Q: Airport Utility/Airport Express
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Sep 4, 2016 12:23 PMby Tesserax,The AirPort Utility relies on both the mDNS (aka, Bonjour) & the IPv6 IP protocols to find an AirPort base station. Be sure that both of your AirPort base stations plus your iMac are configured for IPv6 Link-local only.
- For a Mac: System Preferences > Network > Wi-Fi or Ethernet > Advanced > TCP/IP tab > Configure IPv6: Link-local only
- For the AirPort base station:
Note: You may need to temporarily connect your Mac or PC directly to the base station by Ethernet to access it.- From a Mac: AirPort Utility > Select the base station > Edit > Internet tab > Internet Options… > Configure IPv6: Link-local only
- From an iOS device: AirPort Utility > Tap on the base station > Tap on Edit > Tap on Advanced > Tap on IPv6 > Change Configure IPv6 to: Link-local only > Tap on Done
For mDNS, this has been a "hit or miss" issue since OS X Mavericks. Unfortunately, there are no actual settings you can change for this.
A couple of references for additional information:
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Sep 4, 2016 12:30 PMby Bob Timmons,Should we assume that you are using the iMac running OS X Mavericks (10.9.5) mentioned in your tag line.....or.....have you updated to a more recent operating system?
The most common reason for a "disappearing AirPort" is an incorrect setting for IPv6 connections both on your Mac and on the AirPort router or access point itself.
Unless your Internet Service Provider (ISP) has given you specific settings to use for IPv6 connections on your network, you should use the Link Local Only setting for IPv6 on your Mac(s) and AirPorts.
Check your Mac first as follows:
Open System Preferences (gear icon on the dock)
Open Network
Click on WiFi to highlight it
Click Advanced in the lower right section of the window
Click the TCP/IP tab
Make sure that the setting for Configure IPv6 is set to Link Local Only
Click OK
Click Apply
That will bring you back to the main Network window again. This time, click on Ethernet to highlight it and repeat the exact same steps as above.
After you click OK and then Apply, restart the Mac.
On the AirPort Extreme.....
Open AirPort Utility
Click on the picture of the AirPort Extreme
Click Edit in the smaller window that appears
Click the Internet tab at the top of the screen
Click the Internet Options buttons
Make sure that the setting for Configure IPv6 is set to Link Local Only
Click Save, then click Update to save the new settings
Do the same for the AirPort Express
If the Express continues to disappear, then the powerline connection may be the culprit. As a test, move the Express close the AirPort Extreme and connect a spare Ethernet cable....any length will do....from the Extreme to the Express and watch the connection that way for a few days.
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Sep 4, 2016 5:29 PMby Peter Roussak,Thanks to both of you for the quick reply. I followed the recommendations and (a) made the change on the iMac (yes, still running Mavericks I'm afraid, just had bad experiences updating this particular machine before!), (b) the Extreme was already set as suggested, but (C) something of a Catch 22 as regards the Express since I can't see it on Airport Utility to make the change in the settings. I'll try connecting it to the Extreme directly rather than through powerline and see if it shows up that way.
However the change I made on the Mac has resulted in an odd situation perhaps you can resolve for me: in System Preferences under the line in the left hand window for the Wifi connection (which is all I use for the Mac because the Extreme is in a different room), the button that used to be green is now yellow and it says "Self-assigned IP" and in the right-hand window it says "Wi-Fi has the self-assigned IP address 10.0.1.4 and will not be able to connect to the Internet" - yet my Internet connection through wifi is just fine! I've given the Mac that IP address through the DHCP reservation tab for the Extreme in Airport Utility (I've forgotten exactly why but it was recommended by someone in the past) so is that somehow why it's still working despite this error message?
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Sep 4, 2016 5:49 PMby Bob Timmons,Power off the entire network.....all devices....modem. AirPorts, computers, powerline adapters, etc.....in any order that you want.
Temporarily, move the Express so that it connects directly to the AirPort Extreme using a spare Ethernet cable.
Power up the modem, and let it run for 4-5 minutes by itself
Power up the AirPort Extreme and let it run for a full minute
Power up the AirPort Express and let it run for a minute
Keep powering up devices one at a time about a minute apart until the entire network is back up
Check the network
If the Express appears, power it off and move it back to the remote location where it is connected to the powerline adapter.
If the Express does not appear when it is connected directly to the Extreme, reset it back to factory default settings and then set it up again using the spare Ethernet cable connected directly to the AirPort Extreme.
Report on your results.
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Sep 4, 2016 5:56 PMby Peter Roussak,Just to add to my confusion: I tried Airport Utility on my Macbook and was able to see the Express briefly and change the settings on that as suggested, and also changed the setting on the Macbook and rebooted. However, the Express is still not appearing in Utility on either machine, and the wifi connection on the Macbook is showing green/connected unlike the Mac issue described above. (The Macbook also has a DHCP reserved IP address.)
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Sep 5, 2016 9:42 AMby Peter Roussak,So somehow I've found a configuration that works, which is to have both the Extreme and the Airport set to Link Local Only as you recommended but both Mac and Macbook set to Automatically. I'm not a fan of living in "works in practice but will never fly in theory" mode but I'll take what I can get, at least until it stops working again. And at least this way my Mac doesn't tell me I'm not connected to the Internet when I am.
Thanks again
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Sep 5, 2016 10:46 AMby Tesserax,So somehow I've found a configuration that works, which is to have both the Extreme and the Airport set to Link Local Only as you recommended but both Mac and Macbook set to Automatically.
Interesting. As you are probably already aware, the "Link-local only" option basically restricts IPv6 traffic to your local network. On the other hand, the "Automatically" option would, in theory, select the appropriate IPv6 settings based on what it "senses." Typically, this option would be used where your ISP has implemented IPv6 and you wanted to take advantage of it.
Not sure why this option worked better with your Macs for the AirPort Utility.
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Sep 6, 2016 11:11 AMby Bob Timmons,Time Warner has partially implemented IPv6 in most of their markets, but I don't have specific information about the Los Angeles market.
I have been using IPv6 settings for my Time Warner connection in North Texas for the past 14-15 months, with no issues at all.
If you want to try out IPv6, then some settings will need to be changed on your "main" AirPort router. Here, I am assuming that the main AirPort is configured as the network router using a Router Mode of DHCP and NAT.
I can provide the IPv6 settings that I use with Time Warner's service if you are curious, but cannot say how well.....or if....they will work for you.
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Sep 6, 2016 12:09 PMby Tesserax,Eventually, we are going to run out of IPv4 addresses. The IPv6 address space is almost unimaginably large and should handle any future growth.
That fact that we use NAT on routers is sort of a workaround for this limitation ... but it not a permanent fix by any means.
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Sep 6, 2016 12:10 PMby Bob Timmons,There is some good info on the Time Warner website about IPv6......https://www.timewarnercable.com/en/support/internet/topics/ipv6.html
The world is running out of available IPv4 addresses, so a new system with much higher capacity is needed for the future.
Here is how to setup IPv6 on your main AirPort router using AirPort Utility:
Click on the main AirPort router, then click Edit
Click the Internet tab at the top of the window
Click the Internet Options button
Configure IPv6 = Automatically
IPv6 Mode = Native
Enter a check mark in box next to Enable IPV6 Connection Sharing
Click Save
Click the Network tab at the top of the window
Click the Network Options button
Enter a check mark in the box next to Block incoming IPv6 connections
Enter a check mark in the box next to Allow IPSec authentication
Click Save
Click Update
