Airport Extreme problem with router

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Level 1

9 points

Airport Extreme problem with router

My husband and I have been having big problem with our Airport Extreme. We've had it for several years and it's worked fine. We have a Lenovo laptop, 2 iPads and 2 iPhones, plus 2 TV's that connect to the Internet for Netflix. All was working fine. At one point we added an Airport Express to extend our network. That worked fine as well. About a month ago we began losing our Internet connection periodically. Our cable provider came and boosted our incoming signal. They also replaced our modem. We now have a Motorola Surfboard model SB6141. We have done repeated hard resets on the Airport Extreme. We also took it to the Apple store and tested it. It appeared to work fine. This morning I disconnected the Airport Express and gave the Extreme another hard reset. I set up the wireless system using different names and passwords than we used previously. The Express is still disconnected. I can get a good wireless connection on my laptop for about 30 minutes and then I lose it. I can restore my Internet connecction by unplugging the ethernet cable from the router amnd plugging it back in. I have done this several times and the connection has come back. The ethernet cable is not the problem as I have changed it out with no effect. The moden seems to be fine. I have rebooted it a few times as well. The cable company tested the signal coming in and it was strong. I can connect to the Internet using the modem. The problem seems to be between the Extreme and the modem. I set up the Extreme using the automatic settings (I did not set it up manually). Does anyone have any ideas as to what may be wrong?

iPhone 4S, Windows XP

Posted on Jul 17, 2013 11:51 AM

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Answer 1

Jul 17, 2013 1:06 PM in response to marbon50

#1, do a hard reset again.

Starting from a clean slate, keep your express out of the loop.

Install and setup the extreme. I don't know how advanced you are if you are doing the airport utility through a PC rather a Mac, but regardless, you should be setting the extreme as a "new wireless network".

Leave the express out of the loop and see that it is working. Once you have varified you are getting your internet, then weasle the express in the loop.

When you setup the express, you should be setting the express up in bridged mode. This will extend the network.

If you don't get that option, you can try unplugging the airport extreme, and doing a hard reset on the express and setting that up with the same exact settings as your extreme (the wireless name, password).

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Answer 2

marbon50 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jul 17, 2013 2:59 PM in response to Brunner21

Thanks Brunner21 but I have already done what you suggested. This morning I did a hard reset on the Extreme and set up a new wireless network. I have not done anything with the Express. I am doing the setup through Airport Utility on a Dell desktop. I forgot to mention the Dell on my initial list of devices. The desktop is wired to the router. All other devices are wireless. There seems to be a communication problem between the modum and the router. I have changed out the ethernet cable so that's not the issue.

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Answer 3

Jul 17, 2013 3:57 PM in response to marbon50

Ok,

so I see you mentioned first and foremost, a wireless laptop. Lets bypass that for the moment and focus on a hardwired ethernet connection.

Is the desktop that is connected via ethernet dropping out on you?

If so, do whatever you can to reset your ethernet connection. Not sure if your desktop is setup with a static address assigned or are you just pulling your IP with DHCP on the desktop - but eitherway, I would start from the beginning.

Let me know if the wired connection is flaking...

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Answer 4

marbon50 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jul 17, 2013 4:16 PM in response to Brunner21

Thanks Brunner21. The desktop loses its Internet connection occasionally but not as often as the wireless devices. About every 6-8 times that the wireless goes out the desktop loses its connection too. I can restore the connection by unplugging and replugging in the Extreme. When the desktop has gone out I have checked to make sure the modem is working by hooking up my laptop to the modem. The modem has been OK. We just got a new one yesterday so I don't think the modem is the issue.

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Answer 5

Jul 17, 2013 4:49 PM in response to marbon50

Hmmm. But the desktop does lose it's connection. This is odd.

I do remember one time back, I was in the same boat as you. I had a cable modem that was supplied through my ISP. (comcast)

I would frequently get dropouts. To the point that I was so irritated about it.

A little different scenario though. Mine eventually gave me the EOL (end of life) screen.

I instead, went out and purchased one because that unit was a rental from comcast.

At the time ISP was supporting docsys 2.0. So I bought the Motorola Surf (model SB6120).

Yours supplied is a newer version, so ultimately you are getting support for future - no problem.

You could be running into issues being with the extreme itself in this case.

I would tell you, it is a good thing the timing was right. If you did like your apple airport extreme over the coarse that you had it, that Apple recently released their latest extreme. (which I just purchased a couple days ago)

The current being 802.11ac wireless. Which will support your future devices with a MUCH faster connection.

You may even notice improvement in your other wireless devices, but definitely in future products that support ac.

Which model extreme do you have? should be on the unit.
But if it is several years old, it could be very well the time to replace the unit. And you have time to test it out and verify if that is the problem.

The other thing that I would also verify is that there haven't been any updates to the router itself - and you have done these I assume? Then yes, I would try a new router.

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