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2 hours to setup Airport Express!

After a couple of weeks delay, my Airport Express finally turned up. As with all Apple kit, the packaging is great and the contents consist of the Airport Express unit and plug, installation CD and user guide. That's it. Whack the CD in the drive to install the AE configuration software and a few minutes later you are asked to reboot your Mac/PC.

So far so good but now it all went a bit pear-shaped for me. In theory you're supposed to be able to run the Airport Express Assistant that gets installed into /Applications/Utilities. Following the steps, it asks you whether you'd like to create a new network or connect to an existing one. Since I already have a wireless network I opted for the latter. The problem here is that my wireless network didn't show up. I see my neighbour's (really should tell them about that one day!) but not mine. Hmmm. I click back and next a few times to refresh the list and still nothing. After a switch back to my wireless network (from the Airport Express default network) I do a Google, only to discover that this seems to be fairly common. Basically, the assistant software isn't picking up my network because it's running with WEP.

Plan 2 - use the Airport Admin Utility that is installed next to the assistant software. This tool gives you the ability to search for Airport base stations on your network and configure them. Well, the express is not yet on my network so I switch my Mac to use the default express network and rescan for base stations. Hurary! The express pops up and I can open the window to configure it. Essentially, the admin utility lets you manually setup the stuff that happens behind the scenes with the assistant. Just as when you connect to an existing WEP-enabled wireless network, the admin utility lets you enter the name of the network and the password/passkey. Great. Click Update and wait for the express to restart. Fire up iTunes. Look around iTunes for any indications of AirTunes. Nothing. Go back to the express user guide. Scan the guide and pick up a tiny bit at the back that says you should choose your express from the speakers popup. What? Where's that? Back to Google and I find the AirTunes page has a screenshot with the popup. Check iTunes version is 4.6 - yep. Restart iTunes. Nothing. Hmmm. Read express user guide again. Unplug express from power and plug it back in again. Status light goes green, then amber, then flashes amber. Look in user guide - amber light means there is a problem with my ISP. Great, thanks for that useful insight, Apple.

So far I'm about an hour in and still nothing. Next I decide to check whether the express works by using the assistant to create a new network. Oh, the assistant doesn't see the express anymore. In fact, neither does the admin utility. Oh, that's because the express can't join a network. Hunt round the house for a staple and force a reset by holding the reset button in for a few seconds. Express restarts and the default network is back again. Follow assistant and after a few minutes I restart iTunes with my new network. Speaker popup appears! Choose the express and enter password. Error - express isn't plugged into any speakers. Very true - it isn't (how do they know that?!). Dig out cable, plug into line out and amplifier kicks into action. Hurray, the Airport Express works but I have to switch networks, which means I can't do anything like surf or get e-mail while streaming music.

Plan 3 - try the admin utility again. Reset express. Reboot mac. Join default express network. Start admin utility and scan for base station. Choose configure from the menu and ask the express to join an existing network. I've had problems with WEP passwords before so I decide to enter the full hex value. Click to update the express and the status light goes green to amber to flashing amber again. Hmmm. Perhaps the hex password needs to be prefixed with 0x. Restart admin utility and no express. Here we go again. Grab staple, reset express, rejoin default network, rescan, reconfigure and enter new password. Ditto the status light story. Time for Google again. Oh, perhaps the hex password needs to be prefixed with $. Admin utility doesn't see express. Grab staple...

Restart express and mac. Status light green to amber to flashing amber. B*llocks. More Googling followed by the Airport Express forum. Read that lots of other people are having grief with WEP. Read about prefixing with 0x. Read about prefixing with $. Scroll through a few pages. Read about people moaning about DHCP not working. Hmmm. Grab staple, join default network, open admin utility, configure base station, prefix password with $, go to Internet tab and enter static IP address information (see screenshot). Click to update express. Status light goes green, stays green, I try not to look away, light stays green! Quickly boot up iTunes and I can see it in the speaker popup. Damn, by now I've moved the express so that's it sitting next to me to poke the reset button easily. Unplug power and move next to the amplifier. Plug back in. Hold breath while express starts up. Green light again! Choose express from iTunes and at last we have music!

I can safely say that setting this thing up is a pain in the a*se. Now it's working, it works a treat. Very cool but more "plug and pray" than "plug and play".

Tags : apple

Responses[165]

Posted by Simon Brown on 30 July 2004 23:44:24 BST #

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from randi darmawn on 31 July 2004 08:53:03 BST #

everything about apple stuf is really cool eventhough i can't afford to buy :D

PLEASE HELP -- Airport Express only

Comment from parthage on 06 January 2007 03:16:31 GMT #

I purchased an Airport Express. I want to connect it to my stereo so I can play music from my computer wirelessly (instead of using a monster cable from my computer).

However, the Airport SetUp application only describes connecting to a new Airport "Base Station".

I was told that you do not need a base station -- that an Airport Express can work by iteself. Is this incorrect?

If Airport Express does work by itself, how can I configure it?

--Parthage

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Anonymous on 11 March 2007 03:23:49 GMT #

easy directions to install airport express for home stereo stuff

(very easy directions)

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=3695083&#3695083

hopefully this will alleviate some stress...and swearing!

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Anonymous on 08 February 2008 09:11:56 GMT #

I bought an AirPort express - plugged it in opened AirPort Utility and added a few settings relative to my network and it was all go in about 30mins. Was so simple my 8 yr son could have done it.

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Anonymous on 03 April 2008 19:47:09 BST #

Hi Simon, I just purchashed an Airport Express to replace my Linksys. I'm not computer literate @ all. Do you have any suggestions to make the transition painless? The reason I'm replacing the Linksys is.... I had my wireless printer connected for months and lost connection. After trying again and again my nephew suggested it my be may router and I should try the Airport Express. Now that I have it I'd appreciate your suggestions. (I have a Dell Vista). Thank you....Jim

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Sean on 24 April 2008 15:30:00 BST #

Good job Simon. I'm a network/computer professional and it gave me problems too. I don't know how many resets I did on my units. The printed directions for resets were wrong. Both units had out of date code. I set up 2 in a separate unsecure network but am going to go with a wired ethernet profile since my microwave interferes with reception. That "$" fix ticks me off since you shouldn't have to seach the net for critical info like that.

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Arvind on 04 August 2004 04:04:43 BST #

Greetings from California! Found this link on google trying to set up my Airport Express. I reckon reading your blog entry saved me a couple of hours! First attempt to extend existing network failed and the '$' in front of the 128 bit hex key did the trick!! Thanks again!!

You're welcome

Comment from Simon Brown on 04 August 2004 11:03:31 BST #

I'm glad it saved you all the hassle that I went through! :))

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express

Comment from Billy McKeown on 20 March 2005 19:31:29 GMT #

I have a g3 iBook upgraded to 10.3.8 and just bought AE.I made a huge mistake in using Airport Setup Assistant from the Utilities folder.I could access the Internet no problem but could not see the remote speaker pop-up in iTunes.Hours and hours and a day later I found this site http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=108044 which showed me how to reset the Airport Express to the Factory Default.Next I just plugged everything in(by the way I did no restarts or anything to the iBook). The Airport Card found the Wireless Network all by itself and I just selectd it and then I opened iTunes and lo and behold, there was the pop-up menu......yeeeeehaw.It works like a dream, highly recommend it. You can now roam all over the house with the iBook and stay connected!!!

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express from Billy McKeown

Comment from squeekamon on 14 January 2006 00:07:07 GMT #

Just wanted to corroborate Billy's story with my own. I followed Billy's advice and did a factory reset and - hey presto! the airport express works fine. Interestingly, my device is secondhand, 2 months old and had been "configured" for me by my lovely friend. Unfortunately, whilst my Mac recognised the device and told me i was connected to the internet and the green light was on.......it didn't work!!!! But now it does! Hooray!

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Casey on 05 March 2007 00:16:55 GMT #

Thanks Simon, you are the Mother F!@#ing Man. Luckily I only spent about a 1/2 hour on it before finding your well crafted instructions, BUT added onto the two days I have spent trying to get my HP Printer, d-Link Router, and FIOS network to be secure and all talk to eachother peacefully is another story. Plus I stubbed my dam toe.. OUCH! Anyway, I think that Static IP info worked and adding the "$" before my password also seem to have helped. I guess now I can throw away my paper clip since it will be some years before I have to research this whole thing again when it all goes down.

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Maurice Yim on 06 August 2004 16:35:26 BST #

Wow!! You had more determination getting it setup than I did. I pretty much gave up on having it on my existing network. After reading your blog though I am once again determined to get this thing working without switching networks back and forth.

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Stefan Huy on 06 August 2004 23:44:03 BST #

We can top it with a whopping four hours. Including updating our Cisco AP and trying each and every setup strategy.

In the middle none of our Powerbook would connect anymore due to problems with the Ciscos Web-Interface (what we learned later)

Learned a lot about Cisco and Apple quality, about a "$" being better than "0x" since changes are always good and about all the different styles and some funny bugs in Mac OS WEP password interfaces. Listening to music now.

After reading your blog and disabled DHCP, which was the problem and the fact we didn't want to believe.

Used a ballpen, though.

Thanks
-Stefan

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Ernest Hymel on 21 August 2004 05:04:07 BST #

Bless you for posting this. I was ready to return this damned thing. Problems, as you summarized are that WEP requires $ in front of string, and IP address has to be manually assigned after disabling DHCP. For the record, my setup: Win XP Pro, Netgear WGR614.

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Simon Brown on 21 August 2004 09:59:02 BST #

Judging by the number of referers that I get from Google with searches for Airport Express setup information, I think a lot of people are having difficulties. Apple should be ashamed for putting together such a pathetic user guide!

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from AAB on 19 November 2006 18:32:47 GMT #

I'm not sure I'm following. What were the steps that worked? My failures are similar but I'm not following the steps that worked. I tried to return this to Softbuyweb after the Apple store "genius"es said that the airport express wouldn't work with my netgear router.

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Anonymous on 21 August 2004 21:11:58 BST #

Thanks for the tips. I was able to use an ethernet cable and DHCP to get the AX on the network. Then I typed the ip I KNEW it got frmo DCHP and the default password into the 'Other' selection of the Airport Admin tool.

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Anonymous on 23 August 2004 00:59:54 BST #

Simon, Okay, so I'm an idiot, but I spent all day (e.g. > 8 hrs) trying to configure AirPort Express from both Windows XP and Mac OS X. I was just about to give up, when I Googled the page on on your 2 hour exploits. Following in your footsteps, I was finally able to get the speaker popup window to appear in both my PC and MAC iTunes applications. For the record, I'm using static IP addresses with a Linksys WAP54G with 128 bit WEP, and the secret is the "$" preceding the hex passphrase. Also, it seemed to work best when I used the assistant first (which changed my Mac TCP/IP settings to DHCP), and then use the AirPort Admin Utility to configure a static IP address for the AirPort Express unit. Thanks, Simon!!! -- Joe

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Maurice Yim on 30 August 2004 18:57:07 BST #

Hey all!!! Apple released an update for the Express. Version 4.0.1 has a fix for all the third party connection troubles. I just tried it out and worked flawlessly. I initially had setup two wireless networks but I went under the Airport Admin Utility, changed the Express network so it would join my existing Dlink network, entered the WEP key (didn't require the "$") and voila!!

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Simon Brown on 31 August 2004 12:10:36 BST #

Excellent - thanks for letting us know! :-)

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Pookie B. on 26 December 2004 00:47:53 GMT #

I checked first for all the applicable updates (6.1.1 firmware for Airport Express, 4.1 for Airport admin), but still had to jump through all these hoops (disable DHCP, configure DLink DI-524 for static address, $ before password). Whatever, my Powerbook G4 is now playing through the Express. Lose the connection intermittently and have to restart iTunes. Sigh. And I haven't even started with the Win XP laptop yet. So, don't count on the updates to save you these headaches. Good luck!

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from David Hibbs on 01 September 2004 19:16:46 BST #

I won't say how long it took me to figure it out, but it took me forever to do, too.

I ended up finding that all I really needed to do (besides entering the hex WEP key) was to enter a machine name on the internet options.

My Linksys access point/router requires a distinct machine name before it will hand you an IP address via DHCP, apparently; DHCP works fine now.

Incidentally, I did not have to enter a $ before my WEP key, and this was BEFORE getting the software update.

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from jellis on 03 September 2004 21:42:18 BST #

I went the same thing Simon. I gave up and setup for AirTunes only in which they say ignore the blinking amber light because that would be to extend network or join network. It is looking for IP address. But someday I want to find a way to extend or join the network and use the Internet and AirTunes at the sametime. Is that possible? I have an Airport EBS and Airport EXPRESS. Ethernet to modem to EBS wireless to a iBook,iMac and PC using a Wireless-G USB Network Adapter. Which all works. But when trying to extend range I am all confused like you were. Can you give me a blow by blow and pics so I will understand. Thxs

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Richard on 04 September 2004 07:54:07 BST #

I have a mac and airport and now have the expressOk I can beat you all I reckon on the time it took me to set this son of a b*tch express up. Well I reckon about 15 hours of messing about, 5 of those were after a few beers...Went through Simon's method which almost worked. All went well until hit play on Itunes which then gave error like -3235 for remote speakers. From here it then got really fun. Basically everytime I went to join my current network it looked like working until the hex password which kept flipping back to 40 bit ?? Simple answer is to just change your airport basestation to WPA Personal. F*ck using the assistant to set up express and just go straight to admin utility. From here make all the cosmetic changes to express and then join using WPA. Bingo it works now.

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Moritz Willers on 07 September 2004 23:20:03 BST #

Guess I can call myself lucky. 10 minutes. Once through the Assistant and it all worked. It saw my network, picked the password automatically from my keychain, rebooted, got an IP via DHCP and joined my WEP enabled non-Apple wireless network. Don't know if it matters, but my SSID is not hidden.

I feared the worst after reading this and was very pleasantly surprised!

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Pete on 08 September 2004 21:52:01 BST #

I'm reading this blog entry, and it sounds like it may work for me but I'm not sure... Here's my setup: - Linksys Wireless G Router (WRT54G) - Two systems wired to that router for internet and file sharing, a Mac G4 (Panther) and a home-brew PC (XP Pro) - Wireless notebook adapter card (WPC54G) in a Dell Laptop - Airport Express that is strictly for streaming audio, connected to stereo in another part of house Basically what I had to do was create TWO networks because APX wasn't letting me join my existing WPA wireless network. I had to get an AP card for my G4, and make that the base station so I could play from iTunes to the stereo... Is what this blog, and the ensuing comments, is saying is that I should be able to manually assign the APX an IP through my Airport Admin utility, and it will work in 'client' mode in conjunction with my Linksys? I'm a bit confused...

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Stefan on 12 September 2004 01:31:47 BST #

I think I must be the record holder, 12 hours and counting... I've followed everyones helpful instructions, I've used admin to set AX to connect to an existing wireless network, hard coded the IP instead of using DHCP (green light is on!) All seems fine, except iTunes, which doesn't show me the speaker popup, no matter what I try... (i'm a netgear 624 router and AX is displayed under attached devices with the same IP as set in admin) Any help much appreciated.

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Stefan on 13 September 2004 15:28:26 BST #

This seemed to solve all my problems: http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?14@58.H2zdaqy5vXp.4@.6898fa3f Haven't gone into detail as to what the problem was, just content for now to listen to it working. Hopefully this will help others.

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Chris on 14 March 2005 21:28:01 GMT #

Regarding Stefan's post on September 13, please tell me what you did to resolve the problem! It's the same one I have and cannot solve, even after calling Apple. Thanks, Chris - cajuk@hotmail.com

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Matt White on 21 September 2004 20:11:56 BST #

The $ in front of the WEP key sorted me out. Thanks so much for this, I only ended up spending an hour on it!

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Anonymous on 22 September 2004 22:28:49 BST #

It is so true. I was sold on Apple's plug and play - and I have been unable to get it to work do far. Your page seems very good. I hope this helps me out tonight. Also if you could post some screen shots for Windows I will know how to make AirPort Express join existing 802.11b network.

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Anonymous on 06 October 2004 21:52:42 BST #

I had similar problems but it was all fixed when I powered down everything including the cable modem, express and my computer waited for two minutes then powered up the cable modem let it link up and then connected it into the express. The green light blinked a few times then went solid and I've been good ever since.

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Pete on 12 October 2004 14:24:19 BST #

I've been at it now for about 14 hours. I have G5 in to which I just installed and airport extreme. I wanted to make it my base station and so checked to allow it to make networks. I want to wirelessly network to a laptop with an airport express card. Having done this with the machines sitting side by side everything seems in order. No fancy set up. But when I take the laptop 30 feet down the hall into another room, I am out of range? So I thought I could use the airport express I bought to stream music to my stereo too extend my network. I connect the express and am unable to find it with assistant or any of the other software and neither computer sees it either. Not really true. I do have an 'apple network' available but I think I just want to join my existing network. Plug and Play?

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Brian on 19 October 2004 07:15:28 BST #

Thanks for the $ tip on the WEP key! Wasted about 3 hours til I found your post.

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from FixMacs Mac Consultant on 21 October 2004 22:40:22 BST #

I don't use WEP or any encryption because it puts a huge overhead on the processor, thus slowing networking. Few people care about encrypting data. To keep my neighbors off my Wi-Fi netowrk, I use MAC address filtering and I hide the SSID. This eliminates passkey problems and speeds up all network activity. If you do choose to use WEP, use a 5-digit passphrase for 40/64-bit, or a 13-digit passphrase for 128-bit encryption which eliminates the need for the $ sign. See Apple Support doc-- http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=108058.

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Dave on 30 October 2004 17:33:30 BST #

It took me ages to get mine working, it would appear on the airport network list, but kept saying that it couldn't connect to the base-station and so I couldn't configure it.

In the end I remembered that I had the IPnetShareX (Natd software router) set-up and disabling this solved all my problems - now it works great!

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Stella on 01 November 2004 01:13:46 GMT #

Either i'm really stupid or just too tired to see it. Have a linksys 802.11b router hooked up to broadband modem and 3 wireless clients (2 macs, 1 pc). No WEP and not SSID broadcast. No problem with the Express (ha!) when it's on it's own wireless network. I just can't seem to get it to connect to my existing wireles network. Have been at this for 6 hours now. Am I missing anything? Did the manual IP thing, etc. Still, no joy. Any help would be greaftully appreciated

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Stella on 01 November 2004 15:35:48 GMT #

Happy days (or should that be daze). The damn thing is working - I really do not know how (which I guess is no help to anyone - sorry).

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Anonymous on 03 November 2004 09:24:26 GMT #

hello~ thanks for your review... Can I ask you something?? I'm Korean. I also bought an AE now i can listen to music through the AE but I can't share any file with my friends I heard people using AE can share file with other people without internet... now I'm using wireless internet so I don't need internet share... Could you tell me how to share file with other computers without internet All OS are XP Sp2 Is anybody help me?? please... T.T

Safari and Explorer crash after awhile

Comment from Bob on 09 November 2004 14:29:12 GMT #

Howdy. Has anyone else had a problem with everything freezing? I'm using Airport Express with the D-Link USB adapter. Miraculously, I had little problem with the setup; I couldn't get it to work for about ten minutes. Then I accidently hit the "Assist Me" button in one of the OS X menu windows and it configured the settings for me. Except that it tends to seize up on some pages and crashes the finder as well. Can anyone help me with what the proper settings should be? Do I need to manually input an IP address, and if so, where do I find this. Also, there is no WEP setup....do I need to enable this (and from where do I get the key?) Basically, because I hit the "Assist Me", I don't know If everything is properly configured. I did nothing with the Airport Setup Utility. It has no networks listed (it's all through the D-Link Wifi utility) Can someone provide a step-by-step instruction for setup for this adapter? Cheers, Bob

Safari and Explorer crash after awhile

Comment from Anonymous on 15 November 2004 06:33:15 GMT #

You might want to try downloading the lastest driver from D-Link for the USB adapter. For Mac OS X it's version 1.3.2 and it fixes that nasty freeze up that I got with the old drivers.

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Trishatur LaGalia on 13 November 2004 02:55:06 GMT #

Apple should take note of all these not-so-easy setups and should really revise their setup and supporting material on this product. I also spent several hours trying to setup the AX. In frustration I called Apple support but was still not able to set it up! Spent another hour or so today trying in vain and have decided to return the product. OK, yes I should have read the fine print but I think they need to clearly state that the AX only extends your wireless network from an Apple Airpot Base Station. It will not extend my network using my Netgear router. Not a happy customer.

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Anonymous on 22 November 2004 13:01:13 GMT #

Mines going back I give up. I've been at it two hours now. I'm gonna buy a 60gb ipod and plug that into my damn hifi!

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Anonymous on 28 November 2004 03:44:00 GMT #

Found your page after spending an hour trying to get it setup on XP with WEP. "$" in front of the key did it! THANK YOU!

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Anonymous on 29 November 2004 18:41:44 GMT #

Thx for the blog and comments. I have a Dell D600 with the Intel Centrino wireless setup that is linked to a Netgear WGR614v3 router. I also have a couple of other computers (all XP Pro) joined to the same existing wireless network. I got the AX to share the music with the home stereo. At first I could not get to install the AX so that it will be recognized and joined to the existing network. After reading the blog and comments went to the apple website and downloaded the latest firmware (6.1 for Windows) and the latest Admin utility (4.1) for the AX and then tried again. That worked just fine the first time..Did not have to use the $ prefix for passkey even though I was using 128 bit WEP..Thx

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from David Hayes on 30 November 2004 16:15:51 GMT #

It's equally hard on a PC too :( I am using Windows XP and a wireless Netgear router D384G. I had to configure the airport using a wired connection through my router and then add it to my existing wireless network once I had configured it. Also I think I had to use the admin utility not the wizard. I don't have it in front of me at the moment. Will try and post more in the next day or two

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from cls on 10 December 2004 06:13:46 GMT #

Wow :) I had similar problems to

-- Joe Posted by Anonymous on 23 August 2004 00:59:54 BST

I had to plug some cat 5 already connected to my network into my APEx after resetting it. Launch APEx Assistant, and not make any changes except let it change my settings to DHCP. Then, close it, load AP Admin Utility, do the "create network" hack to set the real ip. Now select "join network" instead. And it almost worked. I never heard the thing about prefixing the WEP passwords with 0x or $ before... but one thing I had learned in past was my D-Link DI614+ on 128 WEP, did not agree with Apple 128 WEP... My solution there was to simply drop to 40 bit, and voila it worked.

Now, here is the real fun part. My APEx arrived in the mail today. I plug it in, I don't have APEx Assistant... So I slap in the CD... "Can't install, newer version exists" Riiiigh. So I call Apple. An hour and a half later he told me I would have to do a clean install of OS X. Like hell, I seacrhed for every AirPort file, and deleted every last one (including the Receipts he told me not to). Slapped the disc back in, installed the older AP 4.0 software. But now software update doesn't work... ARRRRRGGH!

PS: Guess who took credit for solving the problem? ;) The Apple tech of course.

If anyone gets as frustrated as I, drop me a line I'll do what I can to help - cls@clubnet.org

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Anonymous on 15 December 2004 14:59:46 GMT #

Good Bless you dude... Thanks to your post I was finally able to configure this piece of junk.. And it took me a whole 5 mintues vs. the several hrs/days trying before...

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Jason on 19 December 2004 20:46:01 GMT #

Even though everyone else says the same thing, I have to bow down to you for posting this... I've been doing the staple trick for about 2 days, and this config worked the first time!

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Adam Strickland on 21 December 2004 15:14:23 GMT #

I might as well add my $.02... I had tried to follow the howto here, but without success. Worked like a champ after reading your trials/tribulations (I imagine you didn't find it so at the time, but it is rather humorous reading...). Perhaps it's the software update, but DHCP wasn't a problem, either.

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Adam Strickland on 21 December 2004 21:20:10 GMT #

Follow Up: while I was able to stream music to my stereo this way, I also wanted to be able to use the AX as a wireless bridge for my PS2. The problem is, with the latest AirPort firmware (6.1), the ethernet port is disabled when the AX is functioning as a wireless client. After a morning of searching, I found this a step-by-step HOWTO to get Linksys WRT54G/WRT54GS routers to work with the AX in WDS mode. Worked like a charm. The only thing I would add is to make sure the MAC address for the router that is entered into the AirPort Admin Utility is the wireless MAC address (yes, there are 2 different ones, wired and wireless).

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Anonymous on 23 December 2004 07:34:38 GMT #

I am still having trouble with this damn thing! I have a Dell with Windows XP. I can't figure it out and am very frustrated!

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Kenny on 28 December 2004 16:05:36 GMT #

I was able to solve the "Problem with your ISP" message by leaving everything on and just disconnecting and then reconnecting the power plug to the cable modem. The green light stayed on and all machines (a G4 laptop, a G5 and two XPs) found the default opening page! My problem is that the PCs do not appear in the network all the time. I have tried changing sleep mode on the PCs, power saver etc but still having random disappearances. I am using Linksys 54G adapters in WAP-PSK mode.

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Anonymous on 30 December 2004 04:04:45 GMT #

Thank God for Simon G Brown. It's working ! You're aces!

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Joe Basara, NJ, USA on 31 December 2004 05:34:38 GMT #

Thanks to Simon and all the other posters who have put up explicit instructions on making AX work. After spending similar many hours trying to make AX work, I did something very simple that made all other insttructions and hints useful .. I UPDATED THE FIRMWARE on my older D-Link DI-614+ WAP. As soon as the firmware was updated and the WAP restarted, all the rest worked as described in Simon's instructions. Should have done this first and made this a 15 minute exercise. When all else fails, look for the answer in a more obvious place. If the AX works for all of the rest of us (even if it takes some work), then it probably works in most other situations. The problem is not necessarily Apple's, although they could extend their assistance to other environments more readily. Thanks again!

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Jem Marsh on 11 January 2005 01:17:54 GMT #

Apple... are you reading this? I had a similar experience 8 months back when I tried to join my existing WLAN with my [then] brand new PB - I had to remove security to join my home network. [ I figured that if I couldn't join my WiFi network, then my neighbours certainly wouldn't]. I had to wait for 2 or 3 releases of OS X before I could re-instate security. A comment was made that these issues aren't all Apple's fault - and this may well be true - but the perception is very different. I still love all things Apple but the more popular they become, the more their 'Plug & Play' simplicity is falling foul to compatability issues. They therefore need to test more. A whole lot more.

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Vaughn Kelly on 15 January 2005 20:12:27 GMT #

This was the greatest find of all time!!! (OK, well maybe not, but it was pretty important.) I played around with this a little bit on a Friday night, and gave up after about 1/2 an hour. I tried again fresh on Saturday when I came across this document. The "$" was the trick, and things are streaming beautifully. I didn't run into the problems with the DHCP configuration, (using a Cisco 1200) so I guess I got off easy on this one. ;)

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from andreas on 22 January 2005 18:28:59 GMT #

Hi there, nice information, found it just googling around to collect some information about the express before (!) I start to play around. The initial configuration was apple-like - 4 minutes - up and running. Beyond believe. Greetings from rainy germany Andreas

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Augusto on 24 January 2005 00:37:12 GMT #

Thanks Simon! I followed all the instructions but had a hard time because Airport Admin Utility did not recognize my wireless network, but when I typed in the SSID name in that field it all came together. Question: If I use only mac filters and not WEP, will my network be as secure? regards and thanks

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Anonymous on 29 January 2005 11:10:13 GMT #

It pays to research what you're trying to do before you actually try and do it. It took me about 15 minutes to get mine from in the box to in the wall acting as a repeater for my linksys 802.11g router, with an alternate profile for acting as a secure wireless AP with its own net connection. I mean, not to sound like a snob or anything, I just honestly mean that it's a huge timesaver to figure out exactly what you want to do, and google the hell out of it before you even start.

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Kelly on 06 February 2005 15:56:55 GMT #

I'm living in Italy and was itching to buy airport express. I waited forever for it's availability here in Italy and waited another eternity while trying to set it up....I was just about to pack it up and sell it on ebay when I found your site on google. I'd kiss you a million times over for the advice you provided. Turned out '$' in front of the 128 bit worked magic!! Thanks again!!

Re: 6 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Anonymous on 16 February 2005 04:31:20 GMT #

Wow...this website was very helpful. It pointed me in the right direction, but I still had to figure out a few things for myself. This will be obvious to a lot of folks, but to the techno-idiots like me, who know nothing about things like encryption, here are a few things I had to figure out on my own: 1. In Admin Utility, "Network Name" = SSID 2. If you have a network that is using "64-bit WEP" encryption, that is the same as "40-bit WEP encryption". 3. To get your airport express to connect to your 64-bit WEP encrypted wireless network, you: (a) must click on the "security" button after entering your Network Name, (b) Choose 40-bit WEP in the drop down, and (c) type in your 10-character password (but it is actually 11 characters because apple products require that you place a "$" before the password). I did all of this with the Airport Express connected to my router with an ethernet cable. Once I did all of this, it worked over my wireless network by itself. phew. 3 days.

Thank you for the $ tip

Comment from Anonymous on 22 February 2005 00:17:54 GMT #

....finally did the trick! If you're trying configure with WEP (128 bit OR 40 bit)...prefix the key with a $ and you should be set. Thanks much!!

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Richard Sefcik on 24 February 2005 22:28:58 GMT #

Regrettably, I found your posting 24 hours after my own 4 hours. A simple additional paragraph from Apple would have been nice. The dropped iTunes has been solved by increasing the "Multicast Rate" to 11. I don't have far to send my signals, so distance isn't my issue. The various other solutions didn't solve. Obviously multi-faceted problem, everyone's setup is different, hence different solutions. Thanks for posting this article.

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Hirsty on 09 March 2005 03:48:21 GMT #

I had to laugh when I read this, you described it perfectly! ahh the good old paper clip got a good work out that's for sure! I also read this after I'd spent a few hours with mine but it helped me finally resolving the issue, thankyou! Mine would not work with my existing wireless network no matter what I tried, worked perfectly as a router but who wants to change networks to print or to play music. Eventually and after reading this I updated the firmware from 6.1 to 6.11 and wullah I saw a green light instead of the mind numbing flashing amber. The 10 or so seconds of the Xpress startup becomes the do I die after playing with this thing for hours, will it flash amber or will it work, each startup and subsequent flashing amber drawing this pain in @rse closer to the toilet. I like the product , now it works!

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from msc on 09 March 2005 23:27:54 GMT #

F*CK! Thanks to David Hibbs: My Linksys access point/router requires a distinct machine name before it will hand you an IP address via DHCP, apparently; DHCP works fine now. I went out of my MIND! Couldn't get static IP to work, suspected WEP suspected MAC address filtering...turns out my SMC router also expects the client to have a name.

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Anonymous on 14 March 2005 18:54:39 GMT #

I'm not one for leaving comments on blogs but.... THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU... Definately a few hundred hairs have turned grey trying to set up my Airport Express, but since I found this blog, I can gleefully report that I've stopped cursing and spitting blood. Only took me about 10 hours!!! (over 3 days), bt there you go. THANKS AGAIN

Beside myself with frustration

Comment from jmk on 15 March 2005 08:49:07 GMT #

Four hours and counting. Nothin will make the yellow LED stop blinking. A neighbor's network keeps zapping my AX. Worst of all, I had this working just days ago & now cannot recreate the magic. Terrible documentation, terrible software. The LED was green a few days ago, what happenned? Here's the deal: I do DHCP only. WAP 128 bit security. I want access to this node & my network limited to approved users. I used very strong passwords when I set up the AX the first time.

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Anonymous on 16 March 2005 03:01:11 GMT #

Took me about an aggregate 8 hours over 3 days - almost threw it out the window. The key was installing 4.1 - and then back dooring through the Admin Utility - no need for $ just use HEX. Thanks everyone - it helps to know you are not an idiot!!

10 Days of Frustration are Over!

Comment from Hugo on 11 April 2005 04:14:59 BST #

Thank you... I am glad I found your page!!. Thanks for the "$" trick. I owe you one Hugo, Dunedin, FL, USA

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Wes Schaeffer on 08 May 2005 18:32:43 BST #

You are not alone. I messed with this over a 3-day period. I have a Linksys WRT54GS, v3.37.6 and a new Airport Express. I put both on channel 1. I put the "$" in front for the AX password and it worked like a charm. I ran the AirPort Amin Utility and named the base station. Under "Airport Network" on the AirPort tab for "Wireless Mode" I put "Create a Wireless Network (Home Router)". Under the Internet tab for "Connect Using" I have 'AirPort (WDS)". I have the MAC Address of my Linksys and Configure: using DHCP and the "Also allow wireless client computers" is checked. Under the Network tab I do not have the box checked for "Distribute IP addresses." Under the WDS tab I have checked both boxes and the selection as "remote base station" for the first box. The Main AirPort ID is that of the Linksys. There is a God!

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Anonymous on 07 July 2005 18:03:19 BST #

And there you go again... I had this thing working too for over 6 months and now that I got a new computer, it all went pear shared. I can t get it to work anymore! Worst thing is that the status light is green and yet I dont see the speakers pop up in Itunes. HELP!

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Perry on 08 July 2005 22:38:43 BST #

Giving each basestation a fixed IP and avoiding DHCP was the magic bullet for me. AirTunes just stopped working a couple of months ago for no apparent reason. In hindsight I suspect the culprit was a new DHCP server somewhere on my network. Thanks for the detailed info, it saved me a bunch of time.

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Thomas Oldervoll, Oslo, Norway on 17 July 2005 01:16:27 BST #

Thanks Simon! Your blog entry saved my day. I just switched to Mac from Windows XP and was really impressed with how well everything worked, but that was until I started configuring AirTunes. But nafter 3 hours of work and reading this page it now works like a dream. I am using DHCP and just used "AirTunes" as "DHCP Client ID" in the Internet tab of the AirPort Admin Utility.

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Mandos, Sydney, Australia on 17 July 2005 13:33:26 BST #

Simon - you are an absolute living LEGEND! Like many of the people responding to this forum, I have spent ALL day trying to work this 'simple' task out with the so called assistance of the supplied manual. Then I saw you IP setting and now I see green beautiful GREEN. Thanks to all of these people as I truly thought I was going MAD! Thank you thank you thank you - now excuse me as I am going to try find the last 8 hrs that have been taken from my life... not kidding - totally p*ssed that Apple couldn't make this clear and simple in their manual.

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Anonymous Buy Side Hitman on 23 July 2005 05:42:54 BST #

PowerBook with Mac OS X 10.4.2 and one Airport Express using WAP connected to a corporate Windoze network.

My only goal was wireless networking. No USB printer sharing. No music. Three hours down the tubes.

I coaxed the AX to grab an address via DHCP from the server on the corporate Winpooch LAN, but I was unable to get AX to serve IP addresses via its own DHCP server including passing through the DNS servers' addresses.

After getting an IP address from the AX's DHCP server, I was able to ping the gateway, the corporate DHCP server, and the AX only by IP address from the PowerBook, but not by name as no DNS servers were made known to the PowerBook. I was also unable to ping a well connected entity such as cisco.com via its IP address; so, the AX was not forwarding anything to the gateway although it identified it as one. The PowerBook never picked up the DNS servers' addresses when AX served an IP address.

My solution was to turn the AX into an 802.11g only bridge. The PowerBook has two network ports: wired Ethernet and wireless Airport. I shut off its Ethernet port and turned on only its wireless Airport. Because the AX was merely a conduit, i.e. a wireless bridge, TCP/IP configuration was completely under the PowerBook's control.

I was able to tell the PowerBook to ask the Winpooch DHCP server for an IP address through the AX bridge, and that worked well. I did have to set the DNS servers' addresses by hand, but after that the PowerBook runs almost as fast as it does when it is wired into the corporate LAN. By the way, I also had to set the DNS servers' addresses by hand when the PowerBook is wired into that LAN.

That LAN has multiple T3s going to the net, and surfing was subjectively as fast through the AX as it is when wired. Also, tunneling an X Window System session through Mac OS X's ssh client from the net through the corporate LAN and the AX worked well enough to be usable although noticeably slower than when the same is done locally.

I see nothing but woe ahead of me as I still have to configure another AX to serve several IP addresses via the AX's own DHCP server, and turning that one into a bridge won't be enough, but maybe some of the experiences above will come in handy.

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Sub on 24 August 2005 04:50:03 BST #

Just thought I'd add my $.02. I have a linksys wap54g WAP and the airport express. I am using windows 2K (win 2000 pro) - note the easy setup thing does NOT work on win2k, it doesnt even install it. So I was lost as to what to do - no help online either.. it just says use the admin utility! I was trying to connect to it out of the box wirelessly. What they dont tell you is that you have to physically hook it up to your hub or computer with the ethernet cord directly to make it show up in the admin thing. Once you connect it, it should turn green after 30 seconds or so(if not, hold reset button till it flashes fast ~10 seconds). Then it shows up in the admin utility. I wanted to run the airport in client mode for sole use with my home stereo in the other room. Once you get into the settings, its easy to set it up in client mode. Enter in the dns stuff, choose dhcp or define an IP.. My WAP is on channel 6, broadcast ssid, no wep, but I do use mac filtering. I had to add the MACs (There are two for the airport express - one for ethernet and one for the wireless card I presume. Not sure of both are needed, but I added both anyway). Hit update after that, it reboots, unplug ethernet and it should turn green. If not, cehck your settings carefully. I changed the password as well so it didnt yell at me when I clicked update.

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from hijklife on 26 August 2005 05:41:03 BST #

Ditto, ditto, ditto... My biggest issue appeared to be that DHCP wasn't working on the AX, but after trying many many other things, i found a forum with the simple instructions: Use the setup assistant, then reboot the modem. I didn't believe that it would work after everything else i tried, but sure enough here it is. Some one else recommended giving the AX a DHCP client id of whatever the MAC address is of the computer that you set up the modem with... but it appears most modems these days will just grab the MAC from whatever they are plugged into when you boot them up. a frustrating 4 hours wasted... thanks for the assistance offered here!

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Sabrina on 30 August 2005 15:55:50 BST #

Hi Simon, I'm hoping you or someone might be able to help me. My AX is configured correctly to the D-Link 54G 128-bit WEP encrypted wireless network I already had in my home, using the "$" key prefix, and my AX shows a steady green light. Also, in the admin utility, my AX appears, and I can see the configuration and all appears to be well. My problem is that the remote speakers STILL don't appear in iTunes. I'd read that with XP SP2, I'd need to disable Windows Firewall, which i did, but it didn't solve my problem. Do you have any suggestions for me? Thanks!

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Karen on 04 September 2005 01:12:27 BST #

Sabrina - make sure you have iTunes configured to look for remote speakers. I found that I didn't -- very frustrating after spending a long time beating on the blasted Express, finally getting the cherished green light, and then seeing no popup. It's in the preferences under Audio.

Re: 2 hours to setup Airport Express!

Comment from Volker on 08 October 2005 21:11:44 BST #

Cheers - the $ did the trick for me! Using a Linksys WAG54G with itunes on WINXP. Left the Express to DHCP, entered the full 26digit WEP passkey and put the $ infront of it (so its 27 digits now)... the music is streaming to my living room :-) I had given up before - but this page made me go back to the setup! Thanks for that!