I'm having a little trouble extending my Time Capsule network with an older Airport Express (not an n). Perhaps someone can help me figure out what I'm doing wrong.
1. I put both the Time Capsule and Airport Express in "Participate in a WDS Network" Wireless mode.
2.I set the Time Capsule to "WDS main", and add the Express's Airport ID to the WDS Remotes field.
3. I set the Express to "WDS Remote" or "WDS Relay" (I've tried both as I'm unsure which to use), and add the Time Capsule's Airport ID.
4. I reboot one, and then the other. All I get are amber lights, and only one or the other seems to show up in the Airport Utility at a time.
Im having the same problem.it seems that the airport express is connecting and disconnecting every few seconds. when i look at the log this is whats happening:
May 10 22:30:31 Severity:5 Associated with station 00:03:93:ec:ae:9a
May 10 22:30:34 Severity:5 Disassociated with station 00:03:93:ec:ae:9a
May 10 22:30:34 Severity:5 Deauthenticating with station 00:03:93:ec:ae:9a (reserved 2).
May 10 22:30:37 Severity:5 Associated with station 00:03:93:ec:ae:9a
May 10 22:30:40 Severity:5 Disassociated with station 00:03:93:ec:ae:9a
May 10 22:30:40 Severity:5 Deauthenticating with station 00:03:93:ec:ae:9a (reserved 2).
May 10 22:30:43 Severity:5 Associated with station 00:03:93:ec:ae:9a
anyone have any ideas? is the Airport express dying?
The authenticating-deauthenticating behavior is happening to me as well:
May 29 03:38:44 Severity:5 Disassociated with station 00:0d:93:ea:97:6b
May 29 03:38:44 Severity:5 Deauthenticating with station 00:0d:93:ea:97:6b (reserved 2).
May 29 03:38:47 Severity:5 Associated with station 00:0d:93:ea:97:6b
May 29 03:38:47 Severity:5 Disassociated with station 00:0d:93:ea:97:6b
May 29 03:38:47 Severity:5 Deauthenticating with station 00:0d:93:ea:97:6b (reserved 2).
May 29 03:38:50 Severity:5 Associated with station 00:0d:93:ea:97:6b
May 29 03:38:50 Severity:5 Disassociated with station 00:0d:93:ea:97:6b
May 29 03:38:50 Severity:5 Deauthenticating with station 00:0d:93:ea:97:6b (reserved 2).
May 29 03:38:53 Severity:5 Associated with station 00:0d:93:ea:97:6b
May 29 03:38:53 Severity:5 Disassociated with station 00:0d:93:ea:97:6b
May 29 03:38:53 Severity:5 Deauthenticating with station 00:0d:93:ea:97:6b (reserved 2).
I have a Time Capsule as the WDS Main, and an Airport Extreme as the WDS relay.
The same thing is happening to me and we both are in Austin, TX. Could it be something with the ISP? I'm on Timewarner/Road Runner.
May 30 06:29:39 Severity:5 Clock synchronized to network time server time.apple.com (adjusted +0 seconds).
May 30 07:00:09 Severity:5 Associated with station 00:1b:63:d9:3e:b7
May 30 07:00:09 Severity:5 Installed unicast CCMP key for supplicant 00:1b:63:d9:3e:b7
May 30 07:00:34 Severity:5 Disassociated with station 00:1b:63:d9:3e:b7
May 30 07:00:41 Severity:5 Associated with station 00:1b:63:d9:3e:b7
May 30 07:00:41 Severity:5 Installed unicast CCMP key for supplicant 00:1b:63:d9:3e:b7
May 30 07:01:07 Severity:5 Disassociated with station 00:1b:63:d9:3e:b7
May 30 07:29:40 Severity:5 Clock synchronized to network time server time.apple.com (adjusted +0 seconds).
May 30 07:54:10 Severity:5 Associated with station 00:1b:63:d9:3e:b7
May 30 07:54:10 Severity:5 Installed unicast CCMP key for supplicant 00:1b:63:d9:3e:b7
May 30 07:54:37 Severity:5 Disassociated with station 00:1b:63:d9:3e:b7
May 30 08:29:40 Severity:5 Clock synchronized to network time server time.apple.com (adjusted +0 seconds).
May 30 08:37:56 Severity:5 Associated with station 00:1b:63:d9:3e:b7
May 30 08:37:56 Severity:5 Installed unicast CCMP key for supplicant 00:1b:63:d9:3e:b7
I fought with this issue for hours. Set the n's to b/g only and still couldn't hold the network together. I added another n (now the TC and two n AX's) and so far the network is intact (six hours) but I can't throw iTunes to anything but the closest AX. The iMac I'm using still runs on Tiger and in b/g so I guess the next step is to upgrade that to see if the remaining problems clear- hate losing the iTunes throw.....it had been working with 1 base and three AX's for a couple of years without problems.
If you have one device set up as WDS main and others as WDS remote, make sure that the network name, SSID, security settings, password etc. are identical on all devices.
I assume it is marked answered because the OP's original question has been answered to the OP's satisfaction. The original question was
Does Time Capsule do WDS with the older Airport Express?
This was answered in the first reply.
This is one reason it would be better for the other users, who have different questions, to start new threads.
For example, my post was primarily aimed at Cory Bauer and not at later posts, but because I clicked on the nearest reply button it has been interpreted as an unhelpful attempt to respond to a different problem.
After hours of painful time spent on trying to find what was killing my network and causing the same "disassociated with station... etc" log entries the problem for me was an ipod touch trying to authenticate with my time capsule using stored credentials that I'd changed (specifically the WPA key for the network).
Make sure you have no wireless devices trying to connect with WEP/WPA keys that are incorrect, hopefully this will be helpful for someone.
I have the answer to the everyones WDS wireless bridging problems with Time Capsule and third party wireless devices.
After 24 hours of troubleshooting!!
You have to make sure that you are WEP (Transitional Security Network), If WPA/WPA2-PSK doesn't work on your third party wireless access-point.
I have a Billion AP, a Netgear and a Belkin access points (APs) that all support bridging between them. NON of them support WPA encrption in any for for point-to-point (one AP connecting to another) or multipoint (one AP acting as a central point for many APs to connect to).
The ONLY encryption method that seems to work is WEP 64bit/128bit encrption.
But here is where the problem lies........Apple airport extreme's running the latest firmware (7.3.1) seems to crash when I go through the "assist me" option under the "Base Station" menu in "Airport Utility".
It would allow me to select WEP 64/128 but once it rebooted the Time Capsule, the Time Capsule would lock up and would be left with a blinking orange light and no access via the "Airport Utility".
I would have to reset Time Capsule and start over.
To make things worse, if I went the manual method, there is no WEP 64bit or 128bit option in the "Wireless->Wireless Security" pull down menu under the manual setup.
It only had "WEP (Transitional Security Network)" which demanded a 13 letter password.
Alll of my third party APs accept HEX values (they are generated from the passphrase you create on the APs themselves) and generally when I get prompted for a password to access the wireless network, thats the one I put in, and I connect no issues.
But here is the trick....the Time Capsule needs an ASCII (clear text) password, but the AP your trying to connect to needs to be set to use ASCII under its Wireless Security setting as well for it to work.
Here's a couple of things I suggest to try...
1. Create a 13 character password (you can use the password generator in the "Airport Utility" that appears as a little key next to the Wireless Security pull down menu)
2. Go to you third-party AP and set the encryption to WEP 128bit using ASCII (not HEX!) and enter
the 13 character password you generated in Key Slot 1.
3. Go back to the "Airport Utility" and select to manually setup the Time Capsule/Airport Extreme
4. Go to the "Airport Tab -> Wireless Section" and under "Wireless Mode" select "Participate in WDS network"
5. Then create your own network name (ie. Apple-AP1) as the SSID. Note: Some people are saying you need to have the same SSID....thats rubbish. The whole point is being able to connect to different APs, sometimes with different SSID's. The WDS (I would rather call it the Wireless bridging, as it is what joins (bridges) the different wireless networks together.
6. Make sure the Wireless channels are the same between APs. (ie. if the third-party AP is channel 11, set the Time Capsule to 11 as well).
7. Under "Wireless Security" select "WEP (Transitional Security Network)".
8. Enter the 13 character password and verify it.
9. Go to the WDS tab......select the WDS mode you need (ie WDS remote was what I used because I already had a central AP), but if you want your Time Capsule/Airport Extreme to be the centre of the Wireless network and have other APs bridge to it (like it the centre of a hub and spoke network, then select "WDS Main"
10. Enter in the MAC address of the AP your connecting to, or many APs MAC addresses if you the WDS Main in the "WDS section".
11. Go to your other APs and enter in the MAC address of the Time Capsule "Summary Menu -> Airport ID" in the WDS section of your third-part APs WDS section (if it has one).
12. Create the same Wireless security setting on your third-party AP (ie. WEP, 128bit, ASCII etc)
13. Confirm you have the same Wireless channel on both.
14. Save and reboot (if necessary) both APs.
An important note is that not all third-part APs have the wireless bridging (WDS) capability.
I have two other Linksys APs that are 802.11n but only allow client connections, not wireless bridging (WDS).
These are good APs to use for wireless connections, and I would connect them into a pair of dedicated 802.11n (500Mbps) Airport Extreme wireless bridges.
You can dedicate x2 bridges for bridging the wireless network and another x2 APs for wireless at each end. That will remove the problem of halving your bandwidth when you bridge (use WDS) that everyone seems to complain about.
These are more wireless design consideration.
My wireless setup just so everyone knows is as follows -:
Apple Time Capsule ------ Billion Wireless ADSL 2 Router-------Netgear Access Point
| | | |
| | | |
Wireless Clients Wireless Clients
I am bridging from both the Time Capsule and Netgear to the Billion.
I am not using the Time Capsule for Internet Access, just have bridging on.
When I encountered the problem I read a few sites and everyone said the Time Capsule doesn't work with WDS...its crap etc etc......but I thought if I enable wireless access with no security, I wonder if it would work....and hey-presto!
If it can bridge without any encryption (an open network) then it is just a matter of finding the right combination of settings.
I hope this helps everyone....I almost went out and spent $250 on an airport extreme just so I could bridge properly!
