Airport Extreme Base Station is being hacked/taken over

I've noticed that someone has been hacking and taking over my Airport Extreme Base Station and changing its name, I use strong passwords and this has happened once before.
Can anyone "see" my base station? As it's name is different than my network name.
Is there some security hole they have discovered?
Extreme version 5.7
Airport Utility version 5.6 (560.18)
Comcast cable internet
MacOS 10.7.5

Similar Messages

Using the WAN port as a "LAN" port on the Airport Extreme Base Station...

Hi everyone,
I'm re-building my home wireless network and I'm doing so in preparation for the Slingbox AV I ordered last week. Here's my current setup:
I have a DSL modem attached to an Airport Express (802.11n) in my office broadcasting my internet signal. I have an Airport Extreme Base Station (802.11g) set up in my living room as a WDS extender. I currently use the base station in my living room to connect the DishNetwork ViP722 DVR to the internet and allow me to set recordings remotely on my iPhone when I'm away from home. I use the LAN port on the base station to do this, and now with the Slingbox on the way (should be here early next week), I'm wondering what I need to do to make an internet connection available for the Slingbox AV.
My question: Will I be able to simply use the WAN port as a "LAN" port since the Airport Extreme Base Station is being used as a WDS? It'd be awesome if the WAN port would become, essentially, a LAN port since it isn't being used.
Thanks in advance for your advice and insight!

slugoo wrote:
My question: Will I be able to simply use the WAN port as a "LAN" port since the Airport Extreme Base Station is being used as a WDS? It'd be awesome if the WAN port would become, essentially, a LAN port since it isn't being used.
I'd be surprised if that worked. The operation of an AirPort base station depends on keeping the WAN port and the LAN port(s) separate, as those normally are on two different networks.
You might consider buying an Ethernet hub or switch, which would allow your AirPort Extreme's LAN port to be shared. Here's an example of an inexpensive one:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7169244&st=ethernet+switch&type=pr oduct&id=1110266457435

Airport Extreme base station vs. Linksys router

Hi all -- I have a tech choice to make and I'm soliciting advice and war stories from those who have been in my place.
I have a DSL connection, G5 Mac and a Windows laptop. I've been connecting to the Internet via a Linksys WRT54G router -- the Mac is connected to the router via Ethernet, and the Windows machine connects wirelessly -- and I've been happy with this setup. I have it on good authority that I'll be getting an Airport Express in my stocking this year; I had done a little research and found that it is possible to make the WRT54G and the Airport Express work together, and was planning on doing some hacking and fiddling to make that happen in the new year.
However, last night my WRT54G seems to have died a horrible death -- all its lights started blinking at once, the Internet connection went away, then all the lights went out except for the "diagnostic" light, and now no lights come on at all. No idea what happened, but it seems pretty kaput.
So! I'm in need of a new wireless base station. I could get an Airport Extreme base station, or I could get another Linksys (or another off-the-shelf 802.11 router, but we'll just use "Linksys" as the catch-all phrase here to mean "not an Airport Extreme base station"). The most obvious difference is price -- the Airport Extreme station is $200, while the Linksys is more like $65. Another thing that irks me about the AE station is that it only has one LAN port. I do like being able to plug in my laptop to the wired network to do some diagnostics once in a while and it'd be a pain to have to disconnect my Mac to do so. And then there's nagging worries that the AE base station might not work as well with my Windows laptop.
On the other hand, I'm sure that setting up the Airport Express would be much, much easier with the AE base station. And I do like the idea of the base station being able to dial up if my DSL goes down (as it does from time to time). Basically, I am tempted by the AE base station feature-wise, but I'm kind of balking at paying three times the price and not getting even a second LAN port. Any advice, particularly from people who have used both types of routers in a mixed network, would be appreciated.

Replace your Linksys with another WRT54G. Then you can hook up your anticipated AX as either a client (connected like a computer), a wireless access point (connected using ethernet with DHCP disabled on the AX), or using WDS:
http://discussions.apple.com/click.jspa?searchID=-1&messageID=607414

Problem consistently printing via new (summer 2011) AIRPORT EXTREME BASE STATION and Brother wireless printer (model HL5370DW). What am I doing wrong?

Thanks in advance for any help you folks can offer. I'm a newb here and will try to offer as much detail as I can about the dilemma at hand.
Scenario: Home network has been recently set up for wireless internet access via NEW Airport Extreme Base Station (purchased September 2011). Units accessing the network include: 2011 Macbook Pro, 2011 Macbook Air, 2007 Macbook, 2009 Macbook Pro, 2 iPhone 3GSs, and a 1st-gen iPad (and a partridge in a pear tree AEBS is configured to run WPA2 encrypted network, as well as a WPA2 guest network. I am attempting to yoke a BROTHER HL5370DW wireless B or G/ ethernet / usb-capable printer to the main network such that any and all units can print wirelessly or its equivalent (i.e., via printer hooked to AEBS through USB hub)
Problem: Despite configuring the Brother printer to recognize the main WPA2 network I created, I am unable to get wireless printing to work. My workaround was to physically connect Brother printer to AEBS via USB, specifically using a Belkin USB hub (after all, I wanted access to usb drives, as well as the printer). This workaround works ONLY SOME OF THE TIME. Generally, after a fresh boot of any computer or after a restart of the AEBS, any given computer will be able to print (i.e., any computer wirelessly connected to the main WPA2 network recognizes the printer). HOWEVER, at random times, printer access is gone (as is access to USB drives connected to AEBS's usb hub). Wireless networks are still up and running when that happens. IS THERE A WAY TO GET THE USB HUB's devices (i.e., printer and usb drives) to ALWAYS REMAIN AVAILABLE AS LONG AS THEY STAY CONNECTED TO THE AEBS? In other words, what accounts for the intermittent loss of the usb peripherals?
Sometimes, I just shut the airport off on whatever computer is having this problem, and the problem goes away. Sometimes, the problem is present across all computers in the house, sometimes only a few are affected. I can ALWAYS see the AEBS in the Airport Utility if the AEBS is connected to the particular computer via ETHERNET CABLE.
My theories:
- true wireless printing (i.e., without usb hub workaround) doesn't work because the N network somehow isn't backwards compatible with the Brother printer, which, i believe, is B/G. Although...isn't Wireless N networking supposed to work with BG devices? I did find a thread (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2570774?start=0&tstart=0 ) that explains some of the particulars of WPA2 encryption and Wireless B/G issues, but it was beyond my level of comprehension (I'm a psychologist, but not an Apple Genius
- The usb workaround is only intermittently viable because of some flaw in the Airport or Airport Utility that causes dropouts to happen when a Macbook Pro or Air's lid gets closed or one gets opened after having been at a different network (e.g., at my office).
QUESTIONS:
- Should I try to use my old router (7 year old Linksys WRT54G) as an access point and connect the Brother printer to that G-router? How do I do that?
- I wouldn't mind just relying on the usb hub method if I could just insure more consistency (i.e., no random dropouts of peripherals). How could I do this?
Rule out:
- wireless printing works on my printer - it was being recognized back before the AEBS. I had the Linksys router running a WEP network and had the wireless printer talking with no cables to the router and the computers. (I just don't want to revert to using WEP encryption given its lack of security and my trying to protect HiPAA related health information on behalf of patients)
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

13 ASCII characters = 104 (aka 128)-bit WEP
encryption
If turning off WEP works, then you just need to
provide the cameras with the "Equivalent Network Password".
One of the problems with WEP is that the actual
standard relies on a 10 character HEX key for 40bit
WEP and a 26 character HEX key for 128bit WEP.
In order to make things easier, vendors use certain
algorithms to convert simple alphanumeric passwords
(or passphrases) into HEX keys, thus enabling the use
of simple easy to remember WEP password rather than
lengthy HEX keys. The problem is that different
vendors use different algorithms to generate the HEX
key and therefore a ASCII password on an AEBS will be
hashed differently on a non-Apple client and vice
versa.
You may find the following article helpful:
- Apple article, especially the part about
"Third-party client to Airport".
Brilliant idea about trying the system with No encryption on... that DID solve the problem... almost.. once I turned off the encryption option, and restarted the Airport, I got a dialog box showing that the "Base station needs attention" but it didn't indicate WHAT kind of "assistance" it needed. Nonetheless, I closed out of the Airport program only to find that the indicator light, which had been Green, was now, flashing Yellow and I could not connect anything, including my computer. I opened the Airport program again and found the ONLY way I could get the Green light on was to select some sort of encryption option... then the light would go Green again but my cameras would not hook up again, and when I went back in and ONLY changed the option to NO encryption, I got the yellow flashing light and the "this base unit needs attention" warning...
I think your suggestions are almost on the mark... is there any way of reconciling the WEP coding between the cameras and the Airport??? Or turning off the encryption option and STILL have Airport work?
Thanks again for your help and suggestions... I really appreciate it.
geoff

Solution to Airport Extreme Base Station + Airport Express networking probs

I've been investigating this for 3 straight days after inadvertently destabilizing my network. There are tons of posts discussing a variety of issues, all of which seem related. My goal here is to provide links to other relevant posts and explain what I ended up doing to get things to work.
First, the background. You can skip below to SOLUTION if you don't really care... However, I highly recommend you take the time to read everything, as you'll get other useful information in the BACKGROUND section. I'm guessing many of you have similar, related problems so BACKGROUND might help provide context (and solutions) to some things you are seeing...
MY SETUP:
AirPort Extreme Base Station (AEBS) of type b/g (round one, not square one), connects to the cable modem, and creates a WDS network that is then shared across two standard AirPort Express (AEX) units (100megabit, not the gigabit ones). One AEX serves as a relay unit that accepts clients, the other serves as a remote unit that also accepts clients. The intent is to show a single network throughout the house and let users log on to one network and move between networking units without having to switch from network to network.
I have a variety of networked devices throughout the house all running on the same network (2 Mac Pros, a Powerbook G4, a Mac Mini, an Apple TV, a Windows XP laptop, two iPhones, two wifi printers, and a 5-unit Sonos system, plus the AEBS and two AEXs). Yeah, I'm a geek.
The Mac Pros are both running 10.4.11, and the Powerbook is running 10.5.2.
AEBS is running firmware 5.7
AEXs are running firmware 6.3
All Macs were initially accessing configs via the recently released AirPort Utility 5.3.1. More on that later.
BACKGROUND:
I've had this network setup working for about a year now. Recently, I've been having poor network performance problems and came to the conclusion it was a LAN problem (ie. problem with my home network, as opposed to with my ISP). Upon initial investigation, I began by looking at my networking logs (via AirPort Utility 5.3.1). You get to those by selecting the unit in question, choosing "Manual Configuration", the selecting the "Advanced" tab up top with the "Logging and SNMP" sub-tab. Click the "Logs and Statistics" button therein for log details from that unit.
The first thing I noticed was "Administrative access denied to ff80::xxxxxxxxx" messages - a lot of them. I didn't recognize the ff80:: address in question, and so became concerned it was someone outside the network trying to hack one (or all) of the AEBS/AEX units. You can see threads discussing that investigation here:
"Hack or panic?" - http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1438486
"Administrative access denied" - http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1438865
Long and short of it is that the recent AirPort Utility 5.3.1 release (current as of March 13) seems to have problems (keychain) when attempting to access the AEBS and AEX units. The "Administrative access denied" logs actually refer to the client machine you are using when you try to read the logs. The ff80::xxxxxx address is simply the IPv6 address for the machine you are using; if you turn off IPv6 on your client machine, that address should switch over to begin showing a regular IP address instead (something like 10.0.1.xxx), which makes it easier to associate the IP to the machine. I explain how to deactivate IPv6 on both Tiger (10.4.x) and Leopard (1.5.x) here:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6814978#6814978
Anyway, in the process of investigating the "Administrative access denied" problem, I began tinkering with my AEX settings. Specifically, I ended up performing a hard factory reset (unplug unit, plug back in while holding down the little button with paper click/pen for ~10-15 seconds until light flashes green 4x then reverts to amber/yellow/orange). I began reconfiguring my entire WDS network using the newly updated AirPort Utility 5.3.1, and that's when the trouble started.
(If you are having problems seeing either your AirPort Extreme Base Station or AirPort Express, read this:)
In short, each time I thought I had properly configured things and then confirmed settings (kicking off a reboot on the AEX unit) the unit would restart with new settings but not properly join the WDS and not show up in the AirPort Utility list of units. More specifically, I would start with a "wiped" AEX and see both the AEBS and the AEX in my AirPort Utility list, but upon confirm/reboot the AEX would disappear and the AEBS would remain. However, that's not 100% correct. It seems that sometimes I would end up with the AEX and NOT the AEBS. Because both the AEX and AEBS were theoretically "hosting" the same network name (remember, WDS shares the network name across units) my auto-login feature for my client computer's wifi seemed to "jump on" whichever unit it first saw hosting the default network name for my house. In other words, it seems what was really happening was that I was ending up with two separate networks in my house, both with the same name but not talking to each other (as opposed to two units sharing the same network name and internet connection). The AEX would continue to blink orange/amber/yellow (whichever color it is to your eyes ) because it could not grab an internet connection -- and if I was on the network through that AEX unit I would not get internet. But if i was connected through the AEBS I would continue to have internet access. As far as my client computer (my Mac Pro) was concerned, I was on the home wifi network even if I was on the AEX rather than the AEBS -- it would show the home wifi network name as the name of the network it had connected to. But when I opened the AirPort Utility 5.3.1 I would see only the AEX (if I was connected through it) or the AEBS (if connected through it) -- a clear indication that the units were not truly sharing the same network.
I tried rebooting and reconfiguring the AEBS and AEX about 50 times (literally). I even tracked down an older version of the AirPort Utility 5.2.1 via this thread (see Tesserax post):
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1067565
One interesting thing re: 5.2.1 is that the "Administrative access denied" errors summarized above disappeared. As explained in a post reference above, the going theory is that this a permissions/keychain problem new and unique to AirPort Utility 5.3.1. However, even though 5.2.1 does have a slightly different interface with different settings, I still couldn't get the WDS to work.
EVENTUALLY, I came across this post:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1422527
MuaddibOfArrakis walks through setting up a WDS from scratch, and the workflow is different than what is possible with either AirPort Utility 5.3.1 or 5.2.1. He's doing it with the old version of AirPort Admin Utility, which I fortunately saved a copy of many moons ago when I had somewhat-related problems with my WDS (since forgotten). In fact, it's a lot easier. What's nice about this older app is that it literally does the heavy lifting of "connecting" the AEBS and AEX units during the configuration -- it reboots both at the same time as the config is happening, and lets you choose from a list of available units to "add" to your WDS network. In short, it's a FAR SUPERIOR workflow even though some of the GUI isn't as intuitive as the newer AirPort Utilities that were designed to replace it.
SOLUTION:
If still have a copy of the AirPort Admin Utility follow the instructions from MuaddibOfArrakis here:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1422527
If not, try setting up your WDS network using AirPort Utility (hereafter AU), with these configs (take from my now-working network), as viewed through AirPort Utility 5.3.1.
I. Configure your AEBS.
Select the AEBS from AU, and choose "Manual Setup"
1. Under the AirPort tab up top:
a. Under "Base Station" sub-tab:
i.) assign a name for that specific unit, so you can later identify the specific unit from the list of units -- this is the name that will show up beside the unit in the AU list of configurable units. You can name it something like "kitchen", or "office". I have mine numbered, so XXXXXv1, XXXXXv2 etc where the XXXXX is the name of the shared network and the numbers help me tell the units apart. Just be sure you name each uniquely, and if you have several you might write the name on the unit itself.
ii.) pick a password for logging into that unit. This is different from the network password, its a security check to get in and change the configs on this unit later. Be sure to remember it in your keychain for the sake of simplicity, and write it down somewhere secure.
iii.) if you choose to set time automatically, pick a location that you will use consistently across all your units. I use time.apple.com.
iv.) uncheck "Allow configuration over Ethernet WAN port" unless you want to be able to remotely mess with settings -- which you almost certainly do not need to do.
v.) I left the "Options" button alone - no settings there.
b. Under the "Wireless" sub-tab:
i.) Wireless Mode: "Participate in a WDS network"
ii.) Network Name: this will be the name of your wifi network shared by all units, so be sure to remember what you pick. If you are already connected to this AEBS via wifi while you are making these changes, then you can use the same wifi name you already have set up -- you don't have to change it. Note that if you DO change it, after reboot your will LOSE connection to the network and have to reset your wifi settings on your client machine to match the new network/password in order to be able to access the network.
iii.) pick a Radio Mode. I'm using b/g compatible. You'll want to do the same, unless you are on the new gigabit AEX. I'm pretty sure about this, but not 100% -- others post if I'm wrong.
iv.) choose a Channel. This can be a more complicated procedure, but for now just pick something consistent across all your units. If you get everything working and find that you're having intermittent network problems, you could later try changing your Channel -- it can pick up interference from phones, microwaves, etc and changing it can help.
v.) I have wireless security set to WPA/WPA2 Personal.
vi.) Wireless Password is the password for access to your wifi network (not your unit itself). If you are connecting to your AEBS via wifi while doing this config, then you can use the same password you have already set up. Pick a good one unless you want other folks jumping on your wifi and stealing your bandwidth and/or credit card numbers . Remember it in your keychain and write it down someplace secure, because you'll need it for the other units too. As noted above, note that if you DO change it, after reboot your will LOSE connection to the network and have to reset your wifi settings on your client machine to match the new network/password in order to be able to access the network.
vii.) Click the "Wireless Options" button. I have my multicast rate set to 2mbps, transmit at 100%, timeout at 1 hour, and i have checked the "Create a closed network". This last step keeps your network from advertising itself to the outside world. Users can only find it by explicitly typing the network name into their wifi settings (e.g. AirPort -> Other... then enter Network Name, Security and Password). I leave interference robustness unchecked.
c. Under the "WDS" sub-tab:
i.) the AEBS should have it's WDS Mode set to "WDS main".
ii.) Check the "allow wireless clients" box on the AEBS; this lets you connect client machines to it directly too.
iii.) hit the plus button to add the Remote system (AEX). There are two types of configs for the AEX's - "remote" and "relay". Assuming you have 3 units like me (2 AEX and 1 AEBS) the key question is whether you will place each AEX within direct reach of the AEBS (remotes), or if you will have one AEX in the middle connecting to an AEBS on one side and an AEX on the other -- where the furthest AEX is out of reach from the AEBS (remote) and connects only to the AEX in the middle (relay). I'm using a relay setup. If you are using relay, you can still set up the AEX relay to serve client computers too -- it doesnt have to JUST relay. More on that later. For now, you want to add only AEX units that will talk DIRECTLY to the AEBS. So if you have a setup like mine, just add one (the one in the middle - the relay). If you have two remotes connecting directly to the AEBS, you will add them both here. When you hit the '+' button it will ask for both an ID and description. For description I use the name I'm assigning to each unique unit (as above, "kitchen" or XXXXXv1 or whatever you use). For AirPort ID, use the number listed on the AEX unit itself (not the number for "Ethernet", also on the AEX unit).
d. Under the "Access" sub-tab:
i.) I have it set to "Not Enabled". I'd suggest you start that way too, and you can go change it later if you get everything working correctly.
2. Under the "Internet" tab up top:
a. Under the "Internet Connection" sub-tab:
i.) Connect Using: Ethernet
ii.) Configure IPv4: Using DHCP
iii.) Ethernet WAN Port: Automatic (Default)
iv.) Connection Sharing: Share a public IP address
b. Under the "DHCP" sub-tab:
i.) DHCP Beginning Address: 10.0 . 1 . 2
ii.) DHCP Ending Address: 10.0.1.200
DHCP Lease: 4 hours
c. Under the "NAT" sub-tab:
i.) nothing should be checked;
ii.) nothing under Port Mappings either
3. Under the "Printers and Advanced" tabs up top:
Nothing special needs to be configured there.
THAT'S IT.
=============
I. Configure your AEX(s)
Select the AEX from AU, and choose "Manual Setup"
1. Under the "AirPort" tab up top:
a. Under "Base Station" sub-tab:
i.) pick a unique name for this unit, same logic as for AEBS
ii.) pick a password specific for accessing this unit, same logic as for AEBS
iii.) Set time automatically: be sure to use the same settings used on your AEBS
iv.) Options: no need to set any
b. Under "Wireless" sub-tab:
i.) Wireless Mode: Participate in a WDS network
ii.) Network Name: same name used for AEBS, this is the name of your wifi network
iii.) Channel: same as AEBS
iv.) All settings here (those above, plus Security and Password & in Options button) should be the same as for AEBS settings on this tab
c. Under the "WDS" sub-tab:
...if AEX is "in the middle" (as described above):
i.) WDS Mode: WDS relay
ii.) Allow wireless clients: check (unless you only want to bridge between the edges without letting folks connect on this AEX in the middle)
iii.) WDS Main: set to the AirPort ID (aka MAC address) for the AEBS. You can find it on the bottom of the AEBS, either labeled as such or at the bottom beside the logo of a wireless signal (square logo, with semi-circles mimicing a radio signal).
iv.) WDS Remotes: click the '+' to add any AEX's that will connect to this relay rather than directly to the AEBS. Same deal as above, use the name in the description and use the AirPort ID from the side of the AEX (not the Ethernet ID).
.....if AEX is connecting to a relay ("on the end", as above) or if there is no relay and AEX connects directly to the AEBS:
i.) WDS Model: WDS remote
ii.) Allow wireless clients: checked
iii.) WDS Main: if connected to a relay, use the AirPort ID of the relay AEX. If connected to the AEBS directly, use the AirPort ID of the AEBS
d. Under the "Access" sub-tab:
i.) MAC Address Access Control: Not Enabled (for now, you can change later)
2. Under the "Internet" tab up top:
a. Under the "Internet Connection" sub-tab:
i.) Connect Using: AirPort (WDS) -- should be selected and gray'ed out.
ii.) Configure IPv4: Using DHCP
iii.) Ethernet WAN Port: Automatic (Default)
iv.) Connection Sharing: Off (Bridge Mode)
3. Under the Music, Printers and Advanced tabs up top:
Nothing special needs to be configured there. You can worry about AirTunes settings later...
That should be it. I'd recommend setting up the AEBS first, then the relay (if applicable), then the remotes. Initially, you can bring each unit in the same room with you for configuring. After configured and restarted the AEX should blink then turn solid green. If it turns green you should be good to go.
HOPE THIS HELPS. As noted above, I did not config through AirPort Utility 5.3.1 so I haven't tested this procedure through that app. However, after getting my network to work I went back and transposed all settings into this post to help others. Please provide feedback on whether or not this is working, so we can collectively try to move towards a setup procedure that works for everyone....
Good luck!
Message was edited by: b.byrd

I'm not convinced that the problem lies in Airport Utility. This same thing was happening to me, nearly exactly as you describe it. The thing is that with me, the problems clearly started when I updated the firmware in my Airport Express (n). That's when all the wacky stuff started happening. Sometimes it would show up in AU, sometimes it didn't and even if it didn't, I could still access the internet through it.
But as you said, the problems got really bad when another Express (b/g) was put on the network with it. Even when it did work, the (b/g) would make it impossibly slow.
You know more about this than me, and clearly have more patience if you've restarted the network fifty times. I gave up at about ten.
In any case, your solution is more of a work around and if you're still having that slow connection problem, I'm not sure you've got it. But thanks for your reporting of this. At least I know I'm not crazy.

HT4259 How do I set up an Airport Extreme Base Station (v. 7.6.1) to allow wireless network extension?

I have an Airport Extreme Base station (purchased in 2009) and an Airport Express base station (purchased in 2011 - the model that plugs directly into the electrical outlet) (both version 7.6.1 according to the Airport Utility info). I want to use the Airport Express to extend my wireless network. Using Airport utility setup I have a software option on the Airport Express to set it up to extend the network but I do not have an option on the Airport Extreme wireless setup screen that I can check to allow my wireless network to be extended.
All of the documentation I can find on Apple Support states that I should have an option I can check to allow the wireless network to be extended while in the wireles setup section for the Airport Extreme in Airport Utility; but, that check option isn't there. Is this a case of my Airport Extreme base station being too old to offer that option? Incidentally, when I try to select the extend wireless network option on the Airport Express from the Airport Utility wireless setup menu I get an error message (no details - just an error message). The same Airport Express sets up fine if I select join a network (not what I want to do). Am I just dealing with outdated equipment or does anyone have a suggestion? Thanks.

Close AirPort Utility if it is open.
Temporarily, move the Express to the same general area as your AirPort Extreme and power it up and wait a minute.
Hold in the reset button on the Express for 9-10 seconds and then release. Give the Express a full minute to restart to a slow, blinking amber light.
Click the AirPort icon at the top of the Mac's screen and wait a few seconds for a listing of New AirPort Base Station to appear
Click on AirPort Express just below that and AirPort Utility will automatically open
Wait a minute while AirPort Utility analyzes the network and announces that the Express will be configured to "Extend" the AirPort Extreme network.
Enter a device name for the AirPort Express and click Next
Wait another minute to allow the configuration to occur.
When you see the Setup Complete message, click Done.
Now move the Express to a location that is approximately half the distance from the AirPort Extreme and the general area that needs more wireless coverage
Power up the Express and you are all set. Trash those old instructions.

Airport utility no longer recognizes my Airport Extreme Base Station, which had been set up to extend a wifi network

Hi. In November I set up my airport extreme base station (5th generation I believe) to wirelessly extend the wifi network we use at home to see if it would increase download speeds. Before doing that, I did a factory reset of my airport extreme, and the owner of the airport extreme to which the ethernet cable is attached made changes to his network to allow it to be extended. I folllowed all the directions from the apple support pages, and finally got it to work. I could even access a portable hard drive which I attached to the airport extreme base station being used as the extension. Then a week or so ago I noticed that my laptop would no longer connect to my base station. I did not have time to look into it until this week. Airport utility, either on my Mac or iphone no longer recognizes my base station. My mac is running OS X 10.10.1 and my iPhone is running iOS 8.1.2 I have tried both hard, soft and factory resets of my base station to no avail. The only thing that has changed after doing that, is that when I do a soft reset of my base station, a neighbors airport express appears when it never did before. I can't actually connect to it, but it does try. Then after approximately 5 minutes, it disappears from my list.
Today I went and pulled out my OLD AIRPORT EXTREME base station... you know, the one that looks like a space ship and is running wifi 802.1 b/c? airport utility DOES locate and display that, but airport utility returns a message stating that it cannot be set up by this software. I am attaching an image of that.
Thank you,
John
Does this have anything to do with the fact that 'Back to My Mac' is probably enabled?

I think the initial problem is that your iPhone was connected to an open network that wasn't yours.
Go to Settings > WiFi and "Forget" the network created by that AirPort Extreme, it's older than dirt. Forget your neighbor's network also.
Perform the equivalent actions with your Mac: System Preferences > Network > Wi-Fi > Advanced... Delete every network that appears, including your own.
Then, connect to your own network on all your devices, after which you ought to be able to use any of them and configure your Extreme without any difficulty. You may need to start over with a "hard reset" on both the main AirPort Extreme and the one extending its network.
Does this have anything to do with the fact that 'Back to My Mac' is probably enabled?
Not exactly, but using iCloud Keychain will populate all your devices with the names of preferred networks that any of them connect to, no matter where they are. I don't know why Apple considers that a beneficial feature.

Why can I no longer print from my Windows XP computers to my Bonjour connected Canon printer thru an Airport Extreme Base Station (f/w 7.6.4, model A1301)?

Something has changed recently and I haven't figured it out. My 2 Windows XP computers are no longer able to print via Bonjour. I have tried removing and reinstalling Bonjour. Upgrading the firmware on the AIrport Extreme Base Station and comparing Port settings from an able to print Windows Vista laptop. Port settings match and Bonjour says it sees the printer...but the communication is not happening between the computer and the networked printer, it times out and produces an error in the print que. Both XP computers have no problem using the internet via the Base Station. One is wired and one is wireless. Thoughts?

Sounds a bit like a problem being discussed in this thread:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2651093&tstart=0
I suspect some kind of update is at fault. Like you, my printer/base station setup had been working fine until recently.

Wirelessly Connecting HP Laserjet P3015 to Airport Extreme Base Station

Hi, I just purchased a new Airport Extreme Base Station, and was able to establish an internet connection to it. I'd like to find out if it's possible to connect the HP Laserjet Enterprise P3015 to the Extreme, wirelessly rather than via a USB Cable. I've looked at the HP page for this printer, but I'm baffled by all the lingo. I believe it's a newer model of HP printer (or maybe it isn't?) but I bought it new from HP recently.
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/DocumentIndex.jsp?contentType=S upportFAQ&lang=en&cc=us&docIndexId=64178&taskId=101&prodTypeId=18972&prodSeriesI d=3815797&printver=true#10
Is there a term for the type of printer that can be wirelessly connected? Should the printer, by default, give off a signal that I can pick up? I don't see anything popping up in Airport Utility 6.3
I'm using OS10.7.5 by the way.
I'm off to post a message on the suitable HP forum (if I can find it ) but I'm so used to the Apple Community knowing what's what, that I was hoping that some kind soul here might just have experience with this.
Thank you.
PS. From what I can understand from the "Trouble-shooting FAQ," wireless printing is possible, but I just don't see an option for syncing it up with a MAC? Maybe it only works with Windows?

wuzradioman
I don't see where the P3015 printer is wifi capable. Therefor, you cannot use wifi to directly communicate with it.
Thanks for the reply Wuzradioman. I dug around (several) of HP's sites and it looks like the info was slightly different for the same printer listed on both the Home and Business sites. I did find a link on a 3rd HP page (which I've since misplaced!) that indicates that the P3015 requires a wireless card to be installed. But when I clicked the link for "accessories and additional hardware" a link to the card was nowhere to be found. I'll try to dig up that link in the event that some other poor soul has the same printer and a similar question.
Vernon Alexander
I find the HP printers (they're called wireless printers by the way) to be cumbersome to connect wirelessly. there's a lot of manual work involved that can be time-consuming. For example, I found it incredibly irritating to enter the wireless access passcode.
Thanks for the reply. After talking to some other people, this seems to be the consensus on wireless printing. I guess there's a reason, esp. in enterprise environments, that printers are often hard-wired.
Bob Timmons
you can run an Ethernet cable over a much longer distance than a USB cable, so Ethernet might be the best option, and the one I would prefer.
As far as wireless, If you connected an AirPort Express to the printer and disguised it near the printer, then you could locate the printer anywhere you want and have it connect using wireless to the network.
Instead of installing a wireless "card" inside the printer, you use an outboard device to accomplish the same task.
Thanks Bob. I did end up hooking up via a Cat-5e cable from printer to Airport Extreme base. Previously, I had the printer hooked up via USB cable (at a shorter distance) to my Airport Express, which the Extreme now replaces.
Unfortunately, I can't seem to get the HP Laserjet P3015n printer recognized after having connected it via Cat5e cable to the Airport Extreme. 1) there's still somethign about it being attached to the old Airport Express (which is now used to extend my network. 2) The P3015 is identified as a P3010 - which is a carry-over from when I had originally set up the printer on my (then) main base station which was the Airport Express. I didn't (or rather "stopped") questioning the fact that the P3015 was recognized as a P3010 just because it was the only way I could get the printer to be recognized at the time.\\
But I suppose this new challenge merits a separate thread, which I'll start after I do a search of the support forums. Maybe there's something obvious I'm not doing to get the printer sorted out.

Airport Extreme Base Station and 2wire Modem / Router

I have Yahoo DSL with a 2wire modem / wireless router combo. I have an iMac and a MacBook both running Leopard. I can't seem to get the Back to my Mac feature to work. I'm currently running the trial version of .Mac. I'd like to get a full .Mac account but I want to be sure I can utilize the Back to my Mac feature. If I were to bridge an Airport Extreme Base Station to the 2wire would that solve my issue with Back to my Mac. Additionally I like the idea of being able to plug a printer of external hard drive into the Airport Extreme.
Any advice is greatly appreciated.

I got it to work. I purchased the Airport Extreme Base Station and took the following steps which I found here http://forums.macosxhints.com/archive/index.php/t-68141.html
First connect directly to the 2Wire with the Ethernet cable.
Instructions from 2Wire:
1. Clear the HomePortal to Factory State –can be accomplished two ways
2. Go to http://homeportal/management
3. Click on Resets
4. Click on Reset to Factory State
5. Click Continue
6. Have customer press Hardware Reset button with paperclip (HG products only and BellSouth HWs)
7. Have customer unbend a paperclip
8. Have customer insert paperclip into recess for Hardware Reset button (outlined with Red circle) on back of HomePortal.
9. Hold paper clip in for ten (10) full seconds
Next steps:
1. Go to http://homeportal/management again
2. Click on Configure under Broadband Link
3. Enter VPI 0 and VCI 35
4. Click on Disable PVC Search
5. Set Connection Type to Direct IP
6. Click Submit/Save
7. Have cu go to http://homeportal/management
8. Click on Configure Services
9. Have cu Uncheck Enable Routing
10. Click Submit
Airport configuration:
1. Open the AirPort Admin Utility and select your Base Station.
2. Click Configure and enter your password.
3. Click the Internet tab.
4. Choose PPP over Ethernet (PPPoE) from the Connect using pop-up menu.
5. If required by your ISP, enter your user name, password and service name in the appropriate fields. ( Your name and password is you full email including the @sbcglobal.net part and your email password)
6. Click Update.
7. After the base station restarts itself, quit the AirPort Admin Utility.
If that doesn’t work call apple and they should be able to help with the airport configuration.
Back to My Mac now works. Hope this helps someone else.
Message was edited by: WalrusBoy

Windoze Ad-hoc networks killing Airport Extreme Base Station

After having a horrible experience with an Orinoco base station sometime ago at his coffee shop, a client of mine asked me to install a new Wi-Fi access point to replace it. Since I'd never had a problem with my graphite Airport Base Station, I selected recommended that he try the Airport Extreme. Everything was been fine for over a year and half, with only the occasional interference problem, and even that easily fixed by a restart on the base station. Lately that has changed. We're in Baton Rouge, and since Hurricane Katrina, our population in our city has doubled (that's not an exaggeration), and the number of customers using the network in his coffee shop has increased as well - although it's still well below the maximum. The problem is that there are is large number of students from Loyola, UNO and Tulane who are now attending LSU, right across the street. And a significant fraction of those have ad-hoc networks set up on their Windoze notebooks, apparently unintentionally. When they come into the coffee shop their ad-hoc networks seems to cause the Airport Extreme to die, and not recover, until it is reset. This happens many times per day, sometimes more than once in an hour.
It had been configured to automatically select a channel, but I re-configured to use a specific channel (and have been experimenting with the particular channel). It seems to reduce the problem for a time, but then we'll have the problem back in force within a few days.
I have verified (using iStumbler) that there are no other "managed" networks near-by, and I have noticed that the problem ALWAYS happens when there is are ad-hoc networks, and after politely asking customers if I can check their settings, (it's scary how many people will let you poke around on their computer, if you seem like you know what you're doing) I've also seen compelling evidence that it is Windoze users, not Mac users, who tend to cause the problem. Incidentally at this particular coffee shop the Windoze:Mac ration is something like 60:40. What can I say, it attracts discerning customers. Since some of them have "lsuwireless" set up as an ad-hoc network (and as I said, LSU is across the street), my guess is that somehow these get set up, not on purpose, but accidentally, while trying to connect to the university's wireless network. Apparently the process is not so straight forward for Windoze users as for Mac users.
I have upgraded the Airport Base Station software to the latest available as of last week. Though I don't have that version number available at the moment.
So I have several questions:
1) Is this really the same radio interference problem that I've read about elsewhere on this discussion board?
2) Would an external antenna on the base station help? How about a powered one?
3) Aside from "Use Interference Robustness" and trying different channels, is there some configuration setting that I might be missing that could enhance the base station's reliability?
4) Does anyone have a suggestion for a permanent fix - preferably without switching to a different access point, although at this point, that's a viable alternative. After a year and a half of stable operation though, we're loathe to switch again unless it can't be avoided, because the Orinoco access point we used before had behaved exactly like this, but even worse, and without necessarily having ad-hoc networks being present to cause the problem.
5) Failing any other good solution, can anyone suggest a way to determine which computers are causing the problem without having to interrupt each customer to poke around on his computer?

I have an Intel based iMac and a MacBook Pro. Both
are (well until tonight) connected to the internet
wirelessly through the Airport Extreme Base station.
I've had no trouble up until now. Tonight for some
odd reason the MacBook Pro Airport card fails to
detect the Airport Extreme Base Station. It detects
OTHER wireless networks around the building, just
not the one it's supposed to connect to. Opening up
Airport Utility doesn't even show the Airport
Extreme Base Station being present. I know the Base
Station is not at fault - it works fine with the
iMac. Tried setting the Sharing mode on but that
didn't help either (not that I changed any of the
settings to begin with).
Can anyone help? I'm really at a loss here.
Any one? Any suggestions?

Printing wirelessly to MacBook Pro with Airport Extreme Base Station

I have an Airport Extreme Base Station that I used to use wirelessly until I got Verizon Fios. The Fios technicians said the base station couldn't be used and so it's been sitting unused for a few months. However, I really, really miss printing wirelessly, and was wondering if it was possible to use the Airport Extreme Base Station ONLY to print wirelessly, and not connect it any way to my internet (I don't want to mess with any of the fios stuff at all).
If it's not possible, is there any other way to print wirelessly without purchasing another product or special printer. I have a HP c4480 printer.
Thanks!

If your printer has a USB cable the easy way to go about this in my opinion is to plug that USB cable into your Extreme base station. I have the Extreme ABS that looks like a flying saucer. I plug the usb cable into the port that has the symbol that doe NOT look like this <--> rather it looks like a Saguaro cactus.
My computer then sends print documents to the Extreme via WiFi and then Extreme sends them to the printer via the USB cable.
If your Airport status is not showing in the Mac's menubar go to system Prefs/Network/Airport and check a little box so it will show up in the menu bar.
Now if your Extreme is plugged in the wall and powered up your Mac should be able to find it. Click on that menubar item for Airport and scroll down and select your Airport Extreme. I don't know for sure what its name will be. It should still be the same as it used to be when you used it last.
Now try printing a simple document. In the print dialog window you should be able to select what printer you want to use. If your new Extreme printer is listed select it. You may need to click on Print & Fax and figure out how to select it from there, and choose it to be the new default printer.
I think this info will do the job. Whenever you want to print you have to go to the Airport icon in the menubar and change your airport connection from your Verizon stuff to your Extreme. Then of course you have to change back when you are done. That is why it would be great to toss the Verizon WiFi radio out the window and just plug your Verizon modem into your Extreme WiFi radio transceiver (router). But I understand you cannot deal with that at this time.
If this does not do the job, if I have missed something, I will bet you 5 bucks that you can still figure it out if you just look at any error messages and/or look at the Print&Fax prefs and the Print dialog windows etc. and see what I may have missed. Maybe you have to go to SystemPrefs/Sharing and allow your printer to be shared. I don't think so. The way I figure any of this stuff out is to just look at stuff and think and try things and see what happens.
Your Verizon setup should be something like this.... a cable comes into your house and goes to a 'modem'. From there and ethernet cable (CAT-5 cable) goes from that modem to your Verizon router (WiFi radio transceiver).
As for getting rid of the Verizon router, when you are ready to give it a go, simply unplug the ethernet cable (it has a plug on the end that looks like the kind of plug that telephones use to plug into the wall, except it is a bit wider, but still has that same kind of snap-lock tab) that comes from the Verizon modem (the modem has the heavy round cable and probably many blinking lights) and plug it into the Extreme. Mine has an icon on the Extreme that is many dots in a circular pattern.
At this point you may have to unplug the Verizon modem form the wall AC power and the Extreme also. Then plug them back in, wait a minute, go to your Airport icon on your Mac menubar, Select Extreme and start surfing the web.
It really is that simple with a Mac. Maybe Verizon has found a way to make things difficult but my guess is no. Any password should be taken care of in your Airport Setup Utility program. It should be the same password(s) as you used before when you used your Extreme.

Howto disable the firewall in AEBS Airport Extreme Base Station

Is there any way to do that?
Motivation: I don't want to reroute ports to a DHCP address which changes constantly. Plus: Editing the port reroute list is a pain!
I have no problems with my Asus WL500gP but this thing just doesn't get printing right while all the other funktions work flawlessly.
AEBS plus: Canon ip3000 works perfect over WLAN
AEBS minus: All services relying on ports being redirected are blocked
I have a firewall in my mac which I can switch on and allow services to whatever I want, for the Airport Extreme Base Station, this simply does not work. If I donwload a new Ubuntu torrent with the Asus it's yipiiee, with the AEBS it's 0KB/s. Great.

The only way to disable the "firewall" is to configure the AEBS to act as a bridge. In that mode it is not providing local IP addresses for local machines.
Motivation: I don't want to reroute ports to a DHCP address which changes constantly. Plus: Editing the port reroute list is a pain!
You can configure the AEBS to use DHCP. You can give one of your computers a static IP address outside the range used by the AEBS's DHCP server. Then you can configure the AEBS to recognize that computer as default host (thing DMZ) or you can forward selected ports only to that computer. Once configured you won't need to change anything since that computer is at a static IP address.

Airport Extreme Base Station N adjusts time, then drops WDS

I have a WDS network with a +Time Capsule+ (TC = WDS Main) and an +Airport Extreme Base Station with 802.11n+ (AEBSn = WDS Remote). Everything works great - except when it doesn't. The AEBSn will suddenly drop the connection, and instead of a normal IP address (10.0.1.11) it will get a self-assigned one (e.g. 169.254.130.58). I have pawed through a number of log files, and I see that at the point that things go south, I get a whacky net-time update; for example:
Jul 31 20:25:21 Severity:5 Internet Configuration leased -- host <10.0.1.11/255.255.255.0> gateway <10.0.1.1> dns <10.0.1.1> wins lease <14400> domain <dclient.lsne.ch>
Jul 31 19:54:15 Severity:5 Clock synchronized to network time server time.euro.apple.com (adjusted -3606 seconds).
Jul 31 20:55:35 Severity:3 No Address for NTP server time.euro.apple.com.
Note the 1-hour backwards time adjustment; after that, the AEBSn has dropped the connection. Note that there was no user traffic on the network at the time - no one was home.
Sometimes the status light on the AEBSn will go yellow, sometimes it stays green - I haven't been able to detect a pattern to that. The TC is zen: he's green no matter what happens. I thought he was supposed to be a caring master?
I thought this was perhaps related to interference from other wireless networks - I live in the city and there are a bunch around me - so I moved to the least-used primary frequency band: no change.
Help!!! This is driving me bananas. Thanks in advance.

Bob,
Thanks for the response, and sorry for taking so long to get back. I think I found how to fix the problem of the dropped WDS connections, and I wanted to give it a while to make sure the problem was really fixed.
The drops got to be more and more frequent, until finally the WDS connection would drop pretty much immediately. At that point, the TC (the master in my setup) for the first time started showing signs of being unhappy: the status light would briefly flash orange at irregular intervals (I could see nothing relevant in the log file, though). I had always assumed the problem was at the AEBS end, and had always restarted him, but this time I tried restarting the TC - and bingo presto, everything started working, and has been working for over a month now, without ever restarting the AEBS.
I would guess that there's something in the WDS implementation (at least on the TC) that gradually degrades over the period of many months - memory leak or fragmentation or similar.
Thanks for the suggestion about the "extend a wireless network" option. When I read the manual, I got the impression that was just an automated way of setting up WDS; I didn't realize that it affects the band used. I now realize that the title of the section, "Extending the Range *of an 802.11n Network*," is not totally anodyne. Anyway, I just now set it up as you suggested, and so far, so good.
Thanks again,
-- Philip

Wireless connection to internet with mac pro tower and airport extreme base station?

Hi, I have an airport extreme base station and a mac pro tower without a airport card. My internet wireless router is a great distance from my computer so I can't connect the base station directly to the router. I've attached the airport extreme base station to the tower via an ethernet cable, the base station seems to be wirelessly connected to the home network but the browser is showing "not connected".
Please help.
Thanks

Shouldn't the Airport base station be able to connect to it wirelessly?
It might be possible, but the Ethernet ports on the AirPort Extreme would not be enabled, even if it did connect to the Thompson' WiFi signal.
As Tesserax notes, among the Apple routers, only the 802.11n versions of the AirPort Express have the capability to "join" a wireless network with the Ethernet port being enabled.

Airport Extreme Base Station is being hacked/taken over

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