New Airport Express will not connect to internet

Question

Level 1

14 points

New Airport Express will not connect to internet

I am attempting to upgrade from an old Airport Base Station (the gum drop/flying saucer/mushroom model) to the new and improved mini tower model. I plugged the ethernet cable from the comcast cable modem in and nothing worked - no wireless, no internet, no nothing but flashing amber light. I was able to configure a new wireless network, and it shows up on MBPro running Maverick and iPad using Airport Utility as a functioning wireless network (with the green light on the AE), but it will not connect to the internet. Any suggestions?

Airport Extreme 802.11ac

Posted on Jan 7, 2014 6:16 PM

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Answer 1

John Galt

Level 10

156,314 points

Jan 7, 2014 7:39 PM in response to mainepod

The only step that appears to be missing is to reset your cable or DSL modem. Unplug it and let it rest a moment or two, then power it back up again: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2460

You've done everything right, but still can't connect to the Internet. Why?

It is likely that the modem locked onto your iMac, and it will ignore anything else you plug into it until the modem has been reset. If you were to plug the iMac back into the modem, it would still connect to the Internet.

Fortunately, resetting a broadband modem is usually very easy -- just unplug its power supply, wait a moment, and plug it back in. After its indicator lights have gone through their startup routine, you should do the same to the AirPort base station.

Odds are that you can connect to the Internet now.

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Answer 2

mainepod Author

Level 1

14 points

Jan 9, 2014 6:40 PM in response to John Galt

Thankyou for this referral. I have tried unplugging and replugging, rebooting and resetting, the modem, the AE both new and old. When I plug the ethernet cable into the MBPro, I have internet. When I plug the cable into the AE I have a wireless network, but no internet. No combination of unplugging, resetting and rebooting brings the internet into the wireless network. Any other suggestions would be most welcome.

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Answer 3

John Galt

Level 10

156,314 points

Jan 9, 2014 7:12 PM in response to mainepod

If resetting the modem isn't working, it is possible that the Extreme's WAN port is simply inoperative.

You did everything that could reasonably be expected to make it work, and it shouldn't be this difficult. Call AppleCare and have them take care of it.

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Answer 4

mainepod Author

Level 1

14 points

Jan 10, 2014 6:30 AM in response to John Galt

I called Applecare and went through a process of recreating the wireless network, resetting the AE, repowering the cable modem, updating the AE firmware, and viola, it works! If only this procedure had been laid out either in the AE manual or on line, it would have saved me hours of aggravation. Thank you for all your suggestions, John Galt.

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Answer 5

John Galt

Level 10

156,314 points

Jan 10, 2014 7:35 AM in response to mainepod

Great! Thanks for the update.

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