Airport Express Mysteriously Disconnects and Requires a Restart

Same problem.

AExpress bought today, disconnected after 5 minutes (or so, I wasn't timing it!), managed to reconnect after a reset, disconnected again while laptop was idle. It's been 4 hours now and I haven't managed so far to recover it.

Just had the latest update to Mac OS X on automatic updates...

My Airport Express was refusing to be seen by the Airport Admin Utility nor by iTunes for the past week.

After rebooting from the update to Mac OS X and doing a hard reset on the Airport Express, suddenly everything works perfectly again.

Full marks to Apple for Results but...

_*No marks for Communication with customers that the problem was being identified and fixed :-(*_

The update and hard reset didn't fix my disconnect issues.

Verizon FIOS to Dlink 624 router. Airport express 6.3 as wireless client to Dlink. Both set to channel 11, both using WPA, AE set to accept 192.168.0.x ip address. They link up fine at first and I can print wirelessly while on the dlink network with my ibook. The AE shows up as a wireless client in the dlink configuration and the AE shows up in airport admin utility while on the dlink network. Then, the AE falls off. Help.

Hi, I think I may have solved the issue. After so many times of hard resets and disconnecting reconnecting... I decided to change from WPA2 to WEP and... it's been 48 hs. I hope this is it.
I hope this help,

Sil.

hey guys-
same problem-
co-worker recommended a disk repair, but did nothing-
any new developments?
i'd love to get another express to spread music throughout the house, but not until its working...i wonder why my girlfriends Macbook (white 1.83) never ever has this issue?

I have the same problem, between an Airport Extreme (the 10/100 802.11n version) and an Airport Express, set up with WDS using WPA/WPA2 Personal. (I tried WEP initially, but couldn't get a Windows XP laptop to connect to the network; strange...) The problem does seem to be the TKIP key rotation. I have the rotation set to 9999 hours (on both Airports), but it disconnects after a few hours.
The Airport Express disappears from the wireless network, and only reappears after the Extreme is rebooted (easier to do this than to go unplug the Express). That's the only 'solution' I've found

My mac store even replaced my physical unit... yes, they're that clueless, grr. Judging from this post and the amount of reads it should be obvious this might be an issue for those who use and AX and WPA2 (possible in combination with Leopard).

Anyway, long story short: change your base station's encryption method from WPA(2) to WEP to make AX and airtunes work properly and not drop out after anywhere between 2 and 30 minutes.

This was a "solution" for me, too, but it is not a very acceptable solution. I reset my Extreme and my Express to their factory defaults, then I set up a WDS using just WEP security on both. With that setup, the WDS network has been working for several days now with no disconnects.

But from what I read, WEP security is not very secure, and it seems silly that I have this brand new equipment that is supposed to have WPA2 security but I can't use it. Hopefully this post and others like it help the folks at Apple figure out the problem here (assuming that they read this forum) -- what is it about WPA2 that causes the Express to lose the connection to the WDS network and/or causes the Extreme to drop its connection with the Express after anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours?

-Jeff

I have the same problem with my MacBookPro and my PowerMac G5, both running Leopard.
The Airport Express connects to my WiFi network through WPA authentication. The WiFi network is created by my Freebox (french internet provider router) and everything runs fine until the Airport Express vanishes... I can still ping it but no success with Airtunes or Airport utility.
I've tried to upgrade it, to turn off IPv6 abilities on the Macs (with a little success on availability's time), to reset it, turn off DHCP, with no luck.
Any idea, Apple ?

I've got the same problem. I was watching the CBS "60 Minutes" piece on the dangers of using WEP, and that's how all those credit cards were stolen from TGX. So I switched my Airport Express to WPA/WPA2 Personal. Now I keep getting dropped from the internet, yet my cable modem and Airport Express unit show nothing is wrong. I have to restart my cable modem to correct the problem. It's driving me nuts! My Airport Express unit doesn't show up in the Airport Utility.

In addition to using WEP, another way of 'solving' (ie, working around) this is to use WPA explicity (NOT WPA2 or WPA/WPA2, but WPA("1") ONLY). This beats WEP, is more compatible all-round, and works with Airport Express, too.

BTW, for shame, Apple, letting us muddle along here and not lending a helping hand.

I have a fix!

I had this exact same problem but I also had the advantage of having two older AX units which worked flawlessly. A third unit which arrived yesterday would setup properly, join my WDS and then drop off after ten minutes. The problem mirrors those described here by others to the letter. Airport Utility and Admin Utility could not see it. iTunes could not see it. A printer connected it it vanished from the network.

After 20+ resets, I read an article on Macfixit which said that some users had reported success by downgrading the firmware to 6.1.1. With little to lose I did that, but it did not correct the problem. I did a complete reset by unplugging the AX, holding in the reset button and plugging it in and then waiting until the GREEN light flashed four times (it takes a while). Then, I let it start and found it with Airport Utility. I went into MANUAL setup and clicked the button to upgrade the firmware to 6.3.

After the update to 6.3, I set up the AX for my WDS network and it has been online solidly ever since.

I have to conclude that there is a batch of AX units out there which have a flaw in the firmware which is installed which appears only when the unit is used the way those of us here have been using them. The source used at the factory in China could have been corrupted or there could have been a lightning strike nearby when a bunch of these were in process. The possibilities are endless. If you have reached the end of your rope as I did, you can go here to download the "downgrade" package from Apple:

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/airportexpressfirmware611formacosx.html

The AX detected the available update to 6.3 from my Mac, so in case your AX does not, here is a link to the download install package:

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/airportexpressfirmwareupdate63formacosx.h tml

There are versions for OSX and Windows - I am not sure what about a router could possibly be OS specific but if you are using Windows, here are the Windows-specific versions of 6.1.1 and 6.3, respectively:

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/airportexpressfirmware611forwindows.html
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/airportexpressfirmwareupdate63forwindows. html

As a final note I had tried changing the WPA key update interval and it had no effect. This fix has given me a rock-solid AX just like my other two.

Well, disregard all of the above. After hours of proper functionality, the AX began dropping off line again and will not stay connected more than about five minutes. Apple obviously has put out a whole run of defective units. Send them back. These are junk.

Here comes the kicker: +getting a new one won't help you either+. Really. I did. And the new one has exactly the same behavior.

This *****!