AirPort Extreme 802.11n (2nd Gen) just stopped working

[aaronvan]

This thing has been 100% reliable for years. Firmware up-to-date. However, last night I unplugged the power for a few hours (as I occasionally do) and when I powered it back up there was no front light. No amber, nothing. The little green lights on the ports blink so I know it's getting power. But no wifi, routing, or switching. Pressing the reset button does nothing. Not too concerned as I have spare devices but it's interesting how it just died. I'm wondering how it died and if it's salvageable. Any thoughts?

 

[Altemose]

This thing has been 100% reliable for years. Firmware up-to-date. However, last night I unplugged the power for a few hours (as I occasionally do) and when I powered it back up there was no front light. No amber, nothing. The little green lights on the ports blink so I know it's getting power. But no wifi, routing, or switching. Pressing the reset button does nothing. Not too concerned as I have spare devices but it's interesting how it just died. I'm wondering how it died and if it's salvageable. Any thoughts?

A common problem on AirPort's of the "flat pancake" style was the power supplies and the capacitors internally. I have lost a few in the same way and I found it is best to replace them sadly. One thing you can verify is that you are resetting it properly. A lot of people think merely pressing the reset button will work, but you must unplug the unit, press and hold the reset button, plug the unit in and then continue to hold reset until the front light flashes rapidly.

 

[aaronvan]

A common problem on AirPort's of the "flat pancake" style was the power supplies and the capacitors internally. I have lost a few in the same way and I found it is best to replace them sadly. One thing you can verify is that you are resetting it properly. A lot of people think merely pressing the reset button will work, but you must unplug the unit, press and hold the reset button, plug the unit in and then continue to hold reset until the front light flashes rapidly.

Thanks, yeah I did all that. I wonder if it was the very high temperatures we've been having recently? The upstairs house had been in the 90° range and perhaps that combined with the advanced age of the router made it finally fail. I can't really complain because seven years is pretty damn good.

In fact, I went out and bought a brand-new one. I was going to buy a Linksys or something but I said hell I'll just get another Apple product. I like to mess around with Linux-based routers, but I need something simple that my wife can fix if the Internet goes down while I'm out of town. Anyway here's a picture of the old and the new.

I sent that picture to about 10 different people. Can you imagine anything more boring than somebody sending you a picture of their new router?

 

[Altemose]

Thanks, yeah I did all that. I wonder if it was the very high temperatures we've been having recently? The upstairs house had been in the 90° range and perhaps that combined with the advanced age of the router made it finally fail. I can't really complain because seven years is pretty damn good.

Temperature is definitely an attribute of failing hardware...