Airport Express ethernet port turned off?

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Level 1

4 points

Airport Express ethernet port turned off?

I have an Airport Extremme base station successfully sending out a wireless network to Airport-card equipted Powerbooks- no problem. But I also have Mac tower which does not have an airport card and is too far away to reach by Ethernet cable.
Before a recent move, I was able to get this computer on the wireless network by ethernet-cabling it directly an Airport Express (which was joined to the existing network).
I can't find a combination that makes this work again. The ethernet port in the Express seems to be deactivated.

G5 dual & G4 Towers, G4 Powerbook, Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Posted on May 20, 2006 10:03 PM

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Answer 1

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iFelix

Level 8

35,155 points

May 21, 2006 12:05 AM in response to Giacomo57

You need to configure the Airport Express as a WDS node with the Extreme as the main WDS base station.

(Factory) Reset the Express base.

Use the Airport Assistant (from a wireless Mac) to configure the Express to "extend an existing wireless network".

In this mode the ethernet port will be active.

iFelix

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Answer 2

Giacomo57 Author

Level 1

4 points

May 21, 2006 4:57 PM in response to Giacomo57

Thanks very much. WDS was the missing factor. After trying several permutations of WDS settings and address distribution settings between the Airport Extreme and the Express, things started working.
I've said it before: Apple-provided documentation and online articles are skimpy. I can only imagine they do this to give the appearance of simplicity, even when the issues are complex. I'd say: give the "easy set-up" instructions - but give us the "expert" guide as well!
This function of having the Express serve as an Airport card replacement should provide solution for the owners of Macs without Airport card (like many buyers of recent G5 duals like myself who discovered too late that we could not install airport cards ourselves).

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