Weak Airport Express Signal

Hi,
My computer is only 5 feet away from my airport express, yet my connection is very weak (two bars at most).
How can I determine whether the problem is with my card or with Airport?
Cheers

Those sound like good numbers. You could still be having an interference problem, though. Have you tried using a channel as different as possible from your neighbors'? A difference >= 3 is often recommended.
My neighbor' networks tend to appear and disappear. You might keep an eye on iStumbler's window, hoping to see whether your connection improves when a particular one shuts down. That could provide a helpful clue.
Have you made any recent changes in your home, such as a new heat source near your AX or new source of EMI?
I see you're using an 802.11b/g AX. If you're running the V6.3 firmware on it, I doubt that's the problem because I use the same. Furthermore, I don't believe the firmware for the b/g has been changed in quite awhile.

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Airport Express Signal very weak

I have added an additional express to help boost my signal which weakens dramatically as I leave my office. We have a linksys system that my sister brought from her old apartment - that gives a great signal - but 2 Express and almost no signal. The utility can see both - but no signal.
Does anyone have any ideas? This is the only Apple function that feels just like a PC application - frustrating!

Are you using one Airport Express as a Base Station, and the second Airport Express to "extend" the range of that Base Station? When you configured the second Airport Express with the Airport Setup Assistant, did you select the option to configure the second Airport Express as a new base station that "extends" the range of the wireless network of the Airport Express acting as your network's base station?

Airport Express Signal Weakness after Firmware 7.5.2 upgrade

I was trying to update my firmware on my Samsung Blu-Ray player b/c the menu was faulty, then I noticed it was not detecting my wireless network from my Airport Express that was clearly visible to my iPad and Mac Book Pro. So I went ahead and also updated my firmware for the Airport Express at the same time to 7.5.2 because it kept telling me it was needed.
Now with the new firmware, my wireless network is often not detected by my iPad and MacBook Pro if they are downstairs and 1 room over and is very slow when they do connect. I used AirRadar to sense if it was maybe getting some noise from another neighbor's network, or on the same channel, and neither was the case. I tried changing channels just in case to 8, but still only 35-39% strength downstairs or 25 feet away (but 95% in same room). I also tried changing to broadcasting at only 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz and neither seemed to work better.
So my question is- could the new firmware decrease signal strength? Can I go back to my old one? If so, I tried changing firmware versions but it won't allow me to select it as a drop down.
Any other ideas? The iPad used to be so fast. Now we can't use any web-based apps downstairs.

I found the same after a recent upgrade. After trying different things, I reverted to the previous software and all was fine. I lost 50% of my signal with the new upgrade, hardly an improvement. I wish you well.
Mike

Why is my Airport Express signal picked up by only one computer?

I have a 17" Powerbook G4 running 10.4.10 and have had no problems using my Airport Express device for the last few years. I have it set to WPA2 Personal. I also have a Macbook also running 10.4.10. Both have been on my network with no problems. In the last two weeks I have not been able to pick up a signal from my Airport Express on my Powerbook. My Powerbook is picking up all the other signals from my neighbors so I think my hardware is fine. I have since tried resetting my AE by pressing the reset button on the unit. I have tried reconfiguring the unit with Airport admin utility and Airport setup and nothing seems to work. My macbook is picking up the signal full strength. Both computers are only about 8 feet away from the AE. Anyone have suggestions as to what my problem may be?
Powerbook G4, Macbook Mac OS X (10.4.10)

email me. if you click my handle above you will see my email.

My computer can't find the Airport Express signals anymore

I'm having some weird issues with my MacBook connecting to my Airport Express at home. 2 years ago I installed my new Airport Express and made a WPA Personal security password as recommended. Everything worked fine until Sunday my computer seemed to not find the signals anymore. I have tried all types of problem solving from the book and other places, but nothing seemed to help.
The weird stuff is that my other 2 Mac computers have no problems connecting. The others the signals fine.
My computer picks up all other wireless signals from the neighborhood.
How can this be? I did nothing but turn my computer on and off and suddenly all "domestic signals" are non traceable any longer?
I hope someone can help me; I am, as you probably can understand not a computer literate exactly.

I have to switch between my internet 2Wire network and the AX base station network I created.
If you configure the AirPort Express (AX) to join the wireless network provided by the 2wire you won't need to switch back and forth. There will only be one wireless network.
My husband wanted to print with his MacBook Pro the same way, and so we tried to configure the base station on his computer.
That was not needed. Once the base station is configured, any wireless client can join the network without needing to run any AirPort software.

Airport Express signal fine but no internet connection

We have been using an Airport Express for wireless Internet access and recently are unable to connect to the Internet. We use a Comcast cable modem, through a Linksys router, to the Airport Express. We can connect by network cable to the router and access the Internet, but are unable to connect wirelessly. We are getting a signal from the Airport Express (the light is green), but no Internet connectivity. We have restarted and done a hard reset (holding the reset button while plugging the Airport Express in) of the Airport Express, but it did not seem to help. The hard reset did not result in resetting the settings, so perhaps there is another way to reset it or perhaps there is another problem.
Has anyone had similar problems?

I tried power cycling the cable modem, downloading new firmware (why didn't Software Update tell me about this?), deleting the DNS servers, hard reset of AirPort Express, factory reset of AirPort Express, fiddling with AirPort Admin Utility, fiddling with AirPort Setup, all of the above in different order and different combinations, and it still would not work.
Power cycling the cable modem was one of the first things I did, and that resulted in getting Internet connection through the cable modem onto the ethernet cable; just no Internet through AirPort. Finally, after a factory reset of the AirPort Express did not help, I decided to power cycle the cable modem again, even though I had already just confirmed again that I was getting the Internet through the ethernet cable. Once the cable modem finished the power cycle, it finally worked! I was back on the Internet via AirPort!
I'm not exactly sure which solution fixed it for me, but I suspect that it didn't work at first because I did not power cycle the cable modem afterwards. In other words, if after changing AirPort settings you still are not connected to the Internet, try power cycling the cable modem. Do this every time for each change you make to the AirPort settings.
The other thing I learned is that unplugging the cable modem from the wall power outlet or turning off the power strip will NOT power cycle the cable modem properly. Instead, you must remove the power cord from the cable modem. I tried all three of these methods and for whatever reason, the only time it worked was by removing the power cord.

Airport Express signal of Macs drops when you leave the room

My problem is as described in the title: whenever I'm in the livingroom (where the AE is), the signal is fine. A few minutes after walking out of the room and trying to get onto the network from a nearby (as in: a few feet away) room, the signal will drop and won't come back again.
I'm having this problem on a 2006 MacBook and a PowerBook G4, but not on my iPod Touch, of which I've tried both the 1G and 2G version. On the iTouch, the signal is just fine - even on the attic and on my balcony.
Besides, the AirTunes signal drops out quite a lot when playing songs.
I'm using the N-version of the AE, and it's functioning as an AirTunes station and a N-signal router with B- and G-signal support. The MacBook spins Snow Leopard, the Powerbook good ol' Leopard.

It is very possible that you may have some form of Wi-Fi interference in the immediate area that is preventing your 802.11n AirPort Express Base Station (AXn) from providing a good clean signal beyond the livingroom.
I suggest you perform a simple site survey. I normally would recommend using iStumbler, but since you are using Snow Leopard the current release of this utility won't work. Although, not free, another very good utility, that provide similar functionality, would be AirRadar. You would use AirRadar to determine if other Wi-Fis are operating in your area. In addition, you would want to look for those that are operating at the strongest signal levels and what radio channels those are operating on.
If you don't want to go the route of purchasing AirRadar, the other (free) option would be to run through each of the available radio channels until you find one where your Macs get the best signal. Also, since you do have the PowerBook running Leopard, I'd give iStumbler a try as well.

Why would Airport Express signal cut out every afternoon?

I have had an Airport Express router for several years. In the past few years, our wireless signal shuts down in the late afternoon, usually around the same time each day. I have to unplug and plug it back in, then restart the computer for it to work. ?

This is almost certainly someone that is coming home about the same time each day and firing up their wireless network, or a high power wireless device, gaming console, etc. causing interference for other close neighbors. He might be using a high power antenna for his wireless network as well.
Another possibility is a nearby cordless phone which can create interference as well. I won't bore you with a story about this at this time.
When you unplug the AirPort Express and plug it back in, the Express automatically scans to find the best available channel to use at the time....and things are usually OK for awhile until the available channels get overloaded again.
If the AirPort Express is located near an outside wall of your home, try relocating it to an interior wall or room as much as possible. This will help shield some of the interference coming from networks and cordless phones at your neighbors.
Unfortunately, there are probably ten times more wireless networks than there were a few years ago, yet we have the same number of wireless channels to use that we did 10 years ago. Things are really overcrowded....an unfortunate fact of life for those living in crowded areas.
Some folks living in apartments, condos, etc are finding out more and more that they simply cannot rely on wireless, and must use a wired connection for stability.

Airport Express, signal drop and reset required everytime

While I am aware that people have reported problems with signal cutting in and out on the aiport express, my circumstance is marginally different.
I have had this thing for about two years now, and it has always been a bit flaky. Some days it would work flawlessly for hours, while lately it works for about 1 hr and loses its signal completely. It will stop dead, and itunes will no longer be able to locate it. The only temporary solution I have come to is a soft or hard reset, which will provide functionality for another hour or two before it dies again.
The strangest thing is that airport admin utility manages to locate the AEx when itunes doesn't. I would normally just assume a weak signal, however, this problem of itunes not being able to reconnect to the AEx after a "crash" has me concerned that this thing might be cooked. It has recently been much worse than ever before... I have the latest firmware for the unit as well as Itunes 7. I have tried a few different wireless channels without success; the same problem occurs over and over again.
Has anyone had this problem? Would a different router make a difference? I currently have an old MN-700 w/ 802.11 g. Running a PC.
Note: The light remains green on the AEx even when the signal has been lost by itunes. The airport is set to connect to an existing wireless network. I have tried interface robustness on and off with no success.
Thanks for any valuable input.

I had one AE base unit, where network connection would disapear every other day. The light would still be green on the AE, but the signal from the AE could not be picked up nor seen by the computer. Only turning the AE off and back on, would make it appear and work again. I Changed the AE unit, and I dont have the problem any more. I didnt change any settings at all.
So in my case, it was the AE base unit that was malfunctioning.
I have also seen similar problems with a different cause: That the wifi network card in the computer wasnt connected properly. ..
I dont think its a software problem
good luck

Repeated lost of AirPort Express signal on home network w/ Mac and Dell PC

After a year of steady, reliable home wireless network access with an AirPort Extreme base station and an Express relay in the upstairs, I am suddenly, repeatedly losing signal strength from the Express relay. The Express goes into a flashing amber status when the problem occurs. To solve the issue, I have successfully been able to restart the Express, which works for 12 to 36 hours before the situation happens again. What could have happened to cause this sudden recurring problem and what can be done to resolve it longer term?

Hello kkinva. Welcome to the Apple Discussions!
It is very possible that you may have some form of Wi-Fi interference that has been introduced recently in the immediate area that is preventing you from getting a good clean signal between the base stations.
I suggest you perform a simple site survey, using utilities like MacStumbler or iStumbler to determine potential areas of interference, and then, try to either eliminate or significantly reduce them where possible.

Need helps on weak airport extreme signal

Please bear with me - as I posted here twice
I really need a help, get very tired with this airport extreme card with my brand new Mac Pro.
I bought the machine with bluetooth installed (confirmed that the BT wire connecting with the bluetooth card) and working just fine. I bought the airport extreme card and installed by the shop (there is no apple shop in HK). The IT guy connected only the wire 1 to the card, I questioned whether he needed to connect cables of 1 and 2 together, and he confirmed that only 1 was needed.
Brought the machine home and set up with WiFi with my apple extreme and time capsule (both N), the signal showed a level 4 signal (strongest) but after a minute it dropped to 1 even disappeared despite I placed the time capsule just next to my Mac Pro.
Open the case and connect the cable 2, but it did not show any improvement. Tried the 2 & 3 together - even worst.
Is that a common problem and can't be solved, if so, if I connected the time capsule with Mac Pro via ethernet, would it works? I had tried it but did not work, do I need to do some special setting on time capsule for this connection (Airport extreme (modem) -> time capsule -> Mac Pro (via ethernet)

Have a check of the wiring with the following link
http://web.mac.com/ryemac3/RyeMAC3/Welcome/Entries/2008/4/17Airport_ExpressUpgrade.html
but make sure wire no.3 on top and wire no.1 at the bottom ... cover the wire no.2 with the plastic tube that it came with

Airport Express Signal disrupted by Wireless Mighty Mouse

Since pairing my wireless MM to my iMac five days ago, I have had problems connecting to my wireless network. With the WMM, I now have to manually join my network, rather than the customary "automatically join" my network.
I have gone into Nework Preferences and re-applied my preferred networks, but to no avail.
Any suggestions?
Thanks

Hey, thanks! That was fast. I'm impressed by the Mac community.
This program helped my hardwired mouse, actually, and did give me wider parameters on the wireless mouse, but it didn't correct the herky-jerky/sluggishness -- actually amplified those problems.
Ken

Weak Airport Signal

For the past three years, I have gotten three of four bars when it came to signal strength. But for the past couple of months, I have only gotten two bars and my page load times are extremely long. I haven't changed anything on my end, but a couple of new networks have appeared from time to time in my Airport queue. I have tried changing channels with no effect.
Does anybody know how I can boost my Airport Express signal strength?

Hi, Mike,
I'm also a ham radio operator. One of the best things to do with your 14 computers is to turn off 13 of them and to test them one at a time. This will let you verify whether or not you have a problem with the suspect Airport cards.
Once you determine if/that all machines behave the same, or not, when operated one at a time, you should next begin to test them together in groups of, say, 4.
Next, when you are pretty sure that you have identified certain Airport cards that seem always to be "weak," try swapping the Airport cards between computers, especially between those that seem to be "strong." You'll want to keep track of this by Airport card, not particularly by computer. This way you can prove that particular Airport cards are "weak" in all installations and locations, irrespective of the computer into which they are installed. Then you will be ready to contact Apple for replacements.
One of the previous postings that mentioned unit to unit interference was headed in the right direction. This is UHF radio operating at 2.4GHz. You will find a whole lot of weird stuff going on, especially in sensitivity to location, etc., but you can also expect a lot of signal strength variation from unit to unit.
Please let us all know how you are progressing with this problem.
Jim

Using airport express to extend Time Warner cable modem wifi signal

I just today got a Time Warner Cable Arris modem with built-in wifi. I'd like to use my 802.11n Airport Express base station to extend the TWC network wifi signal to other parts of my house, but I can't get the Airport Express to shake hands with the TWC modem.
In Airport Utility, under the "Wireless" tab, I've selected "Extend a wireless network". I am able to select my TWC network under "Wireless Network Name." Wireless Security is set to "WPA2 Personal." But when I click "update" the airport express fails to join the TWC network, and my Airport Express signal disappears; I am only able to get the signal back by resetting the Airport Base Station with a paperclip.
Applecare tells me that I might be able to use the Airport Express to extend my TWC network, but they do not support that process. Is there any way to do what I'm trying to do? Are there settings in Airport Utility I need to change? I'd appreciate anyone's help.
Thank you.
Todd

You need TWO Airport units, one to function as the main radio and the other to function as an extender. I used two Express units.
Configuration is simple if you start from a factory default condition. Then connect the main Airport to AC power and finally to the Internet modem (or modem/router). Open Airport Utility on your Mac or other computer and accept all of the recommendations. After confirming that it works, insert your desired administrative and WiFi passwords.
Then connect the extender to AC power. As before, open Airport Express on your Mac or other computer and accept all of the recommendations. No need to add password info.
Do not expect the Airport to respond instantly to the configuration commands. BE PATIENT!

Why does 2 Airport Expresses connects to one another instead of connecting to the primary Airport Extreme For internet Connectivity ?

I have Netgear DG834G router only for dsl connectivity wifi connectivity to that router is off. i have connected netgear that provides adsl connectivity to the (Shakeel's Airport Extreme) Airport Extreme dual band Wireless N 5th generation via cat 5 cable so airport extreme is the main wifi device through which i get wifi signals at my home. now our house is big and i have installed the adsl netgear modem and airport extreme router at the same place in my room in the upper story but the signals are weak even in the upper story at the other end of the house so i have installed the new airport express dual band wireless N in the upper story (Kafeel's airport express) and it is connected to the primary airport extreme (Shakeel's Airport Extreme) wireless router in range extention mode it repeats the same ssid. Our ground floor has another airport express dual band wireless N the new one ( Lounge's airport express) signal was weak there so i installed another airport express (Lounge's Airport Express) their and configured it to extend the range of primary router airport extreme (Shakeel's Airport Extreme) in the upperstory with the same ssid. Now the problem i am facing that sometimes lounge's airport express connects to kafeel's airport express instead of connecting to the airport extreme and the signals in lounge are weak because all the devices are connected to kafeels airport express and does not connect to lounge air port express. but when lounge airport express is connected to primary router airport extreme then everything works fine devices connect to lounge airport express and signals are full. i have took pictures of the problem i am facing you will understand better by having a look at it. In normal working setup both the airport expresses are connected to airport extreme which is shown in this picture
The second picture shows when lounge airport express is connected to kafeels airport express and not the airport extreme (Shakeel's Airport Extreme) this is the problem.
isnt there a way to correct this so that they dont connect with each other and connect to the airport extreme ?

Lounge's AirPort Express must be located signficantly closer to Shakeel's AirPort Extreme than it is to Kafeel's AirPort Express, and there must be fewer obstructions in the signal path than the other possible connection.
The reason is that if you want Lounge's AirPort Express to connect to Shakeel's AirPort Extreme, it must receive a significantly stronger wireless signal from Shakeel's AirPort Extreme than it does from Kafeel's AirPort Express.

Weak Airport Express Signal

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