# Apple Airport Express connected to HR20?



## Jeff Richardson

I use an Airport Extreme Base Station for my home wireless network and I want to connect my HR20 to the network. There is much discussion on this forum about using Linksys D-link, etc. gamer adapters or wireless bridges to give the HR20 wireless access the network. Will an Apple Airport Express also work? It costs just about as much as these other devices, and from the pictures I have seen it looks like it has a standard Ethernet RJ-45 connector on it, but the Apple webpage for the product only talks about using the Ethernet port to connect to a DSL or cable modem, not connecting to a device like a gaming console or an HR20. Can anyone verify whether the Airport Express would work as a bridge with an Ethernet cord running from the HR20 to the Airport Express?

-Jeff


----------



## DCSholtis

Yes an Airport Express would work. I have my HR20 hooked up to one as well. I have mine running from my power strip to my HR20 by way of 6 ft of ultra flat cat 5. BTW I just added a 2nd Airport Express hooking that one up in the same way to my A3 HD-DVD player. The Ultra flat Cat5 is great if there is a distance between the AX and the HR20 and you want to prevent a risk of someone tripping and falling over wires. All you need to do is set it up as a WDS and your good to go.


----------



## uwsherm

It'll work fine. It's slightly complicated to set up - the Express only bridges the Ethernet port to the wireless network if it's configured as a WDS remote station (there's a good article on Apple's support site about how this works - just search for Airport Express WDS).


----------



## muzzymate

Just use the guided setup program that comes with the Airport Express and you'll be running in no time (choose Extend my Network). I have one Airport Extreme in the office and three Airport Expresses at each television for ethernet connectivity. It works really well and piping music from iTunes into my sound receiver is a great bonus.


----------



## Darfstellar

Perhaps this should be amended to note you can ONLY use the Airport Express as a bridge to the network IF you are using an Airport Extreme as your base network. I bought one expecting to use it with my Linksys wireless router and it won't work in WDS mode outside of an Apple-hardware network, unless I'm reading the instructions wrong.


----------



## Canis Lupus

Here you go - depends on your Linksys Router though:

http://rgbdream.com/2005/09/06/linksys-wrt54g-airport-express-and-wds/



Darfstellar said:


> Perhaps this should be amended to note you can ONLY use the Airport Express as a bridge to the network IF you are using an Airport Extreme as your base network. I bought one expecting to use it with my Linksys wireless router and it won't work in WDS mode outside of an Apple-hardware network, unless I'm reading the instructions wrong.


----------



## Stuart Sweet

Airport is really just a fancy 802.11 adapter, you should be able to use it for anything you use any other wireless adapter for.


----------



## mtnagel

Darfstellar said:


> Perhaps this should be amended to note you can ONLY use the Airport Express as a bridge to the network IF you are using an Airport Extreme as your base network. I bought one expecting to use it with my Linksys wireless router and it won't work in WDS mode outside of an Apple-hardware network, unless I'm reading the instructions wrong.


I believe the router just has to support WDS. My Belkin does and the AE works just fine with it.


----------



## ChrisWyso

The way I'm currently configured is my HR-20 is connected (wired) to one of the Ethernet LAN ports on the Airport Extreme. Another LAN port then connects thru the crawlspace to my main router (LinkSys) which then connects to the cable modem. My set-up is all wired. The only thing in our house that's running on the Airport wireless is the wife's MacBook Pro. So basically I'm using the Airport Extreme as a ethernet hub for the HR-20.

I can verify that this configuration has worked 100% since I connected up the HR-20's ethernet.

BTW, I'm a bit of a control freak, so everything in the house/on the network is run with static IP's. I don't use DHCP at all.

-Chris


----------



## Darfstellar

Canis Lupus said:


> Here you go - depends on your Linksys Router though:
> 
> URL removed because I don't have 5 posts required to quote a URL :nono:


Yeah, I tried those instructions several times with my Linksys WRT150N and no go. The 150N supposedly supports WDS but I can't make them see each other and I think I have the wrong version of router for the dd-wrt software.



mtnagel said:


> I believe the router just has to support WDS. My Belkin does and the AE works just fine with it.


Which version of Belkin? If it's (draft) N version I might pick one up.


----------



## mtnagel

Darfstellar said:


> Which version of Belkin? If it's (draft) N version I might pick one up.


No, not N. It's G. It's like 3 years old.


----------



## mhp

Hi there --

Need to know how to fix a "flahsing amber" lite on the Airport.....

My airport is hard Ethernet connected to the HR20.....

My I Mac (with wireless card inside) is upstairs and is hard wired to my Linksys cable modem.....

The PC laptops in my family have no trouble getting wireless connections to the Internet via this setup......

Any advice???


----------



## DCSholtis

mhp said:


> Hi there --
> 
> Need to know how to fix a "flahsing amber" lite on the Airport.....
> 
> My airport is hard Ethernet connected to the HR20.....
> 
> My I Mac (with wireless card inside) is upstairs and is hard wired to my Linksys cable modem.....
> 
> The PC laptops in my family have no trouble getting wireless connections to the Internet via this setup......
> 
> Any advice???


Flashing amber means its not properly set up. Make sure you set it up as a WDS.


----------



## mhp

DCSholtis said:


> Flashing amber means its not properly set up. Make sure you set it up as a WDS.


Thanks........

And how do I do that???..........(not a network savvy guy)


----------



## Jeff Richardson

I'm also having trouble setting up the Apple Airport Express as a WDS. It seems like I am doing it correctly -- telling my Airport Extreme Base Station to be a WDS host and telling the Express to be a remote, and I have the Airport address of the AEBS in the Express and vice versa. But my Express just keeps blinking amber. Tech support on Apple's website was not very helpful, and seemed to have been written for an older version of the software. (I'm using Leopard.) If anyone knows enough about this setup to post step-by-step instructions, they would be much appreciated.

For example, it seems like the only way I can communicate with both the AEBS and the Express at the same time is to have them both plugged in via Ethernet. (AEBS plugged into my Mac, and the Express plugged into an Ethernet port on the AEBS.) I can't seem to communicate with the Express wirelessly at all. I'm sure I am just making some dumb mistake and doing something wrong.

-Jeff


----------



## Jeff Richardson

I was finally able to get my Apple Airport Express work to get DOD on my HR20. The "solution" was to change my network security from WPA2 to WEP. Apparently there is some bug which results in the Apple Airport Extreme Base Station losing the connection to the Airport Express when the security is set to WPA2. Of course, I'd much rather use WPA2 security so hopefully the bug will be fixed soon, but if anyone else out is thinking about using Apple equipment to get DOD, I can confirm that it does work.


----------



## ztrips

Is it possible to use the Airport Express in WDS mode AND use it as an Airtunes device? Right now I have my AE setup for Airtunes and the Ethernet port does not bridge to the wireless side...

Thanks


----------



## mtnagel

ztrips said:


> Is it possible to use the Airport Express in WDS mode AND use it as an Airtunes device? Right now I have my AE setup for Airtunes and the Ethernet port does not bridge to the wireless side...
> 
> Thanks


Yes, that is what I do. I'm the last person to ask how to get it to work though. I just played around with the settings and now it works


----------



## Phil T

Canis Lupus said:


> Here you go - depends on your Linksys Router though:
> 
> http://rgbdream.com/2005/09/06/linksys-wrt54g-airport-express-and-wds/


Tonight I got my HR21 to connect to the internet using Airport Express and a Linksys WRT54G v5 and firmware 1.02.2 using the instructions from this link!!

The Linksys is being used as a router hooked up to a 2Wire modem (Qwest).

I copied the settings from my HR20 under advanced and it immediately passed test. Still need to play with it to get Media Sharing working with WMP 11.


----------



## HDsnob

I just got the same set up working tonight and I was having some issues, until I reset my AEX. Then my AEBS found it and I was able to set it up using WDS. I still can't get my Buffalo wireless bridge to work for the bedroom, but that's a project for another day.


----------



## Ricawn

So I went out and purchased a new airport extreme to get my directv ondemand h20 working. So I hooked it up, but when I tell my directv receiver to connect it says it cannot find the internet. Here is the setup, someone please help:

I have my airport express set to wds (in airport utility I selected extend my network) mode and the airport extrememe upstairs functioning as my router. (My express has a grenn light as if it is working.

I have the directv receiver plugged into my airport express which is plugged into a surge protector.

I select wireless when I am trying to connect, but every time I run the connectnow it syas it cannot find the internet. 

My wireless network has WPA2 Personal security settings currently running on it. (Could this be the problem?

I'm not sure if my security setting are an issue, I'm not sure if having it plugged into a surge protector is a problem, or if there is some setting in the airport utility I need to change.


----------



## jhays

My setup is similar except that I have an HR20-100 instead of the H20. You might try temporarily disabling your WPA2 and see if that makes a difference. (It shouldn't, since I'm using WPA2, also.)



Ricawn said:


> So I went out and purchased a new airport extreme to get my directv ondemand h20 working. So I hooked it up, but when I tell my directv receiver to connect it says it cannot find the internet. Here is the setup, someone please help:
> 
> I have my airport express set to wds (in airport utility I selected extend my network) mode and the airport extrememe upstairs functioning as my router. (My express has a grenn light as if it is working.
> 
> I have the directv receiver plugged into my airport express which is plugged into a surge protector.
> 
> I select wireless when I am trying to connect, but every time I run the connectnow it syas it cannot find the internet.
> 
> My wireless network has WPA2 Personal security settings currently running on it. (Could this be the problem?
> 
> I'm not sure if my security setting are an issue, I'm not sure if having it plugged into a surge protector is a problem, or if there is some setting in the airport utility I need to change.


----------



## jacksonm30354

I have WPA and it work just fine. See this link
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=136640

I have screen shot so how my Airport Express and Extreme are set up using WPA. The WDS screen is not included but should just have the Allow Wireless clients checked.

Note that this setup will also allow the Express to broadcast iTunes.


----------

