Network disappeared!

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Level 1

123 points

Network disappeared!

After years and years yesterday my Wi-fi network disappeared and what happened looks like it defaulted to an Airport Extreme network.

Airport Utility does not see my base station.Somehow after hours of fiddling I was able to get on the Internet with all my ipads and computers on this network. Problem is it is not password protected so I tried creating a new network with a password. That showed up but that actually disappeared also. Is my equipment posessed?

Is there anyway to put a password on this Apple Network access I have now?

Should I try resetting my airport extreme so the utility will be able to see it? Will that help it see it?

It also screwed up my printer which somehow I also was able to get running.

So my main concern is this:

The Network I am using now has no security.

HELP!!

Posted on Jun 19, 2016 2:42 PM

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Answer 1

Susan1b Author

Level 1

123 points

Jun 20, 2016 5:14 AM in response to Susan1b

I don't think I explained this well. I now have only an Apple Network xxxxxxxxx that all ipads and computers are using but there is no security.

When I made a new WiFi Network with a password, the only computer that could see it was the one I made it on. All others still only saw thw Apple Network.

The Airport utility says it does not see any Base Station. I tried all the fixes I found except retetting the Base station.

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Answer 2

Tesserax

Level 10

158,502 points

Jun 20, 2016 10:10 AM in response to Susan1b

When a AirPort base station is powered-up for the first time, it will broadcast an unsecured Wi-Fi network with a network name of something like: Apple Network NNNNNN, where the N's are part of the base station's wireless MAC ID.

At this point, I would suggest that you do perform a "factory default" reset on the base station, and start over to configure it for your network.

After the reset, it will be like setting it up for the first time.

The following are the basic steps:

Verify that your Mac has Wi-Fi enabled.
Power-up the base station. Allow at least a full minute for the base station to initialize. Its status LED should now be a blinking amber color.
On your Mac, click the Wi-Fi icon on the OS X menu bar.
The base station should now show up under the title: New AirPort Base Station.
Click on the AirPort that is listed and this will start up the AirPort Utility.

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Answer 3

Susan1b Author

Level 1

123 points

Jun 20, 2016 2:06 PM in response to Tesserax

Ahhhh...thanks so much!!! My only concern now is if this will effect my wireless printer? It's a canon pixma 5220. Will my printer just pick up whatever network I wind up on?

Thanks for helping me with this!

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Answer 4

Susan1b Author

Level 1

123 points

Jun 20, 2016 2:28 PM in response to Susan1b

I looked at the wifi right now and when I click on what's under NEW BASE station i get this message:

This version of AirPort Utility doesn’t support this base station. Go to AirPort Service and Support for more information.

I went there and it looks like I have most recent utility...

will the factory reset make a difference?

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Answer 5

Tesserax

Level 10

158,502 points

Jun 20, 2016 4:18 PM in response to Susan1b

If you rename your wireless network, then you will need to reconfigure the printer to connect to that network.

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Answer 6

Tesserax

Level 10

158,502 points

Jun 20, 2016 4:27 PM in response to Susan1b

I looked at the wifi right now and when I click on what's under NEW BASE station i get this message:

This version of AirPort Utility doesn’t support this base station. Go to AirPort Service and Support for more information.

So, you must have an older 802.11g base station. Newer Macs and iOS devices run version 6.x of the AirPort Utility which, unfortunately, will not work with these older base stations. You would need to use either a Mac running Snow Leopard or earlier or a PC running Windows XP or 7 to administer these base stations.

These base stations went out of production back in 2007 and are considered obsolete by Apple Support. That fact that yours worked for "years and years" is a rarity indeed. You may want to consider upgrading to a much newer base station for, at least, two reasons: 1) Administering the older base stations will become more and more difficult, and 2) Most likely, yours is starting to fail.

I went there and it looks like I have most recent utility...

will the factory reset make a difference?

Most likely you do ... and, no, another factory reset won't help ... sorry!

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Answer 7

Susan1b Author

Level 1

123 points

Jun 20, 2016 4:28 PM in response to Tesserax

Thank you for such concise answers!!! I will buy a new one!!!

Thanks !!!!

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