Apple Extreme Basestation not working!!

I've bought a second hand Apple Extreme Basestation off Amazon.com quite some time back. The hardware seems fine, but I'm trying to pair it with my Macbook and it's not working. I've installed it, read the instruction manual and gone onto applications>utilities>airport utilities and tried from there to pair it with my macbook but no luck.

I don't know what I've done wrong, is there any help I can receive?

You say you bought it some time back. Have you used it at all before trying it out with your MacBook? Because it's going to be hard to troubleshoot the problem if there's a possibility the base station itself may not be working right.

There's really not much involved in hooking up the base station. All fairly straight forward but you should probably go over the connections again and setup to make sure. If your ISP has issued you a modem, make sure it's compatible with the base station (most are). And that you have the modem connected correctly. If the base station is broadcasting, the airport application should detect it.

What exactly are you getting from the base station if anything? Can your MacBook even "see" it?

Regards.

Hmmm... well I'm not using a modem to do this so far. I'm only trying to access my USB devices like the printer, dongles wirelessly (do I need to use modem to do this)?

What kind of service do you have? DSL or Cable? How are you accessing the net now? Unless you're using Verizon FIOS, your WAN\LAN line is feeding into a modem which then connects to a router. Wireless or ethernet from the router to your Mac.

As I understand it, you're trying to hook the printer and other USB devices wirelessly through the base station. What's the base station's input?

Regards.