Airport Extreme + ethernet printer + USB HDD...answers?

I've seen a handful of posts about this from late last year when Apple screwed the **** out of all of us with that garbage firmware "update" that destroyed all the previous reliability and added nothing. I haven't any clue where to find an old version of the firmware to get me working again, and I haven't seen anyone actually get an answer to this question, so I figure I'll keep reposting it and calling to hassle Apple until I alone am annoying enough to effect change. :-D
I have an Airport Extreme with an HP LaserJet connected to an ethernet port, and a 2TB drive connected via USB. On my Windows PC with all the Airport drivers in it, everything works fine all the time. Every time I turn the computer on, the harddrive is available in my computer and the printer can be printed to at any time.
If I close my laptop, turn it off, restart it, etc it will lose the connection to the harddrive and the printer when I wake it up, turn it on, etc. The icon for the harddrive is gone, and I have to "Restart" the router to get it to find it again, at which point it shows up on the desktop again. To find the printer I have to restart the printer then "Restart" the router, at which point I do not have to reinstall the printer...it just starts printing all the queued up stuff.
If I leave the computer sitting for 10-14min to where the external harddrive spins down from lack of activity and open iTunes without going into finder to get the harddrive spinning again it will default iTunes to looking in my Music folder and mark all of my music as missing. At this point I have to shut down iTunes, get the harddrive going again, open iTunes, change the setting for the music location, then "Consolidate Library" (which takes about 2 hours because i have around 450GB in there in 30k songs). This is really ******* me off because my Apple used to work as well as my PC.
Apple, aren't you embarrassed by this pathetic display of ineptitude? Why are you content with being mediocre and ignoring the people flocking from Vista to get reliability only to find the same or worse problems with OSX? Now is the time to grab as many people as possible, sick of Microsoft and fed up with Vista. You have to impress them or you'll keep your 5% market share forever. If we're going to have frustrating problems, why wouldn't we have frustrating problems in an OS with software support?
Anyone have a working firmware they can put on my iDisk for me? Or a solution to this nightmare? It's been going on since like November, and I'm getting tired of waiting for 7.3 firmware while making excuses to myself about why I'm playing this ridiculous restarting games with the most expensive computer hardware available for the speed and features.
Thanks much!
Alex

Nevermind about the firmware. I discovered by accident that holding option while clicking the check for updates menu lets you download 7.1.1, but then it won't let me friggin install it!!! AHHHH. Screwed again! Apple, how long are you going to seriously sit with your thumbs up your while all these sites and all these customers complain and make fun of you before you do something to make this thing work!
Anyone have a hacked 7.1.1 that will go on my router? :-/

Similar Messages

  • Airport Extreme and External USB HDD

    I've seen quite a few posts on the topic but no real fixes. I have a 21.5" iMac utilizing an dual-band Airport Extreme Base Statation for networking. I also have a 1TB Toshiba USB external hard drive. Formatted for Mac OS journaled. I plug the drive into the iMac and, after displaying "this drive is not recognized by the Mac" message, it mounts and recognizes the drive and allows me to perform a time machine backup. After awhile the drive disappears and will not show up again until it is power cycled. Annoying enough...but it gets worse.
    I tried to plug the hard drive into the AEBS to allow it to be used by others in the household...it shows up in the Airport Utility, I can name it, it shows up in Finder, but when I actually try to use it....nothing. Nothing will transfer to it.
    HELP! Anyone have any ideas on this. It's been maddeningly frustrating and I actually put the problem aside for the last six months becasue I couldn't get it to work reliabily. But, I paid money for the HD and I'd like to use it for something.

    Welcome to the discussions!
    I've seen quite a few posts on the topic but no real fixes.
    Unfortunately, there really are no fixes. The answer for your issue is that Apple has not ever supported Time Machine backups to a drive at the USB port of the AirPort Extreme. You might want to refer to the Apple support documents below concerning this.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2038
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/15139.html
    If you want to use Time Machine for backups, you'll need to connect the drive directly to your computer.

  • Why won't my new Airport Extreme recognize my USB Hard drive?  My MacBook recognizes it.  I already have had a great deal of trouble connecting my printer to print wirelessly, but finally resolved that.  Now I want to add the external drive with a USB por

    Why won't my new Airport Extreme recognize my USB external hard drive.  I put a USB port on the base station, and the system recognizes my printer.  When I click on disks - it lists my printer, and when I click on Printers it lists my printer.  What do I need to do to get it to recognize the external drive?  BTW, the MacBook recognizes it, no problem.  I have erased it and reformatted it.  I am running the new Lion OS.  Any help is appreciated.

    Yes, I saw a post on one of these threads about a powered USB hub so I ran over to Office Depot and picked one up.  I was finally able to see the HD in the Airport Utility.  Yay! 

  • I am not able to print to my usb airport extreme attached printer from my windows aptop or window desktop

    I am not able to print to my usb airport extreme attached printer from my windows aptop or window desktop

    Your post did not really provide any details on what you have done in the way of troubleshooting or printer software that you have installed, so we don't have much to go on here.
    For starters though, you will not be able to print unless you have installed Bonjour Print Services for Windows v2.0.2 on the PC(s) and run the program.
    So, if you have not done this, that would be a good first step.

  • I have an airport extreme with a USB printer attached (non-airprint).  Can i print from my ipad?

    I have an airport extreme with a USB printer attached, it is a non airprint printer.
    I can print via my network from my desktop but I want to know if i can print from my ipad 2 and ipad 1

    Printing from an iPad or iPhone
    To print directly from an iPad you need an AirPrint - enabled printer on the same wireless network as the iPad. All AirPrint printers are wireless but not all wireless printers are AirPrint-enabled.
    If you do not have an AirPrint printer, a number of workarounds exist that enable the use of any printer you normally use, even older ones that may predate AirPrint by decades. Search for the following products:
    handyPrint (Mac only, donation-supported)
    Printopia (Mac only, $19.95 with free trial)
    These are utilities you install on the Mac you normally use for printing, enabling it to act as an AirPrint print server. The Mac must be "on" but may be asleep for them to work. The iPad needs nothing else, no iOS apps need to be installed and no configuration is necessary. If your computer can print, so can the iPad, using one of these utilities on your Mac.
    Equivalent utilities may exist for PCs but I have no experience with them - I suggest https://www.collobos.com
    You can also buy this standalone hardware print server, bypassing the need for a computer altogether:
    http://www.lantronix.com/it-management/xprintserver/xprintserver.html
    Otherwise you will need to buy an AirPrint printer or multifunction device.

  • Airport extreme and printing on ipad

    I have an airport extreme and a usb printer connected to the airport extreme. I'm trying to print using the airport extreme to a non airport printer I don't see the printer on the ipad when I select printer. (nothing shows up)
    But when I add a printer on my mac that is connected to the airport extreme I can see the printer and it shows up as bonjour. (two entries show up, one with the location set as the base station the other nothing showing anything in the location option.
    Any idea's why the printer doesn't show up on the ipad or my iphone?
    Thanks

    Since you do not have an AirPrint compatible printer, you will need to install an App like Print Central to see if it might allow printing from the iPad and iPhone.  Most printers are supported, but you really will not know if it will work until you try.
    PrintCentral for iPad on the iTunes App Store
    Please post in the support area if you need more help in that regard. We are not iPad and iPhone experts here.
    Using iPad         Using iPhone       

  • Airport Extreme ethernet not working with Windows XP

    Windows XP no longer connects to the Internet via the Airport Extreme ethernet port. XP says the cable isn't plugged in but when I connect XP directly to the DSL modem it works fine. When I connect my MacBook Pro to the Internet through the Airport Extreme ethernet port it works fine. (I'm sure it's connected by ethernet because I do +sudo ifconfig en1 down+.) I can't figure it out. I'm relatively certain Airport Extreme is blocking XP from connecting via ethernet but I'm not certain. It worked without a glitch for about two years. Lightning fried my old DSL modem and ever since I got the new one, XP "can't see" Airport Extreme, but will connect directly to the DSL modem and the net without a hitch. Any insight will be much appreciated.

    I'm not sure why your PC is not able to connect to the AirPort Extreme Base Station's (AEBS) Ethernet port, but it is likely the lightning strike may have something to do with it. I'm also a bit surprised you're were able to run the "sudo ifconfig" command under Windows.
    To rule out general communications issues between the modem and the AEBS, I suggest that you try a complete power recycle of all your network components as follows ...
    Try the following, in order, checking for Internet access after each step, until resolved:
    1. If the modem has a reset switch, use it to reset the modem. Wait at least 5-10 minutes for the modem to initialize.
    2. Remove power from the modem. If it has a backup battery, remove this as well. Wait 5-10 minutes. Replace the battery, and add power back to the modem.
    3. Perform a complete power recycle of your network components as follows:
    Modem/Router Power Recycling - Quick
    o Power-off the modem, AEBS, & computer(s); Wait at least 5 minutes.
    o Power-on the modem; Wait at least 5 minutes.
    o Power-on the AEBS; Wait at least 5 minutes.
    o Power-on the computer(s)
    If this fails to get the modem to "recognize" the Internet router, then try the "Full" version.
    Modem/Router Power ReCycling - Full
    o Power-off the modem, AEBS, & computer(s). (Wait at least 30 minutes. If possible, leave the modem off overnight.)
    o Power-on the modem; Wait at least 15 minutes.
    o Power-on the AEBS; Wait at least 5 minutes.
    o Power-on the computer(s)
    4. Contact your ISP to have them perform a "modem reset."

  • Can Time Capsule backup an Airport Extreme's attached USB hard drive?

    Can Time Capsule backup an Airport Extreme's attached USB hard drive (without currently being attached to a MAC OSX LION system)?

    No, sorry.. there is no way for the TC to see the files.. and even if you plug the hard disk into the TC there is no mechanism in the TC to drag the files to itself.. The TC is absolutely a dumb network attached drive.. everything you want to do must be done from a computer.

  • Livebox - Wi-Fi - Airport Extreme - Ethernet - MbPro

    Okay, so I've spent hours looking for a solution to my problem, and still haven't found any.
    I would like to connect my MbPro to my Airport Extreme by ethernet, the Aiport Extreme being connected to the livebox by Wi-fi.
    Livebox -> Wi-Fi -> Airport Extreme -> Ethernet -> MbPro
    The reason behind this is that the Livebox wifi connexion is quite glitchy with my mac and has proven to be lot better when using ethernet (when I used a liveplug which i no longer have).
    Is such a setup possible ?

    Unfortunately, the AirPort Extreme does not have the capability to connect using wireless and provide a signal at the Ethernet ports when it is used with a 3rd party router.
    The AirPort Extreme could connect this way if it was connecting to another Apple router.
    See this discussion for a similar question and some possible solutions:
                     Re: Using an Airport Extreme (4th Gen) as Wireless Bridge            

  • Airport Extreme Sharing printer to Leopard and Windows 7 via Ethernet port.

    Hello!
    My home office is in a mixed environment, 1 iMac with Leopard 10.5.8, and the other iMac running Windows 7 Ultimate x64 on bootcamp. Both computers are connected to the Airport Extreme (dual band version, firmware 7.4.2) via Ethernet. I attached the HP LaserJet P1006 to the Airport's usb port in order to share the printer to both platforms.
    My problem is that, I got the printer installed on Win 7 by using bonjour print service v2.02 without any problem as it said works in both Ethernet and wireless, I sent a print test from win 7 successfully, then I did another test from leopard ( as I presumed it should works also), however, it says "the printer is in use". and wouldn't print. I tried restart the Airport Extreme and tried print from leopard again and that was fine but then Win 7 couldn't print.
    Is there any solution for Mac + Win environment like my description? If I have 2 computers running on OS X they print perfectly well. Thanks all!
    My solution for now is to physically plugging the printer to where I need to print from. I use Ethernet wired both computers is because I want to take the advantage of the gigabyte lan port for speedy files transfer between both computers.

    If networking isn't working out for you, you may want to try out a swtich. Best Buy sells one by IOGEAR that allows for two USB connections to tie into one computer. So long as windows 7 can either download its own driver for the printer for basic features, or if you want to download canon's driver this solution will work. The only draw back is having to bring the laptop near the printer when you need to print.
    IOGEAR SWITCH
    MX860 Drivers and Support Page
    My opinions do not in any way shape or form represent Best Buy's Official decisions.

  • Adding LPD printer OSX10.6.2 to Airport Extreme + ethernet hub

    I have a GCC Elite XL 20/600 connected by ethernet to a hub which is connected to my Airport Extreme. This setup was working fine with OSX10.4.11 using AppleTalk, Local Zone with a PPD proviced by GCC.
    Now that AppleTalk is gone, I'm supposed to set it up as an LPD Generic Postscript printer using an address 10.10.1.100
    I tried that and it says the address is valid. I go to print and it can't connect, just sits there saying it's trying to connect.
    I tried looking for all my network addresses, and have tried probably 20 or so addresses, based on using the first three numbers of an existing address and changing the last one. Nothing works.
    Any ideas?
    Thanks,
    Aaron

    Also, it doesn't just hang there, it eventually says:
    "Unable to connect to printer; will retry in 30 seconds..."
    To clarify the setup:
    Printer plugged into ethernet on back of Airport. Airport connected to internet by ethernet. Another printer connected to Airport via USB Bonjour.
    The Bonjour printer works fine. Internet works fine. It's just this ethernet printer that is not recognized.
    I tried adding it as an IPP printer, with same results. I turned on TCP/IP on the printer and set its IP address. Then went and added it as IPP with the IP address I just assigned. The address was recognized as valid, it added the printer as Generic PostScript Printer, then I tried to print and it couldn't find it, same as before.
    ?

  • Airport Extreme with 2TB WD HDD connected via USB

    Hello all, have just joined this discussion group. I had been a windows user for several years now until recently when I replaced my laptop for Macbook Pro 13".
    MAC OS is good and stable. As my MAC HDD is only about 250 GB, it is not sufficient for my media files both Photos, Music & Video. Hence, I purchased a 2TB WD Essential USB Hard drive for storing the media files and using it as the backup for Time Machine. I want to use my media files both in my Mac as well as my IBM Thinkpad (Office), I decided to buy N class Router and connect the HDD which would enable me to share. However, I failed on my ideas as the Netgear Router N600 WINDR3700 does not support HFS+ File System! I was not willing for Fat32, but tried that too, the file transfer speeds are very slow.
    Now I am thinking as to whether return this WINDR3700 Router and buy Airport Extreme in-lieu of that. My questions are as follows:
    1) Does Airport Extreme support 2TB HDD via USB ? I assume it will support HFS+ FS.
    2) Would I be able to configure Time Machine for Backups to this HDD attached to the Airport Express ?
    3) Could I configure iTunes & iPhotos to store Media & Image Files Library in this HDD instead of my local Mac HDD ?
    4) How is the Speed of File Transfer to this HDD ?
    5) How is the Speed of Internet in N class in Airport Extreme ? I currently use a 50 Mb DSL ?
    I am even prepared to reformat my entire MAC and reinstall everything again based on your suggestion if there is a need.
    My decision to buy Airport Extreme is based on all of you users valuable inputs.
    Thanks in anticipation of your support.
    Cheers, Sriram

    Wow, and I thought my problem connecting to the Extreme router to my Kodak wireless printer was the problem.  You have multiple printers from various manufacturers that won't connect wirelessly.  I hope you get a reply that will help us both.  My printer finds theappropriate network but the Security Kkey (password), that works with my other connected PC's, does not connect the printer.  Ron

  • Airport Extreme - problem with usb printer and usb disk

    I have Airport extreme with firmware 7.1. I try connect usb disk and usb printer with usb-hub to airport. I can't get disk or printer working. Also try connect only disk or printer without usb-hub to airport getting same problem. How I get disk and printer working with wireless network (windows pc computers)?
    1)
    My printer is HP PSC 1210 all-in-one ( http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/product?product=90764&lc=fi&cc=fi&dlc=fi&lang =fi&cc=fi&y=0&x=0 )
    - printer seems working fine after installing bonjour printer installing wizard.
    - I get error (in windows) when I try print document from word. Error only says "error printing" in status value.
    - In airport utility all seems ok. Airport see usb printer "Hewlett-Packard psc 1200 series"
    - printer protocol is RAW and driver manufacture HP (also try with microsoft driver)
    2)
    USB disk is Targa Databox II 250
    - Airport utility says "Disk needs repair. Errors were found with a disk connected to your airport base station. please connect the usb disk to your mac or pc and use disk utility or another disk application to repair the disk"
    - I have connected Targa usb disk to windows pc and run scandisk and defreg. No errors found in windows. Result..no help for airport

    I have a similar problem to your second issue. Tried connecting a Netdisk to the USB port of the Airport Extreme and it also said there was a problem with the disk. Have performed a low level format on the disk and Airport Extreme still complained the disk had a problem.
    After unplugging the disk, my route decided to stop allowing wireless connections even after rebooting. Ended up having to hard reset the Airport Extreme and reconfigure it with my old settings to work again.
    FWIW, the first Airport Extreme I purchased today only worked on 802.11a and steadfastly refused to work on b/g so had to get a replacement. I suspect Apple's quality control is not quite as good as it used to be.

  • Airport Extreme REQUIRES powered USB hub for external HDDs

    Just bought an Airport Extreme Wireless dual-band N router (January 2012).  It works very well and having the separate 2.5 and 5 GHz bands is a fantastic feature.  Setup was really easy and it essentially worked 'out of the box'.  The one issue I had is attaching a USB Western Digital 1 TB HDD to share on the network and use for Time Machine backups from multiple MacBook Pro laptops.
    The drive would appear in the Aiport Utility's "Share Hard Drive" tab, but it was listed as zero bytes and wasn't available to actually share out over the network.  I formatted it as a single volume to make sure there wasn't an issue with the drive itself (although it should support multiple partitions on a drive), and it mounted to my Mac just fine, but it still would not work with the Airport Extreme.
    After reading several posts on these Apple forums I picked up the fact that the only way most people get their hard drives to work is by purchasing a powered USB hub and connecting that between the Extreme and the hard drive.  Some hard drives do appear to work plugged directly into the Airport Extreme, but that seems to be more of the exception than the rule. 
    The reason given is that the USB port on the Airport Extreme was originally designed for printers and is basically underpowered for proper HDD connections. Adding a powered USB hub not only allows USB hard drives to work, but you can connect multiple USB devices (hard drives and printers) to share over the Airport Extreme through the powered hub, so you do get that added feature.
    So if you have plans to upgrade to the incredibly fast and efficient Airport Extreme and plan to do your Time Machine Backups wirelessly (which works very well), add a powered USB hub to your purchase to avoid some frustration.  I picked up a four-port powered USB hub at Staples for $30.
    It's a great purchase otherwise.  Four out of five stars in my review.

    For anyone else who reads this post, the respondents are correct.  I cannot find anything directly from Apple that states explicity the support for Time Machine backups to a USB drive on a second generation Apple Airport Extreme.  I would love to see their detailed case studies and latest tests that demonstrate the backup corruption isues, and more recent tests conducted with the latest Airport Extreme, running the latest firmware with Lion 10.7.2.
    Having said that, each person who is interested in this as a backup solution should consider more than one source before making a final decision:
    http://gizmodo.com/369973/apple-time-machine-now-works-with-airport-disk
    http://stephanfassmann.blogspot.com/2008/03/how-to-setup-time-machine-on-airport .html
    http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=881757
    http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9070282/Time_Machine_now_works_with_AirPo rt_Extreme_drives_say_users
    http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2008/03/finally-airport-extreme-usb-disk-time- machine-backup.ars
    http://news.softpedia.com/news/Time-Machine-Update-Back-Up-on-AirPort-Extreme-Ad ded-81256.shtml
    The Apple Support articles referenced that explicity state TS does not work with Airport Extreme mounted USB drives are for older OS X 10.5 and 10.6.  I cannot find anything for 10.7 that states the same thing:
    Older Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.6:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2038
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.6/en/15139.html
    http://Pondini.org/TM/Airport.html
    The other thing you can do is on the Time Machine menu, hold down the "Option" key and use the 'verify backups' option to help ensure that your TS backups are valid.
    Hopefully Apple will come out with an official statement soon that speaks directly to the 2nd generation Airport Extreme on the latest firmware running TS backups from OS X Lion 10.7.
    My statement about the need for a powered USB hub to have much better success with USB attached hard drives still stands.

  • Frequent restart of AIRPORT EXTREME necessary for USB printing

    My AIRPORT EXTREME needs to be restarted about once every week through the AIRPORT UTILITY software in order to get the connected USB printer (Brother HL-1450) working.
    The AIRPORT is powered 24h a day and connects to the internet flawlessly but the printer dissappears from the "bonjour" printer list frequently.
    Anyone having an idea?
    (latest AIRPORT software V5.7 installed)
    powerbook   Mac OS X (10.4.7)  

    Hello jlford30. Welcome to the Apple Discussions!
    You may already have everything set up properly...
    Unfortunately, not all USB printers are compatible with AirPort base stations.
    Take a look at one of these iFelix Unofficial AirPort Printer Compatibility links, depending on which AirPort base station you have:
    - 802.11g AirPort Extreme Base Station (AEBS)
    - 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Station (AEBSn)
    If your printer isn't listed, it doesn't necessarily mean it won't work, but simply that it has not been verified. iFelix also provides the following workaround for printers not on the list that would certainly be worth a try.
    Also, you may find the following Apple article helpful.

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