Airport Extreme joining a network and sharing wired internet connections

Question

Frank1984 Author

Level 1

4 points

Airport Extreme joining a network and sharing wired internet connections

Hi everyone,

My new ISP installed their modem/wifi router (Sagemcom) in my home two months ago. Since I share HDDs over the wifi network, I installed my airport extreme near the modem/wifi router and used it to "extend the network", and it worked fine until recently. It stopped working suddently with the yellow light flashing. When I tried to reconfigure it, I always got errors, needing to reset it even to be able to see it again in Airport utility. Honestly, I have absolutely no idea why it stopped working. I tried connecting the Airport Extreme with an ethernet wire to the modem with the same result. So, I decided to move the airport extreme in my living room and use it to share the internet connection with my PS3, slingbox and Apple TV, telling myself that a partly wired connection would improve the signal (since I also had an Airport Express in the living room extending the network before everything stopped working). Now, everything works; the green light is on, HDDs are available on the wifi network, I can only connect to the Sagemcom routeur but, meh, what do you want, BUT, my slingbox, Apple TV and PS3 can't connect to the airport extreme through a wired connection.

Two questions:

1- Is it possible to share a wired internet connection with my Slingbox, PS3 and Apple TV from an Airport Extreme that has joined the network? If yes, what do I need to do to make it work?

2- Any idea why my first setup stopped working?

Any suggestions?

Thanks a lot,

Frank

Posted on Nov 27, 2012 2:10 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Bob Timmons

Community+ 2024

Level 10

159,464 points

Nov 27, 2012 2:26 PM in response to Frank1984

1- Is it possible to share a wired internet connection with my Slingbox, PS3 and Apple TV from an Airport Extreme that has joined the network? If yes, what do I need to do to make it work?

Unfortunately, the Ethernet ports are not enabled when the AirPort Extreme is configured to "join" a wireless network.

Ironically, the less expensive AirPort Express does have the ability to "join" a wireless network and deliver an Ethernet signal at the port(s).

2- Any idea why my first setup stopped working?

None that you probably have not already thought about. The most commons cause is a sudden power outage, or even quick power "blip" can sometimes result in the Extreme to losing some of its configuration settings. Otherwise, gremlins are hard to catch.

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Answer 2

Frank1984 Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 27, 2012 2:26 PM in response to Bob Timmons

1- Thanks. With all these wires now connected, I'm kinda boiling. Are ethernet ports enabled when the Airport Extreme is set to "extend a network"?

2- I understand that, a power outage has probably caused this. Any idea why I can't restore my network to what it was before? Any idea about what I could try to do or a way to make it work again? Why can't the AExtreme extend the network anymore (I read many things about not being able to extend the network of another non-apple router, but it worked before)?

Thanks a lot!

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Answer 3

Nov 27, 2012 2:34 PM in response to Frank1984

Are ethernet ports enabled when the Airport Extreme is set to "extend a network"?

They are, but Apple uses proprietary settings for "extend", so it will likely only work if you have another Apple router providing the wireless signal.

I cannot provide answers to your other questions, other than state the obvious like a power surge has damaged some components and a Factory Default Reset will not cure that.

Here in Texas, we have some strong thunderstorms in the Spring. I have lost two AirPort Extremes in the last few years to power surges / nearby lighting strikes, even when using "surge protected" power strips.

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Answer 4

Frank1984 Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 27, 2012 2:40 PM in response to Bob Timmons

Do you think the Sagemcom router or the AExtreme is responsible for this (could be damaged)?

Yeah, it seems like surge protectors are good only to a certain extend...

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Answer 5

Frank1984 Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 27, 2012 2:41 PM in response to Frank1984

Looks like I'll buy a new AExtreme and see if I can get it to work again...

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Answer 6

Nov 27, 2012 2:43 PM in response to Frank1984

Do you think the Sagemcom router or the AExtreme is responsible for this (could be damaged)?

Not sure exactly what you are asking here when virtually anything is possible. Why not take the AirPort Extreme to an Apple Store....if you have one near you....and let them have a look?

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Answer 7

Frank1984 Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 27, 2012 2:45 PM in response to Bob Timmons

I'll try that, thanks so much!

Frank

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Answer 8

Nov 27, 2012 2:56 PM in response to Frank1984

I have a similar position to you and the fact that you have an express and an extreme is the best reason. To avoid using the router provided by my isp, i instead hooked the modem to the first airport extreme, hosting a dual band network over a shared ip. Then, configured another router to extend (obviously) the 5ghz band and share 3 1gb ehthernet links (2 macs, one PC).

Maybe you can try using the express to create a wireless network directly from the modem. From there, your extreme should connect to the network provided by the apexpress just like how it used to. I would atleast recommend to give that a try.

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