Airport Extreme not working after firmware update

Uploading old firmware is actually really easy. All you do is select your base station from the list in Airport Utility, and under "Base Station" choose "Upload Firmware." From there you can select which firmware version to upload (old or new) from a drop down box.

Do you use Airport Express to connect to another WLAN (eg. Time Capsule etc.)? I experienced the same problem as long as the WLAN I was trying to connect to was set to "Closed Network". Once I disabled it (so the name of the network is broadcasted), Airport Express was able to connect again. My guess is: It's not a feature, it's a bug ...

A similar problem happened to one of my AEBS. The old FastE AEBS worked fine after the update, the GigE AEBS could not be accessed with the Airport Utility after the update. The utility says "An error occurred while reading the configuration. Make sure your Apple wireless device is plugged in and in range of your computer or connected via Ethernet and try again. (-5)".

Since it is connected via GigE to my MacBook Pro it should be no connectivity issue. It looks like the configuration files on the AEBS might be messed up in some way. However, the box seems to work fine regarding all other features.

Any ideas?

Same exact thing happened to me with my GigE AEBS after the update.

I tried connecting with both my imac and macbook wired and wirelessly but still get the (-5) error. Power cycled a few times as well.

Although the unit is functional along with the Airport Express that is connected to it via WDS(that update went fine)

Also, you cannot revert back to the older firmware because you get the same error when you select Upload Firmware in the menu.

Hello,

I also have a problem with my ABES after the last (v7.4.1) firmware update. When I open my Airport Utility (v5.4.1 (541.9)) it finds my ABES and shows its Aiport Extreme Name, IP Address, Version and Airport ID. All normal until that.

If I click Manual Setup or Continue it tries to read ABES and gives me this message box: "An error occurred while reading the configuration. Make sure your Apple wireless device is plugged in and in range of your computer or connected via Ethernet and try again. (-5)"

If I click the OK in the message it goes away and I get "An error occurred, close the configuration window and try again." in the Airport Utility window. After that I have to close Airport Utility app and open it again so it sees ABES again. It seams it can't read the ABES software (firmware?)

I did a soft reset and but continues with the problem. I did not make a hard reset because I'm afraid it will loose the connection with the internet.

What should I do?

Thank you!

Having the EXACT same problem. Any computer that is attached via hardwire is working, anything wireless - Airport Express, AppleTVs is NOT connecting after 7.4.1 and there's no way to get to the configuration - I also keep getting the (-5) error.

Did Apple just brick EVERY ABSE that upgraded to 7.4.1??

I'm going to have to dumb down to my old linksys G until this gets straightened out.

I'm getting the same problem with my Airport Extreme after the 7.4.1 update. Have to go hardwire now, anything with wireless can not work and can not detect through Airport Utility.

Does anyone have any idea if the problem is with the firmware update, or the Airport Utility update?

Will a hard reset solve the problem? I'm willing to try to get everything back up and running.

I just got off the phone with Apple -

They had me do a hard reset on the base station then walk through the manual setup of the base station after comes back up in Airport Utility

UNclick Allow Setup over WAN on the BASE STATION tab

UNclick "Allow SNMP" on the ADVANCED (Gear) Icon in the top row

I used my old names and passwords for my Wireless network

Hit UPDATE (bottom right corner)

Everything went back to normal. iPhone, AppleTVs, Airport Express, MacBook picked everything right up again.

I had/am having the same problem as everyone here. By launching Airport Utility and immediately selecting Base Station -> Restore Default Settings when my AEBS appeared, I was able to get to the configuration screens. I have a WDS setup so I'm trying to get that working now but at least I've gotten access to the configuration screens.

I just bought my airport express yesterday. When I updated to 7.4.1 I had to do a hard reset to get everything working again... except it wasn't really working. When I tried to actually put in network settings, it tried to restart and never came back up. I repeated this process several times.

The only solution was to revert to firmware version 7.3.2. Looks like there's a major problem with the new version of the firmware.

Had the same problem this morning. Airport Utility connected via cable could see the AEBS, but got a -5 error when trying to do anything else, including trying to revert. Here's how I solved it.

Had to do a hard reset of the AEBS. Pushed pin button on back of AEBS for 5 seconds until light blinked. Then, had to re-enter all of my custom settings. Fortunately, I have those written down in a file for just such a purpose. Had to rename it, set up Internet access, passwords, ports, the works. But still, only took 5 minutes.

The good news was that when I reset the AEBS, it was still using the new 7.4.1 firmware. After re-entering all my settings, I now have the new features of 7.4.1, and it seems to reboot faster as well. I can connect fine using wireless Macs, but I did notice that it asked for the password again several time and failed, and then suddenly worked. You may want to try turning off Airport and then turning it back on again on the Mac if having trouble.

Same situation with update. The airport extreme base station no longer can be located using airport utility. Rescan does not help. Unplugging - replugging base station does not help. Rebooting computer (macbook pro) does not help. How do I get the base station to be located now?
Thanks

Yep firmware upgrade bricked my AEBS.
After the best part of an hour wasted now back up.

Solution
Hard reset (I needed to use the unplug power - hold reset button - plug in method)
DO NOT FOLLOW ASSIST ME
Manual Setup
downgrade back to 7.3.2 (click "version" and chose from drop down list.
Restart AEBS
Configure as required follow Assist Me if you like
Restart

Good Luck

One more who had to go back previous firmware. After updating last night the "802.11n only (5GHz)" setting no longer worked, which is what I use by default. The base station does not broadcast any signal at all. I set it to b/g compatible and this works fine. However, I need the "n" only setting.

I rolled back to 7.3.2 and I am back to normal. 802.11n only 5GHz works again. Looks like they only tested this on the new simult-dual band.