Mav3333

Q: Problem Connecting Airport Extreme to Motorola SB6141

Hoping someone can help with this because I'm dumbfounded.

 

I have been using an Airport Exteme for a number of years with various Comcast rental modems.  Today I purchased a Motorola SB6141, hoping to avoid the Comcast rental fees.

 

I work with Comcast and enable the new modem to connect directly to my Mac.  After I'm off the phone, I connect the new modem to the Airport Extreme and a connection to the intermet couldn't be made.  Strangely, it said that the Ethernet was unplugged, which it obviously was not.  I switched out all of the wires, factory reset all of the airport settings, but no luck.  Shut things down and started them up in every permutation imaginable.  No connection between the Airport and the cabled modem. 

 

I connected the modem back directly to the Mac and it worked perfectly.

 

I figured the WAN port was fried, but I decided to reconnect the old modem to the intermet and reconnected the Airport Extreme to that.  Worked without any problem.  Again reconnected the new modem to the internet and the Airport, again said that the Ethernet was unplugged.

 

So, I've got an Airport Extreme that doesn't register any ethernet connection when it is connected to a new Motorola SB 6141 modem, but works find when it is connected to an old Arris modem.  But the new Motorola modem works just fine when connected directly to the PC.

 

Any ideas?  I called Comcast, who were positive that this was not a problem with the modem. 

Posted on Jul 22, 2013 8:20 PM

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Q: Problem Connecting Airport Extreme to Motorola SB6141

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  • by Bob Timmons,

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Mar 21, 2014 9:48 AM in response to Moncrief
    Level 10 (105,268 points)
    Wireless
    Mar 21, 2014 9:48 AM in response to Moncrief

    Correct setting for the AirPort with a Motorola SB6141 is DHCP and NAT.....which is the default setting for the AirPort.....(not Off (Bridge mode).

     

    DNS settings should be automatically assigned when you make the connection with TWC.

     

     

    Screen Shot 2014-03-21 at 11.43.47 AM.png

     

     

    Whenever you make a modem change, it is always a good idea to first reset the AirPort Extreme back to factory default settings.....to completely clear out any old...and possibly conflicting settings....and then configure the device again.

  • by SpunkyinAZ,

    SpunkyinAZ SpunkyinAZ Mar 22, 2014 6:31 PM in response to Bob Timmons
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 22, 2014 6:31 PM in response to Bob Timmons

    Well, Bob, my Airport Utility had the correct setting as shown in your screen shot. I went ahead and did a reconfiguration anyway as you suggested as I hadn't done one after the new modem or after the OS "upgrades."

     

    It seems to be fine now. I have been so plagued by this issue for so long that I feel no real confidence that it will last, but I am hopeful. . . .  I do appreciate your answer and clear guidance. You moved this further than Apple did. Thanks!

  • by Moncrief,

    Moncrief Moncrief Mar 22, 2014 6:36 PM in response to turbostar
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mar 22, 2014 6:36 PM in response to turbostar

    Tubostar,

    Thanks for the reply via the new post I made as per your suggestion.

  • by JayWade,

    JayWade JayWade Apr 19, 2014 10:08 PM in response to Mav3333
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 19, 2014 10:08 PM in response to Mav3333

    I had the same issue with my older Airport Extreme, Time Warner was absolutely no help and wanted to keep resetting my modem, seemed useless after the third time so I started messing around with the settings for my AE. I have had zero issues with my connection after I disabled IPV6 connection sharing under internet then advanced. I hope this helps someone!

  • by scottinca,

    scottinca scottinca Apr 27, 2014 11:21 PM in response to Mav3333
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 27, 2014 11:21 PM in response to Mav3333

    Bob Timmons,

    I am a novice about computers in general and I think I am having a possibly similar problem, with a twist. I have Comcast cable internet connected to a Motorola sb6141 modem connected to the wan port of an old Telco Systems--Access AC-211 VoIP Gateway (aka a Sunrocket "gizmo" ). From the lan port of the voip I have it connected to the wan port of an Apple airport extreme model A1408 router. I cancelled my Voip a while back and started noticing that my internet access was getting slower and slower. I don't have cable tv only internet. I have a Roku ethernet connected to the router. Sometimes netflix shows would drop and simple web pages won't load or are very slow on wifi connections. I thought maybe the voip "gizmo" should be disconnected as it might be causing the slowness. Whenever I disconnect it and connect the modem directly to the router, I lose the green light on the router and my wifi. It switches between green and flashing amber then back to green, repeatedly. I tried switching from bridge mode to dhcp and nat in the airport utility but that didn't work.

    If Bob or any of you out there know a solution, this novice would sure appreciate any help.

    Thanks

  • by ampegg66,

    ampegg66 ampegg66 Nov 30, 2014 5:21 PM in response to Bob Timmons
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 30, 2014 5:21 PM in response to Bob Timmons

    Bob, thanks so much. I swapped out my TWC modem for a Motorola SB6183. I could connect my Mac Pro to the internet via hardwire to my 2014 Airport Extreme, but I still had a flashing amber light and no IP address on the Extreme, and no WiFi. I tried a factory reset with no luck. I have no real knowledge of network setup, so I would have had no idea where to even start without your screen shot. The Network / Router Mode had defaulted to Off (Bridge Mode), and changing it back to DHCP and NAT, then rebooting the router and the Extreme fixed it.

  • by SZQFarba,

    SZQFarba SZQFarba Dec 17, 2014 10:04 AM in response to Bob Timmons
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Dec 17, 2014 10:04 AM in response to Bob Timmons

    I just bought a Netgear CMD31T DOCSYS 3.0 modem and had a similar problem getting it to work with my airport extreme. I tried reconnecting several times with and without the aid of the Cox Cable techs over the phone, and though the modem was clearly working, the airport would not lock in the internet and the airport utility was telling me that I had to switch the airport extreme to bridge mode, which I never did. There appear to be several threads of similar sad stories and I was about to give up and return the modem.  My last shot was trying Bob Timmons instructions above, and I succeeded!!!  I am not sure I actually did a correct reset of the airport extreme, but I definitely followed the timing -- modem off for 30 minutes, etc.  The reason I didn't think I reset correctly was that my old network name and password were still present when the system succeeded.  In any case it worked, and my network is zooming.

  • by PowerPage.org,

    PowerPage.org PowerPage.org Jan 4, 2015 11:27 PM in response to SZQFarba
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 4, 2015 11:27 PM in response to SZQFarba

    I tried a 6th gen AE (ME918LL/A, model A1521) with the SB6141 on Comcast and it won't connect. The light on the AE just blinks amber forever. I can connect my MBP directly to the 6141 via Ethernet and it works fine, but it will not work with the AE. Any suggestions for a good modem that work with Comcast and the 6th gen AE?

  • by John Zwiebel,

    John Zwiebel John Zwiebel Feb 13, 2015 4:10 PM in response to PowerPage.org
    Level 1 (49 points)
    Apple TV
    Feb 13, 2015 4:10 PM in response to PowerPage.org

    FWIW:

     

    see if you can connect to 192.168.100.1.  this is the default address of the 6141.

     

    I found that the 6141 will provide a DHCP address -IF- it does not sync correctly with your cable provider.

    I have not found a way of turning this off and I cannot imagine why this should be considered a "feature".

    Sometimes engineers are on drugs.

     

    My AEX was getting a DHCP address from the 6141 which then prevented it from connecting to my cable provider.

     

    When I plugged my laptop into the 6141, it was able to obtain an DHCP address from the cable provider.

    After letting it "stabilize" for about 30 minutes, when I moved the ethernet cable back to the AEX, the AEX was finally able to get  a DHCP address from the cable provider.

     

    My 6141 is working just fine at the moment.  I have not figured out how to turn of this "feature".

  • by House of Blayne,

    House of Blayne House of Blayne Jan 21, 2016 11:18 PM in response to Bob Timmons
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 21, 2016 11:18 PM in response to Bob Timmons

    Just wanted to post saying thank you to Bob Timmons.  Making this one change to my Airport Express Time Capsule fixed my issues completely.  It was simply setting the router mode from "Off" to "DHCP and NAT."  This was after wasting 45 minutes with Comcast support trying to get it to work, and actually returning my SB6141 modem for another one since the Comcast support agent said it must be broken, and that was why it wasn't working with my AEX.

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