Help with AirPort Express wired connection

The AirPort Express may not be fully resetting for some reason. Please follow these instructions carefully.

Open AirPort Utility on your Mac

Click on the picture of the AirPort Express

Click Edit in the smaller window that appears

Click the Base Station menu......up at the very top of the Mac's screen......where you see other menus like File, Edit, Help, etc

Click on Restore Default Settings

Give the Express a full minute to restart

Connect a short, spare Ethernet cable.....any length will do.....that you know is working correctly......from one of the LAN <--> ports on the Time Capsule to the WAN "O" port on the Express

Run through the setup again as detailed above

Make sure that you see that the AirPort Express is being set up to "extend using Ethernet" during the setup. If you don't see this, then there is something wrong with the Ethernet cable or with the Ethernet port(s) on the Time Capsule or AirPort Express.

When you see the message of Setup Complete, check again to see if there is a solid line between the Time Capsule and AirPort Express.

If there is.......then move the Express back to the location where it is needed, connect the long cable, and power up the Express. If things do not work correctly at this time, you have a problem in the long Ethernet cable......since you know that things were working with other spare Ethernet cable.

If you will start over and reset the AirPort Express back to default settings, then connect the Ethernet cable to the Express and run Apple's setup "wizard", you might be surprised at how easy this will be.

Power up the Express for a few minutes

Hold in the reset button on the back of the Express for 7-8 seconds and release

Allow a full minute for the Express to restart

Connect the Ethernet cable from one of the LAN <--> ports on the TC to the WAN "O" port on the AirPort Express

Click the WiFi menu at the top of the Mac's screen and look for a listing of New AirPort Base Station

Click directly on AirPort Express

When you click on AirPort Express, that will start up Apple's setup "wizard". It will take a few seconds to analyze things and then display a screen that looks like the example below except that you will see your devices and network name displayed

Type in a short simple name that you want to call the Airport Express

Click Next

Watch the next screen carefully to see that the AirPort Express is being set up to extend using Ethernet. This confirms that the setup "wizard" has picked up the Ethernet connection between the TC and Express and will apply the correct settings to the Express.

When you see the message of Setup Complete, click Done.....and you are done.

About all that you can do is reset the TC back to factory default settings and then set it up again to see if that might get things working.

Frankly, this is probably not going to help, but it's worth a try.

If the TC is still within the one year warranty, Apple will replace the device for you. The TC is also likely covered if you have AppleCare in effect on one of your Macs.....and....the TC is less than three years old.

I followed your instructions to set up a wired extended network with the only difference being that my base (connected to the cable modem) is an Airport Express base station and the wired extension is another Airport Express. Both are Model # 1392. All went well since your instructions were very clear. I have the extended AirPort Express in the living room to help us with streaming movies, etc. However, running a speed test gives me troubling info. Repeated speed tests near the extended Airport Express (living room) gives a download speed of about 10 Mbps & upload of 6 Mbps. When I take my MacBook Pro to the office near the Airport Express base, I get download speeds consistently around 70 Mbps and upload of about 6 Mbps. When I'm in the living room, if I shut off the extended Airport Express, I actually get better download speeds (around 40 Mbps) than if the extended Airport Express is on. Can't figure out why my wired extended Airport Express isn't near the same speed as the base!

This thread is about setting up and wiring an extended network using AirPort routers.

Your AirPorts are set up correctly if you followed the instructions above, so you have a different issue.....speed. If your AirPorts are set up correctly and Ethernet cable is working correctly, then you will have similar speeds at each AirPort Express.

Please start a new post for your speed issue.

Resetting an AirPort base station FAQ - Apple Support

Yes, the network is set up properly thanks to your help. And yes, the issue now is the slow speed of the extended Airport Express. I'll post it as a separate question. Thanks for your help.