Computer Name changes when waking from sleep

I run an AirPort network with one 4thG Extreme, a 1stG Extreme, and two older Expresses (for music).

Things worked fine until AirPort firmware 7.6.1. After careful review, eliminating all possible irregularities, that update apparently caused my MacMini to auto-increment its name after sleep, caused the older Extreme to regularly hang, and caused a general slowdown in speed. One other side-effect was that my iPad and iPhone Remote apps for iTunes control of the Mini also lost connection every time the computer name incremented.

Did reading here and around the traps, and after several months of head-scratching, back-slushed to firmware 7.6.0 (using AirPort Utility 5.6). Problems gone, speed back to normal, and my old Extreme seems stable (so far).

Annoying problem, and maybe even a real bug. Hopefully Apple will be able to address it in their next update.

Closing thought: Bugs come in all shapes and sizes, with shadings for every installation. While Apple's closed universe keeps things generally consistent and easy to diagnose, there are still irregularities. So, a small observation to those helpful individuals out there who post: if you don't have direct personal experience with a particular problem, it might be best to stay quiet. Grabbing at straws, telling people to reboot, restart, clear this and that, just increases frustration if they aren't true cures. To those folks who did their detective work, many thanks.

Grabbing at straws, telling people to reboot, restart, clear this and that, just increases frustration if they aren't true cures. To those folks who did their detective work, many thanks.

yes, ditto that. many thx. but it's a real crapshoot out here Joachim... the internet is so full of crud, ya need tall boots! but at least things are better in here...

Tall boots, indeed.

I have great respect for the patient helpers who try and glean useful information from generally inexperienced users in order to assist them. But as we know, once the inexperienced get a little knowledge they get dangerous. This issue is a case in point. If you search on the dozen or so variants of how this problem appears in forums, you get everything from reboots to rebuilds. What many fail to notice is the cause and effect of changes they make to their systems. This problem nagged me for awhile but frankly I didn't have the time to investigate thoroughly until today.

Ninety percent of the replies and offers of help were shoot-from-the-hip without grounding in the issue. A few more geeky types drilled deeper but most often down insane rabbit holes. The simplest answers are always found in the question, what's different?

I haven't done much looking, but perhaps the discussions here need a small section on how to help productively...

man, and that bug just sounded outrageous and maddening both. probally would have went with clean install 😝

it may be picking up the other computers names since it is on the server depending on whether you have the sync services on the server correctly set up

I'm seeing the same thing. I backed down to 7.6.0 and the name change issue went away for a few days. Back now -- and I'm seeing it reliably happen after I put computer to sleep. Crazy. Trying 7.5.2...

Hi Joachim,

You may not want to hear this but there are other WiFi AP/Router products out there. You may want to demote your Airport and just run it as an AP.

Last year I got fed up with similar issues on Linksys/Cisco and replaced the two I owned with other hardware running the DD-WRT open source Linux distribution. There are trade-offs with open source but consider that the cost of defect correction for cheap closed consumer grade Linksys/Apple network products is effectively infinite.

The low cost of these gadgets is such that the only economic fix for defects is really just to replace the gadget.

I have found DD-WRT solution to be as good as Apple's and much better than Linksys. It is some comfort that if I do have a problem I can, in principle, fix it myself without increasing landfill.

Good luck with the Airport microcode.

I have the same issue and here is what I have tried and so far it is working for me. It's been only a day or so but the name has not changed.

I have a Mac Pro which was doing the changing and a macbook pro not changing.

Cable internet, Airport Extreme, upstairs airport express set to bridge off into a netgear giga switch Mac pro into netgear with two other computers XP and a open indiana.

1. open airport utility click Network tab click plus to add a DHCP Reservation add the address of the Mac Pro to the list my case 10.0.0.7 and update the extreme.

2. Mac Pro, system prefreneces, network, Configure IPv4: to Using DHCP with manual address, set address to the asme as you put into the extreme. my case 10.0.0.7

This seems to have stopped the numbering up, but I still had the Mac Pro (5) and that bugged me.

3. Mac Pro system preferences, sharing, change the name to whatever you want, then I changed it back to Mac Pro the (5) was gone and has not come back.

Hope this helps a bit.

Nope. DD-WRT has OpenVPN and Wake on LAN instead.

Those meet my needs for remote access and waking up both Mac and non-Mac hardware.

OpenVPN was tough to set up though.

I would be happier with the integrated Apple solution if there was defect correction.

The latest:

From my earlier post: Backing down to 7.6.0 seemed to help for a day, then the problem reoccurred. I backed down to 7.5.2, no dice.

Noted MacPro110's recommendation to assign a DHCP reservation to the computer in question. I upgraded back to 7.6.0 (staying away from 7.6.1 because of performance issues with my older 1stG Extreme). Added a reservation as described in his post. Rebooted the modem, AirPorts and computers.

Problem is gone for now. I put the computer to sleep six times. Each time it woke up happy, stable, and most importantly, with its original name intact. We shall see...

Incidentally, for those who are interested: My network is a cable modem into a 5thG Extreme (sorry, I had said 4th). Wireless to one MacBook, one MBPro, one MBAir, one MacMini (only computer with the naming problem), a few iPads, a few iPhones, two APExpresses, and finally wireless to a 1stG Extreme that bridges to a MacPro via ethernet.

I'll report back to this thread if the situation remains stable. A guarded thanks to MacPro 110.