Do Airport Express modems wear out over time

I periodically ( a few times a week) lose my connection with the Internet through Comcast. I have two Airport Express units n our home that is our wireless network. They are synced together. I will lose connectivity with one or both and have to disconnect from power for about a minute and then plug back in, then all is well until the next failure. Do these units wear out over time? Is there a better Apple product to use in this situation? I am using a Motorola modem in this process.
Thanks,
Mike

The physical law of entropy is stronger than God. Therefor, anything and everythign will break down given a long enough time. However, I think you may be worrying a bit too much here. Your express should generally last long enough.. until you plan to change 802.11n to another better format.
Yes, some go bad time to time, hence why limited warranty is only a year from DoP.
I suspect your issue may be due to interference. I'm curious what band are you using on those expresses.

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Does the headphone jack wear out over time?

I've had my touch for nearly two years. It has been working almost flawlessly until now. When ever I shift the headphone jack at all, I loose some sound or all of it. If the cord is totally still, I get sound okay, but this just isn't practical. At first I thought it was just the headphones, because we all know that headphones rarely last over a year. However, I tried plugging in my cassette adapter and the same thing happened. Looks like it might be the jack.
Has anyone had this issue? If so, how did you attempt to resolve it?

The physical law of entropy is stronger than God. Therefor, anything and everythign will break down given a long enough time. However, I think you may be worrying a bit too much here. Your express should generally last long enough.. until you plan to change 802.11n to another better format.
Yes, some go bad time to time, hence why limited warranty is only a year from DoP.
I suspect your issue may be due to interference. I'm curious what band are you using on those expresses.

The connection between my iMac (8.1) and Airport express keeps dropping out all the time., The connection between my iMac (8.1) and Airport express keeps dropping out all the time.

The connection between my iMac (8.1) and Airport express keeps dropping out all the time., The connection between my iMac (8.1) and Airport express keeps dropping out all the time.

Hi BillCilla,
If you are having intermittent but persistent drops in AirTunes via your AirPort Express, you may find the following article helpful:
Apple Support: AirTunes audio stream drops or cuts out
http://support.apple.com/kb/ta21538
Regards,
- Brenden

Why does my airport express keep cutting out?

Why does my airport express keep cutting out?

I have a 1st gen Airport Express and use it to stream music from my PC, iPhone 4, iPad and iPod Touch. My Airport Express is connected to a Teac UD-H01 DAC via an optical cable which is connected to an amp and speakers. I had no problems at all with this set up until I upgraded the Airport Express firmware to 7.6.3. The sound then started to drop out frequently. To cut a long story short after various testing, the problem had to be the Airport Express. I called Apple support but they were not much help and couldn't fix the problem and said they would speak to engineering and phone back. While I was waiting I decided to have another go to find the problem and opened the airport utility and saw that there was an option to downgrade the firmware. At this point I realised that the problems started about the same time that I upgraded the firmware to 7.6.3 but didn't think at the time that Apple would release a firmware that didn't work. Anyway I downgraded to 7.6.1 and hey presto, everything worked again. A couple of days ago I noticed that firmware 7.6.4 was available and thought I'd give it a go, not good - same problem as 7.6.3. I've downgraded to 7.6.1 again and all is well. Hope this helps.

My Airport Express was knocked out by a lightning surge

My Airport Express was knocked out by a lightning surge through the exterior cable from the street. Can it be mended? The cable modem attached to the Airport extreme was also knocked out although still powered by electrcity from the wall. The Airport Extreme that was attached to the modem was completely dead! Anythting can be done to revive it!

Sorry, but in most cases it is not possible to repair lightning damaged products. Unfortunately, you'll likely need to replace them. If you have an Apple store in your vicinity, you might want to contact them to discuss your options.
In the future, you might want to invest a high quality surge protection type power strip to help protect your senstive electronic components.

Airport Express light went out, stopped working.

Airport Express light went out. iMac says the connection is "excellent," but it's not working (I use it to stream audio) and is getting very warm. Did it die?

The usual cause of a dark LED is a failed AirPort Express. The reason your iMac reports an "excellent" connection is a mystery, but would be explained if it is actually connected to a different wireless network.
The only potential remedy is a "hard reset" (see below). In rare occasions, repetitive and persistent attempts have been known to revive an ailing Express. There isn't anything else you can do. A "factory defaults reset" is identical, but is performed by keeping its reset button depressed while connecting it to power. Try that also.
To "hard reset" an AirPort Base Station: make sure it's powered up, then gently press and hold its tiny reset button. Don't apply any more force than required to feel a tactile click. Keep it depressed for five to ten seconds, long enough for its LED to flash amber rapidly. Release the reset button. Then, the LED will glow amber steadily for about a minute. Then, it will flash amber, slowly, about once every second or two, waiting for you to configure it with AirPort Utility.

HT4145 I want to add airport express. I now have time capsule and I am confuse. Do I setup the express and then time capsule to the express?

I want to add airport express. I now have time capsule and I am confuse. Do I setup the express and then time capsule to the express?

Setup the Express to wirelessly extend the Time Capsule, or vice versa depending on which one is already set up. Or you could use bridge mode which involves using an Ethernet cable or Powerline plugs.

HT4587 my airport express regularly cuts out after 6 seconds of playback. Why?

I've had an airport express for several years. Used to work fine with ibook, but since getting imac 18 months ago, when I play a tune it plays the first 6 seconds through my hi fi then cuts out.

Just got back to my home machine (Sony Vaio, Windows
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recently installed. Installation went fine, started
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year or so, throughout numerous iTunes upgrades (4.x,
5.x, etc).
So I plugged and unplugged the Airport Express in the
living room as my Base Station Chooser couldn't see
it. 30 seconds later, it's up and there it is in the
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I went to the Apple site, looked through some support
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iTunes 6.0.1.3
Airport Express running 4.2 admin
iTunes can see it
Base Station Chooser can see it
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Any help?
Cheers,
Gord.
I have the exact same problem! ( and same hardware!!) HELP!!!

Airport express keeps loosing connection to Time Capsule

For several years I have had no issue with mt Airport Express staying connected to my Time Capsule/router. Now 2 of my Airport Expresses keep loosing the connection and flashing yellow. I have done the resets where I press in the little button on the bottom while plugging the AE back into the power source and reconnecting through Airport Utility and that will do the trick but after a short time the flashing yellow lights will go back on.
Would it help to turn off the router, rest all the AEs? It is so frustrating to keep loosing the connection and nothing else has changed; e.g. the AEs are all in the same place.

Same thing here! I didnt have the problem with airport express until I update the os from 10.6.2 to 10.6.6. I have been calling the apple support and they couldnt help (or thou sounded like they knew for that particular problem). I got from my work MacBookPro and same thing happen. I hope that apple will read this and just want to tell them that this is my 10 computer made by apple and God knows the last one! First of all they made the the fireware with the bad chipsets so I have to but extra cards and then airport. I cant connect at all to any wifi and have to put the cables on the floor from the wifi router to the ethernet input which is more than 10 metres. Apple sort this asap!!!!!!!!!!

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Recently my internet provider upgraded my old plug in modem to a newer wireless model. Now it seems that the current setting allow communication with only one or the other at the same time. If I want to be online with the wireless modem and send my iTunes music via Airport Express to my sound system, no dice. I have to either click on the modem up in the Airport choices to be online and listen to iTunes through the computer speakers, or go offline to listen to music through the sound system and Airport Express.
I'm sure I'm just missing something in preferences or settings somewhere.
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Thanks, and Happy New Year!

No ideas?

Swapped From Time Capsule TO Airport Express - Constant Drop Outs

I recently switched my main network from Time Capsule to my Airport Express so I could play music etc... But since then every few hours I'll get an error saying the Time Capsule can't connect, then maybe 20 minutes later both the Airport Express and Time Capsule eventually start flashing yellow... If I leave it all overnight it just seems to fix itself or if I turn it off/on it all fixes itself... I have always had strange issues with Airport Express even one I had 2 years ago... But Time Capsule when I bought it I never had any dramas, the only reason I switched is so I could listen to music wirelessly... Are there any settings in Airport Express that I would need to look at? And also do I need to update any of my settings in Time Capsule to make it work better with Airport Express?

These are the logs if there is a guru out there who can see an issue would be much appreciated!
Jun 26 04:41:49 Severity:5 Initialized (firmware 7.3.2).
Jun 26 04:41:51 Severity:3 No Address for NTP server time.apple.com.
Jun 26 04:41:51 Severity:5 Deauthenticating with station ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff (reserved 3).
Jun 26 04:41:51 Severity:5 Rotated TKIP group key.
Jun 26 04:41:55 Severity:5 Internet Configuration leased -- host <10.1.1.2/255.0.0.0> gateway <10.1.1.1> dns <10.1.1.1> wins lease <3600> domain
Jun 26 04:42:00 Severity:5 Associated with station 00:1c:b3:74:eb:01
Jun 26 04:42:00 Severity:5 Installed unicast CCMP key for supplicant 00:1c:b3:74:eb:01
Jun 26 04:42:06 Severity:3 No Address for NTP server time.apple.com.
Jun 26 04:42:08 Severity:5 Associated with station 00:1f:f3:c3:3c:6a
Jun 26 04:42:08 Severity:5 Installed unicast CCMP key for supplicant 00:1f:f3:c3:3c:6a
Dec 05 00:16:00 Severity:5 Clock synchronized to network time server time.apple.com (adjusted +13977217 seconds).
Dec 05 00:16:09 Severity:5 Rotated TKIP group key.
Dec 05 00:17:36 Severity:5 Associated with station 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 00:17:37 Severity:5 Installed unicast CCMP key for supplicant 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 00:19:00 Severity:5 Disassociated with station 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 00:19:00 Severity:5 Rotated TKIP group key.
Dec 05 00:19:26 Severity:5 Associated with station 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 00:19:26 Severity:5 Installed unicast CCMP key for supplicant 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 00:25:04 Severity:5 Disassociated with station 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 00:25:04 Severity:5 Rotated TKIP group key.
Dec 05 00:28:17 Severity:5 Associated with station 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 00:28:17 Severity:5 Installed unicast CCMP key for supplicant 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 00:31:34 Severity:5 Disassociated with station 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 00:31:34 Severity:5 Rotated TKIP group key.
Dec 05 00:32:47 Severity:5 Associated with station 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 00:32:47 Severity:5 Installed unicast CCMP key for supplicant 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 00:33:12 Severity:5 Disassociated with station 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 00:33:12 Severity:5 Rotated TKIP group key.
Dec 05 00:34:16 Severity:5 Associated with station 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 00:34:16 Severity:5 Installed unicast CCMP key for supplicant 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 00:34:47 Severity:5 Disassociated with station 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 00:34:48 Severity:5 Rotated TKIP group key.
Dec 05 00:35:25 Severity:5 Associated with station 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 00:35:25 Severity:5 Installed unicast CCMP key for supplicant 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 00:36:01 Severity:5 Disassociated with station 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 00:36:01 Severity:5 Rotated TKIP group key.
Dec 05 00:41:24 Severity:5 Internet Configuration leased -- host <10.1.1.6/255.0.0.0> gateway <10.1.1.1> dns <10.1.1.1> wins lease <3600> domain
Dec 05 00:42:20 Severity:5 Associated with station 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 00:42:20 Severity:5 Installed unicast CCMP key for supplicant 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 00:43:45 Severity:5 Disassociated with station 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 00:43:46 Severity:5 Rotated TKIP group key.
Dec 05 00:44:01 Severity:5 Associated with station 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 00:44:01 Severity:5 Installed unicast CCMP key for supplicant 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 00:45:40 Severity:5 Disassociated with station 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 00:45:41 Severity:5 Rotated TKIP group key.
Dec 05 00:45:49 Severity:5 Associated with station 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 00:45:49 Severity:5 Installed unicast CCMP key for supplicant 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 00:46:15 Severity:5 Disassociated with station 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 00:46:16 Severity:5 Rotated TKIP group key.
Dec 05 00:46:24 Severity:5 Associated with station 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 00:46:24 Severity:5 Installed unicast CCMP key for supplicant 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 00:47:08 Severity:5 Disassociated with station 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 00:47:08 Severity:5 Rotated TKIP group key.
Dec 05 00:47:16 Severity:5 Associated with station 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 00:47:16 Severity:5 Installed unicast CCMP key for supplicant 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 00:48:10 Severity:5 Disassociated with station 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 00:48:11 Severity:5 Rotated TKIP group key.
Dec 05 00:48:25 Severity:5 Associated with station 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 00:48:25 Severity:5 Installed unicast CCMP key for supplicant 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 00:49:57 Severity:5 Disassociated with station 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 00:49:58 Severity:5 Rotated TKIP group key.
Dec 05 01:04:36 Severity:5 Associated with station 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 01:04:36 Severity:5 Installed unicast CCMP key for supplicant 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 01:05:05 Severity:5 Disassociated with station 00:21:e9:03:77:f7
Dec 05 01:05:05 Severity:5 Rotated TKIP group key.
Dec 05 01:09:29 Severity:5 Connection accepted from [fe80::21c:b3ff:fe74:eb01%bridge0]:56611.
Dec 05 01:09:31 Severity:5 Connection accepted from [fe80::21c:b3ff:fe74:eb01%bridge0]:56612.
Dec 05 01:09:31 Severity:5 Connection accepted from [fe80::21c:b3ff:fe74:eb01%bridge0]:56613.
Dec 05 01:10:34 Severity:5 Internet Configuration leased -- host <10.1.1.6/255.0.0.0> gateway <10.1.1.1> dns <10.1.1.1> wins lease <3600> domain

Use Airport Express as Internet hub, bridge Time Capsule for N-only?

OK I checked on the forums, but I could not find anything quite specific it what I was trying to accomplish.
I recently got a 500GB Time Capsule. I changed my network around, which was based off of two Airport Express stations – on in the office hooked up to internet & printer, one in living room hooked up to sound system – and made the TC the main hub, connecting modem to it's WAN port and bridging the office AX via LAN port in bridged mode, sharing the living room AX as WDS. This way, I had the TC in N-only mode in 5ghz spectrum using wide channels for fastest performance. All this worked well.
Except that I noticed that with the TC in the office – where the laptops rarely are – my data transfer speeds were no better than .11g speeds. So I mucked around a little, and noticed that it really was just the case that the separation of distance & obstruction was slowing the transfer speeds over .11n-only that much!
Well, it occurred to me that there may be another way. What I had intended to do was to hook up the modem back to the office AX, move the TC to the living room where it'd be "line of sight" to the laptops most of the time, and bridge the TC and living room AX over LAN. So the idea was to keep the networks separate wirelessly still, and have the internet "bridged" wirelessly from the office AX to the living room AX and then over LAN to the TC. The thinking was that the hit on the internet connection would not be noticeable as the threshold for that is well below the streaming capabilities of the AX network still, so I'd not lose anything there, but gain MUCH faster speeds with the TC in line-of-sight of the Laptops (3x as much in testing; with TC in office and laptops in living room, 1.3gb folder took 9 minutes, same folder line-of-sight testing took only 3 minutes).
However, I CANNOT get this to work properly. I thought I really just needed to move the TC to the living room and bridge it there, as the services should be shared over the LAN port since the 2.4ghz AX are in "bridged" mode, but that didn't work. I kinda-sorta got it to work by forcing both the AX network AND the TC network into "bridged mode," but that didn't seem right or wise, so I tried some other settings, putting the TC to bridged and having the office AX distribute IP addresses, but then it wouldn't show up under restart, and I'm just confused now on how to set that up!
What i need is: To have the "Office AX" hooked up to the modem & printer, on 2.4ghz since it's the older .11g model, with the "Living Room AX" on that same network. Then the TC in 5ghz N-only bridged to the Living Room AX via LAN, so it can share the services (internet & airtunes) and still get high data transfer speeds to the laptops via the advantage of Line-of-sight, non-obstructed networking.
How do I need to set this up? It's possible, right?
Message was edited by: Anthony Caltabiano

OK while I was working out this morning, I was trying to think of WHY my setup wasn't working. I had an epiphany, and decided to try once more. This time, it worked.
The problem was that originally I had the Living Room AX set up as a Remote, so it was hooking INTO the network, not extending it. I know that with that setup you can't hook up to THAT station and get internet or anything, you hook into the MAIN station and you can SEE the remote's services that are "plugged in" to it.
I didn't think this would be an issue with the TC physically attached to the ethernet port, but apparently this behavior extends to the ethernet port on remote stations for internet access... I had a feeling that MIGHT be it, so I started from scratch, and this time set up the Living Room AX to extend the network instead of just joining it. Then hooking up the TC to the Living Room AX's ethernet port and selecting "Bridge Mode" on the TC got me the good ol' green light!
So, if anyone out there is trying to build a dual-band network, with their TC on .11n-only and bridge to services supplied by a 2.4ghz network, AND route their internet access through the 2.4ghz network instead of the TC so that they can keep their TC more centrally located for better performance... make sure you do it like this: Set up the alternate (2.4ghz) network as relays, "extending" the network, so that when you plug into it, the TC essentially thinks it's plugged directly into the main router, no matter where it is. The throughput hit for internet access over WDS shouldn't be a problem for US-based peeps, as our speeds are typically well below the .11g threshold anyway.
I also found that it helped to NOT hide the SSID of the 2.4ghz network; doing that kept rendering failed attempts to force the secondary AX to join as WDS. Once I redid it without hiding the SSID, all went well.

Airport express very slow when extending Time Capsule

I'm trying to help my father solve a networking problem.
For the past several years, I had him using an airport base station and (2) Airport Express units as extenders.
He was using a circa 2004 Powerbook G4 17" and a MacPro Dual Core tower unit.
I finally got him to upgrade the Powerbook to a the new Macbook Pro i7. With the older computer out of the loop, I also upgraded him to Time Capsule.
Everything is installed and running now. However, the network speed in portions of the house where the Express is supplying the signal is very slow. A test on the laptop with DSL Reports gave an average upload speed of about 200.
When I move the laptop right next to the Time Capsule, I got a DSL Report speed of 22,000!
This issue is not laptop specific (it shows up more on the MacPro because it's in a back room), but seems directly related to the speed passing through the Airport Express.
What did I do wrong or do the Express units need to be upgraded (they are on firmware 6.3)?
Thanks!

Bob -
Was wondering if you can elaborate on your response and perhaps help me? I apologize if I have missed this topic covered elsewhere.
I am using a N-capable Time Capsule and an older model G-speed airport express. My biggest issue is that my wireless speeds are 1.5 download and 1.9 upload when in fact my cable modem pumps out 15! In reading your posts I see that my network is likely dropped down to G due to my old express, and in fact my computer may be running of a spliced version of that if using WDS settings?
I think i'll end up calling apple support at some point but was curious if you can go over the facts of using N and G together, and if i can have my macbook pro speak to my N network only and my iphone 3G speak to G airport express only?
Last piece of info is I use the airport express for my music.... not sure if this means they must be WDS or not? I'm just looking to get my N devices as fast as possible while continuing to use my G express. If you tell me i need to upgrade to a N express I can live with it.... but if i can avoid the $100 and work with what i have...all the better!
Thanks in advance,
Joe

Two Airport express. only one at a time able to stream music....

I have one Airport express feeding me the internet from the office. this unit has no speakers conected to it.
the second unit is in the living room and i want to send music to that one.
when i select the living room airport express i can't go online.
when i select the office unit i can't stream music to the
HiFi.....
I have downloaded AIRFOIL (3rd party app) to fix this but it can only connect to the airport express that i have select on the menu bar.
i hope this makes sense to someone out there
Thanks for your time.
G4 ibook Mac OS X (10.4.7) upgraded hard drive, 512 ram, Ipod 30 video.
G4 ibook Mac OS X (10.4.7) upgraded hard drive, 512 ram, Ipod 30 video.

clayti-nz, Welcome to the discussion area!
Configure the 2nd AirPort Express (AX) using the steps described in KB 302153, AirPort Express: How to join an existing wireless network in client mode.

My AirPort Express now drops out almost every night.

The green light remains on as though all is fine, but it completely loses wi-fi signal.
It goes from a full bar perfect wi-fi signal (which it's had for over a year) to zero bars of wi-fi instantly - and then it remains off.
This has been confirmed wtih multiple computers.
About 20% of the time it will come back on by itself after about 10 minutes.
The other 80% of the time, I have to crawl over my television and audio system, unplug the AE and allow it to restart.
This is starting to become maddening. It appears the device itself is defective.
I have installed the latest updates.
G5 Tower Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Hi StephenBhm,
there could be a interference problem:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58543
You have upgraded the Airport Express Firmware?
http://www.apple.com/support/airport/

Do Airport Express modems wear out over time

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