AirPort Extreme, firmware 7.5.2 and iVPN

With what little I've seen, the 7.5.2 firmware seems to invoke troubles with port-forwarding or changes the ports that are open de facto, re: this post dealing with netboot issues with the new firmware.

I just did the upgrade on my home AEBS, and it was the first one that had come up - jumped from 7.4.2 to 7.5.2

-Doug

I can confirm that the Firmware update 7.5.2 brakes the VPN for L2TP. I was not able to access my OS X 10.6.5 server anymore after the update. Rolling the Firmware back to the previous version fixed the issue.

How do I get ride of the yellow light telling me that there is a firmware update? I want to see the green light since I would not notice if there are any other issues. I just lost my internal drive in the TimeCapsule and if I had not seen the yellow light I would not have noticed that the drive was failing.

Marty

There's a setting in AirPort Utility to clear the fault LED. IIRC, AirPort Utility > select device > Manual Setup > Airport > Summary > Click on the Yellow indicator. I don't have one throwing a fault right now to confirm this.

I have the same issue too. After updating my Airport Extreme router to 7.5.2, iVPN quit working when i attempted VPN to my server from outside my home network. The interesting thing to note is i was able to VPN to my server from within my own network. When i removed the port forwarding VPN settings in the Airport Extreme, trying to VPN to the same server from the same network failed. So AE is definitely doing some port-forwarding, it's just not doing it correctly when connected from outside my network.

Add me to the list of people where the Airport Firmware update broken something about port forwarding for VPN connections...... Hey Apple ! not good!

Hi,

I will also confirm that the 7.5.2 firmware upgrade is the culprit.

I went as far as rebuilding the server from scratch, 10.6-10.6.6.

The vpn would work intermittently, then quit altogether. As one of the other posters discovered, local vpn connection would work.

Remote vpn would fail. Since my extreme is behind a uverse router, I was looking there first.

After changing to 7.4.2, all works fine. Updated back to 7.5.2, immediate failure, Return to 7.4.2, all working again.

Hi Richard,

I also was jumping thru loops looking for why VPNs stopped working...... It took me more than two weeks to realize it was the ABS firmware update because of time delay between applying the update and when VPN problems were reported to me.... I also was in the process of rebuilding a full server when it became clear that it was not the server itself that was the issue. Portscanning to the ABS was giving no indication that the VPN related ports were open on another ABS that also had a firmware update..... Then the light went off..... After finding this thread I downgraded the ABS and VPN was back.....

I then went and downgraded 4 other base station and that fixed VPN on those also ( 4 different networks.... ) So, 100% confirmed! What is Apple doing in their testing? or has anyone got'n the new firmware to work with VPN ports forwarded?

Discovered other problem with this FW.
Got a time capsule connecting to internet and using wide channels to hook up a airport express (extending the network). Had bad downloads of apple updates (corrupted DMGs etc..) on both the imac which is wired connected to the express) as well as from the MBP connecting via Wifi.
Downgraded both to 7.4.2 and problems are gone.
I now really get upset that both devices turned yellow as I didn't upgrade to the latest version !!!! (which clearly has problems)

I just finally had the chance to check VPN connections through my AEBS, and lo !! - L2TP and PPTP work on my unit, and I confirmed that it is running the 7.5.2 firmware. So this is not a completely universal problem with the firmware. Might be more specific to certain model runs? Dunno..

-Doug

Was working for me... stopped. not sure why. when i connect directly to the modem, it always connects (pptp and l2tp) but through the router on 7.5.2 it doesnt. on 7.4.2 it seems to work although some probs still linger... ideas?

I can complicate this issue folks.. I have an Airport Extreme running 7.5.2. Using my old work DELL pc, I was able to connect via the Nortel VPN on that machine NP. NOW, Ive just upgraded to a MBP and CANNOT connect to my corp VPN via the Airport Extreme!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HELP! PLEASE

I connected an old airport base station as the primary router and vpn worked (pptp connection). When I connect directly to the modem, it works as well. So it MUST be a problem with the router and perhaps with the mac hardware. I have tested windows but only on the mac and it seems to have the same problems. I downgraded the firmware to 5.4.2 but I still have the issues... Ideas?

Thanks!

Where can I find the 7.4.2 download? All links seem to end up here, http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1218 rather than with an actual download.

You can download the 7.4.2 firmware here.

-Doug

Although I didn't have problems with my VPN setup besides a sometimes slow connection, I experienced a severe drop in WiFi transfer rates when updating my AEBS to 7.5.2.

Cf. these threads:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2688269
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2690381&tstart=0

After reverting back to 7.4.2, everything is back to normal.

It seems that the bugs in 7.5.2 do not apply to the newest AEBS Dual-Band models, as some users report no problems with the latest firmware. However, people like me who bought an AEBS back in 2009 (Model A1301) experience various issues. I don't know if it's something hardware-related, but I guess the engineers at Apple did not test the update thoroughly on older base stations.