[Reubania]

Hi guys,

I want to share with you the information and support I've had over the past 2 weeks.


PRODUCTS INVOLVED

• MacBook Air (10.5.4)
• AEBS (802.11n)
• AirPort Utility 7.3.2 (latest firmware)
• AirPort Express
• WD Elements 1TB USB external HDD
• NETGEAR DG834GT wireless modem router

PROBLEM ENCOUNTERED

• AEBS not automatically mounting external HDDs
• AEBS not showing up under 'Shared Devices' in Finder window
• Server interruptions/Connection failed error messages

This all occurred erratically when waking computer from sleep, login in and rebooting.


APPLE SUPPORT SOLUTIONS

• Ensure the external HDD is formated to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) (HFS+)
• Ensure the external HDD is partitioned to be GUID (Partition Map Scheme) and not the default Master Boot (which is only good if you are sharing the external HDD with Mac and Windows computers)
• Add Volume (external HDD) to "mount" on startup: System Preferences > Accounts > Login Items

• Select "Connected Servers" and "Bonjour Computers" under: Finder > Preferences (General and Sidebar tabs)

This solution "mounts" the external HDD onto the desktop as volumes.



Initially these suggestions all worked. Even restarting AEBS to factory settings helped for 1 day. These problems still occurred.

Airport could see that there is an AEBS in my network. It could also see the external HDD volumes under the "Disk" tab in AirPort Utilities. BUT I could no find the volumes to mount onto Finder under "Shared Devices".

An Apple "product specialist" told me that the only solution (after 3.5 hours on the phone in two sessions) was to bring in the AEBS and external HDD into an Apple Dealership for repair and see if the two were compatible.

However, the first technician touched on a possibility that every time I woke the MBA from sleep, my internet provider/wireless modem router assigned me a dynamic IP address. Hence, my IP address would change everytime from sleep - and the AEBS could not keep up (as it's assigned to it's own IP address). And therefore, I lose connectivity.

The way around it would be to assign a static IP address. I have no technical background to even attempt this.



APPLE DISCUSSION FORUM SOLUTION
I have discovered after trolling through dozen of pages of discussion, a poster touched on this:

Is this possibly an AFP Reconnect issue after sleep?
Do we all have HFS formatted disks and thus sharing out AFP?

BINGO!


I have been using AFP to connect to my external HDD. The second Apple technician asked me to try connecting through AFP - as it's the default for Leopard. But when I tried to find the volume under: Finder > Go > Connect to Server > afp://IP-ADDRESS-AEBS it could not connect to it manually. This was very odd.

However, the other posts discussed on Leopard's ability to connect to a server through Samba (SMB):

David asked the right question:

Some users did not have problems with the Airdisk, other users report major problems, like lost connection after macbook sleep. Why did some user reports this major problems and other say everything is fine: I think that’s because they use different filesystems on their Airdisk and therefore they use Samba OR AFP as connection protocol.

I assume that user with FAT32 formated USB-disk did not have the same problems because the use samba to connect to their disk. My disk is HFS+ formated and so Leopard (10.5.1) uses per default the AFP to connect. I have major problems especially after my MacBook wakes up from sleep modus, then I get the "Connection Lost" error and I am not able to reconnect to the Disk again. I have to reconnect the usb cable to the aebs or restart the station. But I find out, that the samba connection to the disk works fine, even if the afp corrupts after the sleep modus (connect to sever smb://IP-ADR/….. ).

Perhaps apple changes the afp implementation in leopard???

With this addition, my Finder window has this:





The first icon under "Shared Devices" is my AEBS connected through SMB.
The second icon is the AEBS connected through AFP

That second icon is temperamental. It "might" be shown on Finder, but if you try to browse through my two volumes, it will try to connect before giving me the aforementioned errors messages. Sometimes after waking up from sleep, it will present the "Server Connection interrupted" error message and then I have NO choice but to disconnect/eject the volumes and the AEBS icon will be lost from my Finder window.

There is no way of getting back it unless sleeping the computer, waking it again, or login out then back in, rebooting the computer, or restarting AEBS.


So this is day 2, and funnily, the same volume are BOTH still connected through AFP AND SMB after waking the computer from sleep. I will have to monitor this and see how long AFP can hold onto server connection before spewing out error messages again.


If anyone had troubles - please follow these suggestions and feedback would be greatly appreciated. I will send Apple technical support feedback, as I know I have not been the only one with major problems trying to keep my external HDD mounted onto my desktop through AEBS using 10.5.4

[Reubania]

Ok. After vigorous testing, I am sad to announce that they are both as fallible as each other.

I have noticed that the single determinate factor has been my NETGEAR wireless modem router assigning 1 out of 3 IP addresses when the computer wakes. THE only IP address that will allow my volumes to mount via AFP or SMB has been the original IP address of the device, which is 10.0.1.1.

HOW can I get my router to keep this IP address for my AEBS to be able to show my external volumes under "Shared Devices" in Finder?

[Erwin]

Connecting to AFP for your Airdisk for Time Machine works better than SMB - I've tried both and AFP is better.

Not sure why you are having so much problems, my Airdisk (500 Mb external IDE USB2) works reasonable flawlessly so far connected to my AEBS, occasionally have connection problems if I've travelled away and come back, but a restart fixes this.

[Reubania]

Well, I can go through a whole day of waking and have no problems. And then a spate of multiple sleep/wake sessions in order to get AirPort to connect to the correct IP address for my external volumes to mount. It's really is a pain. I cannot tell you how frustrated I am with AEBS.

[Erwin]

Strange, because I don't have that problem - I can wake/sleep, connect to other wifi networks, come back, and it still works. If you want it to work definitely with no problems, when you are away and get the error message "Disk connection interrupted" or something to that effect, and you come back to the wifi network, manually mount the disk by opening Finder, clicking on the volume, then clicking on the drive name to mount it. But TM should find and mount this anyway by itself. But sometimes I do it myself - I do use my external HDD as a shared drive between my Macbooks.

[Aladdin]

Just wondering, how is your AEBS & Netgear wireless modem router configured?

Could you switch the Netgear into bridge mode, and let the AEBS handle all routing tasks?

You could also then assign static IP addresses to all machines on your LAN, and see if this helps.

[Reubania]

You see, that's the problem, when I get the "Connection interrupted" message, AEBS just VANISHES from under my "Shared Devices" in Finder. HOW can I then manually mount my volumes when AEBS is not listed? THAT's my problem. And Apple Tech support staff (all three of them + a product specialist) are all baffled. Their last piece of advice was to take in the external HDD with the AEBS to an authorised repair dealer and test it out.

For me, I think that's a cop out. I think there's nothing wrong with the set up - it's something to do with the firmware for AirPort Utilities (7.3.2) (it can still read my AEBS AND the external drive through AirPort Utilities, but unable to locate it when I try to Finder > Go > Connect to Server method). And it must be the fact that my NETGEAR might be assigning my MacBook Air a new IP address after waking, making it unable to connect to the AEBS who probably has a fixed address (even though it displays it's IP address as the same as the network internet IP address).

And this is after I made the AEBS the default wireless router and my NETGEAR as just the DSL connecting device.

Originally Posted by Aladdin

Just wondering, how is your AEBS & Netgear wireless modem router configured?

Could you switch the Netgear into bridge mode, and let the AEBS handle all routing tasks?

You could also then assign static IP addresses to all machines on your LAN, and see if this helps.

I am not quite sure how to configure my NETGEAR. As far as I recall, when I was setting up AEBS, it did ask me something about bridge mode. With an Apple tech support staff, he took me step by step in resetting the AEBS and manually configuring it to handle all routing tasks.

But when it comes to assigning a static IP address, this is where I have no knowledge or physical support to help me configure my NETGEAR configurations. As far as I am aware, I thought a static address was something my internet provider would provide me with. I know that TPG has given me an dynamic IP address.



I can tell you this is how I physically connected my NETGEAR with my AEBS:

• NETGEAT DG834GT to the ADSL line - via a two-line combo microfilter/spliter
• Connect the ADSL port of the DG834GT to te ADSL connector of the two-line filter
• Using an ethernet cable, connected it from a LAN port of the DG834GT to the WAN port of the AEBS
• WD Elements 1TB external HDD connected to the USB2 port of the AEBS

[Aladdin]

Originally Posted by Reubania

And this is after I made the AEBS the default wireless router and my NETGEAR as just the DSL connecting device.

I used to have my modem/router do the router functions (DHCP, NAT, connect to ISP), and the AEBS run in bridge mode (includes attached USB external HDD).

Now I run the modem/router purely as modem (bridge mode) and the AEBS do the router functions (DHCP, NAT, connect to ISP) and have a USB ext HDD hanging off it. No problems with this setup.

Regardless, make sure you don't run a 'double NAT' setup (i.e. both Netgear and AEBS trying to do router functions).

The device running the DHCP & NAT should allow you to allocate static internal IP addresses to each device connected to the network. The external IP address (usually dynamic, and allocated by your ISP, usually only resets on power-cycling said device) is usually totally different.

[Reubania]

Originally Posted by Aladdin

I used to have my modem/router do the router functions (DHCP, NAT, connect to ISP), and the AEBS run in bridge mode (includes attached USB external HDD).

Now I run the modem/router purely as modem (bridge mode) and the AEBS do the router functions (DHCP, NAT, connect to ISP) and have a USB ext HDD hanging off it. No problems with this setup.

Regardless, make sure you don't run a 'double NAT' setup (i.e. both Netgear and AEBS trying to do router functions).

The device running the DHCP & NAT should allow you to allocate static internal IP addresses to each device connected to the network. The external IP address (usually dynamic, and allocated by your ISP, usually only resets on power-cycling said device) is usually totally different.

Ok. I'm not quite following. I assume the problem has been that I do have a "double NAT" setup, and I'm pretty sure the Apple tech helped me configure the AEBS to do all the router functions and the NETGEAR in bridge mode. I know this because in



Question. In the AirPort Utility, it lists the AEBS IP as 10.0.1.1. Select Manually Configure, and in the Summary section, it lists the IP address for the AEBS as 192.168.0.2. And THIS is the IP address if AirPort connects to waking from sleep, I encounter all the server connection errors.

Under the "Internet Connection" of the 'Internt' tab of AirPort Utilities, the AEBS is -
Connect Using - Ethernet
Configure IPv4: DHCP (I really have no idea what this is - but the very first error message I had from waking from sleep contained this term)
IP address: 192.168.0.2

Connection Sharing: Share a public IP address (so it's not on Bridge mode).


Interestingly, in the "DHCP" section of the 'Internet' tab of AirPort Utilities,

DHCP Beginning Address: 10.0.1.2
DHCP Ending Address: 10.0.1.200
DHCP Lease: 4

(whatever DHCP is, the AEBS will show up under Finder if AirPort connects to these IP address, and not 198.168.0.2.)

NAT: Enable NAT Port Mapping Protocol

[Aladdin]

To change the Netgear to a simple ADSL modem (bridged mode), see here:

http://vpncasestudy.com/download/DG/DG834_Tips100.pdf

Only the first part is relevant.

Connect an ethernet cable from your computer directly to a LAN port on your Netgear d834g.

Once that's done, disconnect the cable from your computer, and plug that end into the AEBS.

Thus the connection runs:

Phone Line - ADSL splitter - Netgear - ethernet cable - AEBS (WAN port).

Then configure your AEBS via airport utility.

I prefer manual setup.

1. Click on Internet (at top of window).
2. Choose Internet Connection pane (should be there already).
3. Connect using PPPoE (most common method - check with ISP if not sure)
4. Fill in account name and password.
5. Click on PPPoE pane.
6. I have my connection as 'Always On'.
7. I leave the DHCP pane alone.
8. Click on NAT pane.
9. I have 'Enable NAT Port Mapping Protocol' selected. (This allows Back to My Mac to work).

That's all.

Configure the Airport settings to your liking.

Cheers.

[Erwin]

I actually used my AEBS (now a TC) as a bridge, with my Billion ADSL modem as the DHCP server. That works well.

[dt]

I'm having a similar problem, but in reverse.

I have an AEBS with a USB external HDD plugged into it. Every time I sleep/wake, or reboot etc it automatically mounts the Airdisk on my desktop.

My problem is if I sleep the MacBook, after having ejected the Airdisk, then wake it at uni on a different network, the Finder freezes for like 3 minutes while it tries to find the Airdisk, and it gives me 4 or 5 of those "Connection Failed" messages you show in your original post.

How can I stop it trying to automatically mount the Airdisk, all the time, regardless of network?

It's not in my "login items".

[Reubania]

Deselect the following from

Finder > Preferences > General > External Disks and Connected Servers

Then:

Finder > Preferences > Sidebar > Shared > Connected Servers and Bonjour Computers


That should do the trick. And restart and tell me if it works!

[dt]

Originally Posted by Reubania

Deselect the following from

Finder > Preferences > General > External Disks and Connected Servers

Then:

Finder > Preferences > Sidebar > Shared > Connected Servers and Bonjour Computers


That should do the trick. And restart and tell me if it works!

Would that just not show the Airdisk in the Finder window or on the desktop, as opposed to stopping it from connecting to the bloody thing? What if I still want to see other servers etc in my sidebar?

I will definitely test it tomorrow when I go to uni - thanks for the tip

[Reubania]

Good question. I think it will still be connected unfortunately. I think if you anything connected to AEBS, it will show up (ie. connect) and be visible on your Mac. These suggestions merely hide the AirDisk from Finder and your Desktop.


Once you've "ejected" the AirDisk via Finder, or drop the external HDD from your Desktop to the trashcan, it should "eject" it from the server. Thus, AEBS and your associated external HDD should not be visible under "Shared Devices" in the Finder sidebar.

If you still want to see your other servers, then you have to keep "Connected Servers" in those preferences tab.

One other thing I can think of, is that you change your "Location" - not sure if Leopard supports this. This is where you can change your location and have the specific servers connected to only that location. So you can set up one location for "Home" with your AEBS and that server, and one for "Uni" to be connected to other servers.

Last option - log out from home. When you go to uni, log in. It should connect to servers allowed in that location only.


Anyone - feel free to correct me! I'm not expert in networking!

[Brains]

One interesting thing that you haven't touched on: All Apple hardware (including the AEBS) are rather fussy about the quality of the bridge-chips used in USB external enclosures. Unfortunately, the cheap ones that everyone buys (purely because they are cheap) are the ones that cause the most grief. Chinese no-name enclosures like Noon and Blue Eye and *shudder* Ritmo use bridge-chips from Prolific and Ali, and these chipsets don't conform to Intel's USB spec, but Microsoft's. Apple stuff is Intel spec, so you need to make sure your drive-cases use quality, Intel-compliant bridge chips by Oxford, Initio or NEC.

[Reubania]

Thanks for the info. How does one find out what type of chipset your external HDD contains?

[Aladdin]

I've been told previously that buying a HDD with at least a FW+USB enclosure will have better chips (due to the FW spec).

It'll be a bit more expensive than a USB-only enclosure, though.

[Brains]

Originally Posted by Reubania

Thanks for the info. How does one find out what type of chipset your external HDD contains?

Funnily enough, usually by just googling around. The general rule of thumb, though, is that respected brands (such as M9, MewerTechnology, Macpower IceCube and NewMotion) will use quality chips, and the no-names sold by generic PC shops, hardly Normals and OfficeWorks will sport the inferior chips. Seagate's own drive enclosures use Initio for the most part, Western Digital use their own which seems to work fine for some people, and cause naught but problems for others.

[Reubania]

Well, since I have the AEBS, it only has a USB 2.0 connection. Which works fine with me, as I bought the cheaper WD Elements 1TB aluminium external HDD. Not only does it look pretty next to my matching aluminium MBA, but is cheaper because it doesn't support firewire or eSATA connection like the newer WD Mybook series.

Although I haven't restarted/rebooted my MBA yet, I've had 3 days of constant connectivity! I will see what happens when I take it out of my network and then log back in again after I come home. The last time I did this, that was when my woes started. *shudder*