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I have an old airport express and can't find it using airport utility

i have an old airport express that I can't get to work. It's been sitting in a box for a few years due to a couple moves and laziness. I recently got a new Mac mini and have now decided to try and hook up my stereo to the airport express. I've plugged in the airport express and it is flashing yellow. I've opened the airport utility on my Mac mini and it doesn't discover any new devices. I'm totally lost because of it being years since I've set one up. I'm using yosemite.

Mac mini, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on Jun 20, 2015 5:06 AM

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8 replies

Jun 20, 2015 6:06 AM in response to Tdubb1965

Please locate the model number on the side of the AirPort Express. It is hard to see, with gray letting on a while background, so you may need a magnifying glass and good lighting to see it. The model number starts with an "A" followed by four numbers.


If you see A1084 or A1088, these are older versions of the Express which are not supported by the version of AirPort Utility that you are using in the Yosemite operating system. You will need an older Mac running Leopard or Snow Leopard, or a PC with AirPort Utility installed on the device to be able to administer the older Express.


If you see A1264 or A1392, reset the Express as LexShellings has advised.


Then, click the WiFi icon at the top of your Mac's screen and look for a listing of New AirPort Base Station. Just below that listing, click on AirPort Express.


That will get the setup "wizard" running. Give it a minute to analyze the network and then suggest the correct setup. Follow the prompts.


User uploaded file

Jun 20, 2015 6:01 AM in response to Lexiepex

YYes. I've done this twice. The airport express flashes yellow fast and then goes to solid yellow. Then it goes to a slow steady flashing yellow. The airport utility says no configured airport base stations have been found. I'm using a standard wifi router And the airport utility shows I'm connected to the internet. I've hit the "other wifi devices" Button and it says "no new devices discovered".

Jun 20, 2015 6:18 AM in response to Tdubb1965

They are.....unless you have a Mac running an older operating system or a PC......or you could borrow one for the 10-15 minutes that it would take to configure the device. It will work on your network.....you just need a computer with an older operating system to set up and configure the older Express.


The only other option.....which is not really an option at all......would be to risk downloading unsupported software from the Internet from an "unknown" author.....who will provide no support in the event of problems. Installing the software will require you to change the default security settings on your Mac.

Oct 10, 2015 9:22 AM in response to Tdubb1965

I don't know if this will be of any help to you by now, but I decided to look out my old Airport Express to access a USB printer that's 'supposed' to be wireless but doesn't seem to like my router (printer instructions poor so I might be missing something but its wireless connection needs setting up from scratch each time, which is just too much bother!). Having reset the AE but still not been able to see it with Airport Utility, I decided to look on these forums and found this thread, where I see that model is not supported on recent releases of OSX.


I thought maybe I would be able to connect it to the router (and thus to my computer) by plugging it into a powerline adaptor next to the printer, which is in another room, currently plugged into my husband's Mac, which needs to be on for me to use the printer! I need to get a further powerline adapter in there anyway, for other purposes.


Anyway, I have found that plugged into a powerline adaptor my old Airport Express appears to be working fine as a bridge without any IP address (plugged my iPhone into its USB port and it found my Mac OK), so that will work fine for my purposes.


Now, as I'm writing this, I find that my iPhone with iOS9, can see the Airport Express wirelessly, even though my up-to-date Mac can't, but gives me the message that it can't be set up by the software. I'll see if I can get one of my old Macs up and running to switch off the wireless signal but otherwise it will be fine to use once I've got a new adaptor and I'll only be switching it on when I switch the printer on.

I have an old airport express and can't find it using airport utility

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