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Having to reboot my Airport Extreme (4th gen?)

W

Wolfpup

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Sep 7, 2006
2,948
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I THINK I have a fourth gen model. It's not the current vertical 6th gen. And I THINK there was another "flat" one in between that and mine, that basically had better antennas or something.

Anyway, I've now twice had to reboot my Airport Extreme to get Ethernet working right.

A couple of weeks ago I had one of the ports just stop transmitting anything. Everything connected to that part of my network just disappeared...rebooting my Airport brought everything back.

Then, some time this week (I finally caught on last night) my connection that should be 1000Mb was only doing about 10Mb. Again, rebooting the airport fixed it.

Just wondering if anyone knows what's going on, if maybe a port on my airport is going bad, or...? I've had it running since I guess...2011? Maybe 2010 actually, which would make sense as the 5th gen hit in 2011. This is the first problem I've had with it.

Before this I had a Linksys router (without wifi) which (after 7+ years of use) started suddenly running SUPER slowly...so possibly the same thing that's happening here.
 
Wolfpup said:
I THINK I have a fourth gen model. It's not the current vertical 6th gen. And I THINK there was another "flat" one in between that and mine, that basically had better antennas or something.

Anyway, I've now twice had to reboot my Airport Extreme to get Ethernet working right.

A couple of weeks ago I had one of the ports just stop transmitting anything. Everything connected to that part of my network just disappeared...rebooting my Airport brought everything back.

Then, some time this week (I finally caught on last night) my connection that should be 1000Mb was only doing about 10Mb. Again, rebooting the airport fixed it.

Just wondering if anyone knows what's going on, if maybe a port on my airport is going bad, or...? I've had it running since I guess...2011? Maybe 2010 actually, which would make sense as the 5th gen hit in 2011. This is the first problem I've had with it.

Before this I had a Linksys router (without wifi) which (after 7+ years of use) started suddenly running SUPER slowly...so possibly the same thing that's happening here.
Click to expand...

What firmware is it running?
 
Altemose said:
What firmware is it running?
Click to expand...

I could check tonight. It would be whatever the newest is for it, like I know I checked last night since I rebooted it through the airport utility and would have checked for firmware updates then.
 
A client of mine had problems with a 4th gen from the start (goes yellow constantly) I could never get it solved with firmware updates.

Reboots didn't last long either. When she replaced with the current model, no probs and testing the 4th gen here (she gave it to me) netted no problems when I reset on my system.

ISP? Router? - It's a mystery ;)
 
Geez, that is weird!

I seem to recall my firmware ends in .4. I'd be hesitant to downgrade considering newer firmware is likely to have security fixes and the like. Anyway I think it's been quite a while since I upgraded the firmware, and haven't had issues until recently.

I wonder if it's starting to die and I'll have to reboot a couple times a month or something, and then it gets more often :-D
 
Wolfpup said:
Geez, that is weird!



I seem to recall my firmware ends in .4. I'd be hesitant to downgrade considering newer firmware is likely to have security fixes and the like. Anyway I think it's been quite a while since I upgraded the firmware, and haven't had issues until recently.



I wonder if it's starting to die and I'll have to reboot a couple times a month or something, and then it gets more often :-D
Click to expand...


It could be failing. Your AirPort should run firmware 7.6.4. Have you tried a factory reset?
 
WiFi routers last two or three years, in my experience. By then enough component aging has occurred that they start to go unreliable in one fashion or another. Occasionally you'll squeeze more life out of one, as my son has with his Airport Extreme, but once they start to go increasingly fluky, the process tends to accelerate.

Sounds like that's what's happening here. Shrug. Get a new one.
 
sjinsjca said:
WiFi routers last two or three years, in my experience. By then enough component aging has occurred that they start to go unreliable in one fashion or another. Occasionally you'll squeeze more life out of one, as my son has with his Airport Extreme, but once they start to go increasingly fluky, the process tends to accelerate.

Sounds like that's what's happening here. Shrug. Get a new one.
Click to expand...

Thanks! It at least makes me feel better to know I'm not alone.

My Linksys (no wifi) from 2005 lasted me until maybe a year or two ago. My Airport Extreme I guess I've been using since 2010...it doesn't feel like that long, but...

Those suckers get really hot. Wonder if routers would last longer if they were bigger/had cooling systems (preferably passive).

I've heard some of the Maximum PC guys have gone through a router a year.

At any rate it's nice to know it's not just me!
 
Wolfpup said:
Thanks! It at least makes me feel better to know I'm not alone.

My Linksys (no wifi) from 2005 lasted me until maybe a year or two ago. My Airport Extreme I guess I've been using since 2010...it doesn't feel like that long, but...

Those suckers get really hot. Wonder if routers would last longer if they were bigger/had cooling systems (preferably passive).

I've heard some of the Maximum PC guys have gone through a router a year.

At any rate it's nice to know it's not just me!
Click to expand...

Do you have AppleCare on anything? If so, the AirPort may be covered under the AppleCare agreement on one of your devices.
 
It could also be a problem with your ethernet cable and/or the client you have your AE connected to.
Try to replace the cable(s) and see if this only happens with one specific computer.
 
eduardrw said:
It could also be a problem with your ethernet cable and/or the client you have your AE connected to.
Try to replace the cable(s) and see if this only happens with one specific computer.
Click to expand...

Good thought! Total pain to troubleshoot, but good thought! I know for sure the one time it was all the devices plugged into a switch plugged into a single cable going into my Airport.

If I start having this problem again I'll maybe order another cable, lay it out along where my current one is and try again. Well, actually I think I'll swap ports around first on my Airport just to see what that does.
 
Wolfpup said:
Good thought! Total pain to troubleshoot, but good thought! I know for sure the one time it was all the devices plugged into a switch plugged into a single cable going into my Airport.

If I start having this problem again I'll maybe order another cable, lay it out along where my current one is and try again. Well, actually I think I'll swap ports around first on my Airport just to see what that does.
Click to expand...

That is a good idea!
 
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