Help fix my Airport Extreme Base station stubbornness
October 27, 2010 1:16 PM   Subscribe

Magical Airport Extreme Base Station IP problem

Equipment:
-1x Airport Extreme Base Station, Firmware 5.7, Model A1034 - the old flying saucer shaped one
-1x Cable Modem. DHCP IP allocation.
-1x Powerbook


I just swapped out my old cable modem that was unhappy for a new one today. If I plug it into my computer, I get this IP address: xx.xxx.212.198 and everything works great. If I plug it into my Airport, I get this IP address: xx.xxx.212.134, and nothing works at all. I called my ISP and they're saying that whatever router I'm plugging it into is holding onto an old IP address, and I need to reset it and get it to let that old one go.

Fast forward 10x software resets, uploading firmwares, reset to factory defaults, a hard reset with a paperclip, and I'm still stuck with that stupid .134 IP address. What gives?
posted by sdis to Computers & Internet (7 answers total)
 
Are you sure your airport doesn't have some static setting? Have you tried soft-resetting the Airport?
posted by splatta at 2:02 PM on October 27, 2010


Response by poster: Soft reset and hard reset...it's set to DHCP but gets the same IP every time
posted by sdis at 2:07 PM on October 27, 2010


I think they want you to do a DHCP release on the computer. With the cable modem plugged into the computer, follow the steps in this link. Once that happens, disconnect the modem from the computer and plug it into the Airport. Then delete the 'None' location on the computer.
posted by zsazsa at 2:09 PM on October 27, 2010


You never explicitly stated you're on a Mac, but I'm going to assume you are. It sounds like you've been very thorough but in case you haven't checked this: have you gone to System Preferences --> Network --> Ethernet and made sure it's set to Configure Using DHCP (this would apply if you're connected to the base station via ethernet) or System Preferences --> Network --> AirPort -- Advanced --> TCP/IP --> Configure Using DHCP + Renew DHCP Lease (if you're connected via wifi)

If none of those work, I'd seriously consider getting the newest Airport Extreme. You're working on hardware that was released somewhere around 2003-2004, so it might not be worth the time sink when you can get the added benefits of the newest model (dual band wireless-N, gigabit ports, etc).
posted by sharkfu at 2:14 PM on October 27, 2010


Response by poster: Well that's kind of silly. I set it to manual and just stuck in the .198 IP. Now it works, though for how long, who knows?

Any ideas on how to keep this working once my DHCP lease expires?
posted by sdis at 2:18 PM on October 27, 2010


Response by poster: I am on a Mac
posted by sdis at 2:19 PM on October 27, 2010


Chances are, by the time your dhcp lease expires, whatever is fucked up in the DHCP caching will also have cleared itself out and you can go back to dhcp.

It could be the dhcp server at the ISP is has the mac from the airport associated with that ip address and keeps trying to give it to it, and for whatever reason that doesn't work.
posted by empath at 3:29 PM on October 27, 2010


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