Airport Express and Base station issues

The new firmware on the Gen2 Express is buggy in the Extreme..

Honestly if you want wireless performance and don't care about Airplay2 then downgrade the firmware to 7.6.8

It is easy to downgrade..

Click your express in the airport utility. Note where it says 7.8 firmware..

hold down the option key then you click on the firmware version.

A listing of available firmware will appear.. chose the one you want.

I don't have an express but there is the pic from a TC.

If the express do not show in the AIrport Utility.. reset each of them one at a time.. with the first only then the second only. Hold down reset button for 10sec until it flashes rapidly.. go through the airport utility and make sure each use correct method.. extend by wireless if you are using wireless.. or extend by ethernet if you have them plugged in by ethernet.

Post screenshots if you run into issues.

1. I have ethernet plugged into both airport express devices, neither show an option to extend by ethernet

"extend by Ethernet" will only appear if you are using the AirPort Utility setup "wizard" to configure the AirPort Express from scratch. In other words, the wizard assumes that you have reset the AirPort Express back to factory default settings and you are setting it up again from scratch. Post back if you want to go through the setup using the AirPort Utility setup "wizard".

If you don't want to start all over again and set up the AirPort Express from scratch, the correct setting for the AirPort Express is "create a wireless network", since "extend a wireless network" and "join a wireless network" are settings that are used only when the AirPort Express connects using wireless. But.....you indicate that you are using Ethernet.

5ghz, under the wireless tab when you click the wireless options, it gives an option to create a 5ghz network name. I was under the impression the airports (both extreme and express) bounced back and fourth from 2.4 to 5ghz depending on whatever network was performing better.

The Extreme and Express do not "bounce back and forth". By default, both AirPorts are always providing both a 2.4 Gz and a 5 GHz signal that use the same wireless network name. It is up to wireless devices to choose the best signal to which to connect. This is Apple's default or recommended setting for the AirPorts.

If you place a check mark in the box next to 5 GHz Name, that will assign a different name to the 5 GHz network, so the 2.4 GHz signal will have one network name and the 5 GHz signal another. Users who feel that it is important for devices to connect to the 5 GHz network use this type of setup, so they can "aim" a wireless device at the 5 GHz network, rather than letting a wireless device choose between the available 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz signals in the default type of setup.

Good arguments can be made for either type of setup, and as you might imagine there are upsides and downsides to each approach. If you decide that you want to assign a separate name to the 5 GHz network, you would want to do this on all of your AirPort devices....the AirPort Extreme and both Express devices.

scheeko wrote:

I see similar connectivity issues with Version 7.8 while wirelessly extending a network, where I never had them before. The Airport Express seems to drop the connection to the main router, leaving the client devices connected to it seemingly connected to the wi-fi network, but effectively no actual internet/LAN connection.

You must make sure the only device the Express can connect to is the Airport router you have configured with ethernet. Unfortunately Apple did nothing to enforce this.. so if you have two express set at close distance to each other, and extending wireless from say an Extreme.. it will likely fail at some point because the express will attempt to extend the other express and this will fail.

In the airport utility you can see the connection.

If you hover your mouse cursor over the word Unknown.. which is for connection.. a popup screen appears which is in the screenshot.. which shows the actual connection.. not Unknown at all.. actually very well known.

When you do the setup.. ensure the signal (RSSI) is at least -60dBm. The lower the number the better the signal.. remember negative numbers.. so mine is showing pretty well max signal as they are just a few feet apart.

I see similar connectivity issues with Version 7.8 while wirelessly extending a network, where I never had them before. The Airport Express seems to drop the connection to the main router, leaving the client devices connected to it seemingly connected to the wi-fi network, but effectively no actual internet/LAN connection.

If you have them plugged in by ethernet.. You must NOT have them configured to extend by wireless.

When you use extend by wireless, the two express must be spaced so that Extreme has much stronger signal than the other express.. otherwise it can attempt to swap to the signal from one express to other and that will kill the wireless.

In the airport utility you will see them extend using a dotted line .. that means wireless.

Post back if you want to go through the setup using the AirPort Utility setup "wizard".

I'm currently setting up a network with one Extreme as base station, wired to two Express' daisy chained and one express connected wireless. I would love to hear more about this "setup wizard" you are mentioning since I have never heard about such.

So, you are saying that all of the AirPorts have been reset back to factory default settings at this point?.....or.....Is the AirPort Extreme already configured and operating correctly......and you just need to add the AirPort Express devices?

We ask because it probably does not make sense to start all over again with the AirPort Extreme if it is already up and running.

What device.....a Mac or an iPhone/iPad will you be using? If it is a Mac, we assume that it is running a current or recent version of the Mac operating system, correct?