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G5: Airport Utility not recognizing Base Station

C

cat&mouse

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 30, 2011
12
0
Los Angeles
Apologies to those of you who may have seen this thread over on the Peripherals forum. I didn't get any replies, so thought I'd try over here too. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

I have a Power PC Mac G5 (OS 10.5.8) with an Airport Extreme Card plus external antennae, and have just purchased an AirPort Extreme Base Station. The base station is connected to my modem with the same cable that formerly connected modem to computer. But when I open Airport Utility(5.5.3), it either doesn't recognize the base station at all... or if it does, gives me an unspecified error message when I click "continue" to try to configure it. I have the wifi icon on the menu bar, so I assume the card must be installed okay. I've tried restarting the computer, unplugging and replugging both the modem and base station, repositioning the base station (it's sitting on my desk at the moment, a mere 3 ft. away from the G5 tower under the desk)...I'm really at a loss.
Meanwhile, my iPod Touch recognized the base station and allowed me to set up a network, no problem.
 
Try connecting the base station to your Mac directly with an Ethernet cable, and then run Airport Utility. I had the same problem a year or two ago with a Macbook Pro, and that's how I fixed it.
 
Thanks for your reply. I'm just a little confused... would the Ethernet cable between base station and computer only be needed to establish the initial connection? Otherwise, my reason for buying the base station in order to go wireless would have been pointless.
 
the cable is just for setup,

the computer and the airport base have to be on the same wireless network for you to set them up, but you have to have a wireless network setup before you can be on it.

in the newer versions of OSX (possible 10.5 also, but i'm not sure) if airport utility sees an unconfigured base station (identified by a unique network name) it will ask you about it, then have your computer drop off the wi-fi network it's on and join the one coming from the base, allowing you to set it up. BUT if you get something wrong the first try, there's a good chance you'll have to completely reset the base and start over, as the clues that airport utility looks for have probably been changed.
it's much easier if the connection is wired for setup, as you don't have to pick a network, and there's less security involved.
 
I see... sort of a Catch 22. Thanks, that helps a lot. Are all Ethernet cables the same or do I need to get a specific kind?
 
cat&mouse said:
Thanks for your reply. I'm just a little confused... would the Ethernet cable between base station and computer only be needed to establish the initial connection? Otherwise, my reason for buying the base station in order to go wireless would have been pointless.
Click to expand...
Just for setup, back in the day I just assumed it was a bug in Leopard. There's actually a bunch of Leopard bugs that were never fixed until Snow Leopard, which means that us PowerPC users are stuck with them.. let us know how it goes using Ethernet.
 
Well, the Ethernet cable did allow Airport utility to recognize the base station (only after I unplugged and replugged the modem), and I followed all the prompts to set up the network, but once the cable was removed, I couldn't go online. Maybe more of those Leopard bugs you were referring to? The base station's green light is on instead of flashing amber, so it's a step in the right direction. I had a quick look at the various settings in the utility window's tabs... but alas, I don't really know what to look for.

Update 10 minutes later: I tried changing the settings to tell the base station to JOIN a network, rather than CREATE one (since I had already created one with the iPod) and things went from bad to worse. Now the utility won't recognize the base station even with the Ethernet cable. And the flashing amber light is back. I'm just going to keep unplugging and replugging the various devices to see if I can get a pulse. "Help", she cried.
 
Last edited:
Was able to reset base station... got a solid amber light instead of a flashing one... and Airport utility grudgingly acknowledged it. I was using Utility help to guide me through, but even with several attempts to reset the password and recreate a network, no success. Utility says that the base station has been successfully reset and to either wait for it to update or close the window. It's at that point that the connection is lost and the flashing amber light reappears.
 
A phone call to Apple tech support didn't solve the problem so I'm taking the computer to the Genius Bar tomorrow for a diagnostic.
 
Trip to Genius Bar fruitless. Only suggestion was there may be some sort of incompatibility... but they don't service PPC G5s any longer. Next stop, an authorized service provider.
 
did you resolve?

Hi there, did you ever resolve this issue? I am having the same problems and just dont know what to do!!
 
Update to Airport Utility

Update:

Did the OP even bother to download Airport Utility Version 5.6.1 (561.3)? This is the latest Airport Utility as I too plan to get the Airport Extreme Base Station for my G5 as well. Try 5.6.1 and I am sure this will work. As for bugs in Leopard, no bugs here! Leopard just roars on both my G5 Quad and PowerBook G4 1.67



singsweetkt said:
Hi there, did you ever resolve this issue? I am having the same problems and just dont know what to do!!
Click to expand...
 
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