HELP - Airport Extreme NOT visible in Airport Utility even after Factory reset

UPDATE: I just quit Airport Utility and upon restarting it did "show" my Airport Extreme - but GREYED-OUT and with the yellow triangle with the "!" inside and if I click on that it says "This used to be part of the network but isn't any longer - click on "FORGET" to drop it"--- (I paraphrased) -- but I don't want to click on that it will go away again!!

So I did the hard / factory button restart but nothing - I now see the airport extreme but it is greyed-out and I can do nothing to activate it!

HELP

Best regards,

Steve Schulte

Thursday 10 January 2013

Thanks for your reply.

A further update is that when I disconnected from my ISP Wi-Fi suddenly the grayed-out Apple extreme image disappeared. Apparently it was only there because I had Wi-Fi but I don't understand that.

So now as I try to reestablish contact with the Apple extreme I am only on the Internet via Wi-Fi from my ISP to my iPad.

Before returning the Apple extreme are there any other suggestions for what I can do? Is it possible that I am not doing the reset correctly? It is extremely difficult to remove the plug behind the Apple extreme and keep pushing down on the reset button and put it back in. When I do this when I am holding down the reset button and then start to plug it in it is green for just a brief second then goes to Amber for about five or six seconds and then goes to rapidly flashing amber. Is there anything else I can do for example to stop pushing on the reset button when it is in the green or steady amber state?

Thanks for any comments I just can't imagine a brand-new unit which worked perfectly for five days is suddenly broken.

Best regards,

Steve

John,

This is excellent. I unplugged everything from the Airport Extreme and now all is back to how it was at 5am this morning!

The only thing I did not redo was to create the separate 5GHz airport wireless- I believe I can do that at anytime but won't the Airport Extreme move to 5GHz automatically or???

I was trying to extend the WiFi via an ethernet connection -- via the cable-- but let me exhale for now and try to understand what you wrote here:

you must have it "Create a wireless network" with the exact same name and security settings as your existing network. In addition, set its "Connection Sharing" to "Off (Bridge Mode)". Make sure its wireless channel is set to "automatic" or one that is not the same as your existing wireless network's channel.

So I need to take my ISP's "SteveBelWiFi" and use that EXACT name--- OK but how do I set the Airport Extreme "channel" to automatic?

Thanks for any additional feedback-- Almost SOLVED I think!

Steve--- can't get my ethernet scanner re-connected, working on that later too…

Thursday 10 January 2013

OK after 33 km of nighttime VTT (Vélo Tout Terrain or "Mountain Biking") in the Liège area last night I am now back to trying to understand and then set-up my home network!

Here's the latest and I guess I'm not confused, just not understanding the machinations of all this.

As a reminder, here is (was) my setup:

NOTE: Level-A is the basement, underground level where my MBP is located; Level-B is my living room ground floor where the ISP Modem with WiFi is located and Level-C is my upstairs where the eMac is located (ethernet cable runs to this eMac).

My setup is (*was):

• My Internet Service Provider (ISP) modem has an ethernet cable running from it to the WAN port of my Apple Extreme which is on Level-B
• I then have an ethernet cable going from a LAN port of the Apple Extreme to my MacBook Pro 13" (May 2010) on Level-Arunning Mountain Lion 10.8.2.
• I also have another ethernet cable going from another LAN port on the Apple Extreme to my eMac (Feb 2005 – no WiFi on this model) on Level-C running Mac OS 10.5.11 Leopard.
• My ISP's modem is also wireless and the network is called "SteveBelWiFi"
• I have *(had) setup a wireless WiFi Network on my Airport Extreme and called that "Steve Airport WiFi"

*I turned this Airport Extreme-created WiFi off and here is why:

Before installing the Airport Extreme, my ISP service generally gave me download speeds via ethernet of 28 mbps and upload speeds of 2.8 mbps which is super as far as I am concerned. But it is also what I am used to so it has become my standard. (Certainly files don't download at that speed- but I can download a large, 200 mb test file at constant 3.5 mbps speed repeatedly). WiFi speeds vary with distance to the ISP Modem B-box (as one would expect) but generally on Level-B or Level-C I can get speedtest.net speeds of 21 mbps download and 2.4 upload on average and I've done a hundred+ tests this week and others since March 2012. On Level-A the speeds vary more and are generally from 5 to 8 mbps download and 1.8 upload. These figures are similar on the iPad and on the MBP or PBG4 (when wireless of course). Note that in all cases PING is 23-29 but can be 90 for the Level-A wireless, but never over 100 UNLESS A PROBLEM!

And here is that problem:

When I had the setup as above (with the Airport Extreme "Steve Airport WiFi") then when I tried to use the "SteveBelWiFi" wireless network it was s-l--o---w and I mean PING of 300 to 600, with download of from 0.50 to 1.3 mbps (YES- a crawl!) and uploads of from 0.6 to 1.8 (slow, but OFTEN Faster than the downloads!!)

BUT when I unplugged the Ethernet cable from the ISP Modem running-down to the MBP on Level-A----- (of course the airport Network "Steve Airport WiFi" was immediately GONE as there was nothing feeding the Airport Extreme) -- Guess what-- IMMEDIATELY the ISP's "SteveBelWiFi" was back to the old high-speed. I did this "plug-in, test speed, unplug, test speed" 4 times in 2 minutes and each time it was the same: Nothing going to the Airport Extreme, ISP SteveBelWifi FAST -- 21-27 mbps downloads etc. BUT plugged-in going to the Extreme: instantly the test shows 1.0 (or slower!) downloads via SteveBelWiFi and about 1.1 upload speeds…

OK so I then went to Airport Utility and just turned-OFF the Airport Extreme WiFi: "Steve Airport WiFi" is now GONE. I am still plugged-in to the Airport extreme so I get ethernet internet to my MBP and my eMac-- but the only wireless in the house is via the ISP Wireless "SteveBelWiFi" but it is back to the FAST, historic speeds.

Probably I can just leave this as is since it connects my iPad on Level-B and Level-C just fine and that's my main use location for the iPad. Even on Level-A it's OK-- and my MBP is connected via the Airport Extreme but with an ethernet cable-- so it won't drop the signal like the past year prior to my Apple Extreme adventure when I just had it connected via WiFi "SteveBelWiFi". AND I can communicate wirelessly from my iPad to my MBP (example: Send print jobs via ecamm's "Printopia" to the MBP). So it is doing 98% of what I need even without an Apple Extreme wifi network. (The 2% is getting my Canon MP640 scanner via ethernet but think I'll conquer that with help from another post already!)

BUT---- But I would like to understand WHY this is happening. I mean WHY when I set-up a wireless network on my Airport Extreme does that effectively "destroy" my ISP's "SteveBelWiFi" wireless speed? (When I had the Airport Extreme "Steve Airport WiFi" set-up it was very fast-- but also as the Airport Extreme is in the basement (Level-A) it was slow or NOT possible to connect on Levels B and C. That was the primary motivator to purchase the Extreme just a week ago!

QUESTION: If I create a wireless network exactly as described by John in this post with the exact name "SteveBelWiFi" and have it on "automatic" will the speeds be FAST? Will the signal strength be Strong on all Levels (A, via the Extreme; and B&C via the ISP Modem)??? Or will I go back to slow slow slow when it connects to the Level-B ISP Modem???

I hope this is clear. Let me know if I should test anything / do anything or just be content with where I am at. (But a bit odd to have invested in this Airport Extreme and not be using it for wireless…)

Thanks!

Best regards,

Steve Schulte

Friday 11 January 2013

I did a TOTAL RESET and I think this total re-set solved it!!!🙂

What I did was to clear everything and start over. When setting-up the Airport Extreme I followed John's advise above and "created" a wireless network, but as it has the EXACT SAME NAME as the Belgacom ISP wireless box (SteveBelWiFi) -- only 1 wireless choice shows now for my home wireless network.

NOTE: Level-A is the basement, underground level where my MBP is located; Level-B is my living room ground floor where the ISP Modem with WiFi is located and Level-C is my upstairs where the eMac is located (ethernet cable runs to this eMac). PBG4 also on Level-C but of course it is portable and can be anywhere.

• My Internet Service Provider (ISP) modem on Level-B has an ethernet cable running from it to the WAN port of my Airport Extreme & the Airport Extreme is on level-A.
• I then have an ethernet cable going from a LAN port of the Airport Extreme to my MacBook Pro 13" (May 2010) on Level-A running Mountain Lion 10.8.2.
• I also have another ethernet cable going from another LAN port on the Airport Extreme to my eMac (Feb 2005 – I never installed WiFi on this eMac) on Level-C running Mac OS 10.5.8 Leopard (latest version of Leopard, believe that is it).
• My ISP's modem has wireless and the network is called "SteveBelWiFi" – and the Apple Extreme's wireless now has the exact same name.
• An ethernet cable goes from the Airport Utility to the ethernet port on my MP640 - that is for scanning
• The USB Out on the Airport Utility goes to an unpowered "Trust" USB hub from which springs a USB connection to the USB port of the Canon MB640 printer AND to the USB port of a 300 mb LaCie HD.
• Canon MB640 connected to the Airport Extreme via ethernet cable: This is for scanning. I got the Canon MP640 scanner to work going via the Airport Extreme (ethernet port). This means printing from all Macs to the MP640 via Airport Extreme USB; and scanning only to my MBP via ethernet cable (possibly I could load the scan software onto the PBG4 or eMac and scan from those computers as well - but no real need as they are far from the scanner…)

BY THE WAY: Does the Airport Extreme generation 5 that I have support USB 3.0 or just 2.0?

I will come back to this post in 24-48 hours and re-report and hopefully call this SOLVED. I am giving it some time because I thought it was solved yesterday, and then realized it was still a mess with the wireless networks conflicting and slowing-down the network.

I now have speeds of (Download/Upload in mbps): 28/2.8 avg MBP-ethernet cable; 23/2.5 iPad wireless level A (and at 25 meters into the garden still 1/1); Level-C iPad: Still as much as 14/2 - so guess there's lots of radio waves flying around my house!!!

All printing is working -- including iPad to Mac / Printer via "Airprint-ecamm Printopia".

It seems I can even turn-on the WiFi to the MBP on Level-A and not cause other problems. BUT I AM NOT CERTAIN ABOUT THAT! I JUST tried it and my iPad had trouble finding the a test site which did not occur at all in the 25 tests earlier today (at least 25!)-- OK now its working fine and fast, but I turned-off the WiFi on the MBP…

SO THAT BRINGS UP A GOOD QUESTION or 2:

1. Can I run my MBP with both the ethernet AND the WiFi ON at the same time?
   1. If not, why not?
   2. If so - great, but is it causing any problems with the printer / HD / etc?
2. WHAT if I want to free-up an ETHERNET port (one of the 3 - all currently being used) without installing a switch or another router? Can I unplug my MBP's ethernet on the Airport Extreme, start the MBP WiFi and then connect the ethernet cable to another printer or to my PBG4 via ethernet cable? Will I cause all sorts of problems if 2 hours later I then shut-off that extra ethernet printer (or the PBG4) and then re-plug in that ethernet cable to my MBP (and then likely shut-off the WiFi on the MBP)

Appreciate any and all comments and I shall be back here by about 15 Jan 2013 to follow-up

Best regards,

Steve Schulte

Sunday 13 January 2013

😎

Thanks very much edex67 and John! I'd like to give you both a SOLVED here-- it seems once one gives a "This helped me" to someone, one cannot also give a solved--- next time I have the chance I'll get some solved out there to each -- I'm sure you'll save me again!!

Best regards,

Steve Schulte

Monday 14 January 2013