Anyone else here with multiple AirPorts have a bit of trouble uploading the update to the second station? It took about three attempts for me. 
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AirPort 4.2 Update
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after the 10.4.2 update, my wireless is finally acting normal again. dare i fix whats not broke?
Wonder Boy said:
Be a devil, go for it. I haven't had any problems with it apart from initial installation on my second Express and an unnaturally long time for them to restart.
After I installed 10.4.2, my wireless connection became really spotty. When checking mail or accessing websites, it would take 30 to 60 seconds to connect, if it did at all. Did anyone else experience this? With the airport 4.2 and the subsequent firmware updates to 5.6 (extreme) and 6.2 (express), things are WAY better.
Doctor Q said:
I'd like to point out that Airport is used by a LOT of people. With every iBook, PowerBook, and iMac G5 with Airport it might be time to classify this under the "slightly more relevant to people" category, seeing as it caught be off guard.
I wondered why MacRumors didn't have it... so I submitted it, and was about to start a thread on it but searched and guess what? Its already been out.
Hey, I like the download links, nice touch! Like when you guys started putting a Macrumors and MacBytes icon on top of stories.
llama
llama
This is pretty cool. When you select WPA for your wireless network, the default is to allow both WPA and WPA2 clients. This means (or at least I hope it does) that it will use AES encryption for capable clients, so you will have maximum security for them, while still allowing non-WPA2-capable clients onto your network with pretty respectable security. I would LIKE to do this on our home network, but printing wirelessly to our ancient Personal LaserWriter 320 from 10.3.x clients is still broken when using WPA encryption. I can print from my PowerBook with 10.4.2 over WPA2, but on the ancient iBook G3 with 10.3.9 (original AirPort card, so it can't use WPA2), printing is broken. Switching back to WEP instantly fixes it. (Yes, I sent feedback to Apple about a year ago...aaaarrgghh.)
On another note, the update mentions that it's supposed to fix some IPv6 thing, but I still don't see anything about IPv6 in AirPort Admin Utility. (Not that I'd be able to use it anyway, but still.) Do the base stations actually support it?
On another note, the update mentions that it's supposed to fix some IPv6 thing, but I still don't see anything about IPv6 in AirPort Admin Utility. (Not that I'd be able to use it anyway, but still.) Do the base stations actually support it?
Another feature that I've noticed is found in Base Station Options and its called NAT port mapping protocol, only works with 10.4 clients, anybody explain exactly what this is? Apple doesn't seem to have documentation out at the moment
Page 2 = WTF
How is this a "Page 2" news item? This should be a front page item. Wait a minute, it's not even a RUMOR!!!
How is this a "Page 2" news item? This should be a front page item. Wait a minute, it's not even a RUMOR!!!
See above.StevieStets said:
Interesting though - I applied this update to my Tiger machines at home and they didn't blink once. Applying this to my Panther Mini at work (which I mainly do to keep Software Update from popping up with a list of crap), I needed to reboot and it fracked with my wireless settings that I then needed to redo.
Oh well, no damage done...
Yeah, I noticed that too. I looked through the help and there's no mention of it. If you hover over that checkbox it says something like "allows other computers on the network to discover services that this base station offers".Darwin said:
*shrug* I'm too lazy to try turning it on.
Can your 10.3.x clients now access WPA2 networks? (Go to the AirPort menu ---> Other... and see if WPA2 Personal and Enterprise show up in the encryption options.)FoxyKaye said:
If so, that means that the update actually updated the AirPort client software on Panther machines, whereas on Tiger, the needed support was added in 10.4.2. The AirPort 4.2 update for Tiger only updates the Admin Utility and Setup Assistant and the Apple80211 framework, which...well, I don't know what it does, but evidently taking advantage of it doesn't require a restart.
FWIW, I haven't gotten around to installing the AirPort 4.2 update on our Panther machines yet.
Not using an Airport Base Station. Using the Zwire provided by Earthlink. My wife installed on her 15" PowerBook her signal strength improved by one bar, now up to four more often. On the iBook that I'm using is increased the signal strength to the full four bars.
I am using a linksys router and I am using an Airtunes Express for music only. After installing the update, my wireless network was screwed up. I just now have it working again after unplugging Airtunes and the Linksys, and connecting via the ethernet directly from the modem. I noticed that when I tried to update the firmware on the Airtunes, my wireless LAN signal would dissappear while the Airport Admin. said "waiting for Airport Express to restart". So I unplugged it and now all is well. The question is: Now what?
EDIT: is there any way to revert back to 4.1?
EDIT: is there any way to revert back to 4.1?
How exactly is your network configured? It sounds like you have the Linksys thing plugged into your broadband modem, and it's responsible for creating the network, and then you're just using the AirPort Express (not "AirTunes"--that's the music-streaming feature, not the hardware product) to stream music to your stereo or whatever.swindmill said:
So, I assume you have the AirPort Express in client mode?
Yes, you can download the 6.1.1 firmware for the AP Express here. However, I suspect that we can find a way to get things working with the new 6.2 firmware...
WM. said:Yeah, I noticed that too. I looked through the help and there's no mention of it. If you hover over that checkbox it says something like "allows other computers on the network to discover services that this base station offers".
*shrug* I'm too lazy to try turning it on.
I'm not exactly sure what the update involves, but NAT is the protocol that, in at least part of what it does, allows computers on the downstream network (hooked into the router) to communicate via the upstream IP address.... But maybe this has to do with querying the AE to find out if Airtunes or Bonjour services are available?
BTW, can anyone help me understand what WPA2 is? So is this the first time Airport Extreme has supported it? If my network consists of an iBook G4 and an AEBS, can I switch from WPA to WPA2, and if so, why would I want to?
Thanks!
When I applied the update to my AEBS and Express, I could suddenly no longer get online. Printing and Airtunes worked but I couldn't connect to the modem any longer.
Repairing permissions (yes, there was one in there to do) and then switching off the Mac, Airport and modem before turning them all back on again in reverse order seemed to work.
Repairing permissions (yes, there was one in there to do) and then switching off the Mac, Airport and modem before turning them all back on again in reverse order seemed to work.
Yeah, I think that might have something to do with it:mkrishnan said:
The port mapping that AirPort base stations have always offered only works when you're not using NAT. <speculation>So, perhaps this NAT Port Mapping Protocol allows to you turn on NAT and still allow clients on the WAN side of the base station to see that something on the LAN side has (Bonjour or other?) services to offer.</speculation>
I believe it's the same as WPA except that it uses a much better--and more computation-intensive--encryption algorithm.
Yes. I was under the impression that most existing hardware, especially access points/base stations, wouldn't be able to support WPA2, but apparently that's not true because Apple's done it.
Yes; much more secure encryption. <speculation>However, since WPA2's AES encryption requires more computation, and I don't think the AirPort Extreme card's chipset can handle it (if it even handled the encryption before), I imagine you might see more CPU usage on the clients, and the number of clients that each base station can serve might decrease.</speculation> Although, with your one client, I don't think that part would pose a problem.If my network consists of an iBook G4 and an AEBS, can I switch from WPA to WPA2, and if so, why would I want to?
After I restarted my iBook, my signal bars went from 2-3 bars to 4 solid bars. my signal has appeared to improve in our house. How do I check to actually see if it is faster? i guess I could try a broadband tester.
I tested my broadband speed and it is at 2.8 mbps. I don't know if it is faster, but my computer seems to pull up pages a lot faster
WM. said:Yes; much more secure encryption. <speculation>However, since WPA2's AES encryption requires more computation, and I don't think the AirPort Extreme card's chipset can handle it (if it even handled the encryption before), I imagine you might see more CPU usage on the clients, and the number of clients that each base station can serve might decrease.</speculation> Although, with your one client, I don't think that part would pose a problem.
Thanks! I found a FAQ page from the wifi alliance about this. They're funny, because they try very hard to say that WPA has enhanced security while simultaneously saying that the security in WPA is completely sufficient.
It did state repeatedly that WPA2 had greater computational demands... I wonder if what you speculate is true. There was no statement about a max number of clients. And Apple tends to use over-engineered hardware in this category. So you never know.