USB storage unavailable after 7.4.2 upgrade

Problem resolved downgrading to 7.3.2.

This firmware (7.3.2) is stronger and more stable than the newest ones!!!

Where did you grab 7.3.2? My AE is too new to list it in the dropdown, but I would like to try it if it is working well for you.

I have 3 machines that are connecting to an Airport Extreme with a USB hard drive. One has Leopard, a second has a clean install of Leopard and the third has been upgraded to Snow Leopard. I have had the same disconnect problem on all three machines when Airport Extreme is at 7.4.2. I have reverted to 7.4.1 and back to 7.4.2 4 times to confirm the issue and every case allowed a solid connection when running 7.4.1 and a fail on 7.4.2.

Has Apple acknowledged a problem with this version of firmware?

Add me to the mix. Downgrading to 7.4.1 fixed it (months ago).

BUT, after downgrading, music won't play right over airtunes to an AX. It drops the signal and skips every 10 seconds or so, which is supremely frustrating.

THEN, after upgrading to SL, anytime Time Machine starts a backup, my internet disconnects.

So I finally decided to just stop using TM for the time being.

So I upgraded to 7.4.2. And now my music plays fine. But I don't know if that solves the internet-disconnect-since-SL-upgrade problem (which is definitely a SL thing, b/c I haven't upgraded my MBA yet, and it doesn't have any internet connection problems). And I can't even test it, since I can't my my ext HDD to stay mounted for a backup.

It's been almost 6 months, hasn't it? This seems to be a pretty clear-cut problem.

Where is 7.4.3?!

I had hope that the latest Airport client update would somehow fix this issue so I tried updating to 7.4.2 again but sadly I woke up to my drives being unreachable so I just downgraded again. 😟

Since the 7.4.2. upgrade my USB storage (Iomega Minimax) gets unavailable in the network once in a while. There's no pattern in it. It just happens. First I suspected the USB storage device, but checking the airport configuration program shows the disc is still there.
Lately I bought a WD Mybook 1 TB and connected it to the extreme basestation. The same thing happens.
Reading this discussion, gave me some relief (I was not alone).....and more important: a solution. I downgraded the firmware back to version 7.4.1.

The problem seems to be solved for now. And I trust Apple to come up with an improved firmware upgrade.

Don't wait for a solution from Apple. This discussion is going on already for more than half-a-year and a Support person from Apple even asked me by mail for more details, but the bug is still there.
However, it seems that not everyone is affected. My son has a MBP, which is a half year older than mine, but has no problem with this at all.
I recently even downloaded the latest Combo update, but the problem stayed. So I went back to 7.4.1 again and will stay on that, until the next firmware update. Then I'll try again.

7.4.2 and to a lesser degree 7.4.1 are both bug infested messes.

I have tried multiple times with TimeCapsule and Airport Extreme-n units and between dropping my systems off the network, inability to connect, corrupting backups on the TimeCapsule, it is just not worth it.

To get any previous or current version of the Airport firmware (Timecapsule included)
:
1) Launch Airport Utility
2) Under "Airport Utility" select "Check for Updates..." with option key down
3) select any of the available updates for download

Then when updating your Airport device under the Manual settings, you can select any of the updates you have downloaded.

I am facing with similar problem.. The flash drive suddenly disconnects and powers off on Airport Extreme. I am able to browse the files in the drive, but, when I try to copy, it just goes away 😟
Even after downgrading to 7.4.1 or 7.3.2 or 7.3.1, I have no luck. After every downgrade, I have reset my AEBS (MB053LL/A) to factory settings and re-configured the network. I even formatted my flash drive, but still could n't solve the issue..
I am currently operating my AEBS on bridge mode.

Weird! Command-K and afp://10.0.1.1 suddenly popped up a login dialog - and now I'm back in and time machine backups are working again. How come Finder couldn't figure that out automatically? Sounds like a Finder bug to me

I tried 7.4.2 again after the OS X 10.6.3 upgrade of today. And ..... I downgraded again. It's still the same. Now waiting for 7.4.3!!!

I've had the same problem since upgrading to Snow Leopard. Did the exact same thing after the 10.6.3 update. After updating the Airport Extreme to 7.4.2 the drive disappeared and Time Machine failed to remount it. Set it back to 7.4.1 and all is well. Currently have no other issues with the setup.

I have similar disk problems with no solution. My usb disk became un-recognized by AE and with my Apple Express, disappeared about three days ago. I was able to restore the Express with a reset but I have tried almost everything to get the AE to recognize the disk again... My disk is a new 3.5 1TB Hitachi in a SATA-usb coolmax case.
I have tried:
- erasing disk ensuring 1 partition in FAT format through disk utility (I have windows pc's and mac)
- down grading the firmware to 7.4.1 from 7.4.2
- tried a variety of power-up combinations between AE and disk
- removed windows software like Nero Backup that used the disk (trying everything)
- renamed disk with no high level characters or spaces

Any help is appriciated...

Thanks.

Just applied the 10.6.4 update, reset my airport extreme firmware to 7.4.2, and ran a time machine backup. Time machine could not find the external drive connected to the airport extreme. Downgraded to 7.4.1 and backup works fine, connects the external drive automatically.

So far after the 10.6.3 update I have not had one finder error. But the connect to external drive for Time Machine backups is still an ABSE 7.4.2 firmware bug.