Cannot read config, Airport Express+n

I have this problem and I think in general there are a lot of people having this type of issue. Everything works fine, but the utility does not allow configuration access though it knows its there and does the identify thing... I am fairly certain this is purely software and either the utility is flaky or perhaps something is blocking access (I'm using Vista) though I would expect

a) older verisons should work?
b) other installs on other OSs should work (like XP)

GIven the amount of people experiencing this... it really needs to get eyes on it from Apple

For what its worth - I downloaded and installed version 3.2 Airport Utility and it too also found the AX... though it reports it as having a different IP address... which I get a funky error for pinging...

However if I use the ip address that the new version of Airport Utility reports, then it connects and I can see the settings that the 3.2 will report on... I'm not going to change anything but this does show that the AX does seem to work though I think the new Airport Utility is getting mucked with too many IP addresses (there are three distincts IP reported for it) and which one it wants to use to read the config...

I am having the same issue. The unit works great, but access to configuration is limited, usually requiring a restart of the AX. Even then I cannot always access the configuration settings.

What type of reset are you doing? I have not done this and given how rarely I may actually go into configuration then I would be OK to have to do this to access it... until Apple FIXES this issue!!!!!!!

WIth my previous AX, I did try all the resets described - unplug/plug in, hold reset for 10 seconds, unplug, hold reset, plug in with reset held, let go after 10 seconds

Funny enough none of those ever reverted the AX back to the original settings - my network always connected with the same name etc...

Same problem here. Bought the unit yesterday, update the software, seems to working but I can't get back into the config. I've power cycled, rebooted the computer, etc. Nothing seems to be fixing the problem. I don't want to do a full reset and erase the configuration but it looks like I may have to.

Same here, happen randomly. It is caused probably while either software or airport express are saving/updating settings. Afer restart utility says it has found airport express that is reporting problems, but is unable to read airports configuration.

For me, holding one second restart button on airport express help. Annoying bug!

Firmware 7.3.1, Utility 5.3.1

Yeah this is the most infuriating error ever. I can configure my airport extreme just fine, but the express, the software only works maybe one time out of ten. All the other times it gets stick at 'reading airport express configuration' for about 10 minutes then kicks up an error saying 'an error occured try again'. I find after restarting my computer a few times it eventually works, where you can make configuration changes, restart the express, and then thats it, you gotta restart your computer a bunch more times to try and reconfigure the express again. its annoying as all ****.

Same problem here.... :-P
The first day I set it up I was able to go back to *Airport Utility* and change a few things but now I can't access it anymore (although I'm still connected). Tried resetting everything a few times in vain - can't get it to completely reset to factory settings or even delete the network I created.

Has anyone tried to downgrade to ver 7.3? I tried twice. Both unsuccessful.

I'm using an airport express, and I'm also having this problem - the error number is (-6765). I can connect to the internet fine but whenever I try to configure or update, there is an error.

I think my firmware version is 6.1.1, and when I click update, it says there's "a firmware update available (6.3)" but everyone seems to be talking about 7.3.1??

I'm running Airport Utility 5.3.1

These instructions work for me, thanks!

Now let's hope Apple fixes this soon 😟

How does one power cycle AExN? I have the same issue with an AE that previously worked so I imagine the "update" to 10.5.2 that killed off my printers is effecting this also. Would like to try your approach but don't know how.

plug it out, hold down the reset button with a pen or something, plug it in while still holding the reset button down. When it starts flashing rapidly, count to five and let go. If it keeps flashing for a second then its reset, if it doesn't, do it again.

The most recent version of AX has a different way to factory reset the device than the manual states 😟

The correct instructions are to leave the unit plugged in, press and hold the reset button until the light flashes. Then wait... a long time until it comes back online as a factory reset device.

(The old model was similar except you would need to hold the reset button AS you plugged it in. On the latest model, that does not work).

I had to call AppleCare to find that out.