AirPort Extreme Wireless Issues

Question

AirPort Extreme Wireless Issues

Hi. Just recently I've been encountering issues on my AirPort Extreme 2nd Generation, using firmware 7.6.4. When I try to connect to the internet with devices plugged into the AirPort Extreme, they can connect fine. However, when I try to connect to the internet with my wireless devices, none of them can find the AirPort Extreme, even though earlier they connected to the network without issues. Earlier I tried to access it on AirPort Utility for Windows and checked the settings, it worked fine, no settings were changed, but now when I try to access the AirPort Extreme on AirPort Utility, I keep encountering the same error, error -6742. I tried a hard reset and factory reset, no luck. I also tried disconnecting the AirPort Extreme for a while and try to access it with AirPort Utility, still received error -6742. Any ideas on how to resolve this error?

AirPort Extreme 2nd Generation-OTHER

Posted on Feb 28, 2016 2:54 PM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Feb 28, 2016 3:02 PM in response to AppleTechEnthusiast

The only answer I found is:

It may be possible that your 1st generation 802.11g AirPort Extreme Base Station has failed.

However, before giving up on it, I would still suggest that you try to perform a "factory default" reset on it to see if this will get it back up and running again. Note: You may have to attempt this reset several times in order for it to "stick."

I know you have a Gen. 2 AEBS, but this may apply to it, too.

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Answer 2

Feb 28, 2016 3:14 PM in response to AppleTechEnthusiast

The first thing that comes to mind in reading your post is that a 2nd Generation AirPort Extreme, depending on when it was purchased, is at least 7 years old and as much as 8 1/2.

The useful life for a wireless router designed for home use is on average, about 5 years. So, that may have a good deal to do with the issue(s) that you are experiencing. Typically, the wireless radio is the component that usually fails first on the router as it heads downhill.

Unfortunately, there is probably not much more that you can do other than try a few more factory default resets to see if that might help.

However, when I try to connect to the internet with my wireless devices, none of them can find the AirPort Extreme, even though earlier they connected to the network without issues

Not sure whether this means that wireless devices can still "see" the wireless network signal that the AirPort Extreme is creating, and cannot connect.......or......whether this means that wireless devices cannot "see" the network at all. Can you clarify on that?

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Answer 3

Feb 28, 2016 3:26 PM in response to Bob Timmons

Thanks for the reply. What I meant by "Wireless devices not being able to find the AirPort Extreme" is that none of my devices had a connection to the AirPort Extreme or can detect it, even though about an hour or so before the issues arose, they had a stable connection to the AirPort Extreme. I realized a problem occurred when I took a look into the settings and then Wi-Fi. None of the networks that were listed for me was my network.

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Answer 4

Feb 28, 2016 3:28 PM in response to Kappy

Thanks for your response. I'll try and factory reset the AirPort Extreme, and might as well start looking for a new AirPort Extreme if the problem is not resolved after several more tries of resetting it.

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Answer 5

Feb 28, 2016 3:36 PM in response to AppleTechEnthusiast

Thanks for the clarification. Unless you inadvertently turned off the wireless function of the AirPort Extreme when you were looking at settings in AirPort Utility......it's pretty clear that the wireless radio on the 2nd Gen AirPort has failed.

About all that you can do is connect your computer with AirPort Utility installed using an Ethernet connection to the AirPort Extreme and double check the wireless settings again.

I doubt that it will help, but trying a few more default resets would not hurt.

I had two 2nd Gen AirPorts and both failed right around the 5 year mark, so you have done much better than average.

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Answer 6

Feb 28, 2016 3:57 PM in response to Bob Timmons

There are some things I forgot to add to the post, one of them is that the AirPort Extreme I have right now is bought used on Amazon as an upgrade from a basic router from the ISP, about a year and a half ago. Second thing is that I remember finding the device itself on the ground not too long ago, which could've caused some issues as well. I'll also see if connecting the AirPort Extreme directly to the computer would help.

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