airport express setup question

[allupons]

A buddy of mine just bought a new imac and an airport express. He is having trouble setting up the express though and he doesn't live near me so I can't physically access it. The issue is he can't get the airport utility to find the airport express, and the modem is plugged in correctly and the light is a solid green on the airport express.

The part that confuses me is that on every router I have ever setup, you have to be physically connected with a ethernet cable in order to setup the wireless. If this airport express has no ethernet ports for computers, how is he supposed to connect to it so that the airport utility can find the airport express? Is there a default wireless network that airport expresses have available as a default? Thanks.

 

[Sam235]

A buddy of mine just bought a new imac and an airport express. He is having trouble setting up the express though and he doesn't live near me so I can't physically access it. The issue is he can't get the airport utility to find the airport express, and the modem is plugged in correctly and the light is a solid green on the airport express.

The part that confuses me is that on every router I have ever setup, you have to be physically connected with a ethernet cable in order to setup the wireless. If this airport express has no ethernet ports for computers, how is he supposed to connect to it so that the airport utility can find the airport express? Is there a default wireless network that airport expresses have available as a default? Thanks.

theres an ethernet port on it, connect it to the computer and try that

 

[waw74]

by default the airport will generate a wifi network, something like apple_######, where the #s are part of the MAC address of the express, don't remember the exact name.

on a mac, when when you run airport utility, and it sees that name in your available wi-fi networks, it put the airport on the list as available to be configured in airport utility, even though you aren't connected to it. once you click configure, you're given a warning, and airport utility will cause your mac to disconnect from whatever wi-fi you're connected to, and then connect to the network from the express.
(he does have his wifi on?)

this can be a bit problematic, if you don't get it set up 100% correct the first time, there is a chance you won't be able to connect to the wi-fi coming off the express, and the only way to fix it is to hard-wire to it, or do a factory reset.

it's much easier to set them up when they are wired.

if it's not showing up in airport utility, have him check the available wi-fi networks. and join the one with the random numbers and letters at the end.

if that still doesn't work, do a factory reset on the unit, instructions here, then it should show up.