Airport Extreme not working after firmware update

I went backward with the firmware and everything now works fine.
Thanks.

I have an Airport Extreme (802.11n). My problems began after installing AirPort Base Station (802.11n) Firmware 7.4.1.

I have a Mac laptop -- OS 10.4.11, 1.67 GHz PowerPC G4, with Airport Utility 5.4.1. It cannot see the Airport Extreme via Airport. It can only see the Airport Extreme when I plug in with an Ethernet cable. When I open Airport Utility and hit continue, it says "An error occurred while reading this configuration. Make sure your apple wireless device is plugged in and in range of your computer or connected via ethernet and try again. (-5)"

I also have a PC laptop, ASUS EEE. It used to be able to see the Airport Extreme. Now it cannot.

Addendum: I've already tried turning off and on the cable modem, Airport Extreme and assorted laptops. No luck.

I am currently connected to the Airport Extreme via an Ethernet cable, and can access the Internet in that manner. The Airport Extreme has a green light on.

I have to conclude that something about the firmware 7.4.1 update has made the Airport Extreme undetectable, since my ASUS EEE laptop can't see it anymore either.

I did the hard reboot of my extreme and made the aforementioned adjustments and everything seems fine now, but I still can't pickup the various airport expresses around my house that I was using for airtunes. I reverted back to the previous firmware and still nothing. Anyone else having this problem?

Hi all

Same problem here. Got error (-5) as well after installing the firmware update.

After reading this thread I logged into the AEBS from my XP machine without any problems and saved the configuration to a file.

Then I did a complete reset of the AEBS.

After that I was finally able to log in to the - now default configured - AEBS form my Mac again using the AirPort Utility. There I was able to import the previously saved configuration. And - yep - everything is fine now. It took me about five minutes for the whole process, besides reading the thread.

Hopefully you have a Windows machine or Parallels/VMware around...


Best Regards,

Jens

This post was very helpful. Thank you very much.

Exactly same problem here after Airport Extreme firmware update. Airport Utility (updated) on my Intel iMac couldn't see the base station. Tried a hard re-start on the base station, re-set everything, worked for about 10 minutes then AP Utility lost the base station again.

However, my G4 PowerBook which did not have the updated AP Utility could see the base station, so I reverted to firmware 7.3.2., as outlined in a previous post here. Now everything is working fine.

Hi Guys,

I too updated my Firmware on my Airport Extreme this morning - it has resulted in the unit being totally unresponsive. I have tried a hard restart, but the light remains a solid amber. It seems to be totally stuck. It is not appearing in my Airport Utility window either. Any ideas?!

Hi Guys,

I too updated my Firmware on my Airport Extreme this morning - it has resulted in the unit being totally unresponsive. I have tried a hard restart, but the light remains a solid amber. It seems to be totally stuck. It is not appearing in my Airport Utility window either. Any ideas?!

If it helps, I downgraded to a Airport Utility 5.3.2 - things worked then. The newer version still doesn't work for me.

My problem isn't quite the same as other people here. For the past 2 days the AirPort Extreme (doesn't have Gigabit Ethernet) doesn't let me connect via wireless. It works fine for the day until the next morning, at which point I only have to do a simple restart. Unlike the posts I've read here, I can still connect and look at my base station from the AirPort Utility software. But, of course, when the wireless messes I have to connect via ethernet in order to do anything with the base station.

I'm going to try doing a reset via the AirPort Utility software (v5.4.1). I'll reply to this thread to report my experiences.

Had the same issues as discussed in this thread. Called Apple Support for a resolution and the person I spoke with said they saw this happen on previous firmware upgrades as well as with this one. Here were the steps I took to resolve the problem.

Items to note before doing these steps:
-Make note of your SSID name and password so you can reset it on the router and not have to re- connect all your wireless devices with new SSID name
-These steps require a hardware reset which will clear all forwarding and DNS settings

1) Reset your router using the reset button (use paperclip to depress the small button on the back of the AAE until the light on the front is blinking).
2) While the router is resetting, the tech had me go into my system preferences / network. Highlight the airport on the left side of the window and then click on Edit locations (top of pref pane) and then edit locations. I was instructed to add a new location, name it anything and then click done.
3) Then I clicked on the gear icon under the list of networks (bluetooth, ethernet, etc) and chose Set Service Order. In the little box that opens, I clicked and dragged Airport to the top of the list. Then I closed System Preferences
4) Opened Airport Utility and I was able now to get back into the settings of the router. The tech had me go through the "Continue" setup options but I assume the manual choice would have worked also.

It seems like an easy enough fix for me because I don't have any non-standard settings other then my OpenDNS servers that I input, but I can see if people have forwarding and other settings this could be a pain.

After upgrading to 7.4.1 mine AEBS Gigabit the AirDisk sharing doesn't work properly. After a couple of minutes the unit doesn't respond, it seems stucked up.
When it gets stucked, the airport utility cannot also connect to it.

Another nice update by Apple!

Thank you jccrome! The sequence Apple Support provided was the only one that worked for me.

My Airport Extreme Gigabit Base Station was returning the "Please make sure your Apple wireless device is plugged in and in range of your computer or connected via Ethernet and try again. (-5)" message. But none of the other solutions posted (hard reset, firmware downgrade, restore settings) worked because while the Base Station could be seen by Airport Utility and could be used when connected directly to an ethernet cable, it could not be accessed through Airport Utility.

When I followed your posted sequence. I could access the Base Station and am successfully running 7.4.1.

Thanks again

This seems to be a problem with Macbook Pros, my iMac has no problems with the latest upgrade. My Macbook Pro only works within a meter of the AEBS on wireless and world fine on the ethernet.
I've reset, hard reset, tried every hint and tip on these forums.
The iMac bounces back straight away.
My Macbook Pro won't work wirelessly!!!