Airport Express not working in certain part of the house

OK. Let me try this.

The music BEGINS in the laptop and uses the laptop's internal Airport circuitry to go through the air to the Airport Express and, from there, via wiring to the speakers. NO OTHER router or WiFi device or hardware of any sort is part of the picture. Correct?

If that's correct, the cause of your difficulty is easily explained. The laptop's Airport circuitry does not create a decent WiFi field and you were walking beyond range of the Express. I don't believe that it's any more than that.

^^^ correct.

The way to address the OP's installation is to configure the network the way I described:

• Computers connect to the router as clients
• The AirPort Express also connects to his router as just another client. Assuming the computer connects reliably, the router's wireless channel is likely to be sufficiently free from interference.
• AirTunes streams iTunes music from his laptop, to the router, which routes it to the Express.

Simple.

Attempting to stream AirTunes from a computer connected to one wireless network directly to an Express creating another wireless network is possible, but needlessly complex.

It is also possible the OP's router is running firmware incompatible with AirTunes. Using a real AirPort Base Station would eliminate that possibility.

That makes sense. The Express will have "joined" the WiFi created by the router. The OP's objective is not to transmit to the Express but, rather, to the router which will, in turn, transmit to the Express.

I think you guys although being truly helpful may have glossed over the fact that I cant hardwire my airport into my router, the wireless router is in another room.

No sir, we have not glossed over that fact at all. "Hard wiring" it would be ideal but is not required to make AirTunes streaming work. When I wrote about "connecting to your network" it was meant in a wireless sense.

What is necessary is to configure the Express to "join" your existing wireless network as I explained. "Creating a network" would be possible if it were hard wired to your router.

It is not possible unless your router is an AirPort Base Station - then you could take advantage of the "extend a network" capability of AirPort Base Stations.

As I wrote earlier:

... Your AirPort can create a new network, extend an existing network (Apple Base Stations only), or join an existing network (any kind).

If your laptop can already connect to your existing network in every room you do not need a "stronger signal" nor would it convey any benefit, nor would it have any effect whatsoever upon your ability to stream AirTunes.

This is why I felt like I was pulling teeth trying to get you to describe the entire flow path. As John stated, that is NOT the flow path that will solve your problem. John's solution WILL.

Hi John Galt Can you HELP ! I have bought an Airport Express and loaded the software onto my PC (Triple core Phenom Processor,3 Gig ram,1 Gig Video card,50+ gig free on hard drive) . A seemed ok,I could access all the menus on the Airport Utility software page, and was trying to set it up.I think i went atray somewhere!.The Utility now has all but the File and Help drop down menus unusable.I i click on say Base Station, the drop down menu options are grey and cant be clicked on. Ive uninstalled and re installed but its always the same. Ive a funny feeling this happened aft it did an update,but cant be sure. Ive run a System restore to before i installed first time but no luck. How do I get the software to work properly?

Hope you or someone else casn help !

Thanks

Pedrospeedski

Sorry Pedrospeedski, I don't do Windows. Try posting a new question in the Airport for Windows support area.