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Airport Utility does not see Airport Extreme, but ...

G

gwerhart0800

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 15, 2008
456
31
Loveland, CO
I have a weird situation where the Airport Utility (either on the iPhone or my iMac) does not see my primary Airport Extreme base station, but I can reach it by entering it's IP address and password in the "Configure Other" dialog box. Strangely, the Airport Utility does show the two Airport Express units that I am using to extend my network for a few things that need an Ethernet connection. Those show as "green dot" and every thing is able to reach the Internet.

Any ideas?
 
I'm having the sam issue - posted at Apple.com and have received no responses.

Full post: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7635719


airport.png
 
Same here on my Time Capsule. Wifi works on all my devices but Airport Utility can't find the Time Capsule and Time Machine can't find the Backup drive.

After a bit of troubleshooting I think it may have something to do with configuring Back to my Mac on the Airport/Time Capsule. If I reset the router back to factory defaults and set up as new, it appears in Airport Utility just fine. If I then use Airport Utility to edit settings (say Port Forwarding) it applies them and restarts the Airport/Time Capsule without a problem. That is until I try to add my iCloud account for Back to my Mac. Then after applying settings I get an error and Airport Utility doesn't connect anymore despite wifi/internet working. I can duplicate this consistently.

Right now I running my Time Capsule without the iCloud account setup and everything is working just fine.
 
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arilev said:
Same here on my Time Capsule. Wifi works on all my devices but Airport Utility can't find the Time Capsule and Time Machine can't find the Backup drive.

After a bit of troubleshooting I think it may have something to do with configuring Back to my Mac on the Airport/Time Capsule. If I reset the router back to factory defaults and set up as new, it appears in Airport Utility just fine. If I then use Airport Utility to edit settings (say Port Forwarding) it applies them and restarts the Airport/Time Capsule without a problem. That is until I try to add my iCloud account for Back to my Mac. Then after applying settings I get an error and Airport Utility doesn't connect anymore despite wifi/internet working. I can duplicate this consistently.

Right now I running my Time Capsule without the iCloud account setup and everything is working just fine.
Click to expand...

I am having the same problem today. Airport utility and Time machine are not seeing my Airport Time capsule.
How can I reset the time capsule to factory setting? Will that erase already stored backups?
 
arilev said:
........Right now I running my Time Capsule without the iCloud account setup and everything is working just fine.
Click to expand...

Just disabled Back to my Mac on both Airport Extremes, all is working as it should.

Looks like it's an iCloud issue, which makes sense, since the issue manifested itself without me making any changes on my end.

Thank you for posting!
 
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bmc5311 said:
Just disabled Back to my Mac on both Airport Extremes, all is working as it should.

Looks like it's an iCloud issue, which makes sense, since the issue manifested itself without me making any changes on my end.

Thank you for posting!
Click to expand...
How can disable back to my mac in my Airport Time capsule? I don't see it in Airport utility.
Do I need to hard reset or restore to factory setting to do it?
 
ammarfatani said:
How can disable back to my mac in my Airport Time capsule? I don't see it in Airport utility.
Do I need to hard reset or restore to factory setting to do it?
Click to expand...

Restoring it to factory settings would probably work.

But you don't need to nuke it..

You can try this (assuming you still can't see your Time Capsule) -

Open the Airport Utility
Under the File menu (left hand corner of your screen next to the Apple Menu) chose "Configure other..."
Enter the IP address and password to the Time Capsule when prompted.
Click the Base Station Tab
Make sure there are no entries in the "Back to my Mac Box."

MAC_ROUMERS.png
 
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bmc5311 said:
Restoring it to factory settings would probably work.

But you don't need to nuke it..

You can try this (assuming you still can't see your Time Capsule) -

Open the Airport Utility
Under the File menu (left hand corner of your screen next to the Apple Menu) chose "Configure other..."
Enter the IP address and password to the Time Capsule when prompted.
Click the Base Station Tab
Make sure there are no entries in the "Back to my Mac Box."

MAC_ROUMERS.png
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply. I tried to access my Airport time capsule using the ip but got an error in loading the profile. Any thoughts?
 
Just adding that i'm the same too - whats annoying is that I can't use my printer connected at the moment either and it's causing other issues. Two Airport Extremes as well, can't connected via OS X server either.

Edit: Using @bmc5311 instructions I was able to connect to my main Airport, as soon as I turned off Back to my Mac and updated, my labels printed out!
 
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This issue happens to me sporadically but I have never setup back to my Mac feature on my AirPort Extreme.
 
bmc5311 said:
Restoring it to factory settings would probably work.

But you don't need to nuke it..

You can try this (assuming you still can't see your Time Capsule) -

Open the Airport Utility
Under the File menu (left hand corner of your screen next to the Apple Menu) chose "Configure other..."
Enter the IP address and password to the Time Capsule when prompted.
Click the Base Station Tab
Make sure there are no entries in the "Back to my Mac Box."

MAC_ROUMERS.png
Click to expand...

Thank you so much to you and @arilev for figuring out this was a "Back to my Mac" iCloud issue and for posting such wonderful directions on how to get the AirPort Extreme back and displaying within Airport Utility! I can't thank you enough :)
 
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Mine just started acting up this afternoon. I went to print something to a USB printer connected to AETC and printer status says the printer is not connected. Removed back to my mac and everything has been working.
 
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thewhitehart said:
The same thing happened to me. I noticed the problem because I couldn't use Back To My Mac after setting up two-factor authentication and changing my Apple ID password. Following advice from @bmc5311 solved the issue. Thank you!
Click to expand...

I'm also using 2 factor authentication (not 2 step verification which is, confusingly, different). Wondering if that's the cause even though I set up 2FA long before the issue started. Is anybody else using 2FA.

I'd turn it off myself to find out but there is a 3 day waiting period to turn it back on once it's been turned off. Just eems an annoying exercise.
 
arilev said:
I'm also using 2 factor authentication (not 2 step verification which is, confusingly, different). Wondering if that's the cause even though I set up 2FA long before the issue started. Is anybody else using 2FA.

I'd turn it off myself to find out but there is a 3 day waiting period to turn it back on once it's been turned off. Just eems an annoying exercise.
Click to expand...


Created an account just to say this was happening to me and thank you to ariliev for posting the fix!

I also use 2FA and have two Airport Extreme's in the house that were causing me issues. The biggest issue was that the Timed Access was no longer working and the kids were taking advantage of it! Now maybe they will start getting a good sleep again.
 
Issue seems to be resolved, at least on my end. I just tried signing in to Back to my Mac on the Airport and this time it updated and appears correctly in Airport Utility. Hopefully it's back up for everybody else as well.
 
Thanks for the update. I'll give it until the weekend before I try it out.
 
bmc5311 said:
Restoring it to factory settings would probably work.

Thanks for posting this arilev and bmc5311! Even apple support was stumped when I called them. The guy said it is an issue that apple is aware of and that there should be an update pushed within the next few days to correct the problem. But as someone who doesn't use "back to the mac" everything is working well again! Cheers!
Click to expand...
 
Is anyone (who is having the issue noted in the original post and has removed BTMM Apple IDs) also having IPv6 connectivity issues? I have noticed that around the same time I started having these issues (noted in the original post) my Apple TC and AirPort Extreme both have stop pulling IPv6 DNS and addresse from my ISP. It's like my ISP does not have any IPv6 capability (when it does). I have no problems with getting IPv6 addresses etc with my Macs and other routers directly connected to the modem (fiber network termination device). So it appears to not be the ISP or cabling. Simply put, only the Airports are not dealing with any IPv6, whether it be pulling or assinging. I have tried everything (factory reset etc.). I am just wondering whether the BTMM problem is larger and affects other areas of the AirPorts?
 
There was a post around somewhere discussing DNS and changing those setting resolved some of the issues. I'll try to check my browsing history for it.
 
ColdCase said:
There was a post around somewhere discussing DNS and changing those setting resolved some of the issues. I'll try to check my browsing history for it.
Click to expand...

Much appreciated. I might search my new issue as a stand alone. I may not be linked to the BTMM issue even though it occurred at the same time.
 
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