Airport express drops off network

Just dropping in to share my experience with my 2nd generation airport express. So, starting with the network setup where problems occured:

The internet connection is dsl via vodaphone using the EasyBox 803, which is an all-in-one box with dsl modem and wireless router. Since i already had a router and wifi the airport should just connect to the existing network to allow music playback. However, no matter if i connected it wireless, or through ethernet to the EasyBox, no matter WPA/WPA2 settings, no matter b/g/n settings, the airplay droped out constantly, even if it reponded to pings.

The problems occured with my Macbook Pro, my gf's Macbook Pro Retina and our iPhones. (4s and 5) The phones rarely detected the airplay option, and using the computers it usually dropped after a couple of minutes, requiring a restart of the airport.

Tested different firmwares as well, without effect.

The solution for me ended up being ditching the wifi in the easybox, replacing it with the wifi from the airport. So, now the airplay is connected via ethernet to the EasyBox in bridge-mode. The wireless part of the EasyBox is completely turned of, since the airport now is used as a wireless access-point.

Result for me: Works flawless with the computers and phones mentioned, using the 7.6.4 firmware. As a bonus, I now also have a 5 GHz wifi as well, which was not available in the EasyBox. 😎

I have managed to solve a similar problem to others on this thread. Thought I would share what worked for me, as the various responses helped me get the solution.

Briefly. I have a cable wireless router as my main wireless gateway. It supports Wifi 11b/g/n. I wanted to add a 2004 airport express (v6.3) to the existing network simply to use the audio out to an old JBL iPod dock (AirPlay).

As others reported, the AirPlay option would appear and disappear at random, and drop out often even when it was connected. Very annoying, and basically useless.

The setup that now seems to work is setting the router to WPA-PSK [TKIP] + WPA2-PSK [AES] security. 144Mbps option. Channel-auto. The AirPort Express needs to have the security setting as WPA2 Personal.

Key point here for me, the AirPort Express has two options which sounds similar: WPA/WPA2 Personal and WPA2 Personal. It needs to be the latter, WPA2 Personal. Making this simple change, then resetting the modem and the AirPort seems to have fixed the problem.

No need to connect the AirPort Express via a cable in my particular case, and as others have reported. Rather defeats the object - and wouldn't have been a solution for me because of router location.

Incidentally, a related problem was installing the AirPort Utility 5.6.1 on my ageing MacBook with Lion. The software refused to install, as others trying to install on Mavericks have found. There is a fix available online involving downloading a special launcher file which adds support to a missing library file that is needed by the old AirPort Utility. That worked for me on Lion, and enabled me to run the utility. Without it, my AirPort would be junk. As it is, I'm chuffed to still be able to make use of this 10 year old box to stream spotify from my iPhone to an old dock! I won't link to it, because others have reported Apple deleting references to that solution.

I just wanted to add that making sure all Air Port Express boxes were set to WPA2 Personal, and the routers/access points are also set the same (there it might be called WPA2-PSK [AES]) solved my problem too, although I'm not totally sure why. Thanks to all the previous posters who took the time to research this!

My issue was that the list of AirPlay devices on the iPhone would randomly change - devices would come and go, whether they were currently being used or not. This included wireless AEX, wired AEX, and PCs running Shairport4w. Getting the wireless settings all consistent at WPA2 Personal solved the issue. I'm not sure why this would have anything to do with the wired devices, but it did.

Hello all, I just want to say thanks so much for this thread. I moved hosue got a new router and couldn't get my Airport Express to stay on the network once I'd set it up. It just kept disconnecting after about five minutes and wouldn't recognise. The exact same thing as was happening to others on this thread. I tried for almost seven hours trrying lots of different forum advice to sort it out and was on the verge of buying a new Airport. Then I found this thread and changed the security to WPA 2 Personal from the other setting and it solved the problem. Thanks again it's much appreciated I can now stream all my music from my MacBook, iPhone and iPad.

I finally got my airport express (AE) to stop dropping the signal. It took me so long to finally getting it to work so I would like to share what i have done.

Apartment size is aprox 100 squared meters, the AE is set up in the middle of the apartment.

I got it the AE so I could have all of my network devices running in dual band running at 5Ghz (faster connection) and one iphone 4 at 2.4GhZ.

I have an Apple MC414Z/A AirPort Express Basisstation 802.11a/b/g/n running firmware version 7.6.4

Gateway set up

My set up includes a Gateway (router-modem combination) by my internet provider running on 192.168.0.1 with both WIFI and the DHCP disabled. The internet company uses a rotating IPV6 protocol. I have opened all the ports on the gateway that Itunes and airplay require to work on both UDP and TCP which detail. 1119, 6113, 1120, 80, 3724,443 and 8689. In addition I have allowed access to all the MAC addresses of all the devices that i have on my network, including the AE.

AE set up

An ethernet cable is connected to the first LAN port from the gateway to the AE's WAN port. The AE is set up to create a wireless network with no hidden network. The extra 5Ghz network though is also active so it broadcasts two ssids. The AE is configured to a static IP address 102.168.0.2, the router address is set to 192.168.0.1 subnet mask 255.255.255.0 The DNS server hasn't been a problem but i am currently using 42.182.18.228 DHCP only is enabled starting the DCHP range at 192.168.0.20 to 192.168.0.200 with a 1 day lease allowed. Radio mode is automatic and channel 1 and 36 are used for 5ghz and 2.4Ghz correspondingly.

Individual device set up

Every device in the network is set up with a static or manual IP address starting from 192.168.0.3 until 192.168.0.10 with the router on 192.168.0.1

IpV6 protocol is disabled in all of the devices. For more information on how to disable IpV6 on mavericks (http://help.unc.edu/help/how-do-i-disable-ipv6-on-mac-os-x/) The devices such as laptops and Mac mini and apple TVs are set up only to recognise the 5Ghz network, while the iphone 5s recognises both 5Ghz and 2.4 and an Iphone 4 only the 2.4ghz

Extra set up

I have connected an FM transmitter on the sound output of the AE (http://www.czhfm.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=16) using an analog cable. The range of the FM transmitter is such that it covers all the apartment and so i saved money on buying wifi speakers such as sons. The FM transmitter is set up at an empty frequency on 82Mhz.

Apple tv is set up with digital audio out put to a samsung sound bar. The samsung TV is not connected to the internet. I don't deem it necessary and I have read about problems with bandwidth hogging from the samsung tvs.

In conclusion this setup has allowed me to have music from my itunes library all over the house using the remote app on the iphone 5s, with good interconnectivity among all the devices (like it is intended) but it took me three months to figure it out. I believe the problem was the dhcp handling by the gateway and the IPv6 enabling. The AE handles DHCP now but its not really being used since all devices are set up manually and there are no clashes. The guest network is disabled since it has been reported to produce drops in signal as well.

i hope this helps

I too have had this issue for years. I have done extensive tests and I am willing to discuss this with anyone who thinks they have a solution. I have a rather complex network and many devices on that network. But still no matter how stripped down I make the network I get erratic performance. Sometimes it remain connected for days at a time. Other times only about 15 minutes. Now at least I only need to deselect the airplay device in iTunes and reconnect it. But I frequently get core dumps from ITunes that show a stack overflow from some recursive process that causes it to crash. ITunes is clearly very sensitive to any network issues and it appears this dropping issue is related.

None of these solutions seem to help me, and I think it must be the particular Airport Express I have. I bought three at the same time, that work through a Time Machine. Two work perfectly, the other drops out continually (and I have tried changing them around to confirm it is the unit, not the location). I have done all the resting recommendations.

If I take it to a Genius Bar will they be able to help, or should I just accept I have a faulty unit (not out of warranty) and buy a new one?

Ok, I have the same problem and am fit to throw my AE out the window.

I bought an older AE to use to connect to my HiFi so I can stream music to it. So I plugged it in, and set it up as an additional item on the network. I have been able to find it using my iphone and ipad,and successfully stream music through it, but after a few minutes of playing it drops off the Network every time, then Airplay disappears as an option on the phone/iPad. The only thing that works is to hard reset the AE then go through the whole set up process again. It works for a while, then drops off the network again, its crap! After a short bout of Spotify it seems to drop off again it's driving me mad the POS! My WiFi is set up on a WPA2 password already, I can't hard wire the AE as it's too far from a phone socket (besides it should work wirelessly as that's what its purported to be able to do).

Any ideas??

There are two WPA 2 options in the setup.

WPA/WPA2 Personal or WPA2 Personal

You must select the latter (i.e. WPA2 Personal)

That worked for me.

In the end, my old airport express is now sitting in a drawer. I bought cheap bluetooth receivers on ebay. One with an old iPod dock connector for an old JBL dock, and one which is battery powered for a Tivoli Radio in my kitchen. There is no noticeable difference in sound quality out of these speakers. If you are linking up to a top of the line hifi - then maybe AirPlay is still best.

I am pretty sure it's set to that already, but just to confirm, I would adjust these settings for the router by clicking on the network preferences on my laptop right? And how do you set that on the AE, using Airport Utility?

I am thinking of binning it in favour of a Bluetooth Audio Transmitter too, would be so much easier and at least the **** thing would just work. Disappointed in Apples performance on this product I must say 😟

If the AE is not the main wifi router then you need to set on both. For the AE you do it in AirPort Utility.

I was also annoyed like you. But I've also had mine for 10 years, which is a long period in tech history. An old AE like this one will also slow down your whole network these days because it doesn't support Wireless N or more recent standards.

Seriously, get a bluetooth receiver. Less hassle all round and works just as well.

Ok thanks fellas will have another look at it later on tonight. And from there I can just check it's set to WAP2 Personal?

To add insult to injury my MAcbook Pro isn't working properly either. Half of the number keys have stopped working and when I try to restore it, there is only one option at the reboot screen (when holding down option at start up) rather than the restore option - arrrrgh! When using the numerical pad tool on the computer all the numbers work so I am hoping it's not a hardware failure 😟

Fixed my loss of connection issues by manually configuring my router's DHCP list:

I have an original Airport Express. I could only get it to work to stream iTunes music by unplugging and replugging in. If I stopped steaming and later tried to stream, it would go off the net - even though the green light was lit. Following some leads from the forums, I logged into my router and manually set the ip address for the AE to a specific value rather than using DHCP (TP-Link router). You just need to find the MAC address of the AE and associate it with it with an ip address within the range of values shown in the router's setup screen, such as 192.168.1.102. (I believe the MAC address is printed on the AE and you can also see it from the Airport Utility or the router setup screen) So the router will use DHCP to create IP addresses for other devices on the local network but reserve the one you chose exclusively for the AE. Now it appears to be rock-solid. Will see how it goes over the next week or two. I have two AE's, the original and the latest - they both appear on the iTunes Airplay list.

(I am using Mavericks which doesn't allow me to use the Airport Utility 5.6 required for the older AE's. I used a Mac with Lion on it to run Airport Utility 5.6 so I could setup the old AE, give it a name, etc.)

Hi - don't give up yet - everything you want to do is doable - the first thing to do is to determine your network setup - then some testing and then configure your new setup.

Do you have a cable modem or a modem/wireless router?

Which version of the Airport Utility are you using?

Is the Extreme connected to the modem via Ethernet cable and set to create a wireless network that can be extended?

Thanks for the info - and remember that this is a volunteer community - Apple monitors it but there is too much content to follow for them to attend to every issue - if you have a suggestion, contact Apple directly - the more feedback the better - anyway, your modem is a wireless router also - to best use Apple routers with it, you should setup the modem in bridge mode with the wireless disabled otherwise you will get a double NAT error - either contact your IP or do it yourself - the manual is online - and the Airport Utility allows for any Apple router to be wired, extended wirelessly or joined - bear with me and I will try to cover everything you need for your setup - first of all I would do a factory reset on the Extreme - remove all cables and use a paperclip to push in and hold the small reset button on the back while plugging the power cable back in - wait for the light on the front to start blinking amber and release the button - wait for the light to blink slowly - now connect an Ethernet cable from the modem (it shouldn't matter which port) to the WAN port (round symbol) on the Extreme - then configure the Extreme to connect to the modem via Ethernet, create a wireless network and extend a wireless network - the Ethernet choice is accessed by clicking on the Internet icon in the AU and using the "connect using" drop down box - when you get this set up, test the internet on the Extreme's Ethernet ports and wirelessly and let me know how you make out - then we can set up the Express