Airport Extreme not working after firmware update

I have the same problems-disappearing/reappearing airport express and extreme in airport utility window,intermittent internet connection etc. Have tried reverting to firmware7.3.2 on both- no difference. Finally reverted to airport utility5.3.2 and all seems to be working OK.
4 laptops now working wirelessly , imac on ethernet, good signal strength hope it stays this way. Hope this helps others with these problems

Oh, it seems that most of you have experienced the same issue. Same here, I have upgraded to 7.4.1 and found the Wifi N (5G only, the 300 Mb solution) failed. I even cant see the network from the Wireless network list via my Intel 4965 wifi interfaces.

From my observation, the channel it used in the new firmware has changed to 1xx (auto), which differs from the 36 in 7.3.2. Poor Apple, the new firmware seems lots of bugs, also, it didnt fix the USB drive problem... which would hang the AEBS once a FAT32 HDD is attached.

Only fortune is that you can downgrade the firmware to 7.3.2 in the easiest manner, (i.e. select from drop down list of versions).

Hope Apple tech. can dig into the QUALITY issue more seriously...

I had the same issue: my iMac (OS X 10.5.6) not detecting the AirPort Extreme after firmware upgrade to 7.4.1.
After reading this forum: I made an Ethernet connection between my iMac and the Airport Extreme, then I used the Airport Utility on my iMAC to reset the Airport configuration to factory settings (I do not remember the exact wording in the Airport Utility menu and I am using a French version). After the reboot of the Airport Extreme, I was able to see it through wifi. So I removed the Ethernet connection and used the Airport Utility to set back all the configurations that were (obviously) lost after the reset.
Now it looks like everything is working. The good stuff is that the Airport Extreme firmware is still at 7.4.1 !!!
Regards,
Pierre

Thanks for this post. This worked for me, and I was particularly stoked because I couldn't find an option to revert the firmware on my system. For whatever reason, my Airport Utility could only locate the 7.4.1 firmware for me, and when I went searching my machine I couldn't find an older version either, even on my Time Machine backup.. But now I'm back up, so thanks.

I tried a bunch of this stuff, my macbook pro was NEVER able to access the network. It would either time out, not see it, or once it just hung.

I rolled back to 7.3.2, this is the ONLY thing that worked. 7.3.2 quite frankly isn't that great either as I occasionally get problems with MobileMe connections and Time Machine backups to my Time Capsule.

Apple needs to fix this - it makes it almost as frustrating as Windows.

I had similar problems as most everyone else. When I woke up Saturday morning, after the firmware upgrade to 7.4.1, I was left with no wireless. Nor was my iMac (wireless) even able to identify the AEBS in Airport Utility. I was only able to see the AEBS with a MAC Mini hard wired to it, but was unable to reconfigure (same (-5) as others noted). After a hard reboot of the AEBS, I was able to reconfigure it, but never able to reestablish the WDS at all, and the wireless only worked intermittently. So I downgraded to 7.3.2, reconfigured it and everything seems to be working fine.

Not one of Apple's better efforts. And bricking all these AEBS's is not going to distinguish Apple much from the hassles inherent with Windows.

I haven't been around this board for long. Do official Apple support people post here at all?

Just wondering if they could post an upgrade procedure that works for everyone, or just tell us to wait for a fix?

After seeing all of these posts about issues with the latest firmware, I downloaded the update last week, but did not actualy install the update, until today.

To my surprise, I had no issues after the update was installed in my AEBS. I had full access, immediately after the AEBS restarted.

I did nothing special but simply followed the standard download instructions.

I fixed all the issues I was experiencing simply downgrading both Airport Utility (v.5.3.2) and AEBS firmware (7.3.2).

For those who are not able to access the AEBS I advice to downgrade the Airport Utility, then restore the AEBS to the default settings by pressing the switch on the back with a toothpick.

Hope this helps!

It probably depends on what you use from your AEBS. Perhaps the setting you use happens to work. The only thing that does not work on mine is the "11n only 5GHz" band which is exactly what I need. The 2.4Ghz band, and others all work fine.

Do you have both wired and wireless clients? What client hardware do you use? Any MBPs? What wireless bands do you use?

I am using 802.11n (802.11b/g compatible), so that may be why I did not have any issues. Yes, I have both wired and wireless clients. I used the 802.11b/g compatible compatible mode because my two sons visit fairly often and their Laptops (Windows) only have 802.11g. I have a 17in Macbook Pro, and a 20 inch iMac connected wirelessly using 802.11n. My wired network is used for security cameras with an old PowerBook G4.

It gets worse, I previously reported that my Macbook Pro isn't working but my iMac is, I then realised that, if I walk from my living room (where the AEBS is located) towards my iMac (in the kitchen away from the AEBS), it gains a wireless connection and internet pages start loading. If I walk away from my iMac I lose the connection. Has some setting changed that means my Macbook Pro is connecting wirelessly through the iMac???
I have reverted back to the previous firmware and Airport Utility, reset the base station and this problem remains.

Paul

Try this. Update to 7.4.1 then set your channel to a lower channel say 36 (hold down the option key while clicking on automatic dropdown) and magically everything should start working again. Some devices seem to not work with the automatic setting choosing channels up around 149. Works perfectly for me. Hope this helps.

I don't know about magic, you're a genius, it's all working again. Thanks a lot, it's been driving me mad.
Only thing is I could only get channels: Auto & 1-13 showing, chose 13 and it works

thanks again
Paul

I also use 802.11n (b/g compatible) for my network. It still got bollixed up, as noted above, so I don't think that's it.