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Apple Releases AirPort Base Station and Time Capsule Firmware Update 7.6.4
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Anyone having problems after the firmware update? My wi-fi has slowed to a crawl, using the latest Airport Express. Ethernet connection is fine.
For me everything (native IPv4 & IPv6) works as it did before.
(Aka, netalyzer still says: IPv6 Path MTU: Warning – Your system can not send or receive fragmented traffic over IPv6. The path between our system and your network does not appear to handle fragmented IPv6 traffic properly.)
Then connect to the new network coming from the Airport, the Airport utility will ask you something like "I know this non-configured device, do you want to load the previous configuration?". Say, yes to that prompt.
(Aka, netalyzer still says: IPv6 Path MTU: Warning – Your system can not send or receive fragmented traffic over IPv6. The path between our system and your network does not appear to handle fragmented IPv6 traffic properly.)
What you could try is opening the Airport utility. Hold the reset button on your Airport Express: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3728
Then connect to the new network coming from the Airport, the Airport utility will ask you something like "I know this non-configured device, do you want to load the previous configuration?". Say, yes to that prompt.
I've had problems
Not with this update, or with the previous one. I've had problems because I have 1. an AT&T U-verse piece of old, stupid iron for Internet and TV, and 2. Inside that, I have the Airport Extreme for wifi access; 3. I have a WD Live network drive. The network drive was flaky. I tried to keep my iTunes music on it, no go. Every time I rebooted, or even quit iTunes, I couldn't find the library again. I'd open a disk image on the network drive, and in a few hours, it was unreachable.
I finally fixed it by going into the WD Live dashboard, and setting the network drive's IP to be set manually, not DHCP. And checked the option "don't let the disk sleep." Bingo! Works like a charm now.
But by Airport extreme? Worked fine before, works fine now.
Not with this update, or with the previous one. I've had problems because I have 1. an AT&T U-verse piece of old, stupid iron for Internet and TV, and 2. Inside that, I have the Airport Extreme for wifi access; 3. I have a WD Live network drive. The network drive was flaky. I tried to keep my iTunes music on it, no go. Every time I rebooted, or even quit iTunes, I couldn't find the library again. I'd open a disk image on the network drive, and in a few hours, it was unreachable.
I finally fixed it by going into the WD Live dashboard, and setting the network drive's IP to be set manually, not DHCP. And checked the option "don't let the disk sleep." Bingo! Works like a charm now.
But by Airport extreme? Worked fine before, works fine now.
I wonder what apple's solution is for those of us who own an older G only airport express that can't be configured with airport utility 6.X?
Good point seems kind of ridiculous that you can't upgrade your computer's operating system because of your router.
Then again, G is about to become two amendments behind the standard, so maybe it's time to upgrade. Especially if your computer can support Mavericks...
They aren't - My house is very old with stone walls as thick as 1M. The routers are all very much out of wireless range of each other. My sisters room is simply in such a position that when you are in it, you can pick up both signals.
I have a time capsule (previous gen N dual band) and a previous gen N airport express, the G is purely an airtunes device and it would be nice not to have to get rid of that just because apple can't be arsed to support it.
Though not an ideal solution, you could install Windows through a VM and administer your router through that version of Airport Utility.
Regarding the subject at hand, this new firmware seems to have fixed the iOS connectivity issues I was having with my AEBS. I have not had to turn WiFi off then back on again at all since the update.
Another good point. I have one of those g AE's sitting around the house, and I was just thinking the other day about blowing the dust off of it and using it as an Airplay device.
I would consider getting rid of the 802.11g AirPort Express just because it's bringing your whole entire 2.4GHz network down to 802.11g speeds, range, and protocol support.
Except it's connected to my 2.4 ghz network along with phones, kindles etc basically devices that can't take advantage of N anyway, the computers, atTV's etc are connected to the 5ghz network
If this situation continues to release I'll take the G in for a free replacement.
I updated my AirPort Extreme after having to run 7.6.1 previously. (7.6.3 caused issues similar to many others were experiencing, didn't have 7.6.2 to back down too)
Just 24 hours after the update, the wireless network went down even though the unit was online. Not responsive in AirPort utility, so I powered it down and up. Its up now, and back to running 7.6.1.
Nice try Apple, maybe 7.6.5 will actually work.
I own a ton of Apple products, the AirPort Extreme is the only one I wish I hadn't bought.
Just 24 hours after the update, the wireless network went down even though the unit was online. Not responsive in AirPort utility, so I powered it down and up. Its up now, and back to running 7.6.1.
Nice try Apple, maybe 7.6.5 will actually work.
I own a ton of Apple products, the AirPort Extreme is the only one I wish I hadn't bought.
Is it possible, (without my knowing its history with you) that the hardware is getting flaky and starting to crap out?
I guess I'm blessed with my 2nd generation AEBS. It came out 6 years ago, in 2007, and it's been rock solid since day one and it's still going. I can't ever recall it having an issue of any sort with me.
Perhaps, though I have Linksys routers that are nearly 10 years older that still work.
7.6.1 has worked rock solid at least. Signal is good, no issues that I can think of. Maybe its time to dump it on eBay and get the latest, though now I'm a bit wary of spending the $ on another AEBS.
Love my AirPort Expresses though. Have 3 of those that are also working great, even with the latest update.
Me too. The 2nd gen, as I mentioned already, has been great, and I don't want to buy a new one because it may not be as solid as this one. Plus, I have no reason to get the latest since I don't have any AC devices and the N protocol works fine for me.
So, I'll be keeping this one until it stops working.
7.6.4 seems buggy for me
Either my 10 month old Airport Extreme is going bad coincidentally, or 7.6.4 is buggy for me. Ever since I installed it my AE just quits working, sometimes as often as twice a day. Wi-fi disappears, and the devices plugged into it directly (Like my ObiHai phone controller) stop working even though the AE front light still shows green. The only fix seems to be power-cycling the AE to reboot it, after which all works well again until next incident.
Reverting to 7.6.3 to see whether that clears things up again.
Either my 10 month old Airport Extreme is going bad coincidentally, or 7.6.4 is buggy for me. Ever since I installed it my AE just quits working, sometimes as often as twice a day. Wi-fi disappears, and the devices plugged into it directly (Like my ObiHai phone controller) stop working even though the AE front light still shows green. The only fix seems to be power-cycling the AE to reboot it, after which all works well again until next incident.
Reverting to 7.6.3 to see whether that clears things up again.
Airport Utility 5.6 on Mavericks
I've been trying to work out what the deal is with flaky Airport Express firmware. I have proven that the 5GHz bands drop more packets and have worse latency than the 2.4GHz band. One thing that helped me was to run 802.11n only on 5GHz, and b/g on 2.4GHz. 5GHz has seemed to have gotten slightly more stable on 5th gen AEs, but still has bad latency. As Apple stated, the problem is really only with iOS devices. Weird.
Also, for those of you who still want to run AU 5.6.x on Mavericks, I got that figured out. Follow my instructions.
I've been trying to work out what the deal is with flaky Airport Express firmware. I have proven that the 5GHz bands drop more packets and have worse latency than the 2.4GHz band. One thing that helped me was to run 802.11n only on 5GHz, and b/g on 2.4GHz. 5GHz has seemed to have gotten slightly more stable on 5th gen AEs, but still has bad latency. As Apple stated, the problem is really only with iOS devices. Weird.
Also, for those of you who still want to run AU 5.6.x on Mavericks, I got that figured out. Follow my instructions.
So 7.6.4 was definitely the reason my Airport Extreme kept crapping out. Reverted and after nearly 48 hours it's been working fine again. I declare 7.6.4 to be too buggy to use.
Just updated today and it has reduced signal strength reception. I've always struggled a bit with reception, so a minor reduction is pretty bad.
Have a 5th gen Extreme on 5GHz, no interference or neighboring networks at all in this spectrum. 2.4GHz is a mess but then it always is.
Have a 5th gen Extreme on 5GHz, no interference or neighboring networks at all in this spectrum. 2.4GHz is a mess but then it always is.