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Paul Alvarez · May 17, 2003, 05:54 PM

All,

I have a problem that some of you may be able to help with. I have two Base Stations (only one of which is in use) and would like to add the second one to the same network to increase range in my home network. I've accessed Apple's Knowledge Base and have the info that covers how to set this up but I still can't make it work correctly.

My setup is:

DSL modem connects to Base Station.
Base station Ethernet output connects to Netgear 5 port fast ethernet swich FS109. The Netgear switch is feeding out to my son's PC and XBOX he uses for onlne gaming. One other feed from the switch is to the second Base Station.

My ISP is PacBell and they only provide one IP address. All my airport equipped Macs can get online using DHCP server.

Apple's info says I should send the same ISP info to both Base Stations which I've tried. Although all my Macs see a single network, none can access the Internet nor will my son's PC work. As soon as I unplug the second Base Station, everything returns to normal.

Does anyone have any insight as to why this is happening? How should I change my set up to allow for all of the above but more importantly so it will work?

Thanks,
Paul

aaanorton · May 17, 2003, 08:55 PM

I haven't personally done this, but...

Make sure the SSID's are the same. That is the network "name". There is a place for you to name your LAN in Apple's software. Make sure both ABS's are named the same
Make the channels different. I believe this is correct, but it may be that the channels need to be the same. It's logical to me that they be different, so try that first.
Make sure only the first ABS is set to distribue IP's via DHCP.
Post back if no go.

Zimwy · May 20, 2003, 01:40 AM

Are you using airport extreme base stations?

gabe

neon_duke · May 22, 2003, 12:21 PM

Paul:

In the short form, it needs to be like this:

1) The AEBS attached to the modem should be set to distribute IPs. It gets its IP from your service, and it will assign IPS to everything else on your network. Its network IP will be 10.0.1.1, and it will increment each new piece of equipment as you add it. I did define the second AEBS's IP as 10.0.1.200, just so I knew it would always be there and I could ping it or give the address if it didn't show up in the Admin Utility.

2) The second AEBS will definitely need to be set to NOT distribute IPs.

3) The second AEBS MUST be on the same channel as the primary.

4) The 2 AEBSs can be named different things, but the network names should be identical. So should the passwords.

In the full screen of the admin utility, there is an option for bridging. I forget which one should be set to bridge, but it may be self explanatory. I'm away from those machines now and trying to dredge it up from memory... if nobody can give you a better answer, I'll try to look up the settings for each one tonight.

Hope this helps,

uke

Paul Alvarez · May 24, 2003, 06:24 PM

Duke,

Thanks for your input. First off, these are note Airport Extreme Base Stations but that shouldn't matter.

The primary Base Station is set to send out IP addresses. I had not set the channels to be the same but will do so to try what you say.

I have already named the network in each the same and set the same password. What I need to check is how to set the second Base Station to NOT send IP addresses.

I believe the bridging checkbox is on the primary Base Station but will check that as well.

I will post again later if I get this to work properly or to seek more help.

Regards,

Paul

Paul Alvarez · May 24, 2003, 06:26 PM

Duke,

A couple of other things I forgot to mention:

Should the second Base Station take the exact input as the first with respect to the info provided by my ISP? I will assume so to see if this works or not.

Thanks again,

Paul

Paul Alvarez · May 24, 2003, 06:51 PM

Duke,

Looks like your input has this working now. Let me specifically say that the second Base Station needs to be set NOT to send IP's out and it also needs to be set to DHCP so the first Base Station can send it the address it will use.

So far, so good....now I need my son to check his wired connections to the switch to make sure the entire network is running properly.

Thanks to all who provided input.

Regards,

Paul