AirMac Express not working

Welcome!

Are you aware that when you first switch it on or after performing a factory reset, the AX has a different network name from your existing AEBS. And you need to click on the Airport icon on the menu bar to switch the airport to receive on the new network. Once you are on the network the new AX has created, start your Airport configuration.

For whatever reason the express isn't shown on the left of the screen with the extreme - which I guess means the extreme is not picking up the signal of the express?

That's not correct. In order for them to appear in Airport Utility next to each other, they have to be on the same network. If AX has not joined the AEBS network with the correct credential, then you will not see AX on the list. Think about the security implication, and you don't want your neighbor's base station to be listed on your Airport Utility either 😉

Do a factory reset, your AX will create a new wireless network. Follow my procedures above, you should then be able to switch to the new network. Once you are on the new network, make the AX join or extend a existing wireless network with the correct security and password.

Message was edited by: dchao99

I haven't used setup assistance for a while now. So I can't answer that.

But it's pretty easy to use the manual setup to perform this task. (Yes, use the Airport Utility once your see your AX there)

Maybe Apple think this is an advanced operation? So it's not covered in the basic setup.

Message was edited by: dchao99

Similar experience for me. Received the AE on Friday and spent literally 3 hours on the phone with different Apple reps trying to set it up- but to no avail. Tried it on another 2 Windows PCs but this time 5.3.1 wouldn't even load properly. Apple senior analysts are usually not experts on Windows and they have no Windows department. So, Apple have marketed it as being compatible with Windows PC's without providing proper support. And it shouldn't be difficult to set up anyway! This is typical Apple!

DO you run firewall on your PC? You need to open ports for Airport and bonjour to work. Try to disable the firewall temporarily to see if that fix the problem.

Hi dchao99

I tried turning off the firwall and it worked! I'm now up and running. Thanks!

During set-up, I also had an ethernet cable between AE and my router, which I've now removed.

It took quite a bit of effort to set up- I had to restart my PC a few times, as well as reset the router because my internet connection kept dropping. Also got error message 6753 a couple of times. But got there in the end and the AE is a solid green.

However, I'm having trouble working out how to tell my firewall to allow the apple programs, so having to disable the firewall initially every time I start i-tunes. Where can I find out what IP address the AE has?

I must say, Apple have not put enough (hardly any) information for Windows users in the little manual. It's pathetic and unacceptable!

I have turned off my firewall. Since we are behind a NAT router, everything inside the NAT are quite safe unless you open lots of ports for forwarding on the router. In this case, running a firewall behind NAT is quite redundant.

If you must run firewall on your PC, here is a list of well know Apple ports:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106439

For sure you need to open Port 5353 (mDNS aka Bonjour)

Hi

Firstly, I definitely have to use a s/w firewall in my set up. Period.

The firewall I'm currently using is a free one called Sunbelt Personal. Opening the Firewall preferences, I cannot see anywhere where I can stipulate what ports should be open or closed. But there is a page with a whole list of IP (or mac) addresses and you can tell Sunbelt which addresses to trust. Trouble is, I don't know what address the AE is at. (?)

The default IP address for the base station: 10.0.1.1

Open the Airport utility, and from the file menu select "connect..." and enter this IP address. If it's the correct address, the Airport Utility will connect to your base station.

These base stations come with a 'configure over ethernet option'.

Attach an ethernet cable between your machine and the airport express, and the airport express will show up, this is just temporary while you set it up, this will get the base station showing, you can then configure the base station to join your existing network, and once its all updated, just remove the cable afterwards.