Connecting 3 Airport Extremes. Is WDS the best method?

Hi all,
got an issue with my Aiport Extreme (AE) setup at work. We have 5 floors, and 3 AE on floors ground, first and second.
The current setup is ground is the WDS main with first and second set as WDS Remotes. Ground is connected to our network through Ethernet, as well as the second floor one. (To improve data transfer from our servers to Mac users using the 802.11n protocol.)
So all three AE create and power one wireless network for the staff to us.
PROBLEMS:
*Using Airport Utility I can't always see all three AE.*
*The second floor AE can't seem to see the first floor WDS main AE.*
*Having to reset all three box's on a regular basis.*
Have i set this whole thing up wrong? is there a better way then using WDS?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

""OK the one on the ground floor is the WDS main and the other two are WDS Remotes, i have turned off interface robustness on all 3. However the WDS remotes still have an error message that they cannot see the WDS main Airport Extreme. ""
There's a long laundry list of possible issues when doing this with WDS...and no advantage to using WDS.
My recomendation was, and still is, not to use WDS on Extreme's with "N" capability. If your extreme's look like mac mini's you have the "N" capable one's.
If you look up the documentation for the extreme and focus on "extend a network" only and stay away from WDS, the below considerations may help.
On your main extreme, the one connected to the WAN, you enable "create a wireless network". Do not select participate in WDS.
On your additioanl extreme's you enable "extend a wireless network". During this process, you should be able to select the right drop bar at the end of the network name box and select you network.
When enabling extended a wireless network, all the WDS tabs on the additional extreme's disappear and are no logner configurable.
Now, if you tried to set these up using WDS, you may need to blow away the configs on all the routers individually by selecting the restore defaults option. If you need to start from scratch, the best approach is to turn off all the routers, and turn them on one at a time, restore to factory defaults, then turn off the router until all are reset.
Remember, if you see errors that talk about no ethernet WAN connection's on the additional routers, you are still in WDS mode....once you put the additional routers in extend a network mode, the WAN interface gets turned off.
Also, using an ethernet cable to setup the additional routers makes the process easier....if you go with the ethernet cable route...turn off the aircard.

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The WiFi card I have in my PC
is an Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG. I have the most
current driver as far as I can tell 9.0.4.17 dated
6/26/06.
Try updating the driver
Dell
http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/type.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&SystemID=INSPNT_PM600M&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=5896&libid=5

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Give me a screenshot of the working network IP setup on the MBP.
It should look like this. I need to see the IP address and you can also copy and paste for me the dns address.
The same thing from the iphone IP address and DNS will then help me figure out what is wrong.
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I have an HP 4500 printer connected to airport extreme with usb. All our portable notebooks print via air but cannot get iPad to be recognized for printing. Do I really have to have one of the other HPs listed?

Rufus Cat-
Even if it was compatible, AirPrint does not work through a USB link, only Ethernet or WiFi.
I do not see your HP 4500 listed on Apple's list of AirPrint compatible printers. <iOS: AirPrint 101> Therefore you need to take another approach. To start, I suggest you download the free HP App, ePrint Home & Biz. It has limitations, but should get you printing with your existing setup.
There are other printing Apps with more features such as Print n Share and PrintCentral, but they can only be accessed from within other Apps that have the "Open In" option.
Your best option may be to share your computer's printer as AirPrint over WiFi. Programs that are reported to do that well are Printopia and FingerPrint. Your computer must be on and awake any time you want to print. <Printopia for Macintosh> <FingerPrint for PC and Mac>
Fred

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Hi Laurent,
although I was given the advice earlier that I should simply take the machine back to the shop, or call the help centre, I ended up just praying that it would be OK. A couple of days after I posted the message I think there was an update to download and install, just a regular one from Apple from the Software Update option for the operating system or it may have been one for Final Cut Pro X, and once it installed I never had the problem again, so my prayers were answered.
It was pretty scary at the time because I thought it must be some hardware malfunction, but because it was resolved through an update it suggested it was a software issue. Hopefully it is the same with you.
I'm now running 10.7.2 and have had no recurrence of the problem in many months, thankfully.
It might have nothing to do with it, but the only other two things that may have somehow caused errors in the system startup (and I doubt these will be "unrelated" to people who know how computers work better than I do, but I feel I should mention them just in case), but I also updated Final Cut Pro X from a glitchy version to version 10.0.2 around the same time, and I also had an application installed which didn't function correctly in OS10.7 called PowerController (a simple app that can start up the computer at a set time and play music from iTunes as an alarm clock) and it was in the group of apps that were set to start at the starting up of the computer.
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Hi
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- AirPort Extreme station running WPA/WPA2 security and 802.11n (b/g compatible)
- AirPort Express station across basement room connected to stereo expressly for AirTunes purposes
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(unless specified, the software and firmware in my devices is all extremely up to date. I write about Apple news for a living so I know when the updates land and install all of them almost immediately)
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Message was edited by: bedoughty

Firstly, the easiest bit (although I don't believe you need to do this):
I would try "downgrading" the Extreme station's network type to only b/g (excluding n entirely), but I don't see that option in the radio settings anymore
You will get additional settings if you hold down the option key while browsing the radio settings drop down menu.
Moving on: Unfortunately a dropped connections seems to be a problem with umpteen causes and not only is it difficult to troubleshoot with someone in a forum it can also be made even more difficult because many problems are associated with network settings on a router that the person who is trying to help is unfamiliar with.
However you seem to be convinced your problems arise when your express is running which may narrow things down a little if correct, if not it may actually lead us away from the answer to your issue.
Is it the kind of security I'm running? Should I try WEP or... none at all?
I use WPA and have no problems (password = 8 Characters)
Should I attach it a different way? Perhaps manually set it to "participate in a WDS network" or "extend a wireless network?
I have my expresses set to participate in a WDS network, but that's because I use them for other things other than itunes, I would have thought 'join a network' would be fine.
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Reinstall Lion, Mountain Lion, or Mavericks
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After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu.
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