DaviatorSF

Q: iMac connects to internet through Airport Extreme, yet Airport can't be found

I have a WiFi network consisting of a recent-vintage Airport Extreme, which is extended by an Airport Express (connected wirelessly) and another Airport Express (connected via power line ethernet.)  The Airport Extreme is connected to my broadband internet.  I have an iMac which connects via ethernet to the Airport Extreme.  Everything has been working fine for a long time and I have not made any changes.

 

This morning I was having trouble with devices connected to the network via WiFi, as occasionally happens, and so I reset the airport extreme, which usually solves this kind of issue.  At the same time, I fired up the Airport Utility on my iMac to see if everything was back to normal.

 

To my surprise, my iMac is unable to see ANY of the Airport devices — whether or not I have WiFi turned on — which is extremely odd, since the computer is getting its internet connection THROUGH the Airport Extreme (and my post here is evidence that's working fine.)  In addition, after resetting the devices as mentioned, all of my wireless devices are getting to the internet without any problem.  So everything is working—yet the Airport Utility (version 6.3) says that nothing is working (well, not quite: "Internet" gets the green dot, though how I'm connected to it is a mystery since, according to the utility, my Airport Extreme is missing.)

 

I've rebooted the computer and reset the Airport, I am not sure what else to try...  well, I guess a hard reset, I am reluctant to do so because I know I'll have to reconfigure everything.  Just wondering why this should suddenly occur without provocation.

Airport Extreme, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4)

Posted on Jul 3, 2013 2:39 PM

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Q: iMac connects to internet through Airport Extreme, yet Airport can't be found

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  • by LaPastenague,Solvedanswer

    LaPastenague LaPastenague Jul 3, 2013 6:06 PM in response to DaviatorSF
    Level 9 (52,645 points)
    Wireless
    Jul 3, 2013 6:06 PM in response to DaviatorSF

    Did you upgrade to v6.3 utility?

     

    If so you must enable ipv6 local link for it to work.. this was belatedly realised by Apple after they pushed out the update..

     

    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4597

     

    As long as all your equipment is older.. not latest AC version.. you can still use 5.6 utility.. and there is a good chance you can reinstall 6.2 as well.. I haven't tried the later but I will, using the same method.

     

    How to load 5.6 into ML.

     

    1. Download 5.6 for Lion.

    http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1482

    Click to open the dmg but do not attempt to install the pkg.. it won't work anyway.

     

     

    2. Download and install unpkg.

    http://www.timdoug.com/unpkg/

     

     

    Run unpkg on the desktop.. it is very simple.. drag the AirPortUtility56.pkg file over to unpkg.. and it will create a new directory of the same name on the desktop.. drill down.. applications utilities .. there lo and behold is Airport utility 5.6 .. drag it to your main utilities directory or just run it from current location.

     

     

    You cannot uninstall version 6 (now 6.3 if you updated) so don't try.. and you cannot or should not run them both at the same time.. so just ignore the toyland version.. the plastic hammer.. and start using 5.6.. a real tool.

     

    For screen shots see this post.

    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4668746?tstart=0

  • by DaviatorSF,

    DaviatorSF DaviatorSF Jul 3, 2013 7:06 PM in response to LaPastenague
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 3, 2013 7:06 PM in response to LaPastenague

    Thank you for correctly diagnosing my problem.  I'm disappointed that Apple didn't push another update to fix this, since the result was that I spent hours trying to diagnose the problem, ultimately doing factory resets of all of my Airport routers followed by reconfiguring everything, and ultimately a trip to the Apple Genius Bar (the "genius" did not know about the problem with Airport Utility 6.3, for what it's worth.)  So all the while, everything was working properly, it was just the configuration problem introduced by 6.3 that was causing a perceived — not an actual — problem.

     

    An afternoon wasted, but it could be worse.  Thanks for your help!

     

    P.S.  I still had Airport Utility 5.6, I saved it when 6.0 came out.  You're right, it's invaluable.  It won't configure one of my (newer) Airport Express routers, but it will work with the others when the newer utility just shrugs its digital shoulders and gives up.