Airport Extreme dropping signal

Question

Hi All:
I have Airport extreme, and an airpot express. In an ideal world I would like to connect my desktop Power Mac G5, my Mac Book Pro and a PC.
Since networking is not my game and I spend 3 days trying to set everything up and never got it to work I paid $95.- to a "professional" to install everything. It worked great for 4 days. I could stream music wirelessly, I could print from both Macs (never form the PC) I was in heaven! Ont he 5th day, iTunes won't stream music any more, nor can I print from either mac, thank god I can connect wireless from my Mac Book Pro. I didn't change a single thing. The "professional is telling me I have a "hardware problem" and I will have to spend extra mony to fix it. I am cluless. All my software is up to date.
Why would it suddenly stop working? I already disconnected airpot extreme waited 5 min. and connected again as I read in one thread, no luck.
Any hepl wpould be greatly apreciated.
Thanks a lot,
Alex Neuman

Answer 1

I'd suggest going with setting up the AX as a "wireless client" to take advantage of it's audio streaming capability with degrading your AEBSn's wireless network. Try this configuration first to see if it will satisfy your needs.
Here's the setup steps for this scenario...
AirPort Extreme Base Station Setup (AEBSn) w/Cable Modem
Perform a "hard" reset of the AEBSn. (optional)
o (ref: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107451)
Modem/Router Power ReCycling (optional)
o Power-off the Cable modem, AEBSn, & computer(s); Wait at least 15 minutes.
o Power-on the Cable modem; Wait at least 15 minutes.
o Power-on the AEBSn; Wait at least 5 minutes.
o Power-on the computer(s)
Setup the AEBSn
Temporarily connect your computer directly (using an Ethernet cable) to one of the LAN ports of the AEBSn, and then, using the AirPort Utility in Manual Mode, check these settings:
AirPort - Base Station
o Base Station Name: <whatever you wish or use the default>
o Base Station Password: (optional)
o Contact: (optional)
o Location: (optional)
o Set time automatically (optional)
o Time Zone: <select your time zone>
o Status Light: Always On (Default)
o Allow configuration over Ethernet WAN port (unchecked)
o Advertise configuration globally using Bonjour (unchecked)
AirPort - Wireless
o Wireless Mode: Create a wireless network
o Network Name: <whatever you wish or use the default>
o Allow this network to be extended (unchecked)
o Radio Mode: 802.11n (802.11b/g compatible)
o Channel: Automatic
o Wireless Security: None
AirPort - Wireless - Wireless Options
o Region: <select your region>
o Multicast Rate: 2 Mbps
o Transmit Power: 100%
o Create a closed network (unchecked)
o Use interference robustness (unchecked)
Internet - Internet Connection
o Connect Using: Ethernet
o Configure IPv4: Using DHCP
o IP Address: <provided by your ISP>
o Subnet Mask: <provided by your ISP>
o Router Address: <provided by your ISP>
o DNS Server(s): <provided by your ISP>
o Domain Name: <provided by your ISP>
o DHCP Client ID: (optional)
o Ethernet WAN Port: Automatic (Default)
o Connection Sharing: Share a public IP address
Internet - DHCP
o DHCP Range: 10.0 1.x
o DHCP Beginning Address: 10.0.1.2
o DHCP Ending Address: 10.0.1.200
o DHCP Lease: 4 hours
o DHCP Message: (optional)
o LDAP Server: (optional)
o DHCP Reservations: (optional)
Internet - NAT
o Enable default host at: (leave blank)
o Enable NAT Port Mapping Protocol (checked)
Perform a "hard" reset of the AX. (optional)
o (ref: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=108044)
To set up the AirPort Express Base Station (AX) as a "Wireless Client," using the AirPort Utility, either connect to the AX's wireless network or temporarily connect your computer directly (using an Ethernet cable) to the Ethernet port of the AX, and then, try these settings:
AirPort > Base Station tab
o Base Station Name: <whatever you wish or use the default>
o Base Station Password: <enter a desired password for the base station>
o Verify Password: <re-enter the desired password>
o Allow configuration over Ethernet WAN port (checked)
AirPort > Wireless tab
o Wireless Mode: Join a wireless network
o Network Name: <type in the AEBSn's wireless network name or select it from the pop-up menu>
o Wireless Security: None
Once you verified that this is working, we can go over the steps to secure your wireless network.