Resetting the AirPort Extreme Base Station

  • Last Modified: May 28, 2008
  • Article: HT1406
  • Old Article: 107451

Summary

Learn how to reset an AirPort Extreme Base Station for troubleshooting purposes.

Note: This article discusses AirPort Extreme Base Station. If you have AirPort Express, see Resetting AirPort Express. If you have the original AirPort Base Station, see Resetting the AirPort Base Station (Dual Ethernet) or Resetting the AirPort Base Station (Graphite).

You should reset if:

  • You forgot your base station password and need to reconfigure one or more AirPort options (including resetting the base station password). You can do this with soft reset.
  • Your AirPort stopped responding, has network accessibility issues, or needs to be reverted back to default factory configuration. You can do this with hard reset.

Below, you can see the location of the reset button for the two types of AirPort Extreme base stations.

Products Affected

Airport Extreme Base Station

How to perform a soft reset

To soft reset using AirPort Utility 5.0 or later

To soft reset AirPort Extreme Base Station, follow these steps:

Note: AirPort Extreme must be connected to power during the process.

  1. Disconnect any Ethernet cables from the base station.

    Tip: While technically unnecessary, this prevents a scenario in which some users may end up connected to the base station both wirelessly and via wire.

  2. From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences, then choose Network
  3. From the Show pop-up menu choose AirPort.
  4. Click the TCP/IP tab, from the Configure IPv4 pop-up menu choose "Using DHCP".

  5. Press and hold the base station reset button for one full second. 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 revert to the previous configuration.

    Note: Holding the reset button for 5 seconds or longer will do a hard reset. AirPort will indicate if it's in hard reset mode by blinking faster.

  6. From the AirPort menu bar item, choose the network created by the base station (the network name does not change).

  7. Open AirPort Utility (From the /Applications/Utilities/ folder).
  8. Locate and double-click your base station to configure it.

  9. Ignore the errors in Base Station Status at this time. You now have the opportunity to change settings such as base station password, network password, the Access Control List, and RADIUS.

    • To reset base station password, choose Base Station tab and edit the password field.
    • To change the network password, choose the Wireless tab and edit the Wireless password field. Or, turn on encryption (WPA2 is recommended) and enter a new password for your AirPort network.
    • Unless you have been given an IP address by your ISP or system administrator, do not change the IP address. 
  10. Click Update. The base station restarts to load the new settings. Plug back in the Ethernet cable and reconnect to your network. 

To soft reset using AirPort Admin Utility 4.2

To reset the AirPort Extreme Base Station, follow these steps:

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

  1. Disconnect any Ethernet cables from the base station.

    Tip: While technically unnecessary, this prevents a scenario in which some users may end up connected to the base station both wirelessly and via wire.

  2. From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
  3. From the View menu, choose Network.
  4. From the Show pop-up menu, choose AirPort.
  5. From the Configure pop-up menu, choose Using DHCP.
  6. Press and hold the base station reset button for one full second. The status 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.
  7. From the AirPort menu bar item, choose the network created by the base station (the network name does not change).
  8. Open AirPort Utility or AirPort Admin Utility (From the /Applications/Utilities/ folder).
  9. Select your base station, and click Configure. Below you can see 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.

  10. 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.

How to perform a hard reset

If your base station stops responding, you may need to reconfigure it from a previously saved profile or reset it to the factory default settings. You can achieve this with a hard reset.

Important:

  1. A hard reset erases all base station settings, including Access Control and RADIUS.
  2. The base station must be connected to power during this process.
  3. The reset method varies according to whether your base station has a firmware version installed that is earlier than 5.5.1, or 5.5.1 or later or an AirPort Extreme (802.11n) base station.

For firmware 5.5.1 or later:

If your AirPort Extreme has firmware 5.5.1 or later (downloadable here), follow these steps:

  1. Push and hold the reset button.
  2. Continue holding it until you see the center status light (LED) start to flash rapidly, which should happen after about five seconds.
  3. Release the button, and AirPort Extreme will reset.

For firmware earlier than 5.5.1:

If possible, it's recommended that you first update the base station to 5.5.1 or later (downloadable here), then follow the steps above. If you can't update immediately, follow these steps:

  1. Push and hold the reset button for a full ten seconds.
  2. The base station resets once the button is released.

Note: If you release the button prematurely, the base station will enter a five-minute soft reset mode. In that case, you will need to either power cycle the base station or wait five minutes before you can try to hard reset again. The most obvious indicator of a hard reset is that the network name will be reset to default, as described below.

What happens during reset

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 configuration utilities. 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, AirPort Admin Utility or AirPort 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.

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