How do I get Airport Express working?

December 26, 2007 10:15 AM

Help me get my new Airport Extreme working with my Linksys router. After running the set up utility the Airport disappears.

So here's the scoop: I have a home network consisting of a workstation running XP, a MacBook and a Linksys G wireless router. Everything seems to be working fine, and I'm trying to add an Airport Extreme to play iTunes through my stereo.

I've installed the software and run through the setup - the Express seems to find the network with no problems and things seem to be running smoothly until I tell it to complete the final task and "restart the base station". It throws an error (cannot restart the base station) and then I can't see the Express at all after that, getting a blinking orange light. I've tried resetting the Express, but still can't see it. The internet connection comes through the Linksys, and pretty much needs to stay that way.

Ultimately all I really want to do is run iTunes through my stereo....

Thanks for any help

posted by sauril to technology (4 comments total)

And I figured it out....

I was using 64 bit WEP encryption on the router, and you can only choose 40 or 128 bit on the AX. I changed the encryption to 128 bit and it works out fine.

Sorry for jumping the gun, mefites....
posted by sauril at 10:41 AM on December 26, 2007

Warning, danger ahead!

Nobody I know has found a linksys/airport combo to be stable, usually due to the linksys hanging.

I hope it works for you, but don't waste too much time trying to debug it if it starts getting flaky.
posted by tkolar at 12:24 PM on December 26, 2007

Thanks for the heads up, tkolar. It's working pretty well now, but I'll keep that in mind if I start having a lot of problems
posted by sauril at 1:08 PM on December 26, 2007

I had perfectly fine luck running an Airport Express off a WRT54G, both with the standard Linksys firmware and with DD-WRT. Zero problems, zero failures, it just worked.

You should not be using WEP. It is entirely insecure, barely better than no encryption at all. Anyone with a clue can break it from outside on the street with a laptop in under five minutes. Switch to WPA2, using a long passphrase. And keep your Linksys firmware up to date.
posted by Malor at 2:42 PM on December 26, 2007