Airport Extreme with Two Airport Express Stations

Alright... It's been a while since I turned to the community for help, but here I go.
I've got an Airport Extreme Base Station (Dual Band) purchased a little over 1 year ago. I also have two Airport Express Base Stations (Let's call them AX 1 and AX 2 for short) purchased in the last 6 months. I am trying to configure everything as follows. Wireless signal originates from AEBS in one corner of the house, gets picked up by AX 1 downstairs, and then broadcast to AX 2 upstairs which in turn broadcasts the network to our computers upstairs. Instead what is happening is that it goes AEBS > AX 1 and then AX 2 acts as a client only to AX 1 and will not extend the signal any further. I've been trying to use the default "Extend a network" option, avoiding the WDS setup because i've read that WDS will drop everything to 802.11g instead of 802.11n. Is this true?
Signal in the house is fairly poor and I can't move the AEBS from where it is due to wiring constraints with the cable modem.
Any help would be appreaciated! I'm just trying to get decent 802.11n coverage throughout all the house :/

Christopher Sant wrote:
I've got an Airport Extreme Base Station (Dual Band) purchased a little over 1 year ago. I also have two Airport Express Base Stations (Let's call them AX 1 and AX 2 for short) purchased in the last 6 months. I am trying to configure everything as follows. Wireless signal originates from AEBS in one corner of the house, gets picked up by AX 1 downstairs, and then broadcast to AX 2 upstairs which in turn broadcasts the network to our computers upstairs. Instead what is happening is that it goes AEBS > AX 1 and then AX 2 acts as a client only to AX 1 and will not extend the signal any further.
I believe that "extending" a network can only use one "hop", so that you can't have AX 2 extend the network from AX 1. WDS would allow you to have one AX as a "relay" and the other as a "remote", but as you mention, there's a performance penalty for that.
Signal in the house is fairly poor and I can't move the AEBS from where it is due to wiring constraints with the cable modem.
That may actually be your best option. Consider using PowerLine devices to "extend" the Ethernet connection between your broadband modem and your AEBS:
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/power-network.htm
Then put the AEBS near the center of your house and if needed, configure each AX to extend the network from the AEBS.

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Bring all the express to the same room as the mac you are using to setup the network..
One by one, plug them in and do full factory reset on them.. they should then show up in the Airport utility as Other Wi-Fi devices (1) and you can select them and continue the setup.
If that fails try using the airport utility on ipad or iphone as they are far less problematic than Yosemite in particular.

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I've set up my apartment with two Airport Express stations. I can roam around the apartment and get a good wireless signal wherever I go. Using Airtunes, I can stream music to either of the locations, but not both. Does anyone know if this is possible? I have a stereo in each room, and sometimes (during a party for example) want them both to play from my iTunes.

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It could be that there's a new source of interference.
Use the advice in the second message of this thread to investigate the signal and noise levels that each client sees:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2347845&start=1
By the way, you've been misled by the poor field labeling into trying to type your entire message into the subject field, instead of putting a one-line topic description there.

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Background:
I have an Airport Extreme cabled to my Comcast router.
I have three Airport Express units scattered around my house.
All have worked fine for many months and all are running version 7.6.4.
Problem:
Recently, one of the Airport Express stations had a yellow, flashing LED and a status of "Extended Network - This Airport base station was unable to extend the wireless network..."
Using Airport Utility, this station displays a connection quality status of "good."
This unit also has the exact same settings as my other two Airport Express units.
Using Airport Utility I instructed the unit to "Ignore" the status, and the LED turned green. But the status of "Extended Network" continues to display.
I've tried a hard reboot of the unit, but nothing changed.
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Thanks for the suggestion, but apparently the culprit was my Airport Extreme.
I swapped the locations of two of my Airport Expresses and the problem replicated. Both had the "Extended Network" status and both showed a red number 1, indicating that a firmware upgrade was available (but no update button appeared). I returned the two Expresses to their original locations. Same situation after they booted.
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See if any of these help, if not reprt back...
http://www.apple.com/airportextreme/setup.html
http://www.macinstruct.com/node/97
http://gigaom.com/apple/how-to-setup-an-airport-extreme-in-bridge-mode/

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Problem solved: I downgraded the AirPort utility to 5.0. Then I was able to access the AirPort Express station. Upgraded the firmware to 6.3. Then the station was recignized by AirPort utility 5.3.1 again. Connected it to the AirPort Extreme as AirTunes-station. Works perfectly.

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Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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--Gabriel

It's always a good idea to configure devices in close proximity to the "main" router and then move them to the desired location after they have been updated with new settings.
Perform a Factory Default Reset as follows on the AirPort Express (AX):
Power down the AX
Hold in the reset button and keep holding it for 10-12 seconds while you plug the AX back in to power
Release the reset button and let the AX restart to a slow, blinking amber light after about 40-45 seconds
If available, temporarily connect a spare Ethernet cable from your computer to the AX so that you are using a wired connection rather than wireless
Setup the AX to "join" the wireless network and click Update to let the AX restart to a green light. You can disconnect the Ethernet cable.
Then move the AX to desired location. I assume that the AX will be located where it can receive a good quality wireless signal.

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Can I set up a WDS network with two main base stations?

I have an AEBS in the main part of the house and a time capsule in the office in the back of the house, currently with one internet connection (it's cable modem) into to the AEBS. I have tried to use relays (two airport expresses) in a WDS to have the internet connection reach the time capsule, but unfortunately the distance is too great and it won't make it.
I can move the internet connection and AEBS into the middle of the house and everything would be fine (one internet connection into the house, no need for relays to reach the time capsule), but this requires rewiring the cable connection and adding a power outlet, which seems like a lot of work.
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Thanks the help and advice...

My other option is to simply have another internet connection hardwired into the office. This would be using the same cable that comes into the house and is split outside. If I go this route--my question is--can I get the time capsule and the AEBS be on the same WDS network (same name, same passwords?), or will I have two separate networks in the house? If it is the former--how do I set it up? Can I have a WDS with two main base stations? Or is there an easier route?
Just run the Ethernet cable from one of the LAN ports on the AEBS to the WAN port on the Time Capsule. Configure the Time Capsule to operate as a bridge.
You do not use WDS when they are wired together.
Then configure the AEBS and Time Capsule to use the same SSID, wireless encryption type/level/password. Have them operate on different channels as far apart as possible.

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It says that my DHCP has to be changed! How? to what?
It is 802.11g.express. but is set to default by the computer (Macbook Air).
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It is on ethernet & wep 128 security.

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I currently run a Dlink 604 wireless and 1 Airport express for iTunes in my front room.
A Express is also linked to the Dlink via a cable.
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2. I have a second Express from work that I would like to use upstairs. It does work but requires me to swap the network to use it for iTunes and then I have no internet.
It was formatted at work so has different ip numbers etc.
Can I make this station join my exisitng network?
As my lap top is wireless will I be able to surf through it upstairs?
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1. You need to open the Express's configuration in Airport Admin Utility and change the Wireless Security settings to WEP or, preferably, WPA or WPA2. When you attempt to connect to the network from your computers, you will be prompted for the password.
2. The easiest thing to do is to hard reset the second Express and then use the Airport Setup Assistant to configure the second Express to join and extend the first Express's network. To do a hard reset, hold down the reset button until the LED starts flashing rapidly.
BTW, I know it can work because I have the exact same setup (D-Link DI-604 and two Expresses in an extended wireless network).

Can I update my airport express station so I can connect to it with the newest airport utility?

the airport express worked with my old computer which had snow leopard. I just recently upgraded and got a new MacBook with mavericks and it won't let me connect to the airport. Any solutions to this problem without buying a new airport?

Unfortunately, updating the older Express that you have would require that you literally change all of the hardware on the device. Even if the parts were available....Apple does not offer them......it would likely cost more to "update" your old Express than buy a new Express.
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Airport Extreme with Two Airport Express Stations

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