[andylaiphoto]

Well two things are an issue. One, my airport express wont connect so I did a hard reset and it still won't do anything. It just sits there with the blinking amber light. Two, I can't access my airport utility. I used to have a icon in my system prefs page but it's gone now.
By andylaiphoto at 2009-03-07

Please help. I need to setup wireless printing again and this is driving me nuts.

Thanks

[Wiskedjak]

Try using a wired connection to your Airport Express to set it up. I've found that Airports are initially very difficult to connect to wirelessly after a reset.

As for the Airport Utility, mine's never been in the System Preferences. You should be able to find it in the Utilities folder.

[Cold Warrior]

You must be mistaken about an icon in System Prefs. It's never had one specific to Airport.

Here's some more you can do to get it going again:
1. Connect your express to your Mac using an ethernet cable.
2. Open Airport Utility, which is located in Applications/Utilities folder.
3. Your express should become visible in Airport Utility.

Don't try to do this over wifi.

[Simon]

^ what he said

[Eug]

Originally Posted by Cold Warrior 

You must be mistaken about an icon in System Prefs. It's never had one specific to Airport.

Here's some more you can do to get it going again:
1. Connect your express to your Mac using an ethernet cable.
2. Open Airport Utility, which is located in Applications/Utilities folder.
3. Your express should become visible in Airport Utility.

Don't try to do this over wifi.

"Should" being the operative word. If you set something incorrectly, sometimes the Airport Express units behave erratically, and Airport Utility no longer can reliably access it until you do a hard reset, even with a direct Ethernet connection.

[Cold Warrior]

The OP mentioned he'd done a hard reset, but yes, the stations can behave inconsistently but from my experience I also blame Airport Utility and its predecessor Airport Admin Utility.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by Eug 

"Should" being the operative word. If you set something incorrectly, sometimes the Airport Express units behave erratically, and Airport Utility no longer can reliably access it until you do a hard reset, even with a direct Ethernet connection.

So what? Then you do a hard reset and start over. But you're definitely way better off hooking it up through Ethernet for configuration that trying to do it over wifi.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by Simon 

So what? Then you do a hard reset and start over.

Errr... Having to do a hard reset every time you have some small problem is majorly annoying, when you have reset all the friggin' settings. And yes, this is with direct Ethernet connections.

Wow, you have pretty low expectations for Apple hardware.

[Simon]

Nobody said anything about little changes. We're talking initial setup. Once you have it set up it works. No resets. No nonsense.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by andylaiphoto 

Well two things are an issue. One, my airport express wont connect so I did a hard reset and it still won't do anything. It just sits there with the blinking amber light. Two, I can't access my airport utility. I used to have a icon in my system prefs page but it's gone now.

So did you ever try running Airport Utility as others suggested? Yeah it sucks, but it's all we've got.

Originally Posted by Simon 

Nobody said anything about little changes.

Errr, that should be obvious from the post:

"If you set something incorrectly, sometimes the Airport Express units behave erratically, and Airport Utility no longer can reliably access it until you do a hard reset, even with a direct Ethernet connection."

If you set one setting incorrectly, obviously that setting needs to be changed. Unfortunately it often takes a hard reset and a complete re-entry of all of the settings to get it to work.

Originally Posted by Cold Warrior 

I also blame Airport Utility and its predecessor Airport Admin Utility.

I agree, but it's a moot point. The Airport Express's software is Airport Utility.

One of the main advantages of Apple hardware is the fact that Apple provides good software to go along with it. eg. OS X, iTunes, etc. Not so much with Airport Utility.

[Wiskedjak]

Yep, just initial setup and after a hard reset (which is basically an initial setup) do you have to connect over ethernet. Anytime after a hard reset of my both my Airport Express' (one G, one N) the Airport Utility software can't see them unless I connect through ethernet. Took me forever to figure out. Very annoying and contributes to my increasingly low expectations for Apple hardware.