cfront
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Q: Airport Extreme Ethernet not recognized

I recently purchased an Airport Extreme (purchased summer 2016) and have laid a cat5e cable (over 100ft) to the other side of my house so I can connect by ethernet when I want a faster connection. The airport is behind a 2Wire modem (UVerse) but is acting as the router.

 

When I had the cable just running along the floor boards, it worked fine. I reran it through our basement (under the floorboards) and it no longer works. I checked the cable with a LAN tester and it passed. I also ran it directly from the UVerse to the MacBook and that worked fine. I'd like to run it from the airport, though, not from the Uverse modem.

 

Can anyone suggest why it might have stopped working? (I have tested the ports on the airport with other ethernet cables, and they are operational, as is the ethernet port on my MacBook.)

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated, as this is driving me nuts.

Posted on Sep 4, 2016 5:08 PM

by Bob Timmons,Solvedanswer
Bob Timmons Bob Timmons
Level 10 (104,842 points)
Wireless
A:

If it works with the shorter cable during the test that I suggested......you said that it did.....but does not work with the longer cable.....then the longer cable is bad.....no matter what your tester might say.

 

Example....I have a cable that I know is bad here.....(yet an inexpensive cable tester says it is good).

 

The cable will still "work" if I connect it to an AirPort Express with 10/100 ports (probably same ports on the modem/router that you have)....but the same cable will not work on an AirPort Extreme with 10/100/1000 ports.

Posted on Sep 5, 2016 10:25 AM

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Q: Airport Extreme Ethernet not recognized

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  • by LaPastenague,Helpful

    LaPastenague LaPastenague Sep 5, 2016 8:20 AM in response to cfront
    Level 9 (52,255 points)
    Wireless
    Sep 5, 2016 8:20 AM in response to cfront

    Did you break the pairs.. ??

     

    Even if the MB worked did you actually check it was working at full speed?

     

    See this post for near identical problem.. and why pairs are so important.

     

    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7084985

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Sep 4, 2016 6:35 PM in response to cfront
    Level 7 (23,493 points)
    Safari
    Sep 4, 2016 6:35 PM in response to cfront

    Is your topology

     

    1. Uverse -> Airport -> 100Ft Cat5e -> Macbook ethernet

     

    or,

     

    2. Uverse -> 100Ft Cat5e -> Airport -> Macbook ethernet

  • by cfront,

    cfront cfront Sep 5, 2016 7:06 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Wireless
    Sep 5, 2016 7:06 AM in response to Loner T

    It is 1 Loner T.

  • by cfront,

    cfront cfront Sep 5, 2016 7:53 AM in response to LaPastenague
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Wireless
    Sep 5, 2016 7:53 AM in response to LaPastenague

    As far as I can tell, the pairs are not broken. I've done a visual check and also used a LAN checker that does check for splits. (Would it work on the Uverse router if they were split?)

  • by cfront,

    cfront cfront Sep 5, 2016 8:20 AM in response to cfront
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Wireless
    Sep 5, 2016 8:20 AM in response to cfront

    I read that thread, but as far as I can tell, the pairs are not broken. I've done a visual check and also used a LAN checker* that does check for splits. (Would it work on the Uverse router if they were split?) I'm a novice, so I apologize if I've missed something.

     

    *http://www.kleintools.com/catalog/cable-testers-accessories/lan-scout-jr-tester

  • by Bob Timmons,

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Sep 5, 2016 8:23 AM in response to cfront
    Level 10 (104,842 points)
    Wireless
    Sep 5, 2016 8:23 AM in response to cfront

    If you temporarily disconnect the long Ethernet cable, and use a short, spare Ethernet cable....any length will do....and connect it from a LAN <--> port on the AirPort Extreme to your computer.......can you get a good Internet connection on the computer?

     

    If you can, then you know that the AirPort Extreme is working correctly....and despite what your cable tester might say....you likely have a cabling issue.

     

    If your "test" does not work, then the issue is one of two things, maybe both.

     

    1) The Ethernet cable between the modem/router and the AirPort Extreme is not working correctly.

     

    2) You have the AirPort Extreme set up incorrectly.

     

    You mention in your post that you have the AirPort Extreme set up as a router behind the modem/router.  That would not be the correct setup for the AirPort Extreme......it should be in Bridge Mode when it is behind another router to avoid a Double NAT error on the network (which can cause communication difficulties between devices on a network).

  • by cfront,

    cfront cfront Sep 5, 2016 8:37 AM in response to Bob Timmons
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Wireless
    Sep 5, 2016 8:37 AM in response to Bob Timmons

    Bob,

     

    It does work with a shorter cable, so it's not the AE. (The AE is in bridge mode.) I still am confused why the ethernet cable works when I plug it directly into the Uverse router directly (rather than the AE). And if it's a cabling issue, what would that mean as possible cabling issues?

     

    Thanks!

  • by Bob Timmons,

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Sep 5, 2016 8:50 AM in response to cfront
    Level 10 (104,842 points)
    Wireless
    Sep 5, 2016 8:50 AM in response to cfront

    A good cable tester is $200+.  Inexpensive testers will pass a cable that is internally shorted or that has the Ethernet plugs mis-wired.

     

    I can't explain why the cable works in one Ethernet port and not another.

  • by Loner T,Helpful

    Loner T Loner T Sep 5, 2016 10:00 AM in response to cfront
    Level 7 (23,493 points)
    Safari
    Sep 5, 2016 10:00 AM in response to cfront

    This is too pedantic for my taste, but I still want to ask. The tall AE has four ethernet ports, with one designated as WAN  (the one right above the power cable) and the remainder three as LAN. If your AE WAN port is not connected to the Uverse, and the 100Ft cable is good, it will work when directly connected between UVerse and Mac, but not when AE gets in the mix, because AE has no WAN connection to the Uverse and is in bridge mode.

     

    Please see page 6 of https://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/1000/MA1645/en_US/airport_time_capsule_80 211ac_setup.pdf .

  • by cfront,

    cfront cfront Sep 5, 2016 10:08 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Wireless
    Sep 5, 2016 10:08 AM in response to Loner T

    Not need to worry about being pedantic Loner T. This whole process has made me feel dim and I appreciate any help I can get.

     

    Here's what I've tried:

     

    Doesn't work:

    incoming cable from ATT --> Uverse router (out from LAN port) --> AE (in bridge mode; incoming cable connects to WAN port (0) and outgoing cable leaves from LAN (<->) port) --> macbook pro (ethernet port)

     

    Does work:

    incoming cable from ATT --> Uverse router (out from LAN port) -->  macbook pro (ethernet port)

     

    Also works BTW

    incoming cable from ATT --> Uverse router (LAN port) --> AE (in bridge mode; incoming cable connects to WAN port (0) and outgoing cable leaves from LAN (<->) port)  --> via WIFI to macbook pro

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Sep 5, 2016 10:09 AM in response to cfront
    Level 7 (23,493 points)
    Safari
    Sep 5, 2016 10:09 AM in response to cfront

    I have my Cable Modem (Comcast) in the utility room, and Cat5e in all rooms. I have an 802.11ac in the Kitchen, which is more than 100ft of cable away. It works without any issues.

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Sep 5, 2016 10:16 AM in response to cfront
    Level 7 (23,493 points)
    Safari
    Sep 5, 2016 10:16 AM in response to cfront

    cfront wrote:

     

    Also works BTW

    incoming cable from ATT --> Uverse router (LAN port) --> AE (in bridge mode; incoming cable connects to WAN port (0) and outgoing cable leaves from LAN (<->) port)  --> via WIFI to macbook pro

    Do you have another 100ft ethernet cable with Cat5e that can be laid across the floor in a spool right next to the AE and if the Mac works, you may have one of the ethernet conductors, in your below-the-boards cable, in the pairs barely connected. Intermittent connections are very hard to detect. Is the cable below the boards stapled? Stapling can be a culprit, too.

  • by cfront,

    cfront cfront Sep 5, 2016 10:24 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Wireless
    Sep 5, 2016 10:24 AM in response to Loner T

    I don't have another cable of that length, but I have one about 75 feet that work fine.

     

    Again, what stumps me is that the cable works when I bypass the AE.

     

    Does work:

    incoming cable from ATT --> Uverse router (out from LAN port) -->  macbook pro (ethernet port) [this is the same cable that won't work with the AE]

     

    If that weren't working, I'd be 100% convinced it was the cable. But maybe there's something about the transmission from the UVerse router that isn't impacted by a cable fault that does impact the connection for the AE. I'm not knowledgeable enough about this to figure that out.

     

    Thanks for your continuing assistance.

  • by Bob Timmons,Solvedanswer

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Sep 5, 2016 10:25 AM in response to cfront
    Level 10 (104,842 points)
    Wireless
    Sep 5, 2016 10:25 AM in response to cfront

    If it works with the shorter cable during the test that I suggested......you said that it did.....but does not work with the longer cable.....then the longer cable is bad.....no matter what your tester might say.

     

    Example....I have a cable that I know is bad here.....(yet an inexpensive cable tester says it is good).

     

    The cable will still "work" if I connect it to an AirPort Express with 10/100 ports (probably same ports on the modem/router that you have)....but the same cable will not work on an AirPort Extreme with 10/100/1000 ports.

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