Airport Extreme gone mad - help!

[Macman10]

Hello,

I am having problem with my Airport Extreme base station. It has worked perfectly for nearly two years now, first attached to an ADSL modem and latterly to a cable modem. But recently things went awry. It is plugged into the cable modem and the two apparently see each other. The Airport is still pumping out a strong network signal round the house, which our laptops pick up. The problem is that we cannot get to the Internet via the wireless network.

It says we are connected. In the Network Diagnostics we get green lights up to and including the ISP setting. But the Internet and Server settings remain on yellow lights. This suggests there is a problem with the modem or the ISP – this is not the case. Both our laptops get Internet access if we plug directly into the modem. So our ISP has washed its hands of the problem, insisting the fault lies with the Airport base station. I have gone through all the usual stuff: switching everything off, reconnecting, etc. I have also reset the base station many times. But we still run into the same problem.

Weirdly, when I tested the base station with a BT Openworld modem at a friend’s house it worked – in other words, we could not only connect to the network but also surf the net. However this worked only intermittently.

Does this all add up to the fact that the base station has died on me? Or is there something anyone can suggest to fix the problem?

Many thanks!
Carl
PS: If it’s time to get a new base station, any thoughts on which one?

 

[huck500]

I had a similar problem with my cable internet provider. I was able to connect by connecting directly to the modem, but my base station wouldn't connect at all. Also, my Linksys router wouldn't connect. When connected directly to the modem, I had about 50-70% packet loss when doing a ping.

When I contacted my cable company, they would take me through the usual stuff that I had already tried, and then they would reset the connection from their end somehow, and that always solved the problem. Unfortunately, I don't know any more than that.

I eventually bought a new modem, and I haven't had a problem since. I might suggest another modem as the easiest thing to try, especially if your ISP has upgraded the network recently. Every time my ISP upgraded their network, my old modem was less and less reliable.

 

[Macman10]

Thanks for your reply. Very interesting - if a little disappointing. Sounds like I might be a victim of the same problem. It's just weird that the base station was working perfectly and then one day it suddenly wasn't anymore. Maybe my ISP has upgraded its network - will find out.

But I still wonder if it the base station has just had enough and needs replacing.

 

[videogeek59]

Same exact thing

Hmmm. Two days ago, the same exact thing happened to me. Exactly what you describe. I get green lights except for the bottom two. The network diagnostics utility says I am connected to the internet, but most likely have mistyped a url. But that's obviously not it.
I can connect fine to the internet directly using a wire to the cable modem, AND my computer sees the airport extreme perfectly. But I cannot get to the internet through the airport extreme.
I did a hard reset and a firmware update too. Problem persists.

Have you had any success? Did you wind up having to replace your airport base station? Would love a progress report if possible. Many thanks.