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Q: Time Capsule & Airport Express Keeps Disconnecting

I have a problem setting up the network in my house. I have a Time Capsule which is connected to a Huawei router, the Time Capsule is set to "Create a wireless network" and router mode to "Off(Bridge Mode)"

It was all working great and I get the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz networks.

Today I bought an Airport Express so I can extend the wifi signal in new section of the house, I tried to connect it to the Time Capsule as "Extend a Wireless Network" for a while it would connect and everything seems fine and then both TC & AE starts to drop and reconnect again and drop again, the LED lights starts shifts between green and amber every now and then and keep doing that.. The WiFi signals keeps dropping and reconnecting !

I'm not sure whats the problem..! tried to configure it couple of time but nothing seems work. But once I switch off the AE, the TC starts working fine!

So here is how my network setup should be:

Wall --> RJ11 >-- Huawei --> Ethernet >-- TC  ...> WiFi >... AE

Note: when I connected the AE to TC the 1st time, this diagram was shown in the Airport Utility:

Internet > TC > AE

but it would still drops, after resetting the AE several times and tried to configure it multiple times, now what I see is both are connected to the Internet icon somehow !

Any help !?

MacBook Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Posted on Aug 13, 2016 10:51 AM

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Q: Time Capsule & Airport Express Keeps Disconnecting

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  • by imadesign,

    imadesign imadesign Aug 13, 2016 2:31 PM in response to Tesserax
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Wireless
    Aug 13, 2016 2:31 PM in response to Tesserax

    Hi Tesserax,

     

    I used the "Method 4 - Using Wi-Fi / Wireless Diagnostics" and I guess it was calculated wrong, so the Quality is the SNR value, which in my case its between 15 ~ 25

     

     

    I checked the Back to My Mac section and its empty in both base stations, I believed it was configured the 1st time I tried to configure the AE and later when I did the hard reset it was erased and there is no IDs in that section anymore.

  • by Tesserax,

    Tesserax Tesserax Aug 13, 2016 2:40 PM in response to imadesign
    Level 9 (53,903 points)
    Wireless
    Aug 13, 2016 2:40 PM in response to imadesign

    ...the Quality is the SNR value, which in my case its between 15 ~ 25

    ... and that would represent a low to very low signal quality. That would make sense why the Express keeps disconnecting.

     

    I suggest that you try additional locations. Start with a spot in the same room where you had the Express, but to the wall that would be nearest to the TC. Take the measurements again. If you can get them above 25-30 dB, that would be an ideal location for the Express.

     

    If you cannot get these values in this room, then you may need to look at other alternative solutions. For example, powerline adapters. These take advantage of your home's electrical circuit by creating a pseudo Ethernet one between them. This way you could potentially add the Express as another Wireless Access Point in a roaming style extended network.

    ...there is no IDs in that section anymore.

    Then BtMM should be disabled already and not going to help with the inability to access the base station with the AirPort Utility. Sorry!

  • by Bob Timmons,

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Aug 13, 2016 2:44 PM in response to imadesign
    Level 10 (104,879 points)
    Wireless
    Aug 13, 2016 2:44 PM in response to imadesign

    If you are sure that the Time Capsule is operating correctly at this time.....

     

    Power off the Time Capsule, wait a few seconds, then power the Time Capsule back up and let it run a few minutes. Make sure that it is still operating correctly before you proceed.

     

    Temporarily, locate the AirPort Express in the same room as the Time Capsule

    Power up the AirPort Express for a few minutes

    Hold in the reset button on the back of the AirPort Express for 7 to 8 seconds, then release

    Allow a full minute for the AirPort Express to restart back to a slow, blinking amber light status

     

    New AX Reset Button.png

     

    Click the WiFi icon at the top of your Mac's screen

    Look for a listing of New AirPort Base Station

    Click on AirPort Express just below that listing

     

    New AirPort Base Express.png

     

    When you click on AirPort Express the AirPort Utility setup "wizard" will open up and take a few seconds to analyze the network. Then, it will display a screen that looks like this, except that you will see your devices and network name.

     

    Extend Wireless 1.png

     

    Type in a name that you want to call the AirPort Express

    Click Next

     

    Extend Wireless 2.png

     

    Watch the screen and wait for a minute while the wizard sets up the Express. When you see the message of Setup Complete, click Done.

     

    Please post back at that time on your results. Please do NOT move the AirPort Express from its current location.

  • by imadesign,

    imadesign imadesign Aug 14, 2016 4:13 AM in response to Bob Timmons
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Wireless
    Aug 14, 2016 4:13 AM in response to Bob Timmons

    Hello Bob,

     

    I have tried what you suggested but the problem is still there, I kept both the TC & AE in same room, did the hard reset and configuring it again but nothing new, I even left both of them on for several hours and came back to it and its the same, they both keep connecting (green light) and then after few seconds it drops and switch to amber light, Once I switch off the AE the Time Capsule starts working properly.

     

     

    Do you think that having a Huawei router in the network affects the whole thing ?

    As I explained in the beginning the DSL connecting coming from the wall going to the Huawei Router which has all the main configuration for the DSL, then the TC connecting to Huawei with an Ethernet able on OFF Bridge Mode.

     

    Should I try to connect the TC directly to the wall, and if yes how can I do it ? the cable from the wall is RJ11 connector.

  • by imadesign,

    imadesign imadesign Aug 15, 2016 7:08 AM in response to Bob Timmons
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Wireless
    Aug 15, 2016 7:08 AM in response to Bob Timmons

    Hi Bob..

     

    Do you know if there is any other solution ?

  • by Scott Newman,

    Scott Newman Scott Newman Aug 15, 2016 7:43 AM in response to imadesign
    Level 2 (250 points)
    Aug 15, 2016 7:43 AM in response to imadesign

    See this link and associated discussion thread...

     

    https://www.macintouch.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=471&pid=3214#pid3214

     

    If you have Back to My Mac enabled on your Airport/TC device, then disabling it will likely fix your problem. It appears that Apple changed something recently on its BTMM servers and this issue is extremely widespread.

  • by imadesign,

    imadesign imadesign Aug 16, 2016 7:50 AM in response to Scott Newman
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Wireless
    Aug 16, 2016 7:50 AM in response to Scott Newman

    Thank you Scott,

     

    But I don't have the Back to My Mac enabled in TC neither AE !

  • by Bob Timmons,

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Aug 16, 2016 10:21 AM in response to imadesign
    Level 10 (104,879 points)
    Wireless
    Aug 16, 2016 10:21 AM in response to imadesign

    Do you know if there is any other solution ?

    Not at this time, since I cannot duplicate the problem that you are reporting. If can do that, then I can probably find a way to fix things.

     

    If you want a guess, you have a defective AirPort Express.

  • by imadesign,Solvedanswer

    imadesign imadesign Aug 17, 2016 6:56 AM in response to Bob Timmons
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Wireless
    Aug 17, 2016 6:56 AM in response to Bob Timmons

    I have finally solved it =D

    I called the Apple Care, they suggested to hard reset both TC & the AE and configure both of them from scratch.

    Tried that and both connected immediately without any problem.

     

     

    Thank you all for the help, really appreciate your replies.

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