Is There No Download Button for Airport Extreme 7.6 Firmware?

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Is There No Download Button for Airport Extreme 7.6 Firmware?

Hi There,

I received a software update notice yesterday to download the latest firmware update for Airport Extreme which is 7.6. I went to the page where I thought the download should be, and everything was there EXCEPT the button for the actual download. Has anybody else experienced this? Is it missing, or do I need to get my eyes checked?

Here's the download page link: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1471

Thanks in advance for any replies.

ShempHoward

Airport Extreme-OTHER, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Nov 15, 2011 8:52 AM

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Answer 1

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Tesserax

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148,453 points

Nov 15, 2011 9:07 AM in response to ShempHoward

Typically, you would use the AirPort Utility to upgrade/downgrade the base station's firmware. Was this option not available to you?

To manually download and install current or earlier versions of firmware...

Open AirPort Utility.
From AirPort Utility menu, hold the Option key and choose Check for Updates....
Select (place a check mark beside) the version you require.
Click Download.
Select your base station then choose Manual Setup from the Base Station menu.
From the Base Station menu choose Upload Firmware....
Select a firmware version and click OK.

(ref: Apple Support: All about Time Capsule, AirPort Extreme, and AirPort Express base station firmware updates)

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Answer 2

ShempHoward Author

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Nov 15, 2011 10:02 AM in response to Tesserax

Hi Tesserax,

I will try it now. Usually I don't use my software update to download the latest issues of things. I manually download updates from the Apple site and install it myself. I've read that it's a better to first shut off preferences, disconnect peripherals and other start up items first before you actually install. From what I understand, it's a more stable way to install things.

Thanks for your reply.

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Answer 3

Tesserax

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148,453 points

Nov 15, 2011 10:06 AM in response to ShempHoward

Good strategy. I would also recommend that you first update the AirPort Utility to the most current version (presently 5.5.3) before upgrading to the 7.6 firmware in case you are not using that version of the utility now.

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Answer 4

ShempHoward Author

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Nov 15, 2011 11:29 AM in response to Tesserax

Hey Tess,

5.5.3 has been installed for a while now, thanks. And thanks for your install input. Did it like you suggested. Seems to be working fine. One last question...most software-related stuff seem to be able to be manually downloaded to one's own download folder via the Apple support section.

Does that not apply to airport firmware or something?

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Answer 5

Tesserax

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148,453 points

Nov 16, 2011 8:30 AM in response to ShempHoward

In the reference I provided earlier it mentions that the AirPort Utility keeps an archive of all of the base station firmware updates that you installed and stores them in the: ~/Library/Application Support/Apple/AirPort/Firmware folder on your Mac.

In this folder you should find at least two things: 1) A folder named 108, and 2) a version.xml file. In my 108 folder, I found a copy of the 7.5.2 binary file.

If you open the version.xml file, it will list all of the updates. In my case, I found the website link for the 7.6 update to be: http://apsu.apple.com/data/117/041-3382.20111110.RVred/7.6.basebinary. Opening this in the browser will download the 7.6 firmware binary file which you can then access using the AirPort Utility.

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Answer 6

ShempHoward Author

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Nov 16, 2011 10:20 AM in response to Tesserax

Really helpful info. Had no idea of these references. Thanks a bunch!

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