Airport Extreme and PPPoE

I had a very similar issue with Earthlink DSL and a brand new AEBS. Seemed like I tried everything, then someone suggested this.
The issue is that both the UHP modem and the AEBS are trying to implement PPPoE. Typically, I might get the message "Looking for PPPoE server". The network status would indicate connected to Internet, but, of course, I had nada. I even tried using the new AEBS in bridge mode, and generated some other kind of error. Anyway, try this.
Config your modem at act as bridge only - turn off PPPoE and DHCP in the modem. Then reset the AEBS with the reset button, just to confirm default settings. Then follow exactly the short doc
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106716
which involves connecting via ethernet first and confirming PPPoE connection is working, and then adding the wireless.
After nearly heaving the new AEBS out the window, I tried this and I was up and working in about 10 minutes.

JCampbel,
I think the problem me and Amadex are having with our provider here in Portugal is happening further along the PPPoE negotiation, as the ISP is saying the connection appears active from their side - as we don't get even an IP address, I'm thinking it's the last packet in the negotiation, the PADS packet (in which the session parameters are given back to the client system) that is not being well received/parsed. In the case of the Speedtouch Home ADSL modem, it doesn't have any PPPoE login capabilities, it's a "dumb" modem, so bridging the connection is not an option for me.

JCampbel,

I've tried everything with 2 modem's: one alcatel speedtouch home (that, as Pedro said, is a "dumb" modem - incapable of DHCP or PPPoE) and on d-link d300t (could be configured as a "dumb" modem or go the end and act as modem router, capable of DHCP and PPPoE).

Despite that, if I connect any of the modem's to a linksys wrt54g I have an immediate internet connection with no problems.

So, the problem is definitely on the AEBSn. My ISP confirmed me that even when the AEBSn obtains no IP address, the connection appears active from their side. Maybe it's like Pedro says, there is a problem with the AEBSn and it's management of the last packet in the negotiation (PADS packet).

If anybody from Apple could pay attention to this discussion and offer some help it could be VERY usefull...

Rgds

Dear all

I am also having PPPoE stability problems with the AEBS 11n (location is Hong Kong, ISP is Netvigator, connection is ADSL).

Before my AEBS I had a Netgear WGR614v6 which could connect to my ISP-provided modem and keep my DSL connection alive for weeks at a time. The AEBS however manages to keep it alive for between 1 minute to a couple of hours but is constantly connecting and reconnecting (I have tested PPPoE using my iMac and Dell X300 and there are no probs with them keeping a connection alive either).

From the number and geographic range of issues it is clear this is an AEBS compatibility issue (whether it's a problem with modems or with PPPoE connections themselves is unclear).

One thing I am trying to test is whether port mappings I had set up for Skype and Transmission are negatively affecting stability (I was getting "resources exhausted" errors) so I have deleted those and am testing to see if it is more stable.

I attach below a small excerpt from my AEBS log so you can see the port mappings (numbers obscured) and the disconnections:

Jun 13 18:44:54 Severity:5 (WAN) link state is Down.
Jun 13 18:44:54 Severity:5 Disconnected.
Jun 13 18:44:55 Severity:5 Disconnected.
Jun 13 18:44:55 Severity:3 Request denied for tcp xxxx to 10.0.1.xxx/xxxx with lifetime 3600 [resources exhausted]
Jun 13 18:45:00 Severity:5 Connection established xxx.xx.xx.xxx -> xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.
Jun 13 18:45:07 Severity:5 (WAN) link state is Up.
Jun 13 18:45:20 Severity:5 (WAN) link state is Down.
Jun 13 18:45:20 Severity:5 Disconnected.
Jun 13 18:45:31 Severity:5 (WAN) link state is Up.
Jun 13 18:45:42 Severity:5 (WAN) link state is Down.
Jun 13 18:45:45 Severity:5 (WAN) link state is Up.
Jun 13 18:45:47 Severity:5 (WAN) link state is Down.
Jun 13 18:45:50 Severity:5 (WAN) link state is Up.
Jun 13 18:45:52 Severity:5 (WAN) link state is Down.
Jun 13 18:45:55 Severity:5 (WAN) link state is Up.
Jun 13 18:45:57 Severity:5 (WAN) link state is Down.
Jun 13 18:46:00 Severity:5 (WAN) link state is Up.
Jun 13 18:46:02 Severity:5 (WAN) link state is Down.
Jun 13 18:46:05 Severity:5 (WAN) link state is Up.
Jun 13 18:46:06 Severity:5 Connection established xxx.xx.xx.xxx -> xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.
Jun 13 18:46:09 Severity:5 (WAN) link state is Down.
Jun 13 18:46:09 Severity:5 Disconnected.
Jun 13 18:46:12 Severity:5 Connection established xxx.xx.xx.x -> xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.
Jun 13 18:46:22 Severity:5 (WAN) link state is Up.
Jun 13 18:46:56 Severity:5 (WAN) link state is Down.
Jun 13 18:46:56 Severity:5 Disconnected.
Jun 13 18:46:57 Severity:5 Disconnected.
Jun 13 18:47:18 Severity:5 (WAN) link state is Up.
Jun 13 18:47:20 Severity:5 Connection established xxx.xx.xx.xxx -> xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.
Jun 13 18:53:10 Severity:5 (WAN) link state is Down.
Jun 13 18:53:10 Severity:5 Disconnected.

This problem exists in both the AEBS and AEBSn. I just recently upgraded to the AEBSn, hoping that it would solve the problem of connecting and disconnecting, but to no avail.

Now I have a pretty complex network:
Modem: AT&T (formerly SBC) modem setup on bridge mode
Router: D-Link DI-624
DHCP disabled
PPPoE enabled
IP Address: 10.0.1.5

Router: Airport Extreme Base Station (802.11n)
Firmware version 7.1.1
DHCP enabled ("Distribute a range of IP addresses"), serving 10.0.1.2 through 10.0.1.25
IP Address: 10.0.1.1
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Router Address: 10.0.1.5
DNS Servers: Copied from D-Link status
Channel: 36 (Automatic)

Router: Airport Extreme Base Station (802.11g)
Firmware Version 5.7
WDS Main mode
DHCP disabled ("Off (Bridge Mode)")
IP Address: 10.0.1.2
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Router Address: 10.0.1.1
Channel: 1

Router: Airport Express (802.11g)
Firmware Version 6.3
WDS Remote mode
DHCP disabled ("Off (Bridge Mode)")
IP Address: 10.0.1.3
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Router Address: 10.0.1.1
DNS Server(s): 10.0.1.1
Channel: 1

But it works. The D-Link hasn't dropped a connection yet. Granted DSL is still slow. I'm going to switch to cable in the next few weeks so I probably won't need the D-Link anymore.

But with all the testing of the new AEBSn and the AEBS, I can confirm that it doesn't handle PPPoE well. It kept disconnecting and reconnecting. The problem is somewhat intermittent; there are times when it will connect for several days, times when it will connect for less than a minute.

I haven't tested using my Airport Express, but I didn't want to be restricted to my 802.11g network.

I also have this problem. I have a new Airport Extreme 802.11n base station and a Linksys AM200 ADSL2/2+ modem. I'm trying to setup my Airport Extreme to make a PPPoE connection through the Linksys AM200 modem. But the Airport never makes it. It always reports that there is no internet connection and never gets an IP address. What makes me think this is a bug on the Airport is that when I try to make the PPPoE connection using the computer directly connected to the modem it always gets an IP address and an working internet connection. This means that the computer can make a PPPoE connection using this modem but the Airport can't. Why? I think this is the right way to connect the Airport to the internet because this way it gets a public IP address and problems like double NAT never occur.

Guess what, I'm running into this blood PPPoE authentication problem too.

I used to have ADSL 1500/256 using Acatel SpeedTouch ADSL "dumb" modem & AEBSn working bloody fine without any problem.

I upgraded to ADSL2+ two weeks ago and bought a Netgear DM111P ADSL2/2+ modem then AEBSn is now unable to do PPPoE authentication anymore using both Alcatel SpeedTouch ADSL "dumb" modem and Netgear DM111P (in fully bridge mode).

Same configuration was working fine 2 weeks ago.

My AEBSn is now useless and I have to use connect the modem directly to my computer to have Internet.

For what it is worth, I was able to resolve an issue with AEBSn and Earthlink DSL Netopia modem connection by taking my AEBSn into the Genius Bar where it was reconfigured. May be different issue than each of yours, but the symptoms sound similar re PPPoE, shared IP addresses:

• able to direct connect to internet both through modem and also through Airport but could not connect wirelessly to internet. Would get the EArthlink modem message "this account already connected to another computer" and could not get it to release it to share across the Airport network.

• The ethernet network worked -- in Airport utility I could see the wireless computers were being recognized.

• the Bridging had been turned OFF on the Airport. When trying to reset it, kept getting address error messages about the IP address

Why my MacPro / Airport Utility (7.1.1) was not able to reconfigure I do not know, but Juan at the Genius Bar was able to overwrite whatever was going on. So correct settings are
- Using DHCP (the Netopia modem does the PPPoE)
- Bridging on

No more blinking amber, no more Earthlink message.

Good luck.

Jennifer

I concur...

I want my modem bridged and my airport extreme doing all the pppoe and NAT etc because that gives me the best chance of iChat working with people on NAT routers at the other end.,

HOWEVER.... I've tried two modems (dlink 304T set to bridged with NAT etc disabled) and an iConnect 621 set to bridged mode).
Both work fine wired to my imac when the imac is set to negotiate pppoe connection. Neither works when connected to the AEBS set to negotiate pppoe.
Funnily enough, although I never get to see an ip number in airport utility (and I get an error saying the aebs does not have a valid ip number) Network Utility DOES seem to think i'm connected - or at least is reporting an IP number. Entering DNS server numbers by hand does not help and I can't actually ping the outside world either.
So I'm pretty sure it's a bug in the AEBS software.

Hello, did anyone reach an acceptable conclusion? My connection stopped suddenly mid-July after returning from a trip and now I only see "looking for PPPoE host" on the airport status line. I have a AE (no n) and an Express. Direct connection via ethernet is OK.
Cheers
Hilary

has anyone come to an answer. My problem is the same. AEBS is working fine for 3 months, come home one afternoon and it says"Looking for PPPoE host...". Nothing I do will work, was on the phone for two hours with apple support, until they said the problem was with the ISP, earthlink. Get on the phone for an hour with ISP, they finally say the problem is the AEBS. I agree it's the AEBS. Why does it all of a sudden stop working? Luckily, I had my previous router (Linksys WRT54G) still laying around. I plugged it in within seconds my Windows base laptop was connected, I changed the security to WPA from WEP, went to my Macbook, looked for available networks, entered the password and was on. all with in 3 mins. Has worked flawlessly. The Macbook works fine directly wired to the dsl modem also, so it has to be the AEBS PPPoE programming.

Well, I have a similar problem to what others are discussing here -- I recently updated my AEBSn firmware (as well as upgraded to 10.4.11) and now, after months of good behavior, I'm suddenly getting a "No PPPOE Server can be found" error with amber blinking light -- but different than some other folks, I am still able to connect to the Internet, both wirelessly and through the Ethernet connection. I tried restarting my DSL Modem (a Gateway) and the AEBS, but nothing changed.

I see that I do have the option to "Ignore" the warning which will get rid of the blinking amber light. Should I? Everything seems to be working -- if I just tell the Airport to ignore what is troubling it, will I be setting myself up for pain later?

Please let me know your thoughts!

Alex

I have been having a bit of a 'mare with this. Finally got it working and on the internet last night with the following settings:

D-Link ADSL Modem:
- Bridged Ethernet
- DHCP Off
- Self Assigned IP Address 192.168.1.2
- Subnet: 255.255.255.0

AEBSn:
- PPPoE
- DHCP range 192.168.1.1 to .200
- Subnet: 255.255.255.0

However, the problem I am having is that I can't connect to the router's admin panel when everything else is working. This is really annoying (although not the end of the world at the moment). When the modem is connected directly to the mac, accessing the modems admin panel is no problem, but as soon as I cannect with the same PPoE settings from the AEBSn, the panel can't be found.

I have tried putting them on seperate ranges (e.g. modem 192.168.1.x and AEBSn 10.0.0.x) but that doesn't seem to have any effect. I type in the modems IP in Safari and get nothing. The modem doesn't appear as a client in the AEBSn DHCP client table.

Any ideas?