Why, oh why is setting up a WDS such a pain now?!?

Question

I had a WDS of two AEBSs and an AExpress. I just added the new AEBS(n) to the flock, as the main base station, and I just can't seem to get them all talking. The AExpress seems to be the only one that likes it. For each base, I gave them all identical settings as far as the wireless tab:
Participate in a WDS Network
Network name is the same for all 4
b/g compatible on the older three, n/b/g on the newer one
Channel 3
WPA Personal all with the same password
All stations have the same password for configuration.
The only differences are of course in the WDS tab:
The three G stations are set as WDS remotes with the Airport ID of the N station as the Main WDS. The N station is set as WDS main, with all three Airport IDs of the G stations in the Remotes section.
When I look at the list of base stations, I see only the N, the Express, and one of the G-AEBSs.
N station IP: 10.0.1.1
AExpress IP: 10.0.1.2
G-AEBS IP: 10.0.1.1 (??? should be 10.0.1.3)
Any ideas?
This new admin software is soooooo frustrating!!

Answer 1

I have a question. When I was configuring my AE-N, I saw where you can configure the unit to participate in a WDS network, but did not see an option for it to be the WDS base like you can with the G unit. How did you do that?
I have learned that because a wireless device shows up as a 'base' in the configuration program does not mean it is truly a base station, just that it can be seen by the program.
Some experimentation has proven that the N is not a base but just another node on the network. The only way I got the N to be a true base was to set it to create a new network and then I could link my other wireless "bases" as nodes off of it.
Jeff