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Time capsule and AirPort Extreme Network question

My modem cable goes to my time capsule, then I have an ethernet cable going from the time capsule to another part of the house and connecting to an Airport Extreme. This provides good coverage throughout the house. I have a detached shop a few yards from the AirPort Extreme but to far away to get a wifi signal. So, I ran ethernet cable from the AirPort Extreme to the shop and attached another AirPort Extreme in the shop. I thought this would work, but it doesn't. The AirPort Extreme in the shop just blinks yellow and it also makes the internet connection go on and off. If I unplug the yellow blinking AirPort Extreme that's in the shop, the time capsule and first extreme go back to normal. Any advice to make the 2nd extreme in the shop to work?

Posted on Feb 24, 2021 5:36 PM

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Posted on Feb 24, 2021 8:17 PM

Your short cable trick worked great. I kept the home AirPort Extreme in bridge mode and the wireless tab "off" as well for the reason I stated. Attached the short cable to house airport and shop airport and followed your setup procedure which worked exactly like you originally described. I then took the shop airport back to the shop and everything is good. Thanks for the help.

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Feb 24, 2021 8:17 PM in response to Bob Timmons

Your short cable trick worked great. I kept the home AirPort Extreme in bridge mode and the wireless tab "off" as well for the reason I stated. Attached the short cable to house airport and shop airport and followed your setup procedure which worked exactly like you originally described. I then took the shop airport back to the shop and everything is good. Thanks for the help.

Feb 24, 2021 7:27 PM in response to dasto


Did you check to make sure that the Ethernet cable from house AirPort Extreme to the shop is working correctly by temporarily connecting a laptop or computer directly to the Ethernet cable, temporarily turning off the WiFi on the computer and checking to see if you could get a good Internet connection that way?


If not, that would be a good thing to do before you proceed further. Once you have verified that the Ethernet cable is working correctly with a computer, disconnect the Ethernet cable from the computer and turn the WiFi back on at the computer.


Set up the AirPort Extreme in the shop again as follows:


Power off the shop AirPort Extreme

Wait a minute

Power up the shop AirPort Extreme and let it run for minute

Hold in the reset button on the back of the shop AirPort Extreme for 7-8 seconds and release

Allow a full minute for the shop AirPort Extreme to restart to a slow blinking amber light status


Check to make sure that the Ethernet cable from the house AirPort connects to the WAN "O" port on the shop AirPort Extreme


Click on the WiFi menu at the top of your Mac's screen

Look for a listing of New AirPort Base Station

Just below that listing, click directly on AirPort Extreme





When you click on AirPort Extreme, that will start up the AirPort Utility setup "wizard" automatically. The wizard will take a few seconds to analyze things and then display a screen that looks like the example below, except that you will see your network and devices pictured





Type in a device name for the shop AirPort Extreme

Click Next


Watch the next screen very carefully to make sure that the shop AirPort Extreme is being configured to extend using Ethernet. This will confirm that the setup wizard has picked up the Ethernet connection between the AirPorts and that the correct settings will be applied to the shop AirPort Extreme





When you see the message of Setup Complete, click Done.......and you are Done.


Users often make the mistake of setting up the Airport Extreme........before......they have the Ethernet cable connected to the AirPort. When this occurs, the shop AirPort Extreme in this case would be set up to extend the network using a wireless connection.


Then, when you connect the Ethernet cable to the shop AirPort Extreme this creates a huge feedback loop that effectively crashes the network.


If you are still having problems, temporarily move the shop AirPort Extreme close to the house AirPort and connect the two AirPorts together using a short spare Ethernet cable.


If the shop AirPort does not work when you reconnect it to the long Ethernet cable, you have a wiring problem with the Ethernet cable.

Feb 24, 2021 7:42 PM in response to Bob Timmons

No luck but I appreciate the help. What about the AirPort Extreme in the house? The router mode on that extreme is set to "off" "bridge mode" and wireless tab shows network mode as "off" also. Regarding the shop AirPort Extreme I followed directions but my iMac wifi drop down list does not show the grey out New Airport Base Station or the AirPort Extreme beneath.

Feb 24, 2021 8:05 PM in response to dasto

The router mode on that extreme is set to "off" "bridge mode" and wireless tab shows network mode as "off" also.


Bridge Mode would be the correct setting for the house AirPort Extreme. But.....if the Wireless tab indicates that the Network Mode is Off.......that means that you have turned off the WiFi service on that AirPort.......so it is doing nothing to provide more wireless coverage.


That might explain why you are having problems with the shop AirPort. It has nothing to extend at this time, since it cannot pick up the WiFi settings from the house AirPort, so the shop AirPort does not know what to do.


You will need to start over again and reconfigure the house AirPort Extreme if you want it to provide additional wireless coverage. Trust the setup "wizard". Do not try to manually set things up.......too much guesswork.


Get the house AirPort Extreme set up again and working correctly first.....then.....we'll tackle the shop AirPort.



Feb 24, 2021 7:59 PM in response to Bob Timmons

I'm sorry if I'm not giving you complete information. The house extreme was not intended to provide wireless wifi because it is right next to the Airport Time Capsule. The home extreme is sitting there just so I can connect a printer to it. But I'm going to bring the shop extreme into the house and try the short cable test.

Time capsule and AirPort Extreme Network question

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