So is my Airport Extreme Toast?

[jecapaga]

So completely frustrated. My cable/internet went out yesterday but was then fixed by the cable co. but then wireless wouldn't work...figures. I could hook up directly via ethernet. I tried no less than ten times of restarting the AEBS/computer to get the AEBS working. Also tried resetting the modem.

Eventually I reset the AEBS and got it to come up in airport utility. After clicking continue in the utility screen, it just hung and after 5 mins said there was a problem, make sure the device is near the computer. I tried again to access the AEBS via utility and it says no device found. I restarted the AEBS, restarted my macbook and all sorts of combinations. Most of the time my macbook could never find the AEBS through airport utility. Twice I was able to set up the AEBS successfully. Launched Safari, everything is working nicely. Yay we have have wireless working again.

I go take a shower, come back and nothing works. After that I tried for over an hour to simply get the base station to show up in utility and every time it either didn't show up at all or if it did, it gave me an error msg. If anyone has any flipping clue as to what this problem is, please....

 

[yojitani]

Sounds like a big yes to that one. Which kind of AEBS did you/ do you have?

 

[jecapaga]

the newest model..it's only about 1.5 years old. I guess I'm trying to find out if it's typical behavior for an AEBS on the skids...to show up, work for a few mins and then just not show up in airport utility.

 

[yojitani]

the newest model..it's only about 1.5 years old. I guess I'm trying to find out if it's typical behavior for an AEBS on the skids...to show up, work for a few mins and then just not show up in airport utility.

No, it is not typical. Do you have all the latest firmware updates? Rereading your post, it seems like there might be a connection between the problem you had with your cable and the AEBS. Try doing a hard reset of both the AEBS and the cable modem - unplug them and completely disconnect all wires and leave them for about 2 mins. Restart the cable modem, wait until its lights are all doing what they are supposed to be doing, then connect the modem to the router, and then restart the router. See if that works. It could be an addressing issue.

 

[jecapaga]

Feel like i've done that a dozen times but I'm going to try again when I get home. Unplug it all and see what happens I guess.

 

[yojitani]

Feel like i've done that a dozen times but I'm going to try again when I get home. Unplug it all and see what happens I guess.

I'm not saying you haven't, but I thought I'd point out that it is important to do it in the right order... and that you unplug everything from the modem and the router.

 

[jecapaga]

Well go figure. Came home and after 12 plus hours of the AEBS with no ethernet cable plugged in, I selected it from available wifi networks, airport utility launched itself, was able to get past the first screen to set up and within 2 minutes it completely set everything up flawlessly. No idea why it was so easy tonight and last night totally sucked! And unlike last night where it would only work for minutes, it's been perfect for hours. Fingers crossed. Thanks.

 

[yojitani]

Well go figure. Came home and after 12 plus hours of the AEBS with no ethernet cable plugged in, I selected it from available wifi networks, airport utility launched itself, was able to get past the first screen to set up and within 2 minutes it completely set everything up flawlessly. No idea why it was so easy tonight and last night totally sucked! And unlike last night where it would only work for minutes, it's been perfect for hours. Fingers crossed. Thanks.

Glad to hear it!