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Old Airport, newer MacsS 10.9

In 2004 or 2005, we purchased a round Airport Extreme base station for our small office (also a residence). This unit is still in use to this day. In the last several years, we added a (first generation, or thereabouts) Airport Express to another area, to extend the network's range and to add a network printer to a new location. For several years, the Apple hardware and software worked with very little problem. It was highly reliable.


Since the spring of 2013, we had to replace some of our Apple hardware (it was getting quite old) and so we bought refurbished gear. The new hardware runs MacOS 10.9 on Core i5 processors. We never thought about it until today; the newer computers come with Airport Admin software that is incompatible with the "old" Airports.


We have recently been experiencing interruptions in our internet service. Our DSL provider helped us replace our old DSL modem with a new one. But we still had occasional spontaneous blackouts. The problem was identified as the Airport Extreme base station; cut the power and power it back up and the problem went away.


For years, up until the DSL modem was recently replaced, we (usually) cut the power to the Airport Extreme and Express during late evening hours, when nobody needed the internet connection. The Airports were each plugged into surge strips, which made it easy to switch them back on in the morning.


The recent internet connection issue has us concerned. If we can't run Airport Admin on the new hardware, is there a way to run a diagnostic to figure out if the Airports are having problems?


OUR APPLE HARDWARE

late-2012 refurb iMac, core i5/MacOS 10.9

late-2013 refurb MacBook Pro Retina core i5/MacOS 10.9

late-2003 iMac G4 / MacOS 10.4.11 & 9.2


OUR WIRELESS SETUP:

Apple Airport Extreme, connected via Ethernet to DSL modem and USB inkjet

Apple Airport Express, satellite/relay, connected via Ethernet to workgroup printer


DSL MODEM

D-Link modem with WiFi antenna turned off

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5), late-2012 Core i5, 8GB RAM, 1 TB HD

Posted on Dec 22, 2014 5:43 PM

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3 replies

Dec 22, 2014 9:46 PM in response to Walt_Atwood

The recent internet connection issue has us concerned. If we can't run Airport Admin on the new hardware, is there a way to run a diagnostic to figure out if the Airports are having problems?


OUR APPLE HARDWARE

late-2012 refurb iMac, core i5/MacOS 10.9

late-2013 refurb MacBook Pro Retina core i5/MacOS 10.9

late-2003 iMac G4 / MacOS 10.4.11 & 9.2

I would suggest that you use your iMac G4, running OS X 10.4.11, to administer the older 802.11g AirPort base stations as it still should be able to run version 5.x of the AirPort Utility. A version that still supports these earlier base stations.

Dec 23, 2014 9:43 PM in response to Walt_Atwood

I ran the old utility on the iMac G4, but I could not diagnose any issues. I have been shutting the Airport base stations off at night, and starting them up in the morning. This did not prevent another internet connection dropout in the middle of the day today. I switched both base stations off, then turned them back on and the connection was restored.


Is this a problem that can be addressed, or is the Airport Extreme base station wearing out?


If I have to replace the base station, what is the difference between the newer Extreme and the Express? The maximum I could ever see accessing the WiFi / internet would be 3 computers at once.


If I bought a newer Extreme, what settings would I have to copy over from the old setup?

Dec 24, 2014 1:44 PM in response to Walt_Atwood

Is this a problem that can be addressed, or is the Airport Extreme base station wearing out?

In practice I find that the "useful" life of networking hardware. Hardware that specifically runs 24x7 is about 5 years. There is a whole school of taught on the practice of leaving your equipment running vs. powering them off daily to extend their useful life ... but I find that the mere switching itself causes more issues than solves them.


It is very likely that the power or radio circuitry in your 802.11g AirPort Extreme is starting to fail. Actually, I'm a bit surprised that it has lasted this long.

If I have to replace the base station, what is the difference between the newer Extreme and the Express? The maximum I could ever see accessing the WiFi / internet would be 3 computers at once.

The latest 6th generation AirPort Extreme is considerably more advanced than your current device. Both can easily support your 3 computers and up to 47 more if needed. In addition to 802.11a/b/g, the newer model also supports 802.11n/ac. Your iMac & MacBook Pro devices can certainly take advantage of the significant bandwidth increases that come with these new standards ... and the iMac G4 can still connect to this newer router.


The new Extreme also provides simultaneous dual-band (2.4 & 5 GHz) operation. Your old Extreme only operated on the 2.4 GHz band.


The 1st generation Express supports 802.11a/b/g/n and both bands as well. However, it can only operate on one band or the other at a time. That would mean that it would only be able to extend on of the new Extreme's radios. Most likely, you will want it to extend the lower frequency (2.4 GHz) band for greater range.

If I bought a newer Extreme, what settings would I have to copy over from the old setup?

I would recommend starting from scratch by performing a "factory default" reset on both base stations, and then, use the "Automatic" mode of the AirPort Utility to configure them for an extended network. However, you can export the old base stations settings, and then, import them into the new base station. Again this can be accomplished using the AirPort Utility. Note: You would have to use both versions. The older one to export the settings and the newer one to import them into the new base station. As you can see this can be a bit messy and not all settings will be applicable between routers.

Old Airport, newer MacsS 10.9

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