AirPort Extreme Base Station: How to Reset

AirPort Extreme Base Station: How to Reset

SOFT RESET

1. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences.
2. Choose View > Network.
3. Choose AirPort from the Show pop-up menu.
4. Choose Using DHCP from the Configure pop-up menu.
5. Press and hold the base station reset button for one full second. The middle light flashes, indicating that the base station is in reset mode. The base station remains in reset mode for five minutes. If you do not make your changes within five minutes of pressing the reset button, the base station will return to the previous configuration.
6. From the AirPort menu bar item, choose the network created by the base station (the network name does not change).
7. Open the AirPort Admin Utility (/Applications/Utilities/).
8. Select your base station, and click Configure. Figure 3 shows the dialog that appears. It allows you to make the following changes:

- IP address: Unless you have been given an IP address by your ISP or system administrator, do not change the IP address.
- Reset the AirPort Base Station password.
- Turn encryption on to activate password protection for your AirPort network. If you turn on encryption, enter a new password for your AirPort network.

9. Click Update. The base station restarts to load the new settings.

Note: While the base station is in reset mode, Access Control and RADIUS settings are temporarily interrupted. All of the base station settings will be available after the base station has restarted.

HARD RESET

Important: Resetting the base station to factory defaults erases all the settings you have entered for the base station, including Access Control and RADIUS settings.

If your base station stops responding , you may need to reset the configuration to the factory default settings. This erases all of the base station settings and resets them to the settings that came with your base station. (Unlike previous base stations, a "force reload" of software is not required, since the AirPort Extreme Base Station stores backup copies of the most recently loaded software versions.)

Note: The AirPort Extreme Base Station must be connected to your power supply during this process.

Follow these steps:

1. Push and hold the reset button for a full five seconds.

The base station resets once the button is released. The LEDs on the AirPort Extreme Base will flash repeatedly as it reloads the software and reinitializes. For a short time, the base station may not be visible from AirPort menu item or from the AirPort Admin Utility. This whole process takes approximately 30 seconds to complete. You may then use the base station in its default state, or reconfigure it using either the AirPort Setup Assistant or AirPort Admin Utility. During reset, the base station loads the following default settings:

set to request IP address by DHCP
base station password is "public"
base station name reverts to "Base Station"
network name is "Apple Network XXXXXX", where XXXXXX is the last six digits of the wireless MAC address. (See Note, below).

Note: A MAC (media access control) address is a unique hardware identification number for a network port. The base station has three MAC addresses: one each for the LAN and WAN wired Ethernet ports, and one for the wireless Ethernet port. The wireless MAC address is also known as the AirPort ID.