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Connecting Aiport Express to Aiport Extreme to extend network - problems

I have an Airport Extreme that I purchased several years ago (thinking 3 years ago... honestly can't remember). For home network (iPhones, iPads, Windoms laptops, Apple TV, SmartTV's, etc.), works fine... except for one corner of my home (farthest spot from Airport Extreme device).


I purchased an Airport Express device to serve as a WiFi network extender, paired with the Airport Extreme, several months ago (summer 2016, don't recall month). Initial setup seemed to go OK... had to set it up connecting directly to the Extreme via ethernet cable, etc.


Recently, found that the signal strength, even with the Airport Express active, was poor, so decided to try factory reset and start configuration over (kinda the Ctrl-Alt-Delete reaction). I am now unable to get the Airport Utility to configure the Airport Express device. The only way the Airport Utility software (Windows, sorry no Macs in the house) even recognizes teh Airport Express device is if it is connected via ethernet cable directly to the Airport Extreme, and even then the configuration attempts hit problems I can't get past.


Airport Utility (Windows) = version 5.5.3 (Win XP), version 5.6.1 (Win 10)
Airport Extreme (5th Generation) = version 7.6.4 (firmware, I guess)
Airport Express (undefined Generation in Airport Utility) = version 7.6.5 (firmware, I guess)


Steps I followed this morning:
(1) unplug Airport Express, let sit for 30 seconds
(2) press the "reset" button on the Airport Express with a paper clip, hold for 10 secs, and while still holding plug power cord into Airport Express, then release reset button after a few more secs
(3) ** at this point, Airport Express is showing blinking amber light, but Airport Utility software does not recognize it as active **
(4) waited 2-3 minutes... no change
(5) connected ethernet cable from Airport Extreme (router) to the Airport Express "O" port... now the Airport Utility software recognizes the device, with "out of the box" configuration, and assigned an IP address by the Airport Extreme (internal NAT - IP 192.168.1.122)
(6) using Airport Utility software, click "Continue" to configure the Airport Express device:
- use default settings (detected device was reset), click Continue
- named device ("Sam's Airport Express") and set password, click Continue
- selected "I want to join my current network" (since I want this to be extender, not a new network), click Continue
- selected "I want to wirelessly join my current network", click Continue
- selected by network SSID, provided password info and security (WPA2 Personal), and checked "Extend the range of this network", click Continue
- now I need to select the wireless device I want to extend... I expected to see my Airport Extreme device listed as the only option available, but instead there are NONE listed (even though the Airport Utility shows my Airport Extreme as available to configure itself)... why?
- from here, I cannot move forward, since no device could be selected, I clicked "Scan Again" multiple times, no update

I decided to try a second approach in the selections for Step (6) above...
- instead of selecting "I want to wirelessly join my current network", I selected "I want to connect to my network using Ethernet to extend my wireless network", then clicked Continue
- I selected the device to which I wanted to connect via Ethernet (I selected "Jason's Airport Extreme"), clicked Continue
- now, it verifies the setup, but for "Wireless Mode", it says "Create a wireless network", even though I chose "join my network" earlier (I repeated the steps from very beginning to confirm)
- I tried selecting the Airport Express device instead, and it tells me it can't find the network to which to connect... when I type in the network SSID, it returns Error -6753 "An error occurred while trying to access the Apple wireless device. Make sure your network connection is valid and try again".

I've been down this same road for several days, and am just kind of stuck and out of ideas, at this point. Looking for assistance as to where to go from here. The Airport Utility will not even allow me to connect to the Airport Express device using the "Manual Setup" option (same error as noted above). If I try to restart the Airport Express in the Airport Utility, I get that same error.


I'm betting I will need to again reset the device to work with it, but suspect I will be in the same problem spot I am now with it after doing that.


Anyone have any ideas? NOTE: no Mac computers available in household... I've seen several posts on this topic presume that the user has a Mac available... all using Windows (Win XP and Win 10).


Thanks,

Jason

null-OTHER, Windows XP Pro

Posted on Nov 27, 2015 9:45 AM

Reply
3 replies

Nov 27, 2015 12:16 PM in response to jfoeh

- selected "I want to join my current network" (since I want this to be extender, not a new network), click Continue

Join does not extend.. it is wireless bridge .. apple calls it client mode.


- now, it verifies the setup, but for "Wireless Mode", it says "Create a wireless network", even though I chose "join my network" earlier (I repeated the steps from very beginning to confirm)

When you connect by ethernet this is correct.. You do not join or extend wireless.. you create a roaming network so both the Extreme and Express are creating a wireless network of the same name (SSID) and same security/password.


- I tried selecting the Airport Express device instead, and it tells me it can't find the network to which to connect... when I type in the network SSID, it returns Error -6753 "An error occurred while trying to access the Apple wireless device. Make sure your network connection is valid and try again".

As soon as you choose the wrong thing the utility won't allow you to advance.


Anyone have any ideas? NOTE: no Mac computers available in household... I've seen several posts on this topic presume that the user has a Mac available... all using Windows (Win XP and Win 10).

The utility in Mac is hugely better than windows.. as Apple seem to have now decided PC doesn't need any more updates. (They are 3 windows version behind but what is worse is that v5 utility is not considered adequate to setup AC models).


What apple did do is made an Apple utility for iOS. Since you have both iphones and ipads.. download the airport utility for iOS.. it is free from apple store.


The iOS version of the utility is superior to both windows and Mac versions.. it just seems to work better.


Anyway.. reset the Express and start over.


You are extending wireless of the airport extreme.. it should be very straight forward.. post some screenshots if you run into trouble.

Nov 28, 2015 5:14 AM in response to LaPastenague

Thanks for the reply. I did the reset, and started from scratch... hit quite a few bumps in the road... couldn't configure "new" Express device using the iOS app, had to use Windows app to set it up initially... when it finally connected, it would knock all my iPhones/iPads off the wireless network and not allow any new devices to connect (had to restart - unplug/replug power cord - the Extreme 2-3 times in the process to re-establish network connectivity) ... eventually, I just unplugged the Ethernet cable from the Airport Express after setting things up, last ditch effort to see if that resolved things, and it seemed to settle in and work.


Going to leave it as-is for a few days, then move it to the other side of the house, where the WiFi signal is weak, and see if that all works.


Have to say... this thing is touchy to setup. It shouldn't be, I agree.


Thanks again.


- J

Nov 28, 2015 12:27 PM in response to jfoeh

eventually, I just unplugged the Ethernet cable from the Airport Express after setting things up, last ditch effort to see if that resolved things, and it seemed to settle in and work.

You have it setup in the wrong mode.. you are extending wireless..


If you want to use it by ethernet that is wrong.. your configuration has caused a loop.. hence it knocked all the other stuff off the network which went berserk.


If you plug it in by ethernet.. it must be setup to create a wireless network of the same name and same security as the main network.. this is called roaming.


If you want to extend by wireless you simply select wireless extend.


Have to say... this thing is touchy to setup. It shouldn't be, I agree.

Apple's documentation is less than great.. they think the automatic setup will work in every case and it does now and then.. but it would be hugely helpful to have clear and explicit documentation.


couldn't configure "new" Express device using the iOS app

The iOS version is slightly different.. if you start from scratch.. you need to deliberately connect to the Express via the setup first.. I think you simply are not used to using it..


Please try again with iOS as it is hugely superior.


Maybe Bob can post some screenshots from his ipad or point to one of the many posts where he has done it.

Connecting Aiport Express to Aiport Extreme to extend network - problems

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