Airport Extreme not working after firmware update

I've always bragged about Macs and have convinced many people to convert to macs but now I want to cry!!!

I have seen posts stating to do a hard reset by pushing the button on the back and then configuring all over again. But I am afraid to do that. You see, when I go to "System Preferences" and then to "NETWORK" I get this message,"your network settings have been changed by another application". And there is an "OK" button. when I push the OK it just keeps popping up over and over.

So if I did a hard reset, how would I reconfigure the whole mess if I cannot even get into NETWORK????????

Also cannot simply downgrade the firmware because when I go to Upload Firmware I get a (-5) error.

so how in the world should I go about changing my Airport Utility to 5.3.2 and the station to 7.3.2 if I cannot get into Network?

I tried this on my mother's new iMac, it doesn't have but a few 3rd party apps, it's basically stock with a clean Leopard installation on a new machine. The update screwed up the Airport and I had to do a hard reset and reconfigure.

Chippingslag, if the window keeps popping up, try this, in sys prefs go to security and click on "require password to unlock each secure system preference" and see it that stops the recycling pop up.
Clearly, this update is not well engineered.

How did you get OSX to stop bugging you to upgrade to 7.4.1 after you downgraded to 7.3.2? Like you (and according to Apple 1% of all Airport Extreme owners), I couldn't get it to work at all with 7.4.1 so rolled back to 7.3.2. Now, periodically, a window pops up asking to to update the firmware to 7.4.1. Any way to convince OSX that you don't want to upgrade and to stop bugging you about it?

Try going to Airport utility -> preferences and unclick "check for updates"

I purchased a new AEBS last week for use at the NAB trade show next week. I've been testing all week and have had issues with the product, almost enough to make me use my backup choice, a WRT54G running DD-WRT - solid for me in any situation.

I had intermittent network connectivity, 74% packet loss on average. The solution from @jccromer worked like a charm after much frustration. Thank you. This has definitely been a low point for me in 20+ years of using apple products (granted, I took a Windows break for an 8 year stretch, and there have been lower points there!). I hope that this product line improves, because when it works, it rocks.

Your issue is different from the one of this topic, that being problems after a firmware update. If ccromer's fix worked for you, it is probably because the Mac's network preference did not have your new Airport as the most preferred network to join (it was not at the top of the list) & the Mac was connecting to some other network with a weak signal.

I've seen this happen from time to time when trying to help someone fix their wireless connectivity problems. It really doesn't have anything to do with the Airport itself. It is a combination of several 802.11 networks operating in the same area & a Mac not set up to join the right one.

With the new simultaneous dual band Extreme, a related issue can arise because there are two networks (2.4 & 5 GHz) running at the same time. The 5 GHz one does not have the range of the 2.4 GHz one -- this has nothing to do with the Extreme itself, just the physics of radio signal propagation. If a Mac laptop happens to be near the Extreme when it is fired up or comes out of sleep & latches onto the 5 GHz signal, or the 5 GHz network is the preferred one, as it is moved farther away the signal drops off faster than it would with the 2.4 GHz one & throughput goes down quickly.

The solution is to use the option to name the 5 GHz network differently from the 2.4 GHz one & to put the 2.4 GHz network above the 5 GHz one in the network preference list.

For any Extreme model that supports it, it is also a good idea to add a "DHCP message" (in Airport Utility > Internet > DHCP) so that whenever a Mac joins the network, there is confirmation that it is the expected one.

This thing is driving me nuts! I rolled the firmware back to 7.3.2 and everything worked for a while. One day, the status light on both my AE started flashing yellow and the Airport Utility popped up on every Mac on the network. For some reason. This time there was no way to dismiss it. Cancel out of the utility, and it would pop right back up again. Basically I was in an 'update or else' scenario. Why, or how this happened is beyond me. Anyway, to regain use of the wireless network I had no choice but to update the firmware back to 7.4.1. Like before, it didn't work. I played with the settings for an hour or so and finally got it to the point where my iPhone and iTouch were able to establish a link and had access to the internet. Unfortunately, my Mac Book wouldn't work. I checked and all three devices were set to DHCP. After rebooting the Mac Book it finally started to work, but the Airport Utility tagged the AE's as having a 'self-assigned IP'. On top of that, the IP assigned the Mac Book wasn't even in my network. To make sure I wasn't picking up someone elses WiFi signal, I disconnected both AE's and the signal went away. Connected then and it came back, but still assigning the out-of-network IP. Interestingly, the IP's being assigned the iPhone and iTouch were within the network and in the block of IP's assigned the DHCP server.

I don't have any more ideas how to fix this. Even though I really can't afford it, it would appear the only way to establish a reliable WiFi network is to scrap the AE's and go with another brand AP. This whole experience has really lowered my opinion of Apple. As mentioned earlier, their Tier-2 tech support flat out told me that V7.4.1. killed about 1% of the AE's updated. Knowing this you'd hope Apple would be hard at work to fix the problem with yet another firmware update.

I too had a similar but even more frustrating problem because I had all green lights yet neither my iMac, laptop or iPhone could even see my network, yet was seeing all my neighbors networks. I did all the hard resetting and reset-up from scratch, etc. etc. but nothing worked to make my network visible until I just decided to try and reset the network up with NO security and sure enough, I was able to get right on and even reach the internet. I then had only to go back and edit the network to add security ( WPA/WPA2 Personal) and all those devices kept the network since I retained the same Network name and passwords for the new network. I don't know why that fixed it but it did, I suspect I may have accidentally switched my security to a mode that my Airport Extreme did not like. Regardless , I went from completely stumped to working so give it a try.

I have had countless issues with my airport wireless connection from my iMac (less than 8 months old)

I have also purchased the following:
- new cordless phones
- new airport extreme
- new router from Rogers Cable

I have reset all of these to factory default, reloaded and re-installed all of my airport settings. I have deleted library pref files, run disk utility and re-run all the cables and cords.

I believe the issue is with either the Airport Utility and the Airport Card on my computer. I have no issues with the wireless while on my work PC or the iPhones, iTouchs, Nintendo Wii & PS2 all hooked into this network. The only issue that I have had is when I try and connect the iMac to the network.

This issue occurs while the computer is active and also when it is asleep. I have seen the airport signal disappear right before my eyes on the iMac and stay strong and working fine on a PC at the exact same time.

This issue must be related to the airport card on the iMac...and since it seems to be directly related to the iMac I would assume it is either an OS issue from the March upgrade or an Airport Utility issue. However since I have configured my iMac to run directly from the Ethernet off the Airport base station I have had NO issues with the airport utility which leads me to assume...this is an OS issue with the Airport Card!!!!

Anyone see any resolution???