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1st Gen Airport Express Trouble

tevion5

tevion5

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jul 12, 2011
1,967
1,603
Ireland
I just got a 1st gen airport extreme on ebay and want to use it for airplay and wifi range extension and the like. However I cannot discover it on anything.

I am aware it is incompatible with AirPort Utility 6.1, so I have connected it by ethernet cable to a my G5 PowerMac running OSX 10.5.8 and airport utility 5.6.1. It does not detect it at all.

I also tried connecting it by wifi to my windows pc running Airport Utility 5.6.1 and it also does not detect it.

I have tried connecting it by ethernet to my modem as well as my AirPort extreme 5th gen and have reset it twice to no result.

It just blinks with a fast green light but every one of my devices ignores it. Even with my macbook pro running AirPort utility 6.1 it should detect it and tell me i need to downgrade but even that does not happen.

I'm beginning to suspect this is just broken. I've tried various fixes and none of them work. Anybody know what I have to do?
 
My first-gen Express detected fine under AirPort utility 6.1, no compatibility issues I'm aware of. It was also a used item that I got recently.

What I did was a factory reset (unplug, press & hold reset button with paper clip or similar, plug in while holding button, wait for LED to flash rapidly). That sets it back to factory config. Then I enabled wifi on my mac (normally connected via Ethernet) and AirPort utility found it, upgraded it to current firmware, and set it up to "Join" my existing AirPort Extreme wireless network.

Once that was done I could turn off wifi on my Mac and go back to Ethernet, and set it up to server AirPlay speakers.
 
My LED flashes rapid green all the time. I will try the factory reset again and see what happens.
 
keep in mind there are 2 models that have the "first gen" airport expresse style, people often get them confused.
the original one with wireless G and the newer one that added N.

the N one will work with the new airport utility. the G won't

to tell which one you have look at the side of the unit..
G
--Model A1084
--copyright 2005

N
--model a1264
--copyright 2008

your best bet is to do a factory reset, and then run an ethernet cable to your existing wired network. look to see if you get a link light on the router/switch when you plug it in.

also after doing the reset look at your list of available wireless networks, i don't remember exactly what the default is, but it's something like "apple network " and then 8 random characters. if you see that, you know it's broadcasting. If you want to set it up over wireless, you would have to connect to that network. On a mac, airport utility will handle that for you, not sure how it works on PC.

it's better to set up over wired ethernet, in case you get something wrong in the wireless settings, you can still connect to the unit to get everything squared away.
** wired in this case means the express is using it's ethernet jack to talk to the network. If you wire the express, and your laptop is wireless back to the same router, that's ok. **
 
More 1st Gen Airport Express Trouble

So I have 2 of the G model Airport Express G (Model A1084 firmware v6.3) units that I have been using to stream iTunes music in my house. This has worked fine for more than a year, ( I can't remember the last time I had to muck with them ). In the process of changing internet providers I upgraded my primary Router (Linksys WRT1900 which shouldn't matter) but in order to reconfigure the AEs to the new SSID I had changed to I did a hard reset and plugged in an Ethernet cable and ran the Mac Airport Utility (v5.6.1). To make a long story short I am unable to join any existing network even one created by the other 1st gen AE even without security. When I try this it saves the changes reboots the AE and then fails to find the AE, even though I an still plugged in to it with an Ethernet cable, in the config utility leaving me to do another hard reset so that I can try again. I know these are old units but they used to work fine, and I was wondering if anyone is able to join any network with a Model A1084 G only AE using current tools and firmware.
 
tevion5 said:
Yes mine is G model. The really freakin old one :D
Click to expand...

Ah yes. Then you must use AirPort Utility 5.6 or 5.6.1. I recommend setting this up over wireless as some configurations have issues configuring base stations due to IP v6 settings. Wireless always seems to work.

AirPort Utility 6 cannot be used to configure that base station.
 
Altemose said:
Ah yes. Then you must use AirPort Utility 5.6 or 5.6.1. I recommend setting this up over wireless as some configurations have issues configuring base stations due to IP v6 settings. Wireless always seems to work.

AirPort Utility 6 cannot be used to configure that base station.
Click to expand...

I tuned out to be broken alright and I got a refund from the seller. Oh well!
 
Bruce4042 said:
More 1st Gen Airport Express Trouble

So I have 2 of the G model Airport Express G (Model A1084 firmware v6.3) units that I have been using to stream iTunes music in my house. This has worked fine for more than a year, ( I can't remember the last time I had to muck with them ). In the process of changing internet providers I upgraded my primary Router (Linksys WRT1900 which shouldn't matter) but in order to reconfigure the AEs to the new SSID I had changed to I did a hard reset and plugged in an Ethernet cable and ran the Mac Airport Utility (v5.6.1). To make a long story short I am unable to join any existing network even one created by the other 1st gen AE even without security. When I try this it saves the changes reboots the AE and then fails to find the AE, even though I an still plugged in to it with an Ethernet cable, in the config utility leaving me to do another hard reset so that I can try again. I know these are old units but they used to work fine, and I was wondering if anyone is able to join any network with a Model A1084 G only AE using current tools and firmware.
Click to expand...
[doublepost=1464507849][/doublepost]Did you sort this out? I'm having exactly the same issue having changed my internet provider.
 
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