Can't get airports in network anymore

okay, here we go...

I've got an iMac and 2 airports Expresses. My iMac is connected to my router. Also my iPhone, iTouch, TV, PC and printer are connected to my router. Until this morning I also had 2 airport expresses connected to my router for airtunes. This worked perfectly for 2 or 3 years.

This morning I tried to 'upgrade' my security from WEP to WPA. Unfortunatly my TV isn't compatable with that so I wanted to return everything as it was.

But the airports cannot get back in my network. Everthing is connected again, but not the airports. I've reset the airports to factorysettings (over 20 times!), started up the airport-utility, and followed the instructions to connect the airports to an existing network. I removed old keys from the keychain (I'm Dutch so things are called differently, but I'm sure you know what I mean).

After this the airports reboots, but after a couple of minutes it says:
AIRPORT UTILITY CANNOT FIND YOUR WIRELESS AIRPORT-DEVICE AFTER IT'S REBOOT. This wireless airport-device settings are modified, but there was a problem with connecting to the wireless network or the wireless aiport-device cannot be found. Select your network in the airport menu and try again. (Again.. freely translated from Dutch)

After this my connection to the router does not work anymore, even though it's selected. I have to reconnect as 'connect to different network' so I can give the WEP again. After that my connection to the router is restored.

All other devices (iPhone, iTouch, PC, etc) stay connected to the internet, so the problem does not seem te be the router. I also tried to configure the airport express with my PC. That gave the exact message (e.g. AIRPORT UTILITY.... etc). I have 2 airport expresses and both give the same problem, so it does not seem that they are broke.

After 1 try I have to (hard) reset the airport expess again to make it appear in the A-utility.

Does anyone have an idea please?? I really would like to use airtunes again!

One more thing -)); The AE were configured with an iMac with an airport b/g compatible and Tiger OS. The AE are b/g too. Now I've got a newer iMac (still the white one) with 'n-airport' and Snow Leopard.

Anyone????

Welcome to the Forum. When u were trying to set up the Express did u have it connected to the iMac with an ethernet cable? Often that is necessary when dealing with a previously configured airport unit. With it connected that way try setting up again. Sometimes it takes a minute or 2 to show up in Airport Utility so don't be in a rush.

Actually I did try that, but maybe not in the right way.

I used an Ethernet Cable and did the wireless setup again. Or do I need to configure the ethernet setup first?
Is it just; plug in the cable wait a couple of minutes and do the wireless setup just like I would normaly do?
Thank in advance!

Well; tried it but it did not work. The only thing that was different is that I kept my internetconnection (it did not have to change networks to configure the airportsettings).

Another difference is that in the 'network' menu in preferences, my ethernetconnection is 'green' but my wireless connection (to the router) is 'yellow'. Nevertheless the wireless connection seems to be working fine. But the airports remain useless


Last edit:
Never mind. It's fixed. It did had something to do with the WEP-key. The suggested key (from the router) was not correct. Not enough digits. Am I an idiot?

In Sys Prefs under Network there are choices - settings for Ethernet if that is how your computer is connected and another Tab for Airport if that is the one you use for connecting. Settings need to be in both if u alternate and they don't move across from one to the other automatically.
What i was suggesting in earlier post was to connect Express to the Mac by ethernet lead and run Airport Utility to set up the Express Wireless Network - no internet connection needed to do that.

i just installed my extreme today, but i think i got a similar problem...maybe? i could not access the airport using the utility manager. could not figure it out, but it just wouldn't show up and it would say that it can't be found. something similar to that.

this was my problem:


the lock at the bottom left was locked, so it would not access the airport. i unlocked it, and it showed up right away. i have no idea if that will help you at all, but after 2-3 years, that is certainly something that may have happened. good luck.

Lucky - the Lock u mention is to allow settings to be changed in systems preferences. it has no effect on whether or not the Airport Card will connect to a Wireless Network. Locking the preferences gives the person with the Admin access the choice of who gets to make changes to the settings.

i realize that, but i cold not even access it in airport utility with it locked. it just wouldn't show up.

Did u try the method i suggested in the first post above. Have trouble believing that locked System Preferences would prevent an Airport Express showing up in Airport Utility.