Unexplained wireless connections drop. Airport Extreme 5th Gen

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Level 1

94 points

Unexplained wireless connections drop. Airport Extreme 5th Gen

I have a pair of 5th Gen Airport Extreme's that I'm using. Both are configured identically with the latest firmware that's available for them. Both are setup in Bridge Mode with a static network address, thereby acting as Wireless Access Points, fed by a server on the network that gives out DHCP. They have both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz band's enabled, automatically selecting channels.

I have iPhone and iPad devices using the network and they seem to work normally without issues.

Most folks using it are using HP Laptops and they seem to access the 2.4GHz network fine and seem pretty solid. However, I have a Lenvo Thinkpad I use that can access both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz network radios. It doesn't seem to matter which one I select, eventually within about an hour, the Airport Extreme stops talking to me. If I reboot, it fixes it for a while. If I do a network troubleshooting (from Windows 7), it resets the wireless card and it reconnects and works fine for a while, then stops talking to the Airport Extreme.

I went back through the Airport's today and re-did them from scratch with the same settings, making sure things were identical and configured correctly with the Bridge Mode.

The other day I got a report from one of the HP laptop users that they had lost connection and couldn't get to a network share. They rebooted and that fixed the issue, but I'm concerned about having this issue starting to crop up with the HP users. It's annoying for me as the IT Guy to have to go hardwired, but I can cope. I'm looking for options that I may have overlooked, thoughts or ideas. I've tried rolling back the Firmware, but that didn't fix the issue for me. (So I went back to the most recent Firmware.)

Thoughts, or ideas?

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.4)

Posted on Oct 15, 2015 12:17 PM

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Answer 1

Oct 15, 2015 1:23 PM in response to Lionchild

Are you using short names with no spaces and pure alphanumerics?

Are you using passwords that also comply with the above, 8-20 characters, mix case and numbers only?

Both are setup in Bridge Mode with a static network address

I would like to see how you set up the static IP.. is that on the server or on the Extreme?

If you setup the static IP on the Extreme.. let me suggest you also setup DHCP on the Extreme.. you can do this by allocating a fixed set of addresses in each extreme.. and the server.

eg.. Server handles 192.168.1.1 home address with 2-100 range.

First AE is set at 192.168.1.101 home address with 102-150 range.

Second AE is set at 192.168.1.151 home address with 152-199 range.

You can use 200-254 for whatever else you need with fixed IP.

I recommend you set the DHCP short lease time.. 30min for example in each AE.

What happens with this method the arp table of the AE is continually updated.. but you are not routing.. you are simply sharing the dhcp server between devices.

I wrote this up ages ago .. Re: airport time capsule keeps disconnecting

I would add one item to that.. By default the Apple routers in any mode use .local as domain. Have a try at setting the server to .local domain as well.. I am chasing down some issues in Mac OS.. but it may affect windows.. there does seem to be some domain issues going on.

No luck with any of that.. return the AE to its current setup.. (with the short names)

Give me a bit more info on what is happening at the PC end. Do ipconfig /all from command window and give me all the results.

Is it failing to get an IP or failing to pass packets?

Are the problem children using Intel wireless?? Of all the wireless setups that will give trouble.. Intel drivers for wireless are the most problematic.

I would download several versions of the driver direct from Intel and try them one by one. Apple did adopt Intel processors and chipsets but NEVER an intel wireless in their whole assortment of stuff.. not a one.. !!

The rather more simple approach to the problem.. buy a standard pc type wireless router and add that to the network, in place of one of the AE.. buy a decent one... eg Netgear R7000 which has a WAP mode... it will blast the AE off the MAP.

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Answer 2

Lionchild Author

Level 1

94 points

Oct 15, 2015 1:50 PM in response to LaPastenague

I used the instructions setup by John Galt in this post: Can Airport Extreme work as Access Point?, Can Airport Extreme work as Access Point?

In his second step, you can see he's set it up as DHCP, I simply chose Static and filled in the details (IP 192.168.16.17 & 18) with the info the server hands out, while the Server (at 192.168.16.10) hands out DHCP from 50 - 150.

The DHCP server is configured on a .local domain, it's the practice I typically use.

When my laptop stops talking to the AE, I do an ipconfig /all and get appropriate IP info from the DHCP server. I do a /release /renew, and of course nothing happens because the AE isn't talking to me any more. Now, if I switch from the 2.4GHz radio to the 5GHz radio, I get my IP address assigned back to me that I originally had. I'm getting an IP address, we just stop getting packet traffic back and forth. And yes, I do have the Intel chipset in my laptop, while the HP's probably have something else.

If the problem really is limited to me, it's not that big a deal. I'll just have to keep it in mind moving forward when we upgrade laptops.

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Answer 3

Oct 15, 2015 5:26 PM in response to Lionchild

When my laptop stops talking to the AE, I do an ipconfig /all and get appropriate IP info from the DHCP server.

Try it from the other side.. go back to the server and see if you can ping through to the computer.

If ping fails then it is totally messed..

Try using IPv6.. this can also be messy but Apple seem to now insist that IPv6 is working for IPv4 to function.

People are having greater success with some ipv6 settings.

But I still don't trust intel wireless cards.. they have known issues even with standard routers handling large files.. they simply conk out half way through with the packets failing to pass even if the IP is correct.

Fix the DNS in the computer.. It is a lousy way to do things.. but failure of DNS is a big part of the issue apple have.

That is why I want you to move some of the DHCP serving to the Airports. They simply handle connections better when they also handle DHCP to keep arp tables and route tables up to date.

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