Airport Express Mysteriously Disconnects and Requires a Restart

I am having the same PROBLEM! to the BONE!

the only diff is that I am running a Dlink router...

I find that the airport works perfect when using it.. but when in idle cant connect to the **** thing anymore...

I am really suprised to read what you said is the precise same problem i have... WE NEED HELP!!!!

Put me down as another person who has this problem. We have a desktop (which is the main computer) and a laptop in the house. It seems that they both work fine when they're being used, but when I go away for a long period of time, the desktop no longer can access the internet, (although the GF reports no issues connecting with the laptop). One thing I keep getting is that Internet Connect keeps putting up something that says "Cannot connect through PPPoE."

Yep, Me too, I have a macbook pro an airport extreme and and airport express.
I am trying to use the airport express as a bridge (WDS) for my slingbox and airtunes but it disconnects like 10 min after I restart it.

Ok guys so I figured out my problem, hopefully you will have the same problem so my solution will work.
I had wpa2 security on my router, i disabled that now its been connected to my express for 1day now w/o fail..
anyone else try it w/o security?
August

You know, I'm seeing this type of behavior too from my AX and I also have my security set to WPA2 ...

I have the exact same problem as well:

• Airport extreme base station
• Airport Express to extend range with WDS

After some interval the Express loses contact, can't be seen in Airport admin utility, will connect to macines but not pass data, and squires a restart. Airtunes won't work either.

I'll be returning this for a refund asap unless apple has a fix.

(Running without security is not an option)

OK, add me to the list of people with this problem. In order to provide wireless coverage to a big house, I have two Airport Extreme and one Airport Express set up in a WDS network. I am using WPA encryption. The network works beautifully, and using Netstumbler on a laptop I see the MAC addresses of all three devices. However, after being on overnight, the Express loses its connection to the network. We can connect wirelessley to it, but there is no Internet connection. Very frustrating.

MY 2 weeks old Airport Express was working last night (I only use it to ITunes music onto my Stereo) Now the B *** thing wont work!

It had it's green light on to say "everything is good thank you very much" but not visible to the Airport Admin Utility.

I reset it to factory settings and joined my WiFi network again and all this through the Airport Admin Utility. Then again the B *** thing disappeared from the network before my eyes when I was still in the Airport Admin Utility.

I'm beginning to think it's the latest version of iTunes that's bolloxed things up.

I only bought this Airport Express as my wonderful "media centre computer" mac Mini (bought in March 2007) makes my Stereo's amplifier hum unbearably.

Does nothing IT that Apple sells work properly?

I'm having many of these same problems, and I'm posting with the hopes that it helps the troubleshooters at Apple. I purchased an AEBS and an AX and installed them both shortly after I upgraded to Leopard. The AEBS seems to be doing its job, but the AX, which is in WDS mode to extend my network and also act as an ethernet bridge to provide wireless access to my DirecTV DVR, keeps losing its connection to the AEBS. Sometimes when it loses the connection the light blinks amber, but often it will lose the connection but still have a green light. When it loses the connection, my MacBook thinks it is connected to a wireless network, but I get no Internet from the AX. If I move the Macbook to a location closer to the AEBS than the AX, it does get a connection. So the Internet works, it is just not being extended to the AX. Also, when this happens, I can't see the AX using the Airport utility, only the AEBS shows up -- and the AEBS has a wired connection to my computer so of course it should show up.

I really hope that Leopard is causing all of these problems and that a 10.5.1 will soon fix this.

Hey, the same happens to me. But I don't think Leopard is the problem...
My environmenet:

iMac
Airport extreme
Airport express (WDS to extend wireless range) using WPA2
Vaio: when I move downstairs i'm connected to my network, but I loose internet connection. Then I come back near the main base station and works fine.
I still dont't see the Airport express in the Airport Utility and it's blinking amber...

Please, somebody help us!!!
Sil.

Leopard 10.5.1 was released today and one of the new fixes is: "Resolves an issue with saved passwords for wireless networks." Hopefully this solves the problem that we have all been having. Fingers crossed...

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=306907

-Jeff

I had timeout key issues with my previous linksys and their $100 bridging device - the only way I could get the thing to behave consistently was to remove key settings.

As far as the Express falling over - I've had multiple problems with that, but most of them relate to the Airport Extreme (see http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1222416&tstart=0 )

I'm theorizing that Apple has a poor IPv6 stack implementation under their hardware - which is strangely ironic that they would enable something by default since IPv6 certainly hasn't taken off in the home market - or even that much in the business market since NAT/PAT solutions seem to work for most people.

If there's a way to turn off IPv6 (local only mode) in a Express I haven't found it yet.

Hi all,

I have the exact same problem.

Background:
MacBook Pro
OS X 10.4.11
Router: Billion 7404VGP (ADSL2+ modem + wireless router + voIP)
Airport Express Firmware v6.3

Previously I had been using a Netcomm Wireless router with WEP encryption. I got my AE to join that for ~5mths & everything worked great.

I've recently had to change ISP & modem/router (hence the Billion) & set up the AE in the exact same way as the Netcomm, but now with WPA2 encryption. And the AE becomes 'undetectable' but iTunes & Airport Admin Utility after a certain amount of time (I have noted my router's renewal interval's 3600s also, so that must be the time after which the AE drops off).

I have scoured websites/forums everything for a solution, but so far with no success. I have even read somewhere that ensuring SSID broadcast is ON in the router settings solves it. If it does, it hasn't yet for me.

I have called Mac Customer Support (In Australia) a few times about this issue, each time with no satisfactory outcome.

I wondered if I made my encryption back to WEP (as opposed to WPA2), maybe the key renewal interval stops being an issue, and the AE would stop dropping off?
(I'm not very technically minded, so don't REALLY know the different btw WEP & WPA2 except that WPA2's encryption's much better).

I wondered also: instead of using my AE to join my existing network, what if I made it a WDS client? I had read somewhere that WPA2 & WDS do not work together, and a WDS can only be set up with WEP encryption.

Can AirTunes still work if the AE is a WDS client?

If I tried (really hard) to set up a WDS with WEP encryption, would my AE stop 'disappearing from iTunes?'

The whole notion of having to physically unplug & replug the AE just to get AirTunes working most times is really defeating the purpose of having a wireless network!

Has anyone out there found a solution for this apparently common problem yet? 🙂

Many thanks,

Leo

Jeffrey Richardson1 wrote:
Leopard 10.5.1 was released today ... Hopefully this solves the problem that we have all been having.

It doesn't solve it. My Airport Express still loses the connection to my Airport Extreme Base Station after a few hours, and when it does, any computer in the range of the Airport Express cannot connect to the Internet. This forces me to unplug the Airport Express, at which point a computer in that same location will be close enough to the Airport Extreme Base Station to get a signal. When I restart the Airport Express, it will connect and everything will be fine for a few more hours, then it all falls apart again. ARRGH. I specifically bought Apple equipment at a higher price because I trusted Apple to have quality products that would work well together. I will continue to watch this forum every day in the hopes that someone will find a workaround and/or Apple will fix this problem.