Airport Express problems

On 2/15/08 12:08 PM, _Michelle Steiner_ spoke thusly:
> I bought an Airport Express yesterday, and can't get it to work.

Incidentally, is there any reason why decided not to wait for Time Capsule?
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Michelle Steiner wrote:

> This is for an entirely different purpose; it is a remote access point
> to connect my DirecTV DVR to the internet so I can get its Video On
> Demand.

You can't use an AirPort Express for that purpose, at least not with the
stock Apple firmware. The AE's client mode is only for music streaming
(AirTunes) and printer sharing. To use it for network connectivity from
an Ethernet device to a wireless network, it must be used in WDS mode
with a compatible wireless router, such another Apple AirPort base
station or a few Buffalo models that are based on Broadcom chips.
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In article ,
Michelle Steiner wrote:

> I bought an Airport Express yesterday, and can't get it to work. The
> LED keeps blinking amber. According to the manual, that means it
> "cannot establish a connection to the network or internet." The manual
> says to run Airport Utility and select the AE, and choose Manual Setup.
> However, when I do that, the application gets stuck at "Reading base
> station configuration..." and I can't get any information about it.
>
> I'm trying to set it up as wireless client, not as a base station. I
> have entered its MAC into the ACL of the wireless router that's
> connected to the Cable modem.
>
> Any suggestions as to how to get it to work?

Several things to check:

1 - Do a hard reset on the remote hub using the little "stick me with a
ballpoint pen" thingy on the side of the hub. This will clear any junk
in it's memory, like a bogus dhcp address.

2 - on the main base station (the one connected to the cable modem),
check to make sure that the base station is set up to serve WDS, and (of
course) be sure the MAC address of the remote hub is visible in the
"browse" dialog. Use the browse dialog rather than typing in the
address, as this is a good way to be sure that the remote hub is visible
to the base station.

3 - Make sure that "Assign IP addresses is OFF in the NAT setup dialog.
You can get away with having this mis-configured if you only have one or
two computers connected (I have no idea why) but it can wreak havoc when
you try to install a downstream hub. The cable modem is set up to
distribute addresses and enabling the same function in the airport hub
will lead to addressing conflicts.

4 - Make sure you have configured the remote hub to act as a WDS remote,
and make sure it is also set NOT to assign addresses.

That's all I can think of. Maybe you did them all. If none of these
work, then I'm useless.

Joshua
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In article ,
Michelle Steiner wrote:
In article ,
Michelle Steiner wrote:

> I bought an Airport Express yesterday, and can't get it to work. The
> LED keeps blinking amber. According to the manual, that means it
> "cannot establish a connection to the network or internet." The manual
> says to run Airport Utility and select the AE, and choose Manual Setup.
> However, when I do that, the application gets stuck at "Reading base
> station configuration..." and I can't get any information about it.
>
> I'm trying to set it up as wireless client, not as a base station. I
> have entered its MAC into the ACL of the wireless router that's
> connected to the Cable modem.
>
> Any suggestions as to how to get it to work?

Several things to check:

1 - Do a hard reset on the remote hub using the little "stick me with a
ballpoint pen" thingy on the side of the hub. This will clear any junk
in it's memory, like a bogus dhcp address.

2 - on the main base station (the one connected to the cable modem),
check to make sure that the base station is set up to serve WDS, and (of
course) be sure the MAC address of the remote hub is visible in the
"browse" dialog. Use the browse dialog rather than typing in the
address, as this is a good way to be sure that the remote hub is visible
to the base station.

3 - Make sure that "Assign IP addresses is OFF in the NAT setup dialog.
You can get away with having this mis-configured if you only have one or
two computers connected (I have no idea why) but it can wreak havoc when
you try to install a downstream hub. The cable modem is set up to
distribute addresses and enabling the same function in the airport hub
will lead to addressing conflicts.

4 - Make sure you have configured the remote hub to act as a WDS remote,
and make sure it is also set NOT to assign addresses.

That's all I can think of. Maybe you did them all. If none of these
work, then I'm useless.

Joshua
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On Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:08:19 -0600, Michelle Steiner wrote
(in article ):

> I bought an Airport Express yesterday, and can't get it to work. The
> LED keeps blinking amber. According to the manual, that means it
> "cannot establish a connection to the network or internet."

I had this amber light problem when I first bought mine. I finally
figured it out after a call to my Apple, which couldn't answer, and
then I called my ISP, and they figured it out.

It turns out that they cache router information for security reasons
(at least mine does) for some amount of time. The AE couldn't get a
DHCP address because it didn't have the right MAC address in it. They
told me that if I had left the old one disconnected long enough (hours,
minutes?? he wasn't sure) that it would have eventually reset.
Instead, he did a manual reset on it and the AE started working
instantly.

> I'm trying to set it up as wireless client, not as a base station. I
> have entered its MAC into the ACL of the wireless router that's
> connected to the Cable modem.
>
> Any suggestions as to how to get it to work?

My guess would be that it is not getting a DHCP address handed to it.
It seems to try to "automagically" configure itself first time up. You
might have to plug it into the cable modem direct one time and let it
autoconfigure, after which you can run the setup utility in OS X on it.
It's the first time out of the box issue possibly. If you can do
that, set it up like you want it with the GUI utility, then rewire your
setup you might be able to get flying.


--
Randy Howard (2reply remove FOOBAR)
"The power of accurate observation is called cynicism by those
who have not got it." - George Bernard Shaw
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On Fri, 15 Feb 2008 16:49:11 -0600, Michelle Steiner wrote
(in article ):

> In article ,
> Randy Howard wrote:
>
>> My guess would be that it is not getting a DHCP address handed to it.
>> It seems to try to "automagically" configure itself first time up.
>> You might have to plug it into the cable modem direct one time and
>> let it autoconfigure, after which you can run the setup utility in OS
>> X on it.
>
> Tried that (after posting my original message); that didn't work. It
> doesn't need a DHCP address from the cable modem; it needs one from the
> main base station.

Perhaps you could assign it a static IP off the main by MAC address, on
192.168 or 10.whatever ?


I have to say I am happy with the operation of it, but the AE tries to
be too magic in its setup. The GUI utility is pretty weak, especially
the punching out ports, which uses perhaps the most counterintuitive
approach that I have ever encountered.

Once you get it up and running though, it seems rock solid. Previous
wired and wireless routers would hiccup from time to time, require a
reboot once a week or so, especially the Netgear I replaced with this.

It's just the setup and configuration has been so oversimplified that
it makes it very difficult to use it for anything but a generic plug
and play autoconfigure scenario. There should be an "expert" switch on
the back that makes it behave like a normal unit, instead
"Interfaceless Router for Dummmies" :)


--
Randy Howard (2reply remove FOOBAR)
"The power of accurate observation is called cynicism by those
who have not got it." - George Bernard Shaw
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