Airport Express as repeater?

[Cave Man]

Quick question:

I have Mac that has a failed airport card, but ethernet port still works. Can I use an Airport Express to connect to it by a 3 foot ethernet cable and still have my Airport Extreme Base Station set its IP and subnet addresses by DHCP? I don't want the AE to set the addresses, only the AEBS to set them.

 

[Intell]

I know this can be done. But I forget the settings that have to be changed on the Express. I think if you have the Express setup in WDS mode it should work, at least it does for me. And also, depending on how much data you send through the Express it may get clogged up and crash. Mine does about every two months.

 

[GGJstudios]

I remember seeing a discussion about this in recent months. Here's an older thread that I believe addresses the issue: Airport Extreme, Express and Xbox 360

Newer: Airport Express [From Wifi to Ethernet]

 

[Cave Man]

Thanks for the tips - I don't have it working. Here's the setup:

DSL modem connected to an AEBSn by ethernet cable. Other computers in the house work (two wifi MacBooks and one desktop connected to the AEBSn by ethernet cable). The AEBSn is set to distribute ip addresses by DHCP in the range of 10.0.x.x.

Airport Express connected by ethernet cable to the other Mac, and the AE is connected to the AEBSn by wifi 802.11n. The Express has an ip address of 10.0.0.7, but the computer that's connected by ethernet has an ip address of 10.37.129.2. (Everything has subnet of 255.255.255.0.) Because of this the computer can't see the AEBSn nor can it see other computers on the network (and they cannot see this computer).

Both the AEBSn and the AE show up in Airport Utility when it runs on my MacBook.

Somehow I need to get that IP address to 10.0.x.x on the computer connected to the AE. How can I get the AE (or AEBSn) to assign such a number?

 

[Intell]

How is the Express setup? WDS, Extend a Network, or Join a Network?

 

[Cave Man]

In the AU under the Wireless tab, I have the Express set as:

Wireless Mode: Extend a Wireless Network

Allow wireless clients is enabled.

WEP/WEP2 Personal is enabled.

 

[Cave Man]

The answer is:

1. Set the Airport Extreme Base Station to "Create a Wireless Network" in Airport > Wireless. Set channel to 2.

2. Set the Airport Express to "Join a wireless network" in Airport > Wireless. Set the network name to the name of the AEBS, enable the "Allow Ethernet clients". Set channel to 2 (just has to match the AEBS).

Make sure both the AEBS and the AE are set to WPA/WPA2 Personal security. Also, this is with the 100 MB/s AEBSn.

 

[Bartman01]

I set mine to 'extend the network'. I have it hooked up in the entrainment nook downstairs - feeds digital audio to the receiver and fills in the weak/dead spots downstairs.

 

[Cave Man]

But I believe that disables the ethernet port on the Express.