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?
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?
I'm extending wirelessly. I did connect the express to the extreme via Ethernet and I am able to "see" the express now. But now that I see it how do I go about extending my network?
Take a look at this discussionand see if it doesn't give the step-by-step setup you need.
I took a look at the instruction Bob Timmons gave and still have a few questions. On the airport extreme it says that I don't want to "check" the allow this network to be extended because the express will be connected via Ethernet. My intent is to have it connect to my network wirelessly. The express is currently connected to the extreme wired because that us the only way I could get the utility to even recognize it.
Also it says tat I should have the bridge mode off, but isn't that what I am trying to do, to establish a bridge between the two?
Your help and wisdom is greatly appreciated. Tank you
Ok so here is a new delema. I followed Bob Timmons instructions to the letter. When I dd the system restart. My basestation got te solid amber light. And the express I get an amber light plus it says that there are 2 errors. And sadly I am not home now and can only remember that one of the errors is with the Internet connection. It gives the option to ignore them s o I can get a green light on the express. Is that wise?
Also in trying to revert the Basesation back to what I had it at before in the Internet settings where I changed the settings to Bridge off. If I wanted to change back to what I had before I made the changes, what should I select? Like a dope I forgot to write down what my original settings were. Do I choose, and I'm going off memory here, there's an option for a public something? A distribute ip addresses or something like that and then the bridge mde off. Which one would I choose to get back to what I had?
This is what Apple says to do in Apple AirPort Networks : Extending the Range of an 802.11n Network:
1. Open AirPort Utility and select the device that will connect to the internet.
2. Choose Base Station > Manual Setup, enter password
3. Click AirPort button, click Wireless
4. Choose "Create a wireless network" from the Wireless Mode pop-up menu, then "Allow this network to be extended" checkbox
5. Select the device that will extend the network and choose Base Saton > Manual Setup, enter password
6. Choose "Extend a wireless network" from the Wireless Mode pop-up menu, choose the network to extend from the Network Name pop-up menu
7 enter network name and password
8. Click Update to update the device
There is also the approach of WDS, Wrieless Distribution System, but each deviice that is added cuts the speed of the entire network in half.
thank you a little more insight. however i am still having a hard time getting my basesation back to a functional status. i run into an error saying that my basestation doesn't have a valid ip address. how do i find out what the valid ip address is? and is it the same as a DNS server? if not what is that and how do i find out what to put in there?
I followed Bob Timmons instructions to the letter
For the record...my instructions pertained to a another different question about connecting an AirPort Express using a permanent Ethernet cable connection with the main router.
You are trying to extend your network using wireless only, which is a completely different type of configuration.
It is unfortunate that the link that you were provided (by mistake by another user who meant well) is not correct for the type of setup that you want to configure.
The most recent post just above this one....which discusses information from the Apple AirPort Networks guide....appears to be correct for what you want to do.
oh thank you, thank you....and i'm so glad you're on right now. the previous instructions (the not the right ones) really messed me up. and i'm trying to get my basestation back into working order... i was anble to find my ip address, but now i need a DNS server address. how do i find out what that is? and thank you in advance
I believe that Ralph Landry1 is certainly capable of helping you now that the confusion is hopefully sorted out.
I do not wish to intrude here, according to forum etiquette rules, so will watch this thread for now.
Sorry Bob, big mistake...was in a hurry this afternoon running to a meeting when I just grabbed what looked right and refed it. Didn't take enough time to figure out the OP was looking at wireless and you were talking about wired. Got home and saw the mistake and tried to point the OP to the right way to set up the network.
Pays to not be in a hurry...I apologize for the error.
Ralph
Bob, you are never intruding...I never fail to learn when you participate. Thanks for the input.
No problem at all 🙂
thank you both.... but i still cant find out what my dns server address is. by the way i am running windows 7.
Ok, and hopefully Bob will correct me if I get this messed up, have you setup the AirPort Extreme and Express according to the steps above, the correct ones from the Apple AirPort Network document? How are you connecting to the internet, by a modem of some sort such as DSL, cable, etc.?
Shutdown the computer, Express, Extreme and modem. Then power up in sequence, allowing each time to stablize, starting with the modem, then the Extreme, then the Express and then the computer.
The modem should obtain the base IP address, to pass to the Extreme which will then serve via its internal DHCP server to all downstream components.
Airport utility can't detect airport express
