Restoring old Graphite Airport Base Station

Question

So, I picked up an old graphite base station second hand. I brought it home, plugged it in and eventually got it fired up and broadcasting a network. Turns out the previous owners used it for unsecured wi-fi, so it didn't need a password to get on to the internet. However, I wanted to go and configure it and tweak it to my liking, so I decided to go and wipe it clean and set it up myself.
I downloaded the neccesary utility here http://support.apple.com/downloads/AirPortAdmin_Utility_for_Graphite_and_Snow_4_25 , and found the instructions for a hard reset here http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2439 .
I set my ethernet settings on my macbook according to step 2, connected a CROSSOVER cable between my macbook and the ABS, and reset the power and held down the reset button when the three lights flashed amber. I waited about thirty seconds after the middle light stayed amber. I opened up the Airport Admin Utility for Graphite and Snow and hit "Configure". Because I had never done this before, I picked the "Automatic" option. The utility asked me for my system password, which I entered. It showed a message about writing some kind of configuration which stayed for about 15 seconds before ending in an error message which read "An error occurred while updating configuration".
This is as far as I have got. I have repeated this sequence at least 15 times, and each time it ends in the same way, at the same spot. I have a sneaking suspicion that a hard reset has NOT occurred, as if I unplug and plug back in the ABS, it resumes it's wifi network settings (I'm using it right now!).
I have trawled the internet, looking for help on this matter. While I have found many articles, none have offered an actual solution to this particular problem. People explain parts in great detail, but everything kinda tapers off when it gets to answering the tough questions.
That's about it, I hope someone can offer me some assistance on what else I should try.

Answer 1

Hello
I am curious to know if you have succeeded at all since your last post. Do the lights (L and R) blink green intermittently now?
Once you are inside the Utility, (if you got this far) something that might need to be checked out is the connection method for internet access in the Network Pane for configuration. That is, de-select 'Connect using PPoE', instead choose 'Built-In Internet, configure using DHCP'. I am too much of a rookie to understand all the terminology. The above made not too much sense but it worked while I had an iBook running Tiger.
I came across this as I can't access the internet via my same base station from my Acer netbook, although others can using their own machines, so looking around.
Good luck otherwise and sorry if it didn't help,
"I want to be a Mac"