AEBS does not have valid IP address

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AEBS does not have valid IP address

We have an Airport Extreme Base Station connected to our cable modem and our eMac (OS 10.4 something). I recently got an Airport Express which we've been using though now it's shut off because of all the issues we've been having. There's 2 Windows notebooks currently using the wireless, but today when I merely started up the eMac the light went amber and the internet access went down. The Airport Utility said the AEBS "does not have a valid IP address."

I got the Airport Extreme in September 2011 to play music on our stereo and it was generally working for a while, but in the past month or so it started crashing about once a day and I'd have to shut everything down and start up again, and eventually even that didn't work. So I started over with a new network name and after many tries got the Airport Express to reset the way it's supposed to and work with the new network. Then the USB hard disk I have connected to the AEBS started bringing the network down whenever I tried to open a file with my PC, so I stopped using it.

Now with only the AEBS running we're using our Windows PCs wirelessly but I can't turn on the eMac until I solve this problem. Wouldn't mind if I could play music use the shared disk again at some point too. Have had the AEBS for several years & can't tell you how many hours of my life it's sucked away with its crappy problems.

eMac 1.25 GHz PowerPC G4, Mac OS X (10.4.11), 1 GB DDR SDRAM; FCP 5.0.4; QT 7.4.1 (14)

Posted on Mar 21, 2012 11:14 AM

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Answer 1

Tesserax

Level 10

148,239 points

Mar 21, 2012 12:45 PM in response to kwaderer

I am assuming since you got your AirPort Extreme Base Station in 2011, that it is an 802.11n model and that it is either a 3rd or 4th generation base station ... correct? How about the AirPort Express Base Station (AX) ... is it an 802.11g or 802.11n model?

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Answer 2

kwaderer Author

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Mar 21, 2012 2:33 PM in response to Tesserax

thanks for your response Tesserax,

Here's the specs for my Airport Express BS:

http://support.apple.com/kb/SP1

Draft 802.11n
802.11a/b/g

here's the info I could find on my Airport Extreme:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4635

A1143

AirPort Extreme 802.11n (2nd Generation)

AirPort Extreme with 802.11n (Gigabit Ethernet)

AirPort Extreme (Gigabit)

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Answer 3

Tesserax

Level 10

148,239 points

Mar 21, 2012 8:52 PM in response to kwaderer

Thanks for clarifying your AirPort models for me. At this point, I would suggest getting the 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Station (AEBSn) working and, if we are successful, work in the 802.11n AirPort Express Base Station (AXn) to meet your networking requirements.

I know you have already done a number of reset, but I would recommend the following to see if we can get the AEBSn running in a stable condition.

Power-down the modem, AEBSn, and computer(s).
Disconnect the AEBSn from the Internet broadband modem.
While all of the devices are powered-down, perform a "factory default" reset on the base station. This will get it back to its "out-of-the-box" configuration and make setting it up much easier, especially if you use the "Assist me" process within the AirPort Utility. (ref: Resetting an AirPort Base Station or Time Capsule)
After the base station resets, go ahead and power it back down.
Reconnect the AEBSn to the Internet broadband modem. Be sure to connect the cable to the base station's WAN (circle-of-dots) port.
Power-up the modem; wait at least 10-15 minutes to allow it adequate time to initialize.
Power-up the AEBSn; wait at least 5-10 minutes. Note: The AirPort's status light may continue to flash amber after it has intialized. That is because, there may be some additional configuration items necessary, like setting up wireless security, before the overall setup is completed to get a green status.
Power-up your computer(s).

In this basic configuration, the AEBSn will broadcast an unsecured wireless network on the 2.4 GHz band with a Network Name (SSID) of Apple Network NNNNNN. Network clients, connected to the base station either by wire or wireless, should now be able to access the Internet through the ISP's modem. Once Internet connectivity has been verified, you can use the AirPort Utility to configure the AEBSn for wireless security and any other desired options. Please post back your results.

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Answer 4

kwaderer Author

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Mar 22, 2012 8:31 AM in response to Tesserax

Thanks, I did those steps and the AEBSn seems to be working fine. Let me know what I should do next.

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Answer 5

Tesserax

Level 10

148,239 points

Mar 22, 2012 4:55 PM in response to kwaderer

Ok, now let's add the 802.11n AirPort Express Base Station (AXn) so that it can be used for iTunes streaming. Please check out the following Apple Support article for details on how to add an AXn to an existing network for streaming.

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Answer 6

kwaderer Author

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Mar 22, 2012 8:07 PM in response to Tesserax

Done, it's working fine. iTunes is streaming through the stereo. I decided to extend the network this time, which I haven't done before, to strengthen the reception in that part of the apartment.

What's next? the USB disk? I wondered if the fact I was changing the network name & settings without changing the name of the disk was an issue. But let me know if you have ideas what's been causing the problems.

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Answer 7

Tesserax

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148,239 points

Mar 22, 2012 9:47 PM in response to kwaderer

What is the make & model of the external USB HDD? What is its format type: HFS+ or FAT32? Is this a single drive or a multi-drive enclosure?

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Answer 8

kwaderer Author

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Mar 23, 2012 5:27 AM in response to Tesserax

It's an Iomega MDHD320-U, a single drive, must be FAT32 because I'm using it on both PC & Mac.

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Answer 9

Tesserax

Level 10

148,239 points

Mar 23, 2012 8:11 PM in response to kwaderer

Hmm, not sure. If you are not now, I would suggest that you connect a powered USB hub to the USB port of the AirPort, and then, connect the Iomega HDD to it. It just may be that the AirPort's USB port does not provide enough power.

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Answer 10

kwaderer Author

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Mar 24, 2012 9:31 AM in response to Tesserax

that's how it's always been. I'll just fire it up again with the same disk name & password & see if it works OK now.

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Answer 11

kwaderer Author

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Mar 24, 2012 12:32 PM in response to Tesserax

I connected the disk & entered the password, and had the same issue. I could see the top level of the file folders in Windows Explorer but when I double clicked a file I'd get the hourglass, and the network crashed though the lights on the AEBs and AEX stayed green.

Then I tried changing the name of the disk, interestingly the eMac couldn't see the disk when I plugged it in directly with USB but the PC did. Once I changed the name of the disk I connected to the USB hub connected to the AEBs, logged into it with the password again on my eMac and soon I could open files on both my PC and eMac.

Incidentally I also have a Samsung printer and that has been able to print from both our PCs wirelessly though I haven't been able to print from the Macs for a long time. Pretty annoying since it's connected to both of them through the AEBs by USB and ethernet cable. But that may be a driver issue (which I spent a long time trying to fix), and at the moment I can't find the printer disk. After all the wrestling I've done with these Apple devices I've come to suspect it would be just too much to ask the AEBs to do everything it's supposed to. I'll post another thread about that if/when I find the time to tackle that again.

So far so good! Of course given the history of this setup I won't be confident the main problems have been resolved for a couple of days at least...thanks for all your help Tesserax! I'll post back to confirm it's working or report any issues.

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Answer 12

Jun 26, 2014 4:51 PM in response to Tesserax

Tesserax, this fixed my problem temporarily. The problem returned after about one week. Do you have any further instructions or ideas about what might be going on?

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