhaps confused the issue with trying to install a time capsule at the same time?
    i have a big-ish room (30 sq m) but no walls and def no issues with signal strength. in fact the AE and the TC are right next to each other and my MBP is about 5 meters away.
    anyway here's what happened, any help greatly appreciated!
    i have just moved flat and had to call the ISP because the wifi modem/router was playing up. turns out there's so many wireless signals in the building they're all vying for the same channel. so he manually changed the modem/router channel (to what i don't know) so as to be no conflict. so far so good, the wifi internet works again. phew.
    buuuuut, now my AE won't connect to the network like it did in the prev flat same network name, same physical setup, but no love. all i get is a steady blinking orange light. always. in fact Airport Utility will only recognise the AE directly after a factory reset, and whenever it tries to then write the new settings and restart, i get the spinning wheel of death till eventually Airport Utility just wigs out saying the AE can't connect to the network.AE is running firmware 6.3 (the highest it will take) at this stage.
    so i think maybe i'll just try to set up the Time Capsule, make that the main network node (not the wifi modem/router) and then connect the AE to that. And it worked! Well for about 1 nanosecond where i heard my itunes coming from the speakers. but then..... nothing. iTunes would not connect again and actually gave the error you get when someone else is using the speakers, but i can assure you no one else was. its only me in the house.
    so anyway then i read that if i drop the AE firmware down to 6.1.1 i might get some love. tried that and.... nothing. now it won't connect to the TC nor the modem/router. so i push the firmware up again to 6.3 and now it won't connect to the TC - ***?!?! and still the AE only appears in the Airport Utility directly after a factory reset...
    aaaaaaarrrrrrrgggggghhhhh, i am going banannas! i am desperate for help because i work from home and need my music from decent speakers! these little MBP tinny speaker things are just horrible...
    If only the TC had an audio out i could just throw the AE away! have heard something about WDS or something? or could i even use an ethernet cable to wire the TC and AE together? or is it just time to buy a new AE? even though all i really need is to wirelessly get my music to my speakers and it seems a bit like overkill for that perhaps?
    any and all help greatly appreciated, as i'm going to be bald very soon at this rate i'm so stressed and depressed
    Z

    Hello zoltancsaki. Welcome to the Apple Discussions!
    Is your goal with the 802.11b/g AirPort Express Base Station (AX) just to use it for streaming? How about the TC? Will it only be used for Time Machine backups? Do you prefer to leave the ISP's wireless router as you main Internet router? What is the make/model of this router? Finally, I assume that you will want to employ encryption for your wireless network ... would that be with the WEP, WPA, or WPA2 standard?

  • Can't connect PS3 to Airport Express Network - please help!

    Hello,
    This may have been done to death before, but I couldn't find it...
    I have an 80GB PS3 that I am trying to connect to the internet wirelessly through my Apple Airport Express.
    When I follow the setup procedure on my PS3, it finds the Apple Network, I put in the security key and it all seems to be going OK. However, when I test the internet connection, it fails to find the IP address.
    Can anyone help me with this? Please???
    Many thanks...

    I have fixed it!
    Basically, I had wpa2 encryption enabled. I changed the encryption to wep, which then prompted me to enter a 13 digit password, which I did. Fired up the ps3, entered the new 13 digit password and voila! All working beuatifully.
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  • Extend existing wireless network (long house) with Airport Express

    Help !! I am trying to reconfigure my airport express to extend my wireless network (Long House)through my wireless ISP (Bigpond)modem (2701HGV-W Gateway) following the sudden and unexpected death of my Time Capsule, whose router was doing this job previously.
    I am not technically savvy, but can follow simple, idiot proof instructions. All I seem to be able to do is join a wireless network....is this the same as extending it?

    Bob Timmons wrote:
    Hi Jolly Giant,
    +what you could do is run a (long) Cat5 ethernet cable from the Gateway to your Airport Express (AE) in the far away location. if you then join the AE to your wireless network, wireless clients could access it via the wireless access point the AE provides.+
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    okay, got it. thanks for letting me know - i'll keep that in mind ! (:-)
    my apologies to the OP for having been confusing

  • Streaming from iMac to airport express

    I'm sure this has been beaten to death, but I just bought an airport express for the purposes of streaming music from my iMac to speakers in another room. What I'm wondering is how to set up the Express to facilitate this without having to buy a wireless router. I get the impression from posts I've read elsewhere that it can be done, but I haven't been able to find out how. My iMac is brand new, so it came with an airport card pre-installed, and it is connected to the internet directly from my cable modem (no wireless network to speak of).
    Any help offered will greatly appreciated!

    Nevermind, it's been solved

  • Airport Express extends 5 Ghz and 2.4 Ghz or just one at a time?

    I recently switched my dual band Time Capsule to use different names for the 5 Ghz and 2.4 Ghz networks.
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    All are running the most recent firmware version.

    Welcome to the discussion area, Mike!
    Will the Airport Express extend both or just one at a time, if so, which one will it extend?
    The AirPort Express is a single band device, so it can extend either the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz band, +but not both at the same time+. Since you have different names for the 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz bands, the Express will extend the 2.4 GHz band by default. Using AirPort Utility, the setup application for the AirPorts, it is possible to configure the AirPort Express to extend either band.
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    I have two Airport Express modules, bought a long time apart, is there any difference in functionality and how do I tell them apart if this is the case?
    Look on the side of the AirPort Express for the model number in the small print. You'll need Model No A 1264 to be able to "extend". If you have the older Model No A 1084, that version will not be able to "extend" a wireless network, but you could use it to "join" the wireless network and stream AirTunes to the device.
    All are running the most recent firmware version.
    That would be 7.5.2. If you have the older version of the AirPort Express, the latest firmware version for that device would be 6.3.
    Message was edited by: Bob Timmons

  • Wireless modem and Airport Express.. one at a time

    Recently my internet provider upgraded my old plug in modem to a newer wireless model. Now it seems that the current setting allow communication with only one or the other at the same time. If I want to be online with the wireless modem and send my iTunes music via Airport Express to my sound system, no dice. I have to either click on the modem up in the Airport choices to be online and listen to iTunes through the computer speakers, or go offline to listen to music through the sound system and Airport Express.
    I'm sure I'm just missing something in preferences or settings somewhere.
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    No ideas?

  • ITunes 8: I can no longer connect to remote speakers via Airport Express

    Cannot connect to my remote speakers, worked before iTunes 8"
    I have restarted the computer, iTunes, QT 7.5.5, run disk utility
    I get the following error code (-3256) Apple KB research says:
    AirTunes: Error -3256 when streaming to multiple AirPort Express units 
You may see this message: An error occurred while connecting to the remote speaker speaker_name . An unknown error occurred (- 3256 ).This occurs with iTunes 6.0.2 or later.SolutionIf you use a third-party firewall or router, make sure that it is configured to permit UDP traffic.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303157
    I followed the KB link, tried KB solution, then I sent this off to Apple.
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    I just got off a 30+ minute phone call with an Apple Support rep about this. I'm getting error -3256. The rep was patient and tried hard to solve the problem, but was basically clueless. I have a case number and was encouraged to call back tomorrow to speak with a product support specialist.
    This stinks. AirTunes is my primary way of playing music from my computer. With no obvious way of rolling back to iTunes 7, this is a big deal.

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