My AirPort Express just died!

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

I was playing music using Airtunes and suddenly the AirPort Express just went "poof" and I lost the connection. I went to reset it, which I have to do every now and then but when I saw the light was off I started to fear the worst. It was also VERY hot to touch, and smelled like burned gunpowder. Just tried it in another outlet to make sure but as I thought: It was totally dead.

Luckily in Norway there's at least one year warranty on all hardware, and the AE was 11 months old yesterday. So after two phone-calls to Apple Norway (first customer service then tech support) clocking in at about half an hour (mostly on hold) another AE is on its way with UPS...

Only problem: Now I have to use a cord from my iBook to my Onkyo amplifier for playing music. (Networking/surfing I can do with an old 802.11b UFO, i.e. old Airport Base station... ) My iBook is basically my jukebox and I usually stream music over Airtunes more than 12 hours a day (now that I'm home most days).

 

[mad jew]

That's a bit disappointing.

I've always thought the Expresses were pretty durable, how do you think it broke?

 

[ClarkeB]

Wait? If you have an Airport Extreme Base Station why do you you need an Express?

 

[arm]

Airport Base station vs. Airport Extreme Base Station

Wait? If you have an Airport Extreme Base Station why do you you need an Express?

(Networking/surfing I can do with an old 802.11b UFO, i.e. old Airport Base station... )

An old Airport Base station UFO using 802.11b is not an Airport Extreme Base Station. Airport Extreme Base Station uses 802.11b/g.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

I have also been disappointed in needing to reset the AEX on occasion. Been tempted to upgrade my cable modem and wi-fi base unit and see if this helps. But I really hate the idea of the new access point an AEX being side by side for my setup. That was the point of going the AEX route.

 

[Westside guy]

I have also been disappointed in needing to reset the AEX on occasion. Been tempted to upgrade my cable modem and wi-fi base unit and see if this helps. But I really hate the idea of the new access point an AEX being side by side for my setup. That was the point of going the AEX route.

I'm not sure why, but I haven't had to reset my Express as long as it experiences some activity every once in a while - for instance, I've got a Tivo plugged into it so it is "calling out" every 24 hours.

When it sat unused for longer periods, it would occasionally need to be reset every few weeks (originally we got it to extend our network into a room that is only sporadically used by computer users).

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

That's a bit disappointing.

I've always thought the Expresses were pretty durable, how do you think it broke?

Well from the smell I guess something inside exploded/burned up, but I'm not opening it to find out and risk my warranty now that Apple send me a new one...

Wait? If you have an Airport Extreme Base Station why do you you need an Express?

Like arm noticed, the old base is no an Extreme-base, just regular AirPort, and even if it was I would have gotten an Express for the music streaming capability alone. That's the best feature since sliced bread...

 

[superbovine]

Well from the smell I guess something inside exploded/burned up, but I'm not opening it to find out and risk my warranty now that Apple send me a new one...
Like arm noticed, the old base is no an Extreme-base, just regular AirPort, and even if it was I would have gotten an Express for the music streaming capability alone. That's the best feature since sliced bread...

have it on a surge suppressor?

i use one of these: http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/xpressstand/index.php

and run cord to a surge suppressor

 

[Mord]

my APE has been solid for almost a year now, never had to reset it, always worked, it can get a tad hot but no where near as hot as my router (which as been solid since i put some heatsinks in it.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

have it on a surge suppressor?

No, I don't... that is I don't have a special surge protector, but I thought I had that built into my fuse box... (though on closer inspection I cannot see the tell-tale extra swich... so maybe the answer really is no... )

But I'm quite sure it wasn't a surge that took it (there was no flicker and nothing else was affected and surges are very rare in Norway apart from during thunderstorms), I just think something in it just buckled after eleven months hard work...

I'm very glad for the one year warranty...

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Update

UPS came by today with a brand new Airport Express, directly from Cork.

AirTunes is back in action...

(For some reason iTunes acknowledges the new AE, but the Airport software refuses to connect to it and jumps beck to the old AirPort UFO for networking... not that it matters, because even the old AirPort pushes 5-5.5 Mbps, more than enough to accommodate two Macs sharing a 2 Mbps ADSL line, but still kind of odd that my iBook refuses to connect to it but happy to stream music... I've tried tweaking every setting on the AE, but to no avail... but, as long as I can stream music and connect to the internet, it doesn't bother me too much... )

Edit: Now I can even connect to the new AE. For security reasons I chose a new, longer password, and even if I deleted the keychain entry it still didn't like it when I called the new base the same as the old one. A quick renaming of the base and everything works just fine...