Airport Extreme Website block..

Add me to the list of those effected. For a long time it was just one news site that I frequented that would load extremely slowly when connected through the Airport Extreme. Now I can't access Google and several other major sites, except by either bypassing the base station or putting it in Bridge Mode. Needless to say this renders my in house network largely useless.

At this point I'm waffling between going through the effort of dealing with Customer Support to try and get a new AE base station out of them, or just breaking down and buying a cheap router and using the base station as a wireless access point / gigabit network switch.

One theory that has been floated is that the Airport Base Station's internal route mapping tables become corrupted and that there is no way (including hard resetting the unit) to clear them. In any case I did a quick traceroute on a Google address (72.14.213.105) both with the router acting as a DHCP and in Bridge Mode and I thought I'd post the results to see if they suggest anything to someone with more experience than I.

#1 Router in bridge mode, traceroute resolves in about 3-5 seconds as follows:

Traceroute has started…

traceroute to 72.14.213.105 (72.14.213.105), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets
1 10.78.0.1 (10.78.0.1) 6.175 ms 4.921 ms 8.005 ms
2 24.207.0.121 (24.207.0.121) 12.972 ms 6.931 ms 7.913 ms
3 24.207.0.1 (24.207.0.1) 10.510 ms 7.960 ms 8.474 ms
4 br2.dccnet.ca (24.207.0.126) 9.295 ms 11.331 ms 6.337 ms
5 h209-17-188-30.gtconnect.net (209.17.188.30) 8.321 ms 9.549 ms 8.617 ms
6 ge2-0.wanb-vancbc.ip.grouptelecom.net (216.18.31.133) 9.450 ms 10.116 ms 9.037 ms
7 pos2-0.peera-sttlwa.ip.grouptelecom.net (66.59.190.98) 12.871 ms 11.562 ms 12.456 ms
8 gt-360networks.peera-sttlwa.ip.grouptelecom.net (66.59.190.42) 15.615 ms 11.665 ms 62.593 ms
9 209.85.249.34 (209.85.249.34) 12.092 ms 13.285 ms 17.029 ms
10 72.14.239.12 (72.14.239.12) 17.889 ms 20.802 ms
216.239.46.208 (216.239.46.208) 20.337 ms
11 209.85.250.144 (209.85.250.144) 23.303 ms
64.233.174.125 (64.233.174.125) 20.798 ms
216.239.43.228 (216.239.43.228) 17.079 ms
12 209.85.253.6 (209.85.253.6) 19.182 ms *
64.233.174.99 (64.233.174.99) 19.066 ms
13 pv-in-f105.1e100.net (72.14.213.105) 18.865 ms 20.195 ms 24.927 ms


#2 Router in DHCP mode, traceroute proceeds basically indefinately, there were about 30 more lines of those * * *'s and no end in sight.

Traceroute has started…

traceroute to 72.14.213.105 (72.14.213.105), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets
1 10.0.1.1 (10.0.1.1) 0.514 ms 0.373 ms 0.280 ms
2 10.78.0.1 (10.78.0.1) 6.890 ms 8.319 ms 12.074 ms
3 24.207.0.121 (24.207.0.121) 8.435 ms 10.709 ms 6.911 ms
4 24.207.0.1 (24.207.0.1) 6.999 ms 13.939 ms 9.705 ms
5 bdr.gdvfd.scrd.ca (24.207.0.126) 21.058 ms 7.987 ms 8.165 ms
6 h209-17-188-30.gtconnect.net (209.17.188.30) 10.254 ms 8.940 ms 9.719 ms
7 66.38.255.1 (66.38.255.1) 11.055 ms 16.118 ms 9.549 ms
8 pos1-0.peera-sttlwa.ip.grouptelecom.net (66.59.190.46) 15.437 ms 12.944 ms 13.929 ms
9 * * *
10 * * *
11 * * *
12 * * *
13 * * *

Like many others, I've been dealing with this problem.

The "best" solution I can offer so far is here:
http://en.kioskea.net/forum/affich-92145-one-certain-site-will-not-load-help
(look for the solution referring to cloning the MAC address)

I believe the IP I'm assigned (or possibly the MAC address) is being blocked somewhere along the way. By my ISP (Comcast)? By the host I'm contacting (a site on LunarPages)? Not sure. I'm still looking for where this info is blocked and searching for a way to get unblocked.
The site being blocked is my work site, so I access it frequently. This may have been the cause of the initial ban, for some reason.

Here's what I did:
- I bought a new Linksys router (thinking the AE was useless)
- Everything worked well for a few days, but then the Linksys router was being blocked
(I could see the entire web minus a single site - which included my email)
- I now have my AE connected to my Linksys router - connected to my cable modem
- I used the "Clone MAC Address" feature of the Linksys router to solve the blocking problem (I can't tell you why this is working)
- If I get blocked again, I'll change the MAC address again

NOTE: The AE can't do MAC cloning, so until Apple fixes their software, the AE is just a bridge to the router that can handle MAC cloning.

I may replace the fancy Linksys router (E3000 - similar in scope to the AE) with a simple non-wireless router (save some money) since I'm only using its MAC cloning feature and nothing else.

It's not an ideal situation, but I need to get back to work.

If anyone has thoughts on where these banned IPs or MAC addresses are being stored, I'd appreciate some tips. I think I can use the AE once I'm unbanned. Until then...

m

Update: The above solution only worked for a few days. The Linksys router was eventually blocked as well.

I'm still looking for a solution.

I'm not sure where things are being blocked, or how to unblock them.

m

I just got the wireless Time Capsule (TC) and was initially quite impressed with ease of set up and versatility. Previously used Linksys wireless routers with good and bad experiences.

I used the TC for a week and then noticed that I could not access Facebook. Now living in China I was suspicious of my VPN provider as FB is blocked by the Chinese authorities here in Shanghai.

With further investigation it seemed that it was limited to Facebook, every other site I wanted to visit was no problem. Then a day later I tried Twitter (not a site I regularly use) but had the same issue. Then a few days later You Tube was not accessible.
The interesting thing was that if I used my Ipod Touch connecting wirelessly using the TC airport I could get to Facebook with no problem.

So I conducted many of the steps outlined in these discussions, connected the Macbook directly to the modem and replaced the TC with my old router and each case I managed to bypass the issue.

It seemed only when I connected the TC (Airport or Ethernet)did the problem appear, I also saw the problem when connecting a PC laptop to the TC either using the Airport or ethernet connections. The TC was always the common factor in the problem.

So I read another helpful post (sorry reference missing) discussing the impact that DNS addresses could have on accessing specific web sites. So in looking around I compared the DNS IP address in the TC configuration file using the Airport Utility with the DNS address within the Airport System Settings menu.

They were different.

So as an experiment I manually copied the DNS from the TC configuration to my Airport configuration and the problem was immediately resolved. At least for now....

Needless to say I don't have the technical understanding or jargon to fully describe what I did but that's the fun of playing around I guess!

I was having a similar problem that Applecare just helped me solve. I'll quickly describe what was happening and the steps to solving it.

Problem: I was unable to connect to certain websites on my iMac (using wired ethernet connection to Airport Extreme) in any web browser. Certain websites (Woot.com, Store.apple.com as examples) would behave as if I had no internet connection whereas others loaded fine. I could access these sites through other computers on my local network connected wirelessly without issues. I could also access them on my iMac through a proxy page. This started out of the blue, and I suspected my Airport Extreme. Turns out the computer was the problem.

Solution: I called Applecare (still had coverage for my iMac) and they walked me through the following steps, which solved the problem:

1. Open Finder.
2. Go to Home folder, Library subfolder, move Caches folder to trash.
3. Go to Macintosh HD, Library folder, move Caches folder to trash.
4. Go to Home folder, Library subfolder, preferences subfolder, move file "com.apple.Safari.plist" to desktop.
5. Quit all open browsers.
6. Restart computer.
7. Empty trash (this took awhile).
8. Open Safari.
9. From Safari menu (next to Apple icon in system bar), click Reset Safari.
10. Uncheck in dialog: Removed saved names and passwords, Remove Autofill form text, Reset all location warnings.
11. Click "Reset" in dialog.
12. Try to access the problem sites again.

For me, this solved the problem, both in Safari and Chrome. I'm putting it here in case it helps anyone else. I was not getting the same type of "Access Denied" error, but otherwise the symptoms were similar. Good luck, everyone.

so as of August 23, 2010 we still have no issue? I see lots of chatter but no actual suggestion on how to fix this.

Has anyone had any luck?

I broke down and bought a netgear router since I couldn't access my own domain (hosted by 1and1) and all was well until I (stupidly) plugged my AEBS in to bridge to my external hard drive) and now I'm blocked again.

Resetting everything and even a hard drive reformat has done me nothing but waste my time.

Please tell me someone has a fix?

I have been having this problem for several months. I'm currently running the airport extreme in bridge mode to another router connected to the cable modem. I don't have a solution, but my workaround is to assign a new IP address to the computer having the access problem. (ie: if the machine was 192.168.0.23, I change it to 192.168.0.24) The other router allows me to assign IPs to specific mac addresses via DHCP so I just keep switching the assigned IP whenever sites get blocked (like gmail or dropbox). Huge pain in the ***, come on apple, fix this!

Success!!!

I have had this problem and tried lots of things. I finally contacted the owner of the website that was being blocked. I gave them my IP address and I don't know what they did, but it works now. There seems to be some sort of block that is put on the website if you access it too many times.

It is related to the IP address which is different when you plug into the modem, or even via ethernet cable into the airport extreme.

I bought my Time Capsule this summer and had the same problems just after I installed it. I couldn't reach the website and mailbox of my company. Tried every solution on this forum but with no results.

Early September I went on holiday for 2 weeks and I shut down the Time Capsule and the modem of my provider. After 2 weeks I switched them on again and..... the problem had disappeared. I could reach my website again and could syng with my mailbox again.

To be certain I asked the provider of my website if he changed the IP address of the server, but he didn't.

I don't know what happened, but after more than 1 month it still works for me!

Had the same issue just last night after I turned on the modem and router (it was off for about six hours). Some sites are not accessible (timeout error) like Facebook and Apple, but others like YouTube are working great. Connecting directly to the modem or using my back-up Airport Express works. Thought there is a problem with the AEBS (thinking of sending it to the service center), when I saw this thread in which I got the idea that the sites maybe blocking my router's IP address. So I compared _the assigned Public IPs when using the Airport Express and Airport Extreme and they are different_. And even if I reboot the modem, I still get the same Public IPs previously assigned to them. As such, I called the ISP and asked them to reset/change the Public IP assigned to my Airport Extreme (which unfortunately they are not able to since it is controlled by the DHCP server and they do not have access to it).

The solution they gave me: they suggested that I turn off the modem and router for at least two (2) hours for their DHCP server to flush the Public IP assigned to the router. And it worked!

Alas! I found a fix...thought I would mention it as I have been having the exact same issues with my airport express. I went into airport utility, internet connections, and changed the connection sharing to "distribute a range of IP addresses". Hope it works as well for some of you!

I can't believe how long this one has ben going for without a proper answer!?

My Airport Extreme started blocking a month ago, just my own domains nothing else. I took the Extreme to my parents house as they use the same ISP as mine and live only 2 minutes up the road so also use the same telephone exchange. I hooked it up and bingo it worked. I took it back to my house and no go. I then dusted off an old Airport Express, bingo it worked and we were back and running.

During this time the Extreme was replaced under Applecare. It was only working for all of a month. Now it's not working again. One month to the day.

My conclusion, it has to be something to do with the amount of email addresses I have and the frequency of how mail searches for it all at once. I seem to remember when mail used to search in the old days for mail addresses once at a time. Now it seems to do it all at once. I wonder if that's breaking the extreme or timing out the port or Nat config inside the Airport device due to the amount of instant traffic it gets.

I see someone has their frequency set to 10 minutes and it still broke. Mine was on every minute.

I'll change it to manual and see. Though this is not a fix it's a work round.
Saying that I have to get it working first to test my theory.

I too am suddenly experiencing this problem and astounded at what a long thread this is to still have no solution in sight other than to find a different router.

My personal site is being blocked--so far I can access every other site I've tried, just not the one I need to visit most often. It is quite frustrating! If I unplug the Airport Express and hook directly into my cable modem via ethernet, the problem goes away, so I know the issue is with the Airport Express. I've tried flushing DNS cache, deleting all caches on my machine, restarting my machine as well as cycling power on both AE and cable modem, all to no avail.

I really hate to have to go back to my old router, but with no solution in sight from Apple it looks like that's my next step.

This may work for you. It worked for me and it's easy!

On a Mac: Apple... System Preferences... Network... select "Ethernet"... click "Advanced"... Select "TCP/IP"... click "Renew DHCP Lease"... OK... Apply... restart your PC

On a Windows PC, find the area where you can renew the DHCP license.

Voila!