Why is Airport Base Station running?

I don't use the Airport, in fact I have it disabled. Activity monitor shows the Airport Base Station running. Why? Is this standard? If so, why take up system resources like this?
Thank you.

The best way to do it, and the way that the preference should be doing is:launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.AirPortBaseStationAgent.plist If you don't know about launchd, the above command tells it to unload the plist from the launchd queue and write the disabled bit (-w) so that it doesn't load at start anymore. To turn it back on, you run the same command except change 'unload' to 'load'
Edit: For what it's worth, I submitted a bug report.
Message was edited by: Barney-15E

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Why does airport base station show up in activity monitor if I do not have nor us it?

Been having internet problems and been watching my activity monitor a lot. AirportBaseStationAgent shows up often as does loginwindowagent and a few other odd ones. This happens even when airport is off and I am doing nothing but watching the monitor.
On a seperate but like issue - My internet is continually spotty and I stay online by running the dignostic thing in network. I hit it and it shows the last two or three lights orange for just a sec and then green...do again immediately same thing until I get green consistantly - then internet works fine for a bit and then have to do it all again. The first day I change router info or the first day i erased everything on my computer it did not do this and internet was great, but now back to having to run it constantly or weirdly, if I constantly run pages at say wiki I get less interruption. What is this? I feel like someone is on my computer and all I hear is how unlikely that is and why? I dont' know why, I just know it really seems that way.
Any help on either question??? Please?

thanks, figured it out..must have been a case of the fat fingers.

Why can't I download this update AirPort Base Station Firmware Update 7.6.4

I have version 6.3.1 for an Airport Extreme and I was not able to download this update AirPort Base Station Firmware Update 7.6.4 Why what is the problem ?
Running OS X .7.5 Lion on a Mac Pro 1,1 software update will not find it either.

Hello,
Would you minds sharing what you did to be able to dowload the 7.6.4 firmware update? Greatly appreciated.
Thank you!

Airport base station agent is always running

airport base station agent is always running on my computer and i dont know why. i dont even use a wireless connection. im not in a network. my mac connects to the internet directly through a modem. how can i shut it down.

It can be disabled. Check out the following. I tried it myself and it works in 10.6.3.
http://osxdaily.com/2010/10/13/disable-airport-base-station-agent/

Why does my Airport Base Station continue to disconnect?

It works fine until it just goes out. Every once in a while it just goes out at random times even though it is still connected to everything (computer, modem).I do this to create a wifi connection for my family and I. I have tried all of resets and it still goes out. I do believe it might be something internal. If so, can someone please elaborate more on this. If not, can someone give me some information on how to fix this. Thanks!

I see you are running Windows 7. Apple just came out with a firmware update for Airport Extreme (7.7.2). It so happens that this Firmware version requires Airport Software version 6.3 or newer. The Windows version only goes as high as Version 5.6 or so. I was also told that Apple is unlikely to upgrade this software. To make a long story short you need to control your Airport Base Station with an iMac, or an iPhone or iPad with the Airport app. This solved my problems. Good Luck :)

Airport base station lets Mac print but stopped letting my PCs print, why?

The only thing I've done differently lately was download the new upgrade for OSX, which was yesterday. Up until now, my airport base station has been operating fine. I have it directly connected to my G4 and also use it for my Sony wireless laptop (new) and a Sony desktop (new). The desktop is located in another room and connects via Airport Express. The laptop is on my desk, next to my G4. The printer is by my G4 and laptop. And the Airport Extreme is on the wall above my monitor.
Anyway, yesterday, about halfway through an 11-page document, the printer stopped printing to my laptop. It will print, btw, if I unplug it from the Airport Extreme, reconfigure the port from an IP/TCP and plug it into my laptop. What would cause it to stop printing via Airport Extreme? My DSL Internet connection still works on all four computers.
My printer is an HP color laserjet 2550L. I called Hewlett Packard this morning and talked to customer support. I was informed that HP does not support network connections and could not help me because I was using a Mac product, the Airport Extreme. So I asked, what if I wasn't and directly connected the printer to my PC? So they explained how to configure the port for my printer, and it does print now, but it won't work on the Airport Extreme.
I also restored my PC to the way it was last month, just in case I had downloaded something that interfered, but that did not help the situation.
I also tried using emulation software that let me go to a Windows-based Web site through Citrex on my Mac, and I could access the Web site on my Mac, but I could not print. It prints otherwise from my Mac, though. This is just the weirdest thing.
Do you think my Airport Extreme is defective? It's pretty new. Maybe 2 or 3 months old and has worked fine up until now.
G4-466 and Sony PC Laptop Mac OS X (10.4.5) Also Windows XP

Have you upgraded the firmware in your airport extreme?
Also, you may want to consider installing Bonjour for windows on your windows machine and set up the printer via the Bonjour printer configuration.
The most recent firmware for the airport extreme can be found here: http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/airportexpressfirmwareupdate63formacosx.h tml

Airport Base Station Agent with AEX

Hi,
I bought an airport express last week and am happily listening to itunes on my home stereo. I noticed that the airport express installation loaded the "airport base station agent" that runs in the system tray. This seems to imply that it is possible to connect a USB drive to the AEX, to the contrary of the imformation provided by Apple. My question is, what is the base station agent for? And if it does not provide any functionality for an airport express alone, why did it install along with the airport utility?
Thanks,
Derek

Hello Cannon Fodder. Welcome to the Apple Discussions!
The primary purpose of the AirPort Base Station Agent is to monitor any changes in the AirPort base station itself or (if enabled) to alert you that a new firmware version is available. It DOES NOT indicate that the AirPort Express Base Station (AX), either the 802.11g or 802.11n version, can support an external HDD attached to its USB port. Sorry!

Airport base station agent process without the device

Hello,
just noticed that in the startup items of my macbook account I have an item labeled "airport base station agent".
However, I dont have an airport base station...
Since I'm having regular troubles with my wireless, I'm just wondering if anyone can suggest an explaination why the item is there, whether it might be an issue for my macbook wireless and whether should I remove it from the startup items or not.
Thanks.
Paolo

I ended up manually removing the AirPortBaseStationAgent.plist file itself from /System/Library/LaunchAgents/ and the AirPort Base Station Agent Process has stopped running in Activity Monitor ever since. I don't know how good of an idea this was to do but it solved the problem. My AirPortBaseStationAgent.plist file had this info in it:
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>EnableTransactions</key>
<true/>
<key>KeepAlive</key>
<dict>
<key>PathState</key>
<dict>
<key>/Library/Preferences/com.apple.AirPortBaseStationAgent.launchd</key>
<true/>
</dict>
</dict>
<key>Label</key>
<string>com.apple.AirPortBaseStationAgent</string>
<key>ProgramArguments</key>
<array>
<string>/System/Library/CoreServices/AirPort Base Station Agent.app/Contents/MacOS/AirPort Base Station Agent</string>
<string>-launchd</string>
<string>-allowquit</string>
</array>
</dict>
</plist>
It is an older plist file dated Dec. of 2008 which got transferred to the my iMac via the Migration Assistant in Jan. of 2009. This file somehow didn't ever seem to update no matter how I configured the AirPort Utility. The file "com.apple.AirPortBaseStationAgent.launchd" that it makes reference to in /Library/Preferences/ doesn't exist on my iMac.
Thanks,
Gerard

Where I can find AirPort Base Station Firmware Update 7.7.3

Support and download pages on apple's portal are giving me run around. Does anyone knows where one can download the AirPort Base Station Firmware Update 7.7.3 ??

No magic, but I had a real weird situation that I have no way to explain. So when I wanted to upgrade using the airport utility which logically should pull 7.7.1 first and then later 7.7.3, neither would work. I restored to factory defaults in the mena time of this original posting, however pull down menu was not showing 7.7.1 rather it was still displaying 7.6.4, hence why I was so eager to get 7.7.3 binary and do manual upgrade. AS I found the code, before I went about manual process I went into my ~/Library/Applications Support/Apple/AirPort directory to check the version.xml file and voila it showed how I do have 7.7.1 running and installed way back , so then I proceeded the manual process I described above and it worked. You are correct definitely because 7.7.1 was already there, but to for me unknown reason it is not showing on the Airport Extreme and in the drop meny I explained/described, however definitely there and clearly reason I was able to do manual upgrade. In the light of my question and wasted exchanges with the previous poster I didn't describe this part because it was irrelevant as I was only asking how I can get the code. If I had time to deal with the bigger issue here I would ask Apple, ok why my utility was not pulling 7.7.1 or 7.7.3 and why I had to do all of this to finish simple process that should in reality happen in matter of minutes (I do not have check auto weekly for the code not do I like or trust that feature i.e. don't like auto upgrades...I like to see upgrades done, ppl use it, not report issues and then I do my upgrades). Hope this clarifies it further.
Editing /augmenting my response with a comment - I was even contemplating to complain to apple and reseller I got my device year + ago to possibly replace the unit, but now that it all worked out I am happy.

"AirPort Utility unable to find any AirPort base stations"

I am getting it, along with a blanked out options panel even as I am using the two AirPort base stations and the Airport Extreme that are installed in my house. This confuses me.
I get it on my 12" Powerbook with 10.5.2 installed, but not on the one that's still running Panther. I do not get it on the iMac running Panther.
So does anybody have any idea why my "updated" PB can't see the network it's using? I have had Bonjour and Rendezvous issues in 10.5.2, too, so I am guessing these are all related somehow.
I have not installed the most recent AirPort Utility because I am afraid it will throw me offline altogether. (Should I?)
All advice welcome.

I have the same problem. Two newer macbooks work just fine but an older powerbook that was running fine on the airport extreme now say no airport card installed. Any ideas for a fix?

Can't set up Airport base stations with new MacBook Pro

i have a brand new, late-2013 15" MacBook Pro running Mavericks. my attempts, using this machine, to set up my sixth-generation, 802.11ac Airport Extreme and my brand-new, whatever-generation 802.11n Airport Express purchased yesterday at an Apple Store (that means it's the current generation, with the power cord) - these attempts all fail with Airport Utility saying it's joining the base station for about a minute and a half, after which it stops trying and says, "An unexpected error occurred. Please try again."
i can set up both of those base stations effortlessly with my iPhone.
furthermore, i seem to be able to use this MacBook Pro to set up my fifth-generation, 802.11n Airport Extreme just fine - even when it's all the way across the house and my attempts to set up the sixth-generation one, which is a foot away from my MBP, are failing.
why can i set these devices up with my iPhone and not with the newest, best, fastest, fanciest, most powerful laptop Apple makes?
thank you.

mmm...okay. thank you, Bob.
for now, i've got the base stations configured via my iPhone, and once configured, my MBP can see and use them just fine. it just irks the **** out of me that my brand-new top-of-the-line MacBook Pro can't handle this simple task, and should have to use a wired connection to set up my base stations (how archaic!). it may be the only device i have with me one day when i want to set up an Airport base station (okay, that's unlikely, but it's the principle of the thing, dammit).
are we sure this is a matter of bugs in Mavericks, and not a hardware problem with my MBP or something?
many thanks.

Airport base station and connectivity problems

Hi all,
Heres what I know about my internet connectivity issues. I have a cable broadband (Motorola Surfboard) modem and I'm fine getting a connection when I am hooked directly from the modem into the back of my G4.
The wierd thing is that when I have my Airport (old school flying saucer shaped one) hooked up between my G4 and the modem I don't even get a signal on my tower any longer let alone my laptop. I have an ethernet cable running from the port on the base station with the circle of dots to my modem. I have a ethernet cable running from the ethernet looking port (arrows and dots) on the base station to the G4 tower.
What I don't get is why I wouldn't at least be still getting a signal to my tower? All of the appropriate lights on my modem are still lit up. I took it in a few days ago to an Apple store and the guy at the Genius Bar confirmed the Base Station is working fine. Why does my computer now not like being hooked up thru my base station? I've checked all of the network settings and all seems to be fine.
Any help or ideas will be appreciated. This is driving me nuts.
Thanks,
Vance

I may have misunderstood your original question. If you want to use both your older Airport as well as the newer dual band one, you certainly can, but first describe which model your older Airport is and what specifically you wish to accomplish by using both.
There's no advantage of keeping the older one in service unless one Airport base station is unable to create a wireless network with sufficient range for your needs. There are as many as three different ways of doing that depending on which older one you have: a Wireless Distribution System (WDS) which can only use 802.11b/g, an "extended" network, which can only be accomplished with an 802.11n network, or a "roaming" network in which the Airports are connected to each other using their Ethernet LAN ports. This last method is the most preferable, but obviously requires that you run a cable between them.
Use Airport Utility to configure the Extreme. Read about designing networks in the Apple AirPort Networks manual.
In any event you don't need to use both Airport base stations if all you want to do is have a wireless network that can serve both your iMac and your Powerbook. Any Airport base station Apple ever built can serve both. The newest Extreme just adds more features.

How do I share my DS4600 USB on Airport Base Station?

It's true I'm not the most Mac savvy, but everything I've read seems to indicates this is plug & play, but so far not for me.
I have a SmartStor DS4600 (by Promise Technologies). It's set for RAID 0, just recently formatted with "Journaled HFS+".
So, it's definitely an Apple partition.
I plug it into the USB port on the back of the Airport Base Station (2nd Generation)(running version 7.6.3).
According to documentation, I should just see the volume for the DAS show up in my Finder, but I don't. Only if I plug it in to a USB port on the actual computer. (MacBook Pro, OS 10.8.3)
I do see my Airport in Finder, and I do have a volume called "Data" that I can access... but no other disks. I also thought maybe the extra HD space would be added to the existing Airport Disk. It isn't.
Sort of at a loss, and I can't find any documentation that explains how to troubleshoot.
The ultimate goal is to use the DS4600 to hold my iTunes library. I doubt that information helps, but it couldn't hurt.

That information helps. If you want to use one of the SmartStor's disks as a repository for sharing your iTunes Library, then do not configure that disk as a RAID. Format it with Disk Utility using the Erase tab. Mac OS Extended (Journaled) is the correct choice.
Connect it to your Time Capsule, then use AirPort Utility to configure access requirements for sharing it on your network. It should appear as a shared volume in the Finder, available to all your Macs as you thought it should.
I also thought maybe the extra HD space would be added to the existing Airport Disk. It isn't.
Correct. There is no way to do that. The only way to increase the capacity of a Time Capsule's hard disk is to replace the Time Capsule (or its disk, if you are amenable to disassembling it) with a larger capacity model.
If you also want to use the SmartStor as a RAID, that is another story, and you should probably attack that problem separately.

"No configured AirPort base stations have been found." I can see the content of the TimeCapsule's drive in finder and Time Machine but it no longer is making backups. Ideas?

Bought new TimeCapsule March 2013. Worked fine. Now get "No configured AirPort base stations have been found." I can see the content of the TimeCapsule's drive in finder and Time Machine but it no longer is making backups. Ideas?

Make sure that you have AirPort Utility 6.3.1 installed on your Mac.
AirPort Utility 6.3.1 for Mac - Support - Apple
Then, power off the entire network...all devices...in any order that you want
Wait a minute, then start the modem first and let it run a full minute
Start the next device connected to the modem, which may be your Time Capsule and let it run a minute
Keep starting devices one at a time the same way until the entire network is back up
See if AirPort Utility can "see" the Time Capsule now.
If yes, try another backup. If you encounter an error message, post back with the exact message.

My Airport Base Station does not appear in the Airport Admin Utility

I cannot see my airport extreme base station in the Airport Admin Utility nor in Airport Setup Assistant via Airport. It worked yesterday but when I was trying to set up a network something must have changed but I don't know what it is. (The setup didn't work so I am only using one base station right now.) The only way I can configure/reconfigure the base station is by physically connecting via an ethernet cable. Then no problem. I have two computers and neither can access the base station with Airport Admin Utility via Airport. I have installed the latest Airport Update but nothing has changed. What happened?

You should be able to use the second Airport Extreme
Base Station as a wireless print server. What I
suggest you do is:
1. run the Airport Admin Utility and clean up
settings on your existing Base Station:
- under the Airport tab, make sure you have not
selected to "create a closed network"
- under the Access Control tab, clear out all
settings
- under the WDS tab, clear out all settings
- under the Network tab, make sure the box is checked
to "Distribute IP addresses" and "Share a single IP
address using DHCP and NAT".
- update settings to the Base Station if you changed
anything.
2. do a hard reset of your second base station per:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107451
3. for now, put both base stations and the Mac in the
same room. Run the Airport Setup Assistant, and use
its guidance to configure the second base station as
a new base station that "extends" the wireless
network of your main base station.
That should do it.
Thanks very much. The printer works great from both computers via my second airport base station. And I can see both my base stations in the Airport Admin Utility.

Why is Airport Base Station running?

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