Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT
I just purchased an airport express to extend my current network which is a airport extreme basesation. And for the life of me I cannot get the airport utility to recognize the express. I have tried resetting everything, directly connecting the express via ethernet all to no avail. Any suggestions as to what I am doing wrong or not doing right?
How are you trying to use the Express to extend the network, wired or wireless? Have you setup the Express by connecting it via ethernet to the computer then adding it to the Extreme?
thank you. so far the basestation now works an i am able to get wireless access for my ipad and ipods. i will attempt attaching the express and extending my network tomorrow, when i have thoughly read through all the advice. thanks to both you and bob for your help
one more question for the night. when i go into the basestation settings do i check the "allow this network to be extended" only in the basestation or do i have to check in the express as well?
The base station (the Extreme) ahould have "Create a wireless network" from the Wireless Mode pop-up menu, and then select "Allow this network to be extended" check box.
The device extending the network (the Express) should have "Exttend a wireless network" from the Wireless Mode pop-up menu, and then choose the network you want to extend from the Network Name pop-up menu.
Notice the nuance in the wording for the two components, and on the Extreme it is a ceck box while on the Express a pop-up menu.
The Extreme is being told to ALLOW exension and the Express is being told to EXTEND. I know it takes a couple times reading because they are so similar.
But congratulations on the major first step of having the network basically up and running. Now it is a matter of fine tuning.
When you plug in the Express to power up tomorrow, pay attention to its light and give it time to stabilize and find the Extreme.
Thank you for your help. I think I got it set up right and working, both the extreme and the express. One question though. On the express, in the Internet tab it has a connection sharing and in the box it says "off (bridge mode)" and it grayed out so I can't be changed. Is it supposed to be like this?
Also I remember reading in other forum posts that the express can only do 2.4 ghz or 5 ghz, it can't do both. How do I set it only to do the 2.4 ghz I can't find that option anywhere in the settings.
You can't do bridge mode because that is what you call network extension when the device is hard-wired to the main router. Since you are wireless-connected Bridge Mode is not available to you.
The AirPort devices, if allowed to choose the frequency and channel, will auto set to match and work together.
If you haven't done it, go to Support in the upper right corner, then Manuals, Peripherals, AirPort and you can get the Apple AirPort Network reference I gave earlier plus the setup guides for the Extreme and Express. Those are good to have around as you operate your network because the contain trouple shooting information that may save you some time if there are problems.
Of course your fellow users are always available on here, just have to see who ia around at any given time.
Awesome! Thank you again for all your help.
You're welcome, glad to be able to help with this network.
Networking can be daunting, not really as straight forward as a lot of people think it is. It is pretty easy once you grasp the different networking methods and are painfully careful to get things right...as I messed up on yesterday because I was in aa hurry and didn't stop to think. That is the bottom-line, take your time and stop to think, does this make sense, what I am doing.
one other question. i live in a 3 level townhome. my extreme in located on the top floor, the "new" express on the mid floor. if i were to add a third express in the lower level would i also set that one up like the one i just set up to "extend" my network, or would i set up to just "join" my network?
I would set it up to Extend the wireless network since its function is to serve the network to the lower level. When you setup the first Express, if you get the checkbox "Allow this network to be extended" check it...you may not get that since you are not creating a network but just extending one.
Anyway, the second Express should be setup according to the steps already given above.
The Apple devices are really good at reading each other and seamlessly working together.
Good luck with this network and hope you are happy with your coverage.
Apple's "extend" setup works like the hub and spokes of a wheel.
The AirPort Extreme is the "hub". Extending devices reside at the ends of "spokes".
You can have multiple "extending" devices, but each one ot them connects directly to the "hub"....not to another device at the end of another spoke.
So, the lower level Express would connect back to the AirPort Extreme. How well this would work will depend on whether the lower level Express can receive a good signal from the AirPort Extreme...not the other AirPort Express....where it will be located.
You could setup the new Express to "join" the wireless network and use it for AirTunes or a remote printer....but it would not "extend" or provide more wireless coverage for the network in that setting.
Thanks, Bob...wasn't completely sure if the second Express could extend from the first or only from the Extreme...so good clarification.
thank you both, i really appreciate your wisdom and advice. happy holidays to you both
And happy holidays to you, and to Bob
Now it's tree time this afternoon
Ralph, I really appreciated the help you gave me in setting up my airport express a couple of months ago. I however have ran into a problem. I needed to change my wifi password, and when I did it really messed thing up. I couldn't connect to the airport extreme or the express. Every time I tried to access te settings on both I would get an error saying to the effect that the airport utility could not detect the settings on both.
I reset my extreme and on the wireless tab I did the "create a wireless network", along with "allow this network to be extended". I did the wpa/wpa2 personal security setting as well. Everything else was set to "automatic". And that fixed my problem with the airport extreme. I was able to have access to my wifi network and Internet capability once again.
I reset the express and on the wireless tab I did the "extend a network" and entered in the name if the network I wanted to extend, along with the password. And I did the wpa/wpa2 personal security setting as well.
I then performed a power down of the modem, the extreme, the express, and the computer. I then powered them up in this order, allowing time for each one to stabilize, the modem first, then the extreme, the express, and finally the computer.
But that is where I run into my problem. I now don't have Internet or wifi connection. When I go to the airport utility I cannot get into the settings on either the extreme or the express. But as soon as I unplug the power to the express everything works. It's almost like when the express is powered its canceling out the extreme.
Do you have any idea as to what my problem is and how I can fix it? Thank you in advance for your time and assistance.
Airport utility can't detect airport express
