Airport Express "ethernet unplugged"

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Level 1

8 points

Airport Express "ethernet unplugged"

My airport express was working fine. Now has blinking yellow light. Airport utility says "ethernet unplugged". I verified that the AE is plugged into a working ethernet cable from my router by unplugging the AE and plugging a laptop into the same cable and verifying that my laptop is then connected.

Tried resetting the AE (by pressing the little recessed button). Reconfigured, but same problem. AE firmware is 6.3. iMac is running Leopard with all SW updates applied. Ideas?

iMac, Mac OS X (10.5.1)

Posted on Nov 17, 2007 3:58 PM

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Answer 1

Tesserax

Level 10

148,423 points

Nov 17, 2007 4:39 PM in response to DaleMorris

It appears that the communication between the modem and the AirPort Express Base Station (AX) is "broken."

Try the following, in order, until resolved:
1. If the modem has a reset switch, use it to reset the modem. Wait at least 5-10 minutes for the modem to initialize.

2. Remove power from the modem. If it has a backup battery, remove this as well. Wait 5-10 minutes. Replace the battery, and add power back to the modem.

3. Perform a complete power recycle of your network components as follows:
Modem/Router Power Recycling - Quick
o Power-off the modem, AX, & computer(s); Wait at least 5 minutes.
o Power-on the modem; Wait at least 5 minutes.
o Power-on the AX; Wait at least 5 minutes.
o Power-on the computer(s)

If this fails to get the modem to "recognize" the Internet router, then try the "Full" version.

Modem/Router Power ReCycling - Full
o Power-off the modem, AX, & computer(s). (Wait at least 30 minutes. If possible, leave the modem off overnight.)
o Power-on the modem; Wait at least 15 minutes.
o Power-on the AX; Wait at least 5 minutes.
o Power-on the computer(s)

4. Contact your ISP to have them perform a "modem reset."

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Answer 2

DaleMorris Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 18, 2007 9:45 AM in response to DaleMorris

okay, tried all that. same result. Airport express boots up and flashes amber. Airport Utility says that the error is "ethernet unplugged".

Ideas?

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Answer 3

Tesserax

Level 10

148,423 points

Nov 18, 2007 11:55 AM in response to DaleMorris

If you have already tried "factory default" resets on the AX, it may be possible that the unit has failed. You may consider taking it to you local Apple Store / Retailer to have them check it out.

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Answer 4

DaleMorris Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 18, 2007 12:08 PM in response to DaleMorris

OK, more experimenting. The only thing that I had changed in my setup since the AX was working was that I replaced my router. So, I swapped back in my old router, and the result was: the amber light still blinks on the AX, but in Airport Utility it says the AX has no errors. Tried streaming music from iTunes and that worked.

Next, I did the following: rewired everything with my new router, except that I fed one cable from a port on my new router to the WAN input on my old router, and plugged the AX into the old router. So, the old router is now hanging off of my main network, and has only one device plugged into it (the AX). Same result - AX blinks amber, but Airport Utility shows a green dot and says it has no errors, and I can successfully stream iTunes music to the AX.

I'm not sure why the AX should blink amber when Airport Utility says the AX is reporting no errors. Also not sure why using the old router in series should make a difference. Ideas?

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Answer 5

Tesserax

Level 10

148,423 points

Nov 18, 2007 12:29 PM in response to DaleMorris

Now that you "experimented," what is the make/model of your "old" & "new" routers?

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Answer 6

DaleMorris Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 18, 2007 12:42 PM in response to Tesserax

old = SMC barricade smc7004vbr
new = linksys befsr81

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Answer 7

Nov 18, 2007 5:18 PM in response to DaleMorris

Sounds to me like the ethernet port on your express has gone bad. I had one do that very same thing in during a thunderstorm. Now I use it as a WDS remote in my network so I can still stream AirTunes, and it will extend my network so I have better internet connectivity, but I cannot plug an ethernet cord directly into it. Poor thing is still trying anyway.

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Answer 8

DaleMorris Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 18, 2007 5:51 PM in response to DaleMorris

That sounds quite plausible. I replaced the router because the old one got damaged (in very interesting ways) during a lightning storm. Lost a printer in that storm, too. So, perhaps the AX got a bit fried then, too. Strange that it is working (despite the blinking amber) right now, hooked up to the old (somewhat fried) router. I'll use that as a workaround for now, and if it dies more, then I guess I'll just replace it.

Thanks!

- Dale

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Answer 9

Tesserax

Level 10

148,423 points

Nov 18, 2007 6:00 PM in response to DaleMorris

Okay in this configuration you have three Internet routers in a row. For the AX to function properly, both the SMC & the AX would need to be reconfigured as bridges to allow the Linksys to continue to provide NAT & DHCP services for the entire wired/wireless network.

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Answer 10

DaleMorris Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 18, 2007 8:24 PM in response to DaleMorris

Not really following you. As I said, I have the internet service coming into the Linksys, which then fans out to our computers and to the SMC barricade. The barricade connects to the AX. Everything is working at this point - the computers have internet access, so the Linksys is able to to provide them connectivity. The AX is blinking amber, but is serving music over iTunes, which is what I have it set up for at the moment.

I don't really want to have the SMC barricade hooked up between the Linksys and the AX - it's just the only configuration I've found that allows me to stream music to it. The ultimate goal is not to figure out how to make this configuration work. It's to figure out how the AX can simply be connected to the one router (the linksys).

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Answer 11

Nov 20, 2007 10:40 AM in response to DaleMorris

I am assuming that an SMC barricade is a wireless router. Everything I have ever read indicates that you cannot network and express with a third party router. You can only network it with an apple airport express. Bummer deal is, after hours and hours of networking difficulty, I have been completely unsuccessful at networking the new 802.11n airport extreme with the 802.11g airport express. But I have succesfully networked more than one airport express together. If you don't mind dropping 99 bucks, buy another airport express, replace your SMC barricade (once again assuming that it is a router) and network the new express with the one you have a bad internet port on. The one drawback is that you cannot create a LAN network with the express meaning you can't hard wire any other computers that do not have a wireless card. Only the extreme can do that.

Hope this makes sense for you.

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Answer 12

DaleMorris Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 20, 2007 5:48 PM in response to Diane Johnson1

The SMC barricade is not a wireless router. The only wireless device in the picture is the AX (and my iMac). Again, the configuration (drawing a mental picture here) is a wire from my internet service modem that goes to the Linksys router. Wires out of the Linksys to various computers and printers, including one wire that goes to the SMC barricade router. A wire out of the barricade that goes to the AX. This works (I can stream music from iTunes to the AX and Airport Utility reports that the AX is all happy, although the AX flashes amber nevertheless). Removing the barricade, and hooking the AX directly to the Linksys router (again, with a wire) causes the AX not to work (still flashes amber, but now Airport Utility says that the AX does not have an ethernet wire plugged in and I can't send music to it with iTunes). So, I'm not trying to do anything like network the AX with a third-party wireless router.

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Answer 13

Nov 21, 2007 9:00 AM in response to DaleMorris

Making sure I am clear on this, Your Linksys is plugged into your cable modem, right? The Linksys is networked via ethernet cable to other computers that do not have a wireless card and you have the AX hooked via ethernet to the Linksys. Am I right?

This is the bummer deal.... you obviously need the LAN networking capability because you have some devices without a wireless card. Two problems. The Linksys is in fact a third party router and you cannot have the Express join a network with a third party router. The only way to do that would be to replace the Linksys with an Apple base station, ie, the Airport Extreme. The Airport Extreme has the LAN networking capability, and ideally you would be able to network the Extreme and the Express to be able to utilize the Airtunes capability. Here's the second problem: An airport express will network seemlessly with the previous generation Airport Extreme....the 802.11g version. The express will NOT network with the 802.11n Extreme. This is a common problem referenced in many threads... I personally have spent hours on the phone with AppleCare in an attempt to network my expresses with the 802.11n extreme. No dice.

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Answer 14

DaleMorris Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 21, 2007 8:09 PM in response to Diane Johnson1

I see that you read my posting very carefully. The configuration you describe is the one that does not work. If I connect my old SMC router off my new Linksys router, and then hook the AX to the SMC, then the AX works (at least for streaming iTunes).

And, just to be clear, earlier (before the lightning storm fried my SMC barricade router), the AX worked just fine connected to the SMC router. The SMC is, in fact, a third party router. (Just had to say that.) Stuff and nonsense that the AX won't work when attached to some router other than an Airport Extreme.

I'm sure that you've had many hours of frustration trying to get an AX and AE to interoperate. However, your problem has nothing to do with my situation.

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Answer 15

AHOY

Level 1

0 points

Nov 30, 2007 8:43 AM in response to DaleMorris

Hey Dale,

Same think happened to my AE. I had problems with cut-outs a while back and gave up on it until recently when I purchased a laptop. I decided to give it a second try and I get the same 'ethernet unplugged' message even though the same cable functions fine with computers and even a new AE. The unit works fine using it as an Airtunes module but just won't connect to the ethernet. I've tried soft and hard reset of the unit and nothing works. I've tried plugging it directly to my cable modem rather than my router and still not luck. I'm starting to think now that maybe it really is a broken feature 😟

- Christian

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