Airport Extreme Not Consistently Assigning DHCP

I am using a relatively new (within the last year) Airport Extreme as the primary router on my home network. Connected directly to the router is a GigE switch, an AT&T Microcell, and another router - an Aruba RAP which creates a secure VPN for my home/remote office network. The connection to my Apple desktop is made through the GigE switch, as are three additional wired connections to other devices in my home, including two Apple TV's and (hopefully) two Airport Expresses.
I recently discovered when trying to configure a new Airport Express to extend my wireless network over ethernet (roaiming network) that my Airport extreme is not consistently assigning the IP addresses within it's defined DHCP range (10.0.1.0 - 10.0.1.200). About half of the time devices on the network are getting a default 169.254.x.x IP address, which (in the case of my desktop) results in an 'self assigned IP' error within the network settings. I can reboot my apple desktop and the next time it gets a correct 10.0.1.1 address. Reboot again, it defaults back to a 169 address - and so on. It doesnt seem to make any difference if I connect my desktop directly to the Extreme, or, if I connect it through the GigE switch. And, every time I get a 'self assigned IP' I have no connectivity beyond the Extreme (no internet), and I'm forced to use my wireless/Airport connection.
Another problem here is that the Expresses both expect to receive 10.x IP addresses and when they don't get one, they basically become pretty $100 paperweights when connected over ethernet. Also, if you try to configure a new Express without the 10.x address it expects to be assigned (and defaults to a 169.x), the Airport Utility will no longer 'find' the Express once the Express auto-restarts and the update will fail. I learned this after spending two hours on the phone with Apple support yesterday - during which they were able to get my first generation Express configured, but, not my 24-hour old second Generation Express, which continues to act only as a paperweight. Oddly enough, everything works perfectly well if I use only wireless connections to the Extreme - there are no IP problems and everything works correctly. Unfortunately, I want to use wired connections for all my devices (expresses, Apple TV's) because we stream alot of audio and video.
Is my Extreme not working correctly? Does anyone think it's problematic to have a second router (the Aruba) connected behind the Extreme? I suppose I could force some components to use only specific IP's, but, that sounds like a pain. If the Aruba is problematic, I would also consider a second internet connection, or, finding some way to split home IP traffic vs work IP traffic.
Thoughts?

I've been doing some research and it appears the 'self assigned IP' address is a common problem in the Apple support community. And, for what it's worth, it appears an inability to isolate or accurately troubleshoot the problem - by users or Apple tech support - is a recurring theme. I totally understand that no two home networks are exactly alike (different ISPs, switches, configurations, etc.), but, after being a die-hard PC user for my entire life I can honestly say I never encountered anything like this while using my PC. I'm not about to trash my Mac, but, the Apple 'ease of use' selling point is quickly losing it's lustre.
I got into this mess because I added a GigE switch to my network. Rather than buy a different switch (a tactic which assumes my problems are being caused by the switch) I'm inclined to buy another Airport Extreme and try daisy-chaining them together to overcome the reason I bought the GigE switch in the first place, which is not enough ethernet ports on the Extreme. That, or I'll spend a weekend in my attic re-wiring my home network to daisy-chain my two Express devices together instead of requiring individual connections to my router. My experience with Apple hardware thus far is that it prefers to 'play nice' with other Apple hardware over non-Apple hardware. It could be $100 error on my end (or, a weekend of not doing yardwork), but, I think it's the best shot. Other possible fixes, including manually assigned IP-addresses, put too much emphasis on software and network configuration - which (by my non-scentific analysis), are two areas even harder to troubleshoot.
I'll let you know how it goes.
Mh
Post Script - Dear Apple: please find a way to significantly increase the number of ethernet ports on your Airport Extreme Router. Thank you.

Similar Messages

Current model Airport Extreme no longer accepting DHCP WAN assignment

I woke up to my airport extreme not connecting to my ISP.
I'm using DHCP on the WAN side, and my Airport can no longer retrieve a DHCP address. It appears the Airport does find the ISP's router address (the router address and subnet mask are populated), and my ISP sees the DHCP request. However, my Airport will not accept the DHCP response and assign the address. (My Internet connection is over a fiber line and I use a "portal" for access. As such the ISP can see any and all packets for troubleshooting.)
I purchased my Airport new in November, 2011.
If I connect my Macbook Pro directly to the portal, I get a new address off the ISP.
My ISP then created a DHCP reservation. Still no luck. I then tried assigning a static address. That works as well.
So it seems my router is not accepting the DCHP response or assigning the address. My ISP uses DHCP3 on Linux.
Any ideas?

So it seems my router is not accepting the DCHP response or assigning the address. My ISP uses DHCP3 on Linux.
I'm not aware of any incompatibilities with version 3 of the DHCP service that would cause your AirPort not to accept an IP address from your ISP ... although anything is possible. Is this something that your ISP has just updated their DHCP services to or has this been their configuration for a while?

Airport Extreme won't assign an IP address to OS 9.2.2

Is there a reason why my Airport Extreme won't assign an IP address using DHCP to a PowerMac G4 Quicksilver running Mac OS 9.2.2? The OS X partition running Tiger works fine.

I finally found that if I put and old dual-speed Netgear hub between the Airport Extreme router and the PM G4 Quicksilver running OS 9.2.2 everything works fine. Go figure!
Maybe one of the Mac gurus out there can tell me why this worked.

Nas on airport extreme not recognized by time machine. same nas was previously used as time machine backup on different airport extreme. are there any configuration files that i can delete to fix this problem ?

nas on airport extreme not recognized by time machine. same nas was previously used as time machine backup on different airport extreme. are there any configuration files that i can delete to fix this problem ?

Time Machine has been working just fine, but in the last week or two it has given up the ghost. I reset the connections to the drive, and it will basically save a few bytes of data and then hang.
Although Apple originally announced, prior to the release of the first 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Stations (AEBSn), that it would support Time Machine backups to AirPort Disks, they removed that option before they did finally release the base station for sale.
Since then, Apple has posted (as you have noted) that they DO NOT support Time Machine backups to AirPort Disks. As far as I know, they have not changed from that position and those who do these backups find that they become corrupted over time. Sorry, but it sounds like you just confirmed that for yourself.
1) Has one of the recent updates either on the AE (firmware) or OSX disabled this function?
No. Again, this feature has never been supported by Apple for every generation of AEBSn released.
2) Are there any changes I can make to get this working again?
If your data backups are critical to you, then you will want to use a different solution for your Time Machine backup destination drive strategy. I would suggest that you connect your WD My Book directly to your Mac in the mean time.
Your other options would be to either use a Time Capsule (which interestingly does support TM backups to AirPort Disks) or a non-Apple solution like the Drobo FS or HP MediaSmart server.

Why does my airport extreme not recognize my cable modem anymore?

Why does my airport extreme not recognize my cable modem anymore?

Have you tried resetting the modem? Power it down and let it rest a moment, then power it back up again.
Also, some ISPs require physically detaching their cable from the modem for it to be fully reset. Literally unscrew it from the modem. Try that, in conjunction with powering it down.
Don't do anything with your Extreme, other than powering it down too, in the event the modem reset does not help. Reconfiguring it may be necessary but this is not justified quite yet.

New Airport Extreme not working with my Quad Macpro

Hi all-
My Linksys 902.11b router finally died and our household is now completely Mac-based (all with Airport Extreme cards), so I decided to take the plunge and get an Airport Extreme.
2 of the machines on my home's network are doing fine with the router and are getting good speeds - iMac Dual 2.4 (10.5.1) - Both the wired and wireless connections are solid with this machine / Macbook Dual 2.0 (10.5.1) - Both the wired and wireless connections are solid with this machine as well.
I have a Macpro Quad 2.66 machine running 10.4.11. I cannot upgrade to 10.5 yet on this machine since it's being used in my recording studio business and there are known issues with some of my apps and 10.5 at the moment.
The Quad can see the network and has seemingly strong signal from the Airport Extreme BS, but DHCP reception is inconsistent (the machine often eds up using a self-assigned IP for some reason) and IP connectivity in general is inconsistent, even when an appropriate static LAN IP is manually setup. I can often get to a few webpages while using a manually config'd IP, but only with very slow DL speeds and then the connection quickly disappears and drops out entirely.
The AExtreme is setup like this: DSL Modem-->Airport Extreme (config'd with a static IP from my ISP) -->DHCP broadcast dummy IP's to my network. Currently I've not setup any security since I'm in the process of troubleshooting and I don't want to further complicate the situation. Radio-mode on the AExtreme is set to 802.11n (b/g compatible)/Channel 1. I've tried numerous config setups on the AExtreme, but none have helped the situation.
I've also disabled IPv6 on all clients per some reading on the forums of possible issues.
Anyone know what the problem might be? Is it perhaps an issue because the Macpro's using 10.4.11?
FYI, I've also also got an extra Airport Express around that's not being used that could be used as a repeater/wired connection downstairs if broadcast strength is the issue, which seems somewhat unlikely to me. I'm not sure how to config the AExpress to work in this capacity though, so if anyone could point me to a tutorial I'd appreciate it very much.
Thanks in advance.
Lee

I just did some more testing using an app mentioned here on the forums, iStumbler. The app offered these details:
- Signal Strength is between 45%-56%
- Noise is between 24%-41%
- Freq = 2412
- No websites load despite it's seeing the router and saying we've joined it.
I also did a screen capture of the iStumbler's screen in case that's helpful. There were several bits of info I wasn't sure about.
Here's the screen grab: http://www.pbase.com/infiniteposse/image/91793322/original
Thanks again...

Airport extreme has self assigned ip... on all my apple devices

Man oh man... this issue has been festering for almost an entire year now and I have not found a solution. Last August (2009) my macbook stopped wirelessly connecting to my ATT 2WIRE dsl modem saying it had a self assigned ip address. I bought the computer in July and could connect with no issues for about a month. Ever since then, I've been connected via ethernet with slow connection. At the same time, the 2 iPhones in our household also could not connect wirelessly. One G5 could connect wirelessly but was extremely weak and often dropped the signal.
I did tons of research and found zillions of other people with this issue and no resolution. I've tried every solution on macrumors, and apple discussions with no results... I've disabled firewall, renewed DHCP, tried DHCP manual (which then changes the status to say I'm connected, but nothing works in my browser), restarted, etc. At work, I can connect to our Linksys router wirelessly with no issues.
Originally I thought the issue was my modem so I ordered another one. Same issue. Just this week I was at my wits end and cancelled my service with ATT and switched to Clear. I acquired a Linksys router to connect to the Clear Modem and I'm STILL having this issue. The difference is now that my iPhone can connect wirelessly but my macbook still cannot. The router is a Linksys WRT51ab. My macbook pro is on version 10.5.8. I can only assume that some kind of update to airport is causing the problem. As of now, my IPv4 address is: 169.254.111.225
Please someone help me! I promise some kind of reward if you can help me fix this.

cbrown1 wrote:
Last August (2009) my macbook stopped wirelessly connecting to my ATT 2WIRE dsl modem saying it had a self assigned ip address.
Welcome to Apple's discussion groups.
The "AirPort Extreme" in this board area actually refers to Apple's "AirPort Extreme Base Station". It doesn't seem that you have such a thing. Please confirm that. The best place for similar posts is probably the "Getting Online and Networking" forum (http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1222) of the "OS X v10.5 Leopard" area.
To address your problem, you might try resetting your connection settings using the steps listed in this message:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=10695921&start=1
They're not guaranteed to solve the problem, but they'll only take you a minute or so to try.

Airport extreme not receiving an ip address

Hey i was wondering if anyone knew why my airport extreme is not receiving an ip address. Im connected to the internet through a cable modem connected to a airport extreme. I know the internet works because when i connect directly to my macpro book the internet works fine.......its just when i try to use my wireless network. Also its not my wireless card in my laptop because it works fine with other wireless networks. The other thing is i know my airport extreme works because it will connect for a while and then it wont connect at all until i reset everything (modem, computer, airport).....any suggestions?
I called apple support and they said it was a comcast problem and comcast said it was a problem with my airport extreme......figures huh?
macpro book 15" Mac OS X (10.4.8)
macpro book 15" Mac OS X (10.4.8)

i think i found the answer while browsing the archives.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=2202720&#2202720
sjones posted this:
FIXED!
Ok, after getting the usual run around with apple not being able to advise me about my ISP and my ISP not being able to advise me about apple some wonderful support person at my ISP let a bit of info slip: Comcast have decomissioned a load of bad DNS servers today.
If you use Comcast and cannot connect via wireless try this:
Open applications/utilities/airport admin utility
select your base station
click configure
click internet
whatever is typed into the dns servers input boxes, delete it
update your base station
and you are connected to the internet.
It makes perfect sense if you have this problem. You base station has been trying to connect to the WAN using a decomissioned dns server. All Comcast dns servers are now distributed dynamically via the dhcp server.
I am working again! Hope you are too.
I tried it, and was able to connect to my mini-mac for the first time. Phew! Now, I'm going to try the printer and my powerbook. I hope my tinkering with those does not tamper with the delicate balance of the universe.
Sjones, if you see this, THANK YOU!
Power PC G4 & Mac Mini Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Airport Extreme not connecting to Internet

Here's my setup:
imac with Airport Extreme in home office
Airport Express hooked up to home ethernet network in family room to stream itunes (or connect laptop at other end of house)
Just got home and tried connecting my work powerbook to the Airport Extreme network, and suddenly it does not work. Basically times out after trying to connect to internet, even though i get full bars signal-wise, and network diagnostic says i should be connected. I can connect to the Airport Express network in the family room just fine. And my internet connection is working fine over the ethernet network.
Has my Airport Extreme bitten the dust? It's showing full bars, but my Canon i960 stopped printing from it the other day. I thought that was just a problem with the printer, but maybe the problem is my base station?
ps running all the lastest software...
Any suggestions? (Tried restarting cable modem, Airport Extreme, computer, etc. No go.
Thanks for any help.

Hmmm... That's odd that you can't administer the Airport Base Station
from the portable computer (the one you'd later use wirelessly) and
essentially check the thing out thoroughly; see if the firmware and
other things are up to par and the settings are chosen properly.
You'd use the ethernet cable in either case, to access the Base from
the portable or the tower; when you are doing an occasional test and
reset of the Base station. Sometimes, details make a difference.
Another factor may be in how you have the Base station set up to
share internet among computers; the ethernet-only G4 that sees
the through-ported IP dataflow should also be able to administer
the base station. But it may require the Portable, hardwired, to
check the settings and get it to work. I had a similar issue once
with my primary AEBS and had been administering it via a non-
wi-fi B&W G3 tower on ethernet cable; the other computers were
all wi-fi. That worked out great. Currently, I alternately run the iMac
G4 via wireless, and sometimes by wire. I have both set up & ready
and only need to go into the control panel/system preferences; to
make a change. Sometimes the wireless telephone (2.4GHz) is too
close and kills the wireless to my desktop Mac; so I change to wire.
What kinds of addresses are you seeing in your set-up for IP
to each computer? Unless you do actual file-sharing between
them, you can set that up so each computer has a full ISP
address; not those 10.0... or 193.00. or other networking ones.
Sharing a printer is another matter, if you run your AEBS as
though it were a wireless router only, it would be trial & error;
if set up to be wireless printing you'd probably need to get a
wireless USB module to see if that'd work for the G4.
The deal you are talking about, above, is how the device
works. Your G4 tower sees the internet via the through-port
in the AEBS router; it is a wired & wireless router, plus it
can give you wireless printing because it has a USB port.
But only when it is set up correctly. That is easier to do
than it is to write about. When mine fails, I look into it;
and as I suggested in other posts, it will just work later.
PS: In your Portable computer's System Preferences/
Network control pane, see what order it shows the
items or pathways available to connect to the net are
in; if the wireless airport isn't at the top of the list &
is not activated, drag it there. The check-boxes by
each option of course, need to be activated as needed.
When you see a signal, it should be able to find the IP
if the other settings were correct. Sometimes, the basic
defaults work OK right out of the box.
In the portable's System Profiler, you could also see if
there is an assigned IP address given to the computer.
At that point, there should be no reason for it to not work.
Like I said, it is harder to write or talk about it; easier to
see the things and work the strings in the right order!

Airport Extreme not getting IP address

I've recently moved, but stayed with Verizon and their DSL service. When I plugged in my modem and Airport Extreme at my new house I couldn't get an IP address or other internet connection. My G5 connects with the modem easily via ethernet (hence my post here), but not my Extreme. I've done the whole pull the plugs for five minutes routine several times as well as dowgraded the Extreme firmware to 5.5.1 and then back to 5.6 again with neither working. I tried using my Airport Express in the same capacity and it fails as well.
Any ideas? Everything worked flawlessly in the past as you would expect from Apple products.

The service is identical in every respect. I'm using the same modem since this is considered a transfer account they wouldn't send a new one unless I wanted to be charged more money. The connection still uses DHCP and the account name and password are the same (although I can't really remember ever needing them).
I just spoke with Verizon and they recommended I unhook the modem for eight hours to allow the Verizon equipment to recycle and perhaps that will solve the problem. I'll keep you posted unless you have another suggestion before then.
Thanks!

Airport Extreme not reconnecting to the Internet

Hello,
I have a problem with my brand-new Airport Extreme 802.11n Base-Station.
In my network there are 3 Windows-PC's with a wired connection, 1 MacBook Pro with 802.11n (also brand-new), 3 Windows-Laptops with 802.11g, an AppleTV with 802.11n (again, brand-new) and last but not least my iPhone 3G.
I set up the Airport Extreme basestation to connect to the Internet via my DSL-modem with PPPoE (the modem is a 25mbit-modem from Devolo and works flawlessly).
This works fine at first and all devices can access the Internet, the HDD connected to the basestation and so on... I was a happy user.
My Provider requires me to reconnect to the internet at least once every 24 hours.
Now when the connection reaches its 24 hour limit, it is disconnected by the provider.
This worked fine with my previous basestation, every morning at 3am it reconnected for 5 seconds and I had no problems.
But my Airport Extreme wont re-establish the connection automatically.
It doesnt reconnect right after the connection is cancelled and it doesnt reconnect when a computer wants to access the internet.
The only way to reconnect to the internet is via the Airport Utility and clicking on the "update"-button to cause a reboot of the basestation.
After it has rebooted the connection will work for 24 hours and then the basestation needs another reboot.
How can I get my basestation to reconnect to the internet without rebooting it every time.
I would prefer a reconnect right after the connection is dropped but I'd settle with an automatic reconnect once a device requests a connection.
However, since most users are not very experienced, all of this would need to be automatic once i set it all up.
Thanks for your help in advance...
Jochen

I have asked my ISP but they said it was an unknown issue to them and that they are not responsible if my things dont work the way I want them to...
And they are absolutely right in saying its my device that acts strange since the previous router (with integrated modem) didnt have this issue.
I will try to use QuickKey and contact the Apple-Support directly.
A friend of mine works in an Apple-Store and will need to look at this later, but he is on holidays...

My airport Extreme just stopped assigning IP addresses to wired devices

I have an fairly large home network that is run by an Airport Extreme.
- Comcast Cable Modem for 3 public (not static) IP addresses
- small switch to be able to obtain three addresses
- Apple Airport Extreme connected to the switch and it receives an IP address and internet connectivity from Comcast
- Airport Extreme connected to a 16 port Cisco switch to handle the wired connections in the house. I have 54 ports of which 9 are currently in use.
all wired devices connected through the wall and a patch panel to the Cisco switch.
The issue is that after working flawlessly for about a month (just moved into this house) it stopped today. any device going through the hardwired Cisco Switch is no longer getting an IP address from the Airport Extreme.
I replaced the switch with a second one to see if that was the failure and it is not.
I unplugged the Cisco Switch from the Airport Extreme and plugged devices directly into the Airport Extreme 1 by 1 and they were able to obtain IP addresses.
I need more than the three ports available on the Airport extreme.
What changed and what do I do?

I unplugged the Cisco Switch from the Airport Extreme and plugged devices directly into the Airport Extreme 1 by 1 and they were able to obtain IP addresses.
This tells you that the AirPort Extreme is working correctly and the issue....whatever it is....is appearing after the AirPort Extreme on the network.
A few thoughts:
You have tested the ports on the AirPort Extreme and they are working, so the next step would be to disconnect the Ethernet cable that runs from the AirPort Extreme to the switch at the switch, and then connect a laptop to the Ethernet cable to check to make sure that you are getting a good IP address that way.
If you cannot, then you have a bad Ethernet cable between the AirPort Extreme and switch that will need to be replaced.
If the laptop is getting a good IP address when you run this "test", then you know that the AirPort Extreme and Ethernet cable are working correctly and the troubleshooting focus must now move to the switch.
Check to make sure that you have an unmanaged switch. Or, if it is managed design, that it has been configured to operate as an unmanaged switch.
Next, connect the Ethernet cable from the AirPort Extreme to the switch and disconnect all of the other Ethernet cables that are connected to the switch and test each port one by one with your laptop and a spare Ethernet cable to make sure that each port is working correctly.
If you cannot get a good IP address on your first test with the laptop connected to the switch, then you know that you have a misconfigured or defective switch.
If the switch checks out OK when you test each port, then the next step is to connect one of the Ethernet cables that runs to another area, and connect your laptop to the Ethernet cable to make sure that the cable is working correctly. Continue to test each Ethernet cable the same way.
About 95% of the time in issues like you are having, the problem is bad wiring somewhere on the network, even though the "tech" said that he tested everything. The trick is to find it....when there are no shortuts.

Can I use a USB drive with the Airport extreme (not the new one) for Time Machine?

I thought I heard that using USB drive for Time Machine over wifi will work with the new, tall Airport Extreme, but not with the previous model, which I have. Anybody know for sure?
thanks.

It is not recommended.. Apple says it doesn't work.. for some people it does for others it is unreliable.. do you really want unreliable backups.
See http://pondini.org/TM/Airport.html

External hard drive connected to Airport Extreme not working on PC

I have a Macbook Pro running 10.9.1 and my work laptop, which runs Windows 7. I have a WD 2TB external hard drive connected to my Airport Extreme, with 1TB formatted for Mac and the other 1TB formatted in FAT format. My Macbook can connect to the drive and read/write perfectly fine, but I'm not even seeing the drive on my PC anywhere. I'm wanting to use the Mac formatted partition to backup photos and personal documents and the FAT partition to backup my work.
Is there a setup thing I need to do on either the Airport Extreme or on my PC to connect to have the drive visible? Both drives are setup to allow file sharing and my Airport Extreme is running version 7.6.4.
Thanks!

There are 3 different methods to establish a connection from your PC to the hard drive in this Apple support document:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1331

Airport Extreme not working after downloading 10.8.3 on Mac Mini Late 2009

I downloaded latest upgrade OS X 10.8.3. This is onto a Mac Mini (late 2009). The Mini is hooked up to Cable Ethernet. I use the Mini's Airport Extreme to use as a Hub for other Apple devices to get onto the internet. I was enabling this through internet sharing through the sharing tab on system preferences. it has worked for years. I have restarted and tried several times. I do not know what to do . The names of the computers have not changed. I am a user not a whiz bang programmer type, it is very frustrating.

Hi, might try this...
Make a New Location, Using network locations in Mac OS X ...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2712
10.7 & 10.8…
System Preferences>Network, top of window>Locations>Edit Locations, little plus icon, give it a name.
10.5.x/10.6.x/10.7.x instructions...
System Preferences>Network, click on the little gear at the bottom next to the + & - icons, (unlock lock first if locked), choose Set Service Order.
The interface that connects to the Internet should be dragged to the top of the list.
Try setting up Internet Sharing in the new location.

Airport Extreme Not Consistently Assigning DHCP

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for