To Airport 6.0/7.6.1 firmware or not to

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To Airport 6.0/7.6.1 firmware or not to

My airport is hooked up to the following:

1. A 10.6.8 Mac Mini acting as my Magicjack terminal.

2. A 10.6.8 notebook I dare not upgrade to 10.7 as my wife has a hard enough time just adjusting to 10.6. Patched for Flashback

3. A 10.7.3 notebook and a 10.7.3 iMac both patched for Flashback

4. An AppleTV 2

5. And via LAN two Sony XBR9 TV sets.

6. A first generation iPad.

No iDisks, nor plan for iDisk.

Would there be any difficulty with Airport Utility 6.0 or Airport firmware 7.6.1? If there would be, how to force my airport not to look for firmware updates? Out of the blue yesterday my airport quit working, and I had to unplug it, and plug it back in to get it to work again. It wasn't distributing any internet packets even though the green light was on before I did the unplug/replug. Don't know if the fact that some machines still have Airport 5.5.3 installed and the base station has firmware 7.6 has anything to do with it or not. I have yet to check with Magicjack if the their system uses Java or not, but that's my next issue if it does.

Mac OS X (10.7.3), * Links may give me compensation

Posted on Apr 21, 2012 7:54 AM

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Answer 1

a brody Author

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Apr 21, 2012 8:36 AM in response to a brody

Looks like I'll be updating it, since Magicjack won't be impacted. I'll give people 24 hours to comment.

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Answer 2

a brody Author

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Apr 21, 2012 8:41 AM in response to a brody

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1482 seems to be a solution to use, although, it doesn't say anything about 802.11n. Is it going to not allow me to use 802.11n?

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Answer 3

Apr 21, 2012 8:45 AM in response to a brody

Would there be any difficulty with Airport Utility 6.0 or Airport firmware 7.6.1?

Millions of users have updated with no problems at all. But, any software or firmware update always creates some unforeseen issues for a small tiny fraction of users.

As you know, we only see the problems here on the forums, so if you read a few threads, its easy to come to the conclusion that the latest firmware or software breaks everyones machines.

Chances are, if you read the posts after Lion was introduced, and based your decision to update on what you saw, you would have never updated. Same for Snow Leopard, Leopard, etc, or any previous version of firmware for the AirPorts.

No one can predict what your results may be in advance.

If there would be, how to force my airport not to look for firmware updates?

Open AirPort Utility 5.5.3.

If you are running Lion, you will need to download and install AirPort Utility 5.6 for Mac OS X Lion

Select the AirPort and click Manual Setup

Click the Base Station tab below the row of icons

Click the Options button

Then remove the check mark next to Check for Firmware Updates

Click Done, then click Update at the lower right of the window to save your new settings and allow the AirPort to restart.

Out of the blue yesterday my airport quit working, and I had to unplug it, and plug it back in to get it to work again.

Post back when you have more info on this.

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Answer 4

a brody Author

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Apr 21, 2012 8:44 AM in response to Bob Timmons

Does 5.6 work with 802.11n?

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Answer 5

Apr 21, 2012 8:49 AM in response to a brody

5.6 works with all AirPorts. If you have any older "g" AirPorts, 5.6 is the only application that can be used to configure those devices. You cannot configure older AirPorts with 6.0.

AirPort Utility 5.6 is the full feature version for Lion. It was introduced on the same day as AirPort Utility 6.0....but apparently a number of users missed that information.

You can run both 5.6 and 6.0 on your Lion machines and use the one that you want.

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Answer 6

a brody Author

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Apr 21, 2012 8:57 AM in response to Bob Timmons

Cool, thanks. We'll hopefully update tonight if there is a break in the thunderstorms.

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Answer 7

a brody Author

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Apr 21, 2012 11:59 AM in response to a brody

Cool. Interestingly enough my Magicjack MacMini won't release the Magicjack until it reboots to make calls. Once I launch any application other than Magicjack, I must quit, reboot, and then Magicjack works again. At least now all the machines have the firmware updater checkbox unchecked. So barring a power outage, or a break in my Airport base station or an issue with the internet provider, I should be good.

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Answer 8

Oct 21, 2012 9:52 PM in response to Bob Timmons

I am having the same problems with my magicjack on my mid 2011 mini. Currently I'm on 10.8.2, using Airport Utility 6.1 with AEBS from 2009. The mj must be restarted after a few hours of inactivity. It wasn't always like this but I don't know exactly when it started acting up like this. My wife is really crazy that the phone doesn't work all the time and ready to kill me, and I really do not want to go back to paying monthly for phone service. I read through the posts but I'm still unsure what to try. What does using the mini as dedicated for the mj mean, and is this a must? Thank you

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