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Error when trying to access External HD via Airport Extreme

K

kashmoney2006

macrumors regular
Original poster
So I received a new HD for christmas and hooked it up to my airport extreme base station using its usb connection. I havent had any problems for a few days until just recently. When I try to access the HD through Finder I get an error:
"Connection failed

The Server may not exist or it is not operational at this time. Check the server name or IP address and your network connection and try again."

internet works fine still and i have noticed no other problems except this. if i unplug the base station and plug it back in, then it will work fine again (but not for too long). I am running Mac OS 10.5.1 also if that helps. Thanks in advance.
 
I just upgraded to Leopard two days ago and so far I love it (specially spaces) but I am having the same problem you are and the sad thing is that all of my iTunes library is stored in the external hardrive(not more space in my laptop 🙁 ) and I am starting to get anoyed 😱. Anyone please a solution 😕
 
I have my USB HD connected to my Apple Extreme n, in Tiger the connection seemed to be more stable than in Leopard, I have came across the connection to the HD issue occasionally. My setup includes File Sharing with a disk Password that is stored in my keychain; so, whenever I got in trouble connecting to the airdisk, I found that erasing the entry from my keychain will force to request again the connection password, once provided everything goes back to normal at least for several weeks. :apple:

BTW, I do have too all my iTunes library stored in the shared HD, normally it works pretty good, but in some ocassions when dowloading music from the itunes store, the music ends up in a library within my internal HD, not in the shared HD, I'm pretty sure it has to do with a buggy wireless Airport connection (there are several postings regarding Airport connection issues in Leopard)
 
kashmoney2006 said:
How do you view/edit your key chain?
Click to expand...

Go to your Application folder then Utilities and look for Keychain Access, once opened look for an entry with the name of your wireless shared drive, look at the left pane under Category -> Passwords - > Inertnet (big blue @ icon), most likely the one you need is the one with the "kind" column assigned to Network Password. Double click in that item there's a little check box to show password, it will ask for your administrator password once provided it will show you the password you use to connect to your shared drive; clear that field, and close the Keychain app.

Now try to connect to your wireless drive again, in the finder click "connect as" to provide your password, other wise you will get connected as a guest

Hope this helps :apple:
 
Hmm, this problem has started happening to me too. All was fine but now when I try to connect I get that exact same message. I've tried the keychain fix but that's not changed anything. Very strange, especially given the Airport itself is obviously working fine as I'm able to post this. So why does it think its gone or that I don't have access to the disk?
 
ascender said:
Hmm, this problem has started happening to me too. All was fine but now when I try to connect I get that exact same message. I've tried the keychain fix but that's not changed anything. Very strange, especially given the Airport itself is obviously working fine as I'm able to post this. So why does it think its gone or that I don't have access to the disk?
Click to expand...

Gee, this issue with airport is messing around with everyone. I know this is not near to a "good" solution, but have you tried restarting your airport? :apple:
 
nemex said:
Gee, this issue with airport is messing around with everyone. I know this is not near to a "good" solution, but have you tried restarting your airport? :apple:
Click to expand...

how do i restart? is there a button to hold down? ive just been unplugging and plugging it back in every time it acts up.
 
Yip, restarting it fixes the problem but the problem quickly returns.

What are people doing with their HDs? Just storing files on them or using them for Time Machine backups via the unsupported command?
 
kashmoney2006 said:
how do i restart? is there a button to hold down? ive just been unplugging and plugging it back in every time it acts up.
Click to expand...

go to your Airport Utility, once open double click in your base station, it will pop a new window with the AP details, go to the menu bar and select Base Station -> Restart... Wait for a few minutes (1 or 2) for the Airport to come back on line :apple:
 
ascender said:
Yip, restarting it fixes the problem but the problem quickly returns.

What are people doing with their HDs? Just storing files on them or using them for Time Machine backups via the unsupported command?
Click to expand...

i use it for both. i have movies and some other files on it and i use it for time machine backups..
 
Some people on the Apple Support pages are saying its more reliable if you connect the drive to a USB hub and then in to the Airport. That's not an option for me, but might be worth a try for others on here?

Can't believe such a basic feature of the product is so flaky.
 
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