Feathers McGraw

Q: Activity light on airport extreme 6th gen

Hello. Today I bought a new 6th gen Airport Extreme to replace my 5th gen Extreme. I used the iOS Airport Utility App 'Wizard' to replace the old unit with the new one. All seems to be working and I have access to the Internet etal.

 

I do have a question though. Even though I have set the activity light to flash on activity, it remains constant green. On the old AEBS, it flashed as expected.

 

Has anyone else experienced this?

iPhone 5s, iOS 7.1

Posted on Apr 2, 2014 2:41 PM

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Q: Activity light on airport extreme 6th gen

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  • by Bob Timmons,Helpful

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Apr 2, 2014 2:58 PM in response to Feathers McGraw
    Level 10 (104,993 points)
    Wireless
    Apr 2, 2014 2:58 PM in response to Feathers McGraw
    Even though I have set the activity light to flash on activity, it remains constant green.

     

    This option/setting does not appear in AirPort Utility 6.x for the Mac or AirPort Utility for iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad, so if the light is green, it will be solid green.

     

    If you tried to adjust this setting using an older 5.x version of AirPort Utility, the new AirPort Extreme ignored that request.

     

    If you would like to see the feature/option return, you might want to let Apple know.

     

    Apple - AirPort Extreme - Feedback

  • by Feathers McGraw,

    Feathers McGraw Feathers McGraw Apr 2, 2014 3:05 PM in response to Bob Timmons
    Level 1 (8 points)
    iCloud
    Apr 2, 2014 3:05 PM in response to Bob Timmons

    Thanks. But I don't have a MAC. I am using the Windows Airport Utility v5.6.1 (current version).

     

    There is an option to set the activity LED to flash or not.

     

    That option has remained even after the 5th gen AEBS has been removed.

     

    I have also uninstalled the utility from my PC and re-installed it. The activity option remains. It accepts the change in the utility program, but the LED on the new 6th gen AEBS remains constantly on.

     

    I guess I will have to live with it. It is a pity they havent removed that option completely. It would have saved my confusion. Seems silly to me to show an option, but no matter which setting you choose, it always defaults to one!

  • by Bob Timmons,

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Apr 2, 2014 3:18 PM in response to Feathers McGraw
    Level 10 (104,993 points)
    Wireless
    Apr 2, 2014 3:18 PM in response to Feathers McGraw
    I am using the Windows Airport Utility v5.6.1 (current version). There is an option to set the activity LED to flash or not.

     

    As I said, the new Extreme will ignore requests from an AirPort Utility v5 version for a setting that is not present in the v6 AirPort Utility.

     

    You may not be aware, but you should not be using a v5 version of AirPort Utility to try to administer the AirPort Extreme.

     

    Please review the System Requirements for the AirPort Extreme from the specification page of the AirPort Extreme:

     

    Tech Specs

     

    Setup and Administration

    • iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iOS 6 or later and AirPort Utility 1.3
    • Mac with OS X Lion v10.7.5 or later and AirPort Utility 6.3

     

    As you can easily see, a version 5.x of AirPort Utility does not meet the requirements for the new AirPort Extreme, so settings that are not present on the v6 of AirPort Utility will not be implemented on the new Extreme.

  • by Feathers McGraw,Solvedanswer

    Feathers McGraw Feathers McGraw Apr 2, 2014 3:31 PM in response to Bob Timmons
    Level 1 (8 points)
    iCloud
    Apr 2, 2014 3:31 PM in response to Bob Timmons

    Thanks. That does explain it. Please don't feel that I am not listening to you, or appreciating your help.

     

    It does seem a bit weird that the latest version of the Airport Utility available for the PC is v5.6.1, yet v6.x is available for a MAC.

     

    Apple are kinda 'ignoring' us PC users.

     

    Thank you for you assistance.

  • by Bob Timmons,

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Apr 2, 2014 4:00 PM in response to Feathers McGraw
    Level 10 (104,993 points)
    Wireless
    Apr 2, 2014 4:00 PM in response to Feathers McGraw
    Apple are kinda 'ignoring' us PC users.

     

    That might be another thing that you would want to mention in your feedback to Apple.

     

    Not sure why you marked your "thanks" as a solution to your original question.....but what is done is done.

  • by JamesRoseUK,

    JamesRoseUK JamesRoseUK Sep 8, 2016 11:30 AM in response to Feathers McGraw
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Sep 8, 2016 11:30 AM in response to Feathers McGraw

    I managed it using this simple change from here:

     

    http://testequals.com/2014/05/28/airport-utility-6-x-flash-on-activity/

     

    In AirPort Utility 6.x, export your AirPort configuration file and save it to your desktop. Open this file with a text editor (such as Sublime or vim) and search for “leAC” (lower case L).

    <key>leAC</key> <integer>1</integer> 

    Change this to:

    <key>leAC</key> <integer>2</integer> 

    Save the file, go back into AirPort Utility 6.x and import this configuration file. Don’t change anything else in your file, just the 1 into a 2. This tells your AirPort that you’d like it to “Flash on Activity”. Let the AirPort restart and take note and the wonder that is a flashing green LED.

    2014-10-06 Update

    It seems this trick does not work on the latest Airport Extremes with 802.11ac. Even with the above set, the LED on the front of this device does not flash.

  • by JamesRoseUK,

    JamesRoseUK JamesRoseUK Sep 8, 2016 11:31 AM in response to JamesRoseUK
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Sep 8, 2016 11:31 AM in response to JamesRoseUK

    PS Should add the usual disclaimer that whilst this is a simple change it probably voids a load of Apple policies/guarantees etc.