AirPort/Network Problems

I've got two time capsules and an AirPort Extreme. Are you saying that if I make one Capsule the primary point connected directly to the modem, then connect the second Capsule and the Extreme to the main Capsule by ethernet, I could then connect the other AirPort Expresses to the Capsule and the Extreme also by ethernet, and then achieve a faster multi access point network?

Yes. With Ethernet, you have a lot more options to extend a network.

And....you would also have an option to extend part of the network using wireless if it is not feasible to connect Ethernet to all the AirPorts. For example, you could connect the second Time Capsule and the Extreme to the main Time Capsule using Ethernet.....which will provide much faster speeds.....and then connect a few AirPort Expresses to the second Time Capsule using wireless and a few to the Extreme using wireless.

Expresses that were closer to the second Time Capsule will connect to that device using wireless and Expresses that are closer to the Extreme will connect to the Extreme using wireless.

Ideally......all of the AirPorts would connect using Ethernet back to a main Time Capsule using what is known as "home run" wiring. The main Time Capsule does not have enough Ethernet ports to allow this, so you can simply add an Ethernet switch with 5 ports, 8 ports, etc for more Ethernet connections.

If the "home" run wiring is not feasible for all the AirPorts, you can "daisy chain" AirPorts to each other. So, maybe the second Time Capsule and AirPort Extreme connect back to the main Time Capsule using Ethernet connections and then the AirPort Expresses connect to either the second Time Capsule or AirPort Extreme or both of them using Ethernet connections.

Or technically using the "daisy chain" method, you could wire the second Time Capsule to the main Time Capsule, wire the AirPort Extreme to the second Time Capsule, etc. There is a downside to the "daisy chain" method of course.........let's say the second Time Capsule has a problem. Then, all of the devices connected to the second Time Capsule will have a problem. And, it will be hard to figure out where the problem is because everything from the second Time Capsule on down will have a problem.

When you "home run" each AirPort back to a central main connection point, if one of the AirPorts has a problem, it won't affect the others, so it's easy to figure out where the problem really is.

The best investment that I ever made in terms of network performance in my home.....far better than any new router or new computer, etc...... was have the house wired for Ethernet to the three main areas where I needed good WiFi performance. Each of those areas has an AirPort wired back to the "main" AirPort, so I have a total of 4 AirPorts all wired together. The network provides a really strong, fast wireless signal everywhere in the house. Unfortunately, relatives want to visit just to use the WiFi network.

IF you post a screenshot from the airport utility of the system working without the Airport Extreme..

One shot with the whole network shown.

And a shot of each unit .. click the icon so the short summary appears.. this helps us no end to see how the things are configured.

And then finally, I've started digging through my Network Utility and found in the Proxies pane: "Bypass proxy settings for these Hosts & Domains": *.local, 169.254/16

169.x is known as a "self assigned IP address", because the device cannot find or is not receiving an IP address from the "main" router on the network. Or more simply, the message is telling you what you already know...... that there is no good network or Internet connection available at the time that the connection is lost.

Now, no matter how many times I reset and restart and reconfigure the AirPort Extreme, it will not effectively connect to or extend the existing network.

We can only tackle one issue at a time......and it appears from the information in your post that the major issue is the AirPort Extreme........so my advice would be to pick a time when you can power off all of the AirPort Expresses and AirPort Extreme and make sure that your WiFi devices can connect to the Time Capsule.

If the Time Capsule checks out OK, then it is time to work on the AirPort Extreme......with all of the other AirPort Expresses remaining powered off for now.

About how old is the AirPort Extreme?

One final note regarding the AirPort Extreme. No efforts to really reset it to Factory seem to be working. It always appears to retain some semblance of memory of prior settings. What do I need to do to really get it back to a blank slate? Could that help?

When you perform a factory reset and then configure the AirPort again, the suggested set up will use the name of your Mac or the name of the network to suggest the new setup. For example, if the name of your Mac is "Mike's MacBook Pro", the AirPort Utility setup software will suggest a wireless network like "Mike's Wireless Network".

Or, if the AirPort is going to be set up to extend the network, then the suggestion might look something like "extend Mike's Wireless Network" or whatever the name of the network the Time Capsule is providing.

So, it might appear that the settings have not been erased on the AirPort Extreme when they actually have, and AirPort Utility is simply using its own pre-programmed default settings to suggest the type of setup and names to be used.

Here, I am assuming that you are performing a Factory Default Reset......not that easy for most users......or a Hard Reset......much easier for most users.

Next item.......you don't indicate what device that you are using to configure the AirPort(s). Should we assume that this is a Mac? Or, are you using an iPhone / iPad for the setup?

Later, we'll talk more about what the advantages and disadvantages of an extended network might be and whether or not all of your AirPorts are actually extending the network. (They aren't unless the AirPort Extreme and all of the Expresses are connecting directly back to the Time Capsule via a dotted line when you take a look at the network layout in AirPort Utility).

The reason for this is that an AirPort cannot extend the network wirelessly unless it connects directly to the "main" AirPort on the network.......not to another AirPort that might already be extending the network.

Another way to say the same thing......Apple's "extend" feature only allows the network to be extended one time, not two. You can have multiple devices extending a network, but each one of them must connect directly to the "main" router. If they don't, then you might think the device is extending the network.....but it's not.

If all of this seems like it might make sense, and you have the time and patience to work things through......we might be able to help.

If you are looking for a "quick fix", then it would be best if you wait for other advice from another user.

In your screenshot......which really helps......it is clear that the Time Capsule is either not set up correctly, or if it is, the PPPoE settings on the Time Capsule are not functioning correctly.

Frankly, I'm not fond of PPPoE connections on any of the AirPorts because Apple is using the same settings that they used 10+ years ago on their AirPort routers. I've never found them to be all that reliable, but other users have had better luck. LaPastenague, who has also responded to your post will have his own opinions about PPPoE I am sure.

We can try to set up the Time Capsule to connect using PPPoE, but I cannot say whether this will solve your issues. It is always a trial and error process with things like this.

So the first order of business will be to power off all the AirPorts.....Time Capsule, Extreme, and AirPort Expresses, reset the Time Capsule and get the Time Capsule working correctly and reliably on its own for at least a few hours (longer would be better).......before.....any other AirPorts are added back to the network.

A Hard Reset is performed with the Time Capsule powered on for a few minutes, then holding in the reset button for 7-8 seconds, then releasing and giving the Time Capsule a full minute to restart. This type of reset deletes the current network settings, but keeps the previous settings stored in memory......which can create issues at times.

A Factory Default Reset is recommended because it erases both the current network settings and it totally clears out the stored memory of other previous settings. The default reset is more difficult to perform.......you almost need 3 hands to do this.

Power off the Time Capsule.......wait a minute or two.......then hold in the reset button first.....and keep holding it in for another 7-8 seconds while you simultaneously plug the power back into the Time Capsule. Release the reset button after the 7-8 second hold and allow a full minute for the Time Capsule to restart to a slow, blinking amber light status.

Set up the Time Capsule again. If you use the same wireless network name and password on the Time Capsule as before, then the other AirPorts should in theory be able to connect again later without any other adjustments. If you change the wireless network to something different, then all the other AirPorts will need to be reset and set up again.

The idea here is to get the Time Capsule working again correctly with no errors. Please post a screenshot of things once you have the Time Capsule set up again. In theory, Apple' setup "wizard" is supposed to guide you through correctly. We will see.

If you click on the Time Capsule in AirPort Utility, then click Edit in the smaller window that appears, and then you click on the Internet Tab at the top of the window, you will see that the Time Capsule is now set up to Connect Using DHCP. That is the correct setting when the "modem" is set up as a modem/router.

If you click the Network Tab at the top of the Window, then you will see that the Router Mode of the Time Capsule is "Off (Bridge Mode).......the same as simply Bridge Mode. This tells you that the Time Capsule is not in charge of your network.....the modem/router is.

Apple Support will strongly advise you that the Time Capsule should be set up as the router to control the network, and this will require that the modem is in Bridge Mode and the Time Capsule will need to be reset again to start with fresh settings. In other words, with the Time Capsule in its present configuration, you cannot now set up the modem in Bridge Mode and then connect the Time Capsule with its current settings. That won't work.

You have to get the modem in Bridge Mode first........then......set up the Time Capsule again from scratch after a Factory Default Reset.

When the modem is in Bridge Mode the setting for the Time Capsule under the Internet Tab will be Connect Using PPPoE.......and the setting for Router Mode under the Network Tab will be DHCP and NAT. All of this is supposed to happen automatically when you use the setup "helper" or "wizard" that is built into AirPort Utility.

When I did have the modem in bridge mode, and tried to set up the time capsule using PPPoE, I kept getting unidentified errors, and the set up would fail. The modem would not show any connection to the internet, and my ISP told me that because I recently requested an upgraded service, I would have no connection for five days. (which of course they didn't warn me about when I requested the upgrade).

Very strange. The Internet might be down for 15-30 minutes, but I am not aware of any situation anywhere where 5 days, or even 5 hours would be required to restore service after a modem is changed to operate in Bridge Mode.

I don't have any guesses as to what is so different about your ISP.

So, you are going to need to decide whether you want to set up things correctly as recommended by Apple, or whether you want to try another type of setup where the Time Capsule will not be in charge of your network. I'm not recommending this, but its your call.

So I’m pretty sure I’m back to the problem stemming from the ISP, but I’d like to verify there are no problems with the time capsule.

The Time Capsule appears to be operating correctly in "Off (Bridge Mode)" if your devices can connect to the Time Capsule wireless network and maintain a good connection.

Unfortunately, that does not tell you how well......or even if.....the Time Capsule will connect when/if you decide to reconfigure the modem because the router mode setup for the Time Capsule is entirely different than the bridge mode setup.

I can't prove that your ISP is pulling your leg, but I think they are.

If you want to leave the Time Capsule set up "as is" and try to figure out what the issue is with the AirPort Extreme, that would be the next task. Keep all the other AirPorts powered off, since we can only work with one thing at a time.