Extending network with Airport Express and Airport Extreme (latest models) causes chaos on network

Today I upgraded from my several year old Airport Extreme (3rd gen) and 2nd gen Airport Express to a new (what you'd buy on the shelf today) Airport Extreme and Airport Express. All airports are updated with the latest firmware and I'm using windows 7 for configuration.
The intention is to use the Airport Extreme as the main router, also serving wifi. And extend the network using the express. As such, the following has been done:
The Airport Extreme is configured for automatic channel, and automatic radio mode. I tried to select 802.11n 5 ghz and 802.11 n 2.4 ghz only, but it won't take the changes. Additionally, it wont' accept me using only channel 6. Not sure why, but I digress. The airport extreme is not set to broadcast a separate name for the 5ghz network.
The Airport Express is configured to use bridge mode, use an existing wireless network and is connected to my network on it's WAN port (the circle icon on the back) with ethernet. The password and wireless name used in configuration is the same as created initially on the Airport Extreme.
Initially I did the configuration of both airports on my computer, connected by ethernet to ensure stable connectivity while I inputted settings. During this, they appeared to accept the changes fine. However, when I moved the airport express to it's destination (other side of my house), the entire network went crazy.
Internet became slow, and often wouldn't load pages. This was on wired and wireless connections. When I attempted to administer the Airport in the Utility, they would not load, an error would occur. Also, at one point the Airport Extreme had renamed it self with a (2) at the end. Which was super odd. So far, the only solution has been to unplug the Airport Express and attempt to devise a solution.
Anyone have any ideas? Of course, I will continue to tinker with this, but it seems realllly strange. The previous setup was also extended (granted, using wireless only, not ethernet > wireless) and worked fine, granted it was a smidge slow, but it worked.

I wanted to add this.. I followed the guide here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4260 to extend using ethernet, and the above is the result.
I just tried re configuring in OS X Mavericks and got the same, odd, result.

Similar Messages

Airport Express and Airport Extreme

Hello,
I am trying to setup a wireless network. What is the difference btw Airport Express and Airport extreme. Do i need both? If yes then why?
Would appreciate a solution from layman's perspective.
Thanks

Hello Indian71. Welcome to the Apple Discussions!
Check out this excellent iFelix table to help show the differences (features-wise) between the AirPort base stations: AirPort base station differences

What's the difference between airport express and airport extreme?

airport express and airport extreme? whats the difference??

http://store.apple.com/ca_epp_5000967/product/MC414/airport-express-base-station
http://store.apple.com/ca_epp_5000967/product/MD031AM/A/airport-extreme-base-sta tion

Extend a network Airport express and Airport Extreme

A very straight forward setup. I simply want to extend my Airport Extreme network with the Express. I use the airport utility. It finds the express and says that it has extended the network. However, later when I check the wireless options of the express, it is setup as a Create a Network.
The two are connected via ethernet. Not sure why its saying that. If I mannually then change it to extend a network, it doesn't show me the home network. I enter it mannualy and update it. It doesn't behave nicely.
Am I doing something wrong here ?
Thanks.

I use the airport utility. It finds the express and says that it has extended the network. However, later when I check the wireless options of the express, it is setup as a Create a Network.
"Create a wireless network" is the correct setting to extend the network when the AirPort is connected to the main router using a wired Ethernet connection.
"Extend a wireless network" would be the correct setting only if the AirPort Express is connected to the main router using wireless only, not Ethernet.

Airport Express (and Airport Extreme) shuts down every now and then

So here's the deal,
I'm using an Airport Extreme as my base station (internet, printer, external hardrive). I'm also using an airport express (for airtunes) that is set up to join my existing network that I have created with my Airport Extreme.
Every now and then, the Airport express disconnects becomes non responding and starts to flash yellow. The strange thing is that even though my Airport Extreme is still showing a green light - this does not work either.
To resolve this I must unplug both Airports, restart Airport Extreme and then make my network. After that I can restart my Airport Express and join my existing network and everything works well for a day or 2 and then the same happens again.
What is going on? I mean even though I have found a solution it is timeconsuming and not very elegent. I would rather not have disconnections:-)
Look forward to hearing from you bright guys!
Message was edited by: Skibsted

Skibsted wrote:
I don't think I have a power issue since I have a lot of electronic connected to the same plug and they are working fine.
I have not tried to use the Airport Express alone but I have of course thought about doing that to narrow down the problem.
I don't have inteference.
How do I check if my neighbours are using the same channel?
There are a couple of programs out there. The one I have used is called iStumbler. http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/11753. This will show the networks around you and the channels they are using along with other things.
The distance from the AEX to my Airport Express is like 10 inches!
Having an access point close real close to a client will cause some interference itself. Also you had mentioned you had the AEX plugged into the same stip or outlet with other equipment. This can also cause interference and issues.
The firmware is the latest.
I can say that I think I have found a solution though. When I install my Airport Express I hit the "use to extend my network" instead of hitting "join existing wireless network".
It had been working flawlessly ever since (4 days)
I think extending a wireless network is only used if you have 2 AEBS or more. You would use WDS to extend the range when using an AEX but since you are not using it for that you set it right by joining a network.
Thanks

My airports express and airport extreme have started saying they can't be read by airport utility. How do I fix this?

I have recently been re-jigging my network and in the process have restored my 2 airport expresses and one airport extreme to their default settings. Everything was working 100% fine until suddenly my netywork won't work and when I click on any of my airports to see what's happening airport utility says they can't be read. Can anyone help me solve this?

It is on DHCP & NAT under router mode yet my isp is still the one issuing ip addresses to my devices instead of the router issuing them

Airport Express and Airport Utility won't communicate

Hi,
I have this strange problem that whenever I setup the configurations for my Airport Express in Airport Utility I get an error message saying that the unit and it's network capabilities is temporarily uavailable. I get this message everytime and no matter what changes I whish to make.
Do anyone have any idea about what I should do?

This usually can happen if you have weak signal strength. What happens if the APX and your computer are close to each other?

How do I know "Roaming Network" is working with Airport Express and Airport Extreme and should I use extended wireless network for third Express?

Attempting to eliminate a dead spot in Wifi coverage [and implement AirPlay] have one Airport Extreme 802.11n and two Airport Express 802.11n's.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4145
The Airport Extreme is of course connected to cable modem and Ethernet switch, and one Airport Express is connected to the Ethernet network. As per instructions for creating a "Roaming Network", Airport Express is set to same SSID, security type, and Password.
Questions:
1. How does the client device know which Airport to connect to? In other words, will it switch to the closer WiFi transmitter automatically? The WiFi reception problem is intermittent in the fringe areas so what I do not want it for it to stick with the more distant Airport Extreme in the basement when the Airport Express which is closer will work better.
2. How can I tell which of the Airports the attached client device is using?
The third Airport Express will be in a third location - I was planning on using it also for expanding coverage but after reading the warnings about performance suffering when purely using WiFi for the expansion in this location ("Wireless Extended Network" without an ethernet connection) I have figured that the single wired Airport Express will be adequate and will use the third Express to do Airplay only.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4259
Question: Can I use this second Airport Express to extend the wireless network via "Extended Wireless Network" while the other two are in "Roaming Netowrk" configuration? Without bogging down??
Mitch

1. How does the client device know which Airport to connect to?
The Mac computer will automatically connect to the wireless access point with the strongest signal...which is probably the closest AirPort. An iPhone or iPad may not do this and will tend to stay connected to one AirPort.
2. How can I tell which of the Airports the attached client device is using?
On a Mac, open Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities > AirPort Utility. Click on one of AirPorts. In the area to the right, locate the AirPort ID and jot that down. Then do the same for your other AirPort.
Move your Mac near one of the AirPorts and log on to the wireless. Hold down the option key on the Mac while you click the fan shaped AirPort icon at the top of the screen. Look for the BSSID. That is the AirPort ID of the device to which you are connected.
If you are close to the "remote" AirPort, and you see the AIrPort ID of the "main" router when you are testing, then you know that the network is not configured correctly.
Can I use this second Airport Express to extend the wireless network via "Extended Wireless Network" while the other two are in "Roaming Netowrk" configuration? Without bogging down??
There will be a modest 10-15% bandwidth loss with the "extend" setup, assuming that the Express is located where it can receive a strong wireless signal from the AirPort to which it is associated. You can avoid the bandwidth loss if the Express is also connected via Ethernet as part of the roaming configuration.

Advice to extend range from Time Capsule - wireless and ethernet with Airport Express and Airport Extreme

Current wireless network is Time Capsule (connected to a Cisco router, 1GB switch to servers and printer 1) to Airport Express (wireless) and to Airport Extreme (wireless). Distance means poor signal at the Extreme which has 2 printers (ethernet cables) and an iMac (wireless)
Solution is to connect the Extreme to the Time Capsule via Cat 6 ethernet cable
How do I configure the TC and the Extreme?
I will keep the Express for a wireless extension to the TC

Wired Ethernet from the TC to the AirPort Extreme will result in much better performance. It sounds as if you are not configuring the AirPort Extreme correctly.
Please try the following steps carefully:
Unplug the Ethernet cable from the AirPort Exteme if it is not already unplugged. With the AirPort Extreme powered on, hold in the reset button on the Extreme for 10 seconds and release. Allow a full minute for the Extreme to restart
Connect the Ethernet cable to the WAN "O" port on the Extreme.
Click the AirPort icon at the top of the Mac's screen and wait a few seconds for a listing of New AirPort Base Station to appear. Just below that, click on AirPort Extreme.
The example below displays an AirPort Express. You will see AirPort Extreme.
AirPort Setup will open up automatically and take a minute to analyze the network, then announce that the Extreme will be configured to extend the Time Capsule network.
Enter a device name that you want to use for the Exterme and click Next
Wait a minute while AirPort Setup configures everything for you. When you see the message of Setup Complete, click Done.
That's it. Pretty simple. Things should be working fine now.

Extending the range of my Extreme n Network with an Express n Airport

Hello,
I've been reading some of the questions but couldn't find my specific situation, so here I am posting again. Sorry for the double-post.
I currently have an AEBS 802.11n acting as my main base station and connected to our DSL modem. In a different room across the house, I have an Airport Express 802.11n which is joined to the network (not extending), and there is a printer connected to it via USB.
I tried to extend the range of my network, but since I'm using it in dual mode (2.4 & 5GHz), the Express gave me an error of "operation not supported...", or something similar, so I just gave up and instead of extending the network to solidify its strength, I just added the device as a client and hooked up the printer to it - which is working fine.
Another reason why I'd like to extend the range of the network is because I spend most of the time in the "remote" room, which is 3 rooms away from the AEBS, so I'm not receiving a very strong signal.
I thought of running an Ethernet cable from the AEBS to the Express, but that would require me to crawl in the attic... not worth the trouble because it's not my home, and I'll be moving out some day.
I'll also add that I'm somewhat tech-savvy, but wireless networks have always been my weak link (no pun intended).
How should I set up my equipment in order to get this accomplished?
Thanks!
Message was edited by: jortuno

Here's the general step by step for setting up the "extend" feature on the AirPort Express.
Because you have a dual band Extreme, you may need to assign different names for the main and guest networks to keep things straight. In AirPort Utility - Manual Setup under the Wireless tab, click on the "Options" button to do this.
The "main" network is setup as 802.11n 5 GHz by default, so that is what the Express will "extend". If you have "b" or "g" devices at your remote location, you will need to change the Radio Mode for the main network to a compatible setting like 802.11n (802.11b/g compatible).
_On the AirPort Extreme:_
Open AirPort Utility, click Manual Setup
Click the Wireless tab just below the row of icons
Wireless Mode should be "Create a wireless network"
Make sure there is a check mark next to "Allow this network to be extended"
Update to save settings
_On the AirPort Express(es):_
Open AirPort Utility, Click Manual Setup
Click the Wireless tab
Wireless Mode should be set to "Extend a wireless network". If you don't see this choice, hold down the "option" key when you click on the selection box
When you select "Extend.." your wireless network created by the TC will appear as a choice to extend. Select the main network and enter the wireless password.
Make sure there is a check mark next to "Allow wireless clients"
Update to save settings.
Whenever you plug the Express in, it will automatically "extend" the main wireless network from the Base Station. Your computer will automatically connect to the device with the strongest signal, so if you are near one of the Express devices, you will be connecting at that point.
The ethernet port on the Express is also "live" in this setup so you could connect an ethernet device to the Express if you wish.
For more info on the "extend" feature, refer to the Designing AirPort Networks guide, pages 43-44.
http://manuals.info.apple.com/enUS/Apple_AirPort_NetworksEarly2009.pdf

Extending a network with Time Capsule and AirPort Extreme (via Belkin powerline)

Hello -
I've seen many topics about extending wireless networks here, but none seems to resolve the issue I'm having. I currently have a setup where a DSL cable modem is connected to a Time Capsule and I need to extend this network to another room using an AirPort Extreme.
I live in a very old apartment in Brazil and the walls seem to block the signal from one room to another, hence the need to extend it. Since wireless signal is very weak between rooms, I bought a Belkin powerline AV500 so I could connect both Time Capsule and AirPort using the electrical power at home (just installing a regular Ethernet cable between rooms is not an option).
I started with the basics: configure the Time Capsule + DSL as a standalone network, and it works perfectly within it's range. Then I connected the Belking powerline, plugged a MacBook via Ethernet on the other end and still got very good results (actually better speed than expected). Used it for a while with streaming and other network intensive tasks to make sure it could sustain the connection.
Finally, pluggned the AirPort Extreme on the Belking powerline and this is where the problems started. AirPort Utility 6.3.1 only gives me the option of extending a network wirelessly - it doesn't seem to give me the option of extending it via Etherenet (roaming), which is not good in my case. Luckly I had a copy of AirPort Utility 5.6 which seems to do the job (or I thought so), but it's still not working well.
Although I managed to configure both with the same name, it doesn't seem reliable and some devices (the iPhone 5, for example) are unable to connect and end up with a self-asigned IP address. I'm almost sure I'm doing something wrong on the setup, as I've seen a similar setup working before, so if anyone out there has any clue of what can be done, it will be much appreciated.
Attached the screenshots of both Time Capsule and AirPort Extreme configurations.
Thanks a lot,
-TM
AirPort Exteme:
Time Capsule:

Hello JuliaApple. Welcome to the Apple Discussions!
You have several ways to configure both base stations for what you are trying to do.
The simplest would be to configure the Time Capsule (TC) to "join" (AirPort Utility > Manual Setup > Wireless tab > Wireless Mode = Join a wireless network) your existing 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Station (AEBSn). In this type of configuration the TC would perform as any other wireless client and not perform as a router. It will; however, still allow for both backups and sharing USB devices attached to it.

I installed a new airport express and made it part of my existing home network... now the PCs can't access internet through the airport extreme or the cisco access points

Everything works perfect with Macs, iPhone, iPads but I have 2 pcs that now can't access internet. The PCs connect to the airport and my other access points but no internet- The PCs sent an error of DNS

Yes, as we already said, it will do all of this if you have a good wireless signal reaching the bedroom.
Remember that an extender or repeater or whatever you want to call it can only extend the quality of signal that it receives.
The Ethernet signal that the Express delivers will only be as good as the quality of the wireless connection between the AirPort Extreme and AirPort Express.
If you have doubts, make sure that you understand the store's return policy before you buy.

Is it possible to access my DVR from the Internet using an Airport Express and Airport Extreme?

I would like to use my Airport Express to connect to my DVR and use it to access the Internet by setting it up to wireless extend my Airport Extreme network?
This would allow me great flexibility to place the DVR wherever I wanted. I would create a static IP address for the DVR but would I also have to create one for the Airport Express as well? What would I put as my Gateway address? Would it be the IP address of the Airport Extreme or the Airport Express?
Looking forward to the advice to see if this is possible...

It may not be compatible with the iPad. See below for reference.
H.264 video up to 1080p, 30 frames per second, High Profile level 4.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats;
MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats;
Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format

WDS Airport Express and Airport Extreme

I'm trying to set up a WDS network. I've set up the Airport Express as the main station, and the Airport Extreme as the remote base station. I need to do this because the Express sits next to the stereo and cable modem, and the extreme is connected to a gen 1 mac mini via ethernet that doesn't have an airport card.
Anyway, when I try to set up the WDS network, the Express tries to log on to the Extreme base station with no luck. When I have the Extreme set up to use the internet through the WDS, the Express cannot "see" the Extreme to use the WDS feature. Only when I have the Extreme to use the internet through ethernet does the Express "see" it as a remote base station.
Shouldn't the internet be through the WDS on the Extreme? What settings should they be on?
Is it even possible set up an Extreme as a remote base station that is able to distribute the internet through it's LAN ethernet connection?

I am pretty sure using the Express as the main internet router with WDS and an Extreme is not supported.
That's incorrect. The base stations have the same ability to act as base, remote, or relay.

What is the difference between AirPort Express and AirPort Extreme?

Hi everybody!
Here is my question: I'd like to get a portable (Mac of course) and I don't know which type of WiFi base I should buy, Express or Extreme? What is the difference between them?
Thank you.
Goldor

Hello Goldor - sorry you've had to wait!
The Airport Extreme Base Station and Airport Express are really quite different in what they are intended to do. Airport Express without a base station or modem/router already installed has limited function; it's really an add-on. So if you are starting from scratch you will first of all need a fully functional base station to connect you wirelessly to the internet. Once you have set up your network you can use an Airport Express to add functionality in several ways. The best plan is to visit the online AppleStore and read about the products there.
However it should be pointed out that you don't HAVE to choose an Airport Express base station, it's only Apple's take on the technology and there are many more around (and a lot cheaper too!). Netgear, Linksys, Buffalo all make popular wireless products which will work happily with the Mac.

Extending network with Airport Express and Airport Extreme (latest models) causes chaos on network

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for