Airport Extreme BS problems

Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
Compared to the non-extreme they seem really unreliable.



The problems are varied and will sound vague but basically most operations are really hit and miss. Sometimes they'll appear on the network, sometimes they won't; trying to update the config files works sometimes but not others; restarts needed frequently; speed is slow when finally things work..ah, the list goes on. In short, they're just not reliable enough use.



Using firmware 5.0.4 on the base stations and connecting mainly with 802.11b cards. No channels overlap. Airport Admin Utility is 3.0.4.



Anyone else find AEBS to be troublesome? ANY suggestions welcomed!

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 14
    messiahmessiah Posts: 1,689member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by PaulP

    We've got five of these things now and all of them have had weird problems.



    Compared to the non-extreme they seem really unreliable (we've around 30 of these and have been problem-free from day one).



    The problems are varied and will sound vague but basically most operations are really hit and miss. Sometimes they'll appear on the network, sometimes they won't; trying to update the config files works sometimes but not others; restarts needed frequently; speed is slow when finally things work..ah, the list goes on. In short, they're just not reliable enough use.



    Using firmware 5.0.4 on the base stations and connecting mainly with iBooks with 802.11b cards. No channels overlap. Airport Admin Utility is 3.0.4.



    Anyone else find AEBS to be troublesome? ANY suggestions welcomed!




    We had similar problems with our AEBS base station. It would go from working perfectly with a full signal to just disappearing without any warning. I took it home and tried it there, where it worked perfectly.



    We therefore presumed that it was something to do with the office environment, or the host machine in the office. We haven't used it in a long time - we're moving office soon and the plan is to use it there instead of cabling the place.



    I hope this isn't a "characteristic". You sound as though you're experiencing exactly the same problems...







  • Reply 2 of 14
    gardnerjgardnerj Posts: 167member
    Performance wise i know what you mean. I use mine with my 12"pb and surfing performance is worse than a 56k modem. Added to this the fact that it regularly hangs copying large (500M+) files. And randomly drops off of the network, requiring a reset.



    I need to check the cordless phone i have at home just in case its on the same frequency. Thats about all i can think it is. I really hope thats all it is.



    not a happy camper.
  • Reply 3 of 14
    gardnerjgardnerj Posts: 167member
    should have mentioned i have a 1/2 meg cable modem ......
  • Reply 4 of 14
    gardnerjgardnerj Posts: 167member
    After some proper testing it appears that the problem is getting worse.



    Both soft and hard resets are not working unless i pull the power cable as well. After reconfiguring the BS i get between 10 and 120 seconds network connectivity and then it hangs. The indicator on the desk top isn't registering that the airport has gone but the network connection is definitely dead. I am already at 5.0.4 for firmware and 3.0.4 for Airport Admin Software. Any suggstions?



    the testss were conducted in the same room with minimal distance between BS and PB.



    Also found the following site that doesn't fill me with confidence http://airport.tber.com/extreme.html .
  • Reply 5 of 14
    doxxdoxx Posts: 41member
    yepp we're experiencing the same problem at work. Network connection drops, Airport disappears from the network and can't access the config after restart.



    I figured one thing out though - after a restart of the BS it takes a while (approx. 1 to 2 minutes) to get access to the configuration...



    I'm not sure yet if the latest firmware update did do the trick... The new Extreme BS seems to be bs...



    At home I use the first gen BS since it came out and it works like a dream...
  • Reply 6 of 14
    gardnerjgardnerj Posts: 167member
    Just had it running perfectly for 5 minutes... fastest i've seen it but now its hung again and the laptop is not able to talk to the thing, its not even prompting for a password just saying there was an error trying to join the wireless network.



    I'm going to see if my supplier will swap this one out... maybe its one of a bad batch.
  • Reply 7 of 14
    cosmonutcosmonut Posts: 4,872member
    We have one at our house and it's given us no problems, so long as we hook it into our home network correctly. It can be flaky if the LAN and WAN ports aren't connected to just the right box in the network.
  • Reply 8 of 14
    gardnerjgardnerj Posts: 167member
    I was only using the lan port to hook it into my hub with the machine that is connected to the cable modem as the default gateway/router. like i say it was working ok for a while so i think the setup was ok.
  • Reply 9 of 14
    bka77bka77 Posts: 331member
    working fine here
  • Reply 10 of 14
    gardnerjgardnerj Posts: 167member
    The vendor has just passed me off to apple support so i'll let you know if they replace or repair the bs.
  • Reply 11 of 14
    gardnerjgardnerj Posts: 167member
    I can expect a replacement in 7-10 days. If the thread is still going then I'll up date it.
  • Reply 12 of 14
    paulppaulp Posts: 67member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by gardnerj

    I can expect a replacement in 7-10 days. If the thread is still going then I'll up date it.



    We've had more than one of ours replaced only to find the new 'working' model just as buggy as the one we sent back.



    I hope you have better luck.



    If they were still available I'd exchange the lot for the old 802.11b - they might be slower but at least they worked.
  • Reply 13 of 14
    gardnerjgardnerj Posts: 167member
    Replacement works as advertised. Hurrah I'm mobile again, now if only the courier had taken the bust one away as well like he was supposed to.



    One thing to note. Apple have only replaced that base station itself not the power etc. Just incase, as i did, you leave it with someone else to be picked up, make sure you hang onto the docs, cables etc.
  • Reply 14 of 14
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    you still have the busted one?? Make sure you don't get charged for it... you should call up apple again and ask them if they want it...
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