7.7.9 Firmware update reduced range of Airport Extreme

I recently updated two of my 802.11ac base stations with firmware v7.7.9 and did NOT have this same issue that you are experiencing with yours on the 5 GHz band, but of course, anything is possible.

A number of things come to mind:

• The firmware update did not completely take.
• The 5 GHz band radio is starting to fail.
• There is additional Wi-Fi interference on the 5 GHz band that wasn't there before.

The higher frequency Wi-Fi band does have more difficulty traversing through objects, like walls. For sufficient bandwidth for high definition streaming you would want the base station and wireless client to be in the same room.

Some things you can try:

1. Perform a "factory default" reset on the base station, and then, re-set it up.
2. Downgrade to an earlier version of firmware. If the issue goes away, you can either leave it at that version or try upgrading it again. (Note: The major change in the latest release was to address the Krack hacking issue.)

Open AirPort Utility

Click on the picture of the AirPort router

Hold down the option key on your Mac while you click on the actual version number

A drop down menu will appear to allow you choose earlier firmware versions

any updates for this issue?

Not from Apple, if that is what you are asking.

But my airport extreme is constantly flashing that amber light prompting me to update.

This is normal. If you don't want to be pestered to update by the slow, blinking amber light......open up AirPort Utility, click on the AirPort Utility menu, select Preferences, and uncheck all of the boxes.

Unfortunately, looks like a power supply failure and I doubt that trying any other version of firmware will help. Best to call Apple Support and ask them very nicely to replace the AirPort.

If you have AppleCare in effect on one of your Macs, the AirPort is usually covered for up to three years from its purchase date. The "rules" are tricky. Get with Apple Support for details and clarification.

I also tried to update the firmware 7.7.9 on my AirPort Time Capsule after getting prompted. I got an update failed message, and the device would not restart from AirPort UI. I had to restart by power cycle (unplugging). Then the AirPort UI showed that it was running 7.7.9, but I had serious internet internet connectivity issues (even with a wired connection), and wireless signal strength problems similar to those described above. I could not restart the AirPort device using the AirPort app UI and again had to power cycle, which only temporarily improved the problems.

I tried contacting Apple support for advice -- no useful help at all. Agent had not even heard of the security issues this update is supposed to fix.

So, after experiencing these issues for a couple of days I decided to revert to firmware version 7.7.8. Reverting to 7.7.8 seemed to work, but then I got a message on reboot: "An error occurred while updating the firmware. -6,727"

I think this may have still been the issue with 7.7.9, since, of course, until the reboot it was still running 7.79. So, I restarted by power cycle again and now the AirPort UI says the version is back 7.7.8

So far after the reversion to 7.7.8 all seems normal, back to good performance. I did make a config change (user disk access) which required a restart to apply and it came back normally.

Of course, I do want the security fixes in 7.7.9, but at this point I think I'll leave it be.

Same issue for me. What’s more: I updated to 7.7.9 and my speeds dropped from 60-70Mbps down and 10Mbps up to 1-2Mbps down and about the same up. I thought maybe it was my provider, so I rebooted modem and router - no change. I downgraded to 7.7.8 and performance went right back up. I did this twice to be sure - once from my iPhone and once from my MBP. Each time I updated to 7.7.9, performance dropped to nothing. Each time I reverted back to .8, performance came back. It’s not the modem or the provider - it’s something with the 7.7.9 update.

Last week I upgraded to 7.7.9 and also had issues with distance. During the upgrade via wifi I received a failure error 6727 although the version did go to 7.7.9. I performed the upgrade again via ethernet and it was successful with no errors. I only use the 5GHz band and I had lost WiFi in the bedroom after the upgrade. I enabled the 2.4Ghz band with spotty connectivity in the bedroom. The next day I downgraded to 7.7.8, bedroom connectivity was working again and I have been there since. Today I decided that I wanted the Krack protection and proceeded to upgrade via wifi to 7.7.9. The upgrade completed with no errors. My wifi connectivity has definatly improved in the bedroom compared to the first upgrade but I believe 7.7.8 was still stronger/more stable. I'm going to give it another couple of days to see how it performs but as I said, I see an improvement over the first time I upgraded.

After the 7.7.9 update, my devices started to show up offline. Even the Extreme base station itself would show offline in Airport Utility. I found this article and just backrev'd to 7.7.7. I am going to see how things go for the day or so. Thanks!

Major issue too here with 7.7.9 firmware, I explain:

- issue is when you have a 5ghz separate network.

- you can confirm issue with airport utility for IOS only, the Mac’s one don’t show the issue.

The issue is about the WPA key, when using a separate 5ghz SSID, Airport seems modify the key for this SSIS only with a unknown one.

On airport iOS utility, click on the Airport, modify, advanced to be “show the passwords”. You will see that WPA key for 2.4 and 5ghz are different !!

If you are using only one SSIS, you have only one WPA key and don’t have any issue.

Apple confirm again his bug wave...

You will see that WPA key for 2.4 and 5ghz are different !!

The WPA pre-shared key is encypted and changed every hour.. they do not need to be the same and in fact if the names are different then the key should be different.. it does not mean the actual password has changed. Apple has no place to change the password for the different bands.

I changed to 7.7.9 firmware on two Time Capsules.. and 3 airport extremes so far and I have had no issues with either signal strength or password.