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What to do when Airport Extreme Base Station Power status light remains off even when plugged in to working outlet

Power status light on Airport Extreme Base Station remains off even when the base station is plugged into a working outlet. Is there a way to fix this?


MacBook Pro 13", macOS 10.13

Posted on Nov 3, 2019 2:47 PM

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Posted on Nov 4, 2019 11:39 AM

The A1143 was discontinued by Apple in March 2009 so your AirPort it is at least 10+ years old and as much as 12 depending on when it was placed into service.


The average useful life of a router like the AirPort Extreme is 5-6 years, so you have had remarkably good luck with the product. Frankly, it is past time to replace the product.


However, as a last gasp attempt to get things going again, it is the outboard power supply "brick" that usually fails first on the AirPorts, so if you are willing to gamble $25-30 that a new power supply might give the AirPort a few more years of service, you might try a compatible replacement power supply like the example below:


https://www.amazon.com/MyVolts-Adaptor-Compatible-Airport-Extreme/dp/B06XWRCYNK


If the seller agrees to take back the product if it does not work, then your investment will be minimal.



9 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 4, 2019 11:39 AM in response to ginny274

The A1143 was discontinued by Apple in March 2009 so your AirPort it is at least 10+ years old and as much as 12 depending on when it was placed into service.


The average useful life of a router like the AirPort Extreme is 5-6 years, so you have had remarkably good luck with the product. Frankly, it is past time to replace the product.


However, as a last gasp attempt to get things going again, it is the outboard power supply "brick" that usually fails first on the AirPorts, so if you are willing to gamble $25-30 that a new power supply might give the AirPort a few more years of service, you might try a compatible replacement power supply like the example below:


https://www.amazon.com/MyVolts-Adaptor-Compatible-Airport-Extreme/dp/B06XWRCYNK


If the seller agrees to take back the product if it does not work, then your investment will be minimal.



Nov 4, 2019 2:35 PM in response to ginny274

First consideration might be to keep things simple for most users. Your ISP might offer a WiFi router and if so, you know that it will be compatible with the ISP service and you will have help available for any issues. The quality of ISP provided routers has risen dramatically over the last few years.


If you feel that you can handle the router setup by yourself and you want to go with a step up product from the AirPort Extreme, take a look at the Synology router. This is the product that I will probably use to replace my AirPort Extreme in another year or so when it hits 5 years old.


https://www.synology.com/en-us/products/RT2600ac


If you have a large space to cover with WiFi, then one of the newer "mesh" systems would be worth a look. Netgear seems to be a favorite with users in terms of performance and ease of setup.


https://www.netgear.com/orbi/systems.aspx



Nov 4, 2019 2:37 PM in response to ginny274

It is hard to answer without knowing your needs.


Wifi routers have moved a long way in 12 years. And if you have modern devices with AC wireless like phones, iPad, Macs.. etc. then buy suitable AC wireless router.

I recommend to people Synology like RT2600AC or the better Asus models like RT-AC86U.

There are cheaper ones around of course.. TP-Link is a brand I do use for simple use.. but model numbers are hard to keep track of. The popular one here is C3150.

What to do when Airport Extreme Base Station Power status light remains off even when plugged in to working outlet

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