HT203198: Wi-Fi base station: Understanding and resolving a blinking amber status light

Learn about Wi-Fi base station: Understanding and resolving a blinking amber status light
maddriver52

Q: My amber light keeps blinking on my airport extreme

The utility tells me there is no internet connection but I know there is because my old router connects. What do I do next?

Posted on Aug 12, 2012 3:50 PM

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Q: My amber light keeps blinking on my airport extreme

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  • by maddriver52,

    maddriver52 maddriver52 Aug 13, 2012 1:25 PM in response to Nachos Libres
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    Aug 13, 2012 1:25 PM in response to Nachos Libres

    It's using DHCP. The IPv4 Address is 169.254.203.159. The subnet mask is 255.255.0.0. The Router address is blank.

  • by Nachos Libres,

    Nachos Libres Nachos Libres Aug 13, 2012 2:09 PM in response to maddriver52
    Level 4 (1,205 points)
    Aug 13, 2012 2:09 PM in response to maddriver52

    On your Mac, go back to Network and click on TCP/IP.  Click on Renew DHCP Lease.  This should update to an IP adress of something like 10.x.x.x - which is the default Apple devices use.  If it doesn't, rerun AirPort Utility and under the Network tab where you chose the Router mode as DHCP and NAT tell me what the DHCP Range is showing below that.

  • by maddriver52,

    maddriver52 maddriver52 Aug 13, 2012 3:17 PM in response to Nachos Libres
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    Aug 13, 2012 3:17 PM in response to Nachos Libres

    It did update the IP address as you suggested. When I tried to connect I got green lights for all of the network indicators except internet and server.

  • by Nachos Libres,

    Nachos Libres Nachos Libres Aug 13, 2012 3:32 PM in response to maddriver52
    Level 4 (1,205 points)
    Aug 13, 2012 3:32 PM in response to maddriver52

    What green lights are you talking about?  What hardware are these lights on?

  • by maddriver52,

    maddriver52 maddriver52 Aug 13, 2012 5:00 PM in response to Nachos Libres
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    Aug 13, 2012 5:00 PM in response to Nachos Libres

    On my Mac laptop, when you go through network diagnostics, the Network status lshows green when there is a connection. Airport, Airport settings, network settings, and ISP were all green. Internat and server were showing a failed connection. Bottom line, I'm still not able to connect.

  • by Nachos Libres,

    Nachos Libres Nachos Libres Aug 13, 2012 5:16 PM in response to maddriver52
    Level 4 (1,205 points)
    Aug 13, 2012 5:16 PM in response to maddriver52

    Ok, I did a little research and let's try this one more go around.

     

    Run AirPort Utility and then under the Internet tab change the setting that we set to Static earlier to DHCP.  Also, click on the Network tab and still make sure the Router Mode is set to DHCP and NAT.  Now, while making sure your AirPort Extreme is the only thing hooked up to your Comcast modem, power down the modem (but make sure to leave the AirPort Extreme on) and then after a minute power back up the modem but do not reset or turn off the AirPort Extreme.

     

    This should take care of the issue of getting a valid IP address assigned to your AirPort Extreme which should then hopefully fix all these issues, but I'm not holding my breath lol.

  • by maddriver52,

    maddriver52 maddriver52 Aug 14, 2012 5:00 AM in response to Nachos Libres
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    Aug 14, 2012 5:00 AM in response to Nachos Libres

    Good morning. The last approach produced the blinking amber light again. When you say connect only airport extreme to the Comcast modem, does that mean I disconnect my phone and cable? Also, I was able to find that the Router Mode was DHCP but I didn't see anything that says NAT. Where should I see that?

     

    Also, my PC isn't wireless and requires a port to port connection. Does that have any impact on getting my Mac up and running?

  • by Nachos Libres,

    Nachos Libres Nachos Libres Aug 14, 2012 5:17 AM in response to maddriver52
    Level 4 (1,205 points)
    Aug 14, 2012 5:17 AM in response to maddriver52

    No.  So is your phone connected to your Comcast modem?

     

    Honestly, it sounds like your modem is also acting as your router.  And as far as not finding NAT you may be running an older version of AirPort Utility that I can't run since I'm on Mountain Lion - which may be why some of my instructions have been confusing.

     

    Let's try something else.  Go to where you could see that the Router Mode was DHCP but instead turn it to "Off (Bridge Mode).

  • by maddriver52,

    maddriver52 maddriver52 Aug 14, 2012 5:54 AM in response to Nachos Libres
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    Aug 14, 2012 5:54 AM in response to Nachos Libres

    Still blinking amber. I did find NAT this time. It seems that I can get to it when there is a problem shown in airport, i.e. no internet, but can't get to it when the light is green.

     

    Should we try to set up the PC. When we set up Linksys several years ago once we got the non-wireless PC set up the wireless devices worked as well?

  • by Nachos Libres,

    Nachos Libres Nachos Libres Aug 14, 2012 2:54 PM in response to maddriver52
    Level 4 (1,205 points)
    Aug 14, 2012 2:54 PM in response to maddriver52

    Can you just tell me what the Linksys settings are?

  • by maddriver52,

    maddriver52 maddriver52 Aug 14, 2012 3:22 PM in response to Nachos Libres
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    Aug 14, 2012 3:22 PM in response to Nachos Libres

    The IP address is 192.168.1.1. Beyond that I'm not sure how to get anything else.

  • by Nachos Libres,

    Nachos Libres Nachos Libres Aug 15, 2012 5:23 AM in response to maddriver52
    Level 4 (1,205 points)
    Aug 15, 2012 5:23 AM in response to maddriver52

    Honestly, I'm not sure what to do next.  I would contact Apple and see what they can do for you.  I'm sure it is still something simple but without seeing your setup in person and being able to acess all your Linksys settings I can't tell you exactly what we need to do to get the Airport Extreme to work correctly.  It could also be a hardware error with the Extreme itself but I'm still thinking it is something simple that we are missing.

  • by maddriver52,

    maddriver52 maddriver52 Aug 15, 2012 5:47 AM in response to Nachos Libres
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    Aug 15, 2012 5:47 AM in response to Nachos Libres

    Thanks anyway. You've been more than patient.

  • by maddriver52,

    maddriver52 maddriver52 Aug 15, 2012 8:01 AM in response to Nachos Libres
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 15, 2012 8:01 AM in response to Nachos Libres

    Just as a follow up, I got it fixed. I checked in with Apple and the solution was as simple as pressing the reboot button in the Comcast modem.

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