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Airport Extreme/Express Configuration issues

W

wmjackson

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 31, 2011
13
0
Okay, so I've been battling with this for a little while and although my mac knowledge is good, my network knowledge is not so. I'll give you our set up and then the issue.

In the house we have 2 Airport Extremes and 2 Airport Expresses. There is also an ethernet cable that runs through the wall from one end of the house to the other. The 2 Expresses are connected to hi fis to create airplay speakers.

Our internet connection comes through in the back room and goes into our modem and then into the primary Airport Extreme (let's call this AE1, this is a 5th gen). There is an ethernet connection from this running to the secondary AE (AE2, which is a 3rd gen). There are then 2 Airport Expresses in the house. These are both model number MB321LL/A which i believe are 1st gen? I'm not entirely sure.

These are both located nearer to AE2 than AE1 however I want them to extend AE1 as this is a better quality product? Is this right?

The reason is that I have tried setting this network up a few times and after about a week, the 2 AEx start flashing with an orange light stating that they can't extend the network. What I think is happening is that they are extending the secondary AE which is an extension of AE1 and I don't know if this is possible.

AE2 is set up in bridge mode and to just extend AE1 but due to it's location it has a lot more devices connected to it (iPhones, Macs, iPads etc).



Would it be advisable to swap the 2 AExtremes? Is there something fundamentally wrong with my setup? One option is i could just remove the second Airport Extreme from the network entirely but I don't see why I should have to do this. I would ideally like to keep this in place.



If you have any suggestions or would like more info about the network or settings I have in place please reply and I'll let you know. I'm sure someone out there knows the answer, or has done something similar previously, I just haven't found it yet.
 
Can you please confirm this :

- your modem is connected to AE1 via Ethernet

- AE2 is connected to AE1 via Ethernet ?

If yes, how did you setup AE1 et AE2 :

- AE1 to "create a wireless network", right ?

- AE2 : did you choose : "create a wireless network", or "extend a wireless network" ?
 
During the setup process, have you changed any of the wireless settings from Auto?

Also, if they Express's only need to join the network, configure them to join rather than extend. If they're told to extend, they will always need to extend from AE1 as AE2 is already extending that network via bridge. (IIRC)

As for your question if to swap AE1 & 2 around, you could try that but I don't think it'll make a difference as your expresses are G devices and both extremes provide the same performance for G devices.
 
Oh really? I'd have never guessed this. This kind of seems counter intuitive.

I shall try this and report back.
 
"Extend a wireless network" means extend a network wirelessly.

Since AE1 and AE2 are connected via Ethernet, you do not need AE2 to wirelessly extend the AE1's wireless network.

AE1 and AE2 are two wireless access points (AP) of the same "roaming" network.

They must have same SSID, same security (WPA2) and same password.

Any client device automatically connects to the AP it gets the best signal from.

See : http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4260
 
Bruno09 said:
"Extend a wireless network" means extend a network wirelessly.

Since AE1 and AE2 are connected via Ethernet, you do not need AE2 to wirelessly extend the AE1's wireless network.

AE1 and AE2 are two wireless access points (AP) of the same "roaming" network.

They must have same SSID, same security (WPA2) and same password.

Any client device automatically connects to the AP it gets the best signal from.

See : http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4260
Click to expand...

I'm sorry, I've just looked to change the settings and they were both set up to create a wireless network - I didn't realise this. What else can you suggest? I fear this is very complex and I'm not sure why.

----------

For AE1, what router mode do I want to use? I have it as DHCP and NAT, and AE2 is down as bridge mode. Is this correct?
 
What are the settings of the 2 Expresses ?

"Extend a wireless network", or "Join a wireless network" ?

Do you need them to extend the wireless network (larger coverage) or to Airplay speakers only ?

wmjackson said:
For AE1, what router mode do I want to use? I have it as DHCP and NAT, and AE2 is down as bridge mode. Is this correct?
Click to expand...
Yes this is correct.
 
Bruno09 said:
What are the settings of the 2 Expresses ?

"Extend a wireless network", or "Join a wireless network" ?

Do you need them to extend the wireless network (larger coverage) or to Airplay speakers only ?


Yes this is correct.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your reply, they are set to extend the wireless network. I'd like them to extend the network to provide more coverage across the house.
 
Thus you actually have 4 wireless access points and likely interferences issues.

I would try this :

- set the 2 Expresses to "join a wireless network" instead of extending.

You will lose some additional coverage but simultaneously reduce interferences, which could at the end make things work better.

If this works fine, try to set ONE of the Expresses to "extend a wireless network", and see how it works.

BTW : check that the 2 Extremes have "auto" wireless channel, or manually select 2 non overlapping channels (1-6 for example in 2.4 GHz).
 
Bruno09 said:
Thus you actually have 4 wireless access points and likely interferences issues.

I would try this :

- set the 2 Expresses to "join a wireless network" instead of extending.

You will lose some additional coverage but simultaneously reduce interferences, which could at the end make things work better.

If this works fine, try to set ONE of the Expresses to "extend a wireless network", and see how it works.
Click to expand...


Thank you, I'll give this a try. Can you elaborate on the differences. I'm presuming if they're set to join a network they won't extend the network and will simply act as a means to make the speakers AirPlay.
 
Bruno09 said:
Yes you are correct.
Click to expand...

I will give this a go but I would like an extension. I wonder if anyone else can decipher why I'm having these issues. Thank you for your help - I may have to roll with your suggestions - it just seems like everything else with apple is straight forward apart from this.
 
If you need an extension, set one only of the 2 Expresses to extend the network.

You might also have interferences issues from other surrounding networks.

iStumbler might help.
 
Bruno09 said:
"Extend a wireless network" means extend a network wirelessly.

Since AE1 and AE2 are connected via Ethernet, you do not need AE2 to wirelessly extend the AE1's wireless network.

AE1 and AE2 are two wireless access points (AP) of the same "roaming" network.

They must have same SSID, same security (WPA2) and same password.

Any client device automatically connects to the AP it gets the best signal from.

See : http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4260
Click to expand...


Actually, under AirPort Utility 6, if an Ethernet cable is run from one AirPort to another it will initially show "Extend a Network". Once you select it, then it will say "Extend a Network over Ethernet". In reality it just copies the settings from the first base station to create a network.
 
This is the apple Wifi how to link : http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4145
Click on:
-Multiple Wi-Fi base station network types
Then
- Wirelessly Extended Network (802.11n)

"All extended Wi-Fi base stations must be in direct range of the primary Wi-Fi base station"


Your best results would be via ethernet connection to the AExpress units.
Every time you extend a network via wifi you reduce the network bandwidth.
 
Last edited:
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