Airport Extreme - 'internet connection' or 'double NAT'

My 3 week old Airpot Extreme 802.11n router connected to a D-Link DSL-320T modem seems to work fine all day long. However, randomly, but often after inactivity periods, one of the three scenarios occurs, which stops internet access on my network (LAN and WAN).

1) 'internet connection' error comes up. The modem looks fine, but the AEBS remains blinking orange until restarted, at which point all is well.

2) Green light... but there's no internet connectivity. I can access the modem's web interface, see that it's connected, but can't access the internet until I reboot the AEBS.

3) 'double NAT' this is more rare nowadays - it sort of went away after numerous reboots, again, rebooting the AEBS fixes the problem.

So... is this normal? is my AEBS broken? Should I get another modem?

The AEBS issue affects the whole network - all ethernet & wifi traffic.

(The network was originally fine with a D-Link DIR-635 'n' router, except my MBP kept loosing all network connection whilst claiming to still be connected to the wifi D-Link router... I figured that an Apple router would make my life simpler...)

Airport Extreme 'n' router, Mac OS X (10.5.2)

Posted on Mar 11, 2008 8:30 AM

32 replies

lui-g Author

Level 1

0 points

May 7, 2008 6:05 AM in response to Timothy Houghton

Hi Tim,
I don't have a WDS - I'm in a flat and the range on the AEBSn is enough (though less than my old D-Link DIR-635 which I could access from my local pub some 50 meters away). I'm online most of the day, since I work from home (I'm a web developer). I'll give the old firmware a go next time it stops, but at the moment it's back to the inconsistent random drops - which happen usually in between browsing/downloading sessions, not during them - so I suppose that's a bonus.

The green light should really go though, if the net is down.

Firmware next.
Lui-g.

lui-g Author

Level 1

0 points

May 19, 2008 1:30 AM in response to lui-g

hmm... couldn't easily find the 7.2.1 firmware - I suspect it may be what was on the installation CD, but didn't want to bother finding out.

As an alternative - remembering an early comment on this thread, I used open DNS on the AEBS, and on one of my macs (G5). When the internet went down on my MacPro, the G5 could still browse the net.

Once I added the open dns to all my Apple machines (ipod touch included), then it all seems to work reasonably well!

So there appears to be a bug with the AEBS's DNS relaying, as using the default settings, my ISP's DNS or the open DNS all end up having problems, although the green light remains!

Configuring open dns on all the machines is the temporary solution. Good job I only have 10 machines on my local network!

Apple seems to have skipped this bug in their recent firmware upgrades.

Are people having this problem a minority?

?

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Airport Extreme - 'internet connection' or 'double NAT'