AirPort Extreme - connection drop

Ok, this seems to be a common problem with those using an Airport Extreme(AE) with firmware 7.2.1 and Leopard. Every couple of days or in between, my AE would suddenly drop the connection (the green indicator light on the AE would turn to yellow) and reboot itself. Sometimes it would do this 10-20 times in a row, very frustrating. I have noticed it usually happens when I initiate traffic from either my MacBook or iMac. I have tried the following settings to no avail:

no password
interface robustness: on and off
WPA Group Key Timeout: 1 day instead of hour(default)
closed network: on and off
constant channel

I also tried messing with the IPv6, but that completely messed things up not even allowing me to connect to the AE.

Again it seems to be a major problem. It doesn't drop the connection all the time though. If I'm lucky I can get up to 2 days without loosing connection.

Alright well I found a temporary solution that worked for me and looks like its working for many others as well. Its definitely a problem with the current 7.2.1 firmware for the Airport Extreme Base Station. I think this applies to the old UFO style Base Stations as well, anything that has the firmware 7.2.1 on it. I'm not sure exactly what bug it is but it is a major one.

Solution:
Downgrade to 7.1.1
1. In Airport Utility, hold down shift and option and click on AirPort Utility -> Check For Updates.
2. You should see the option to download the 7.1.1 firmware. Download it.
3. Then click on Base Station -> Upload Firmware and choose the 7.1.1 firmware.

You should be now downgraded to the 7.1.1 which was before the "Gigabit" version.

I've been using the previous last "Fast Ethernet" version firmware for a couple hours now and its been working perfectly. Absolutely no connection drops. Hope this helps..

Unfortunately the 10.5.2 update did NOT fix this problem. It seems to be definitely an Airport firmware problem, not Leopard.

I guess I spoke to soon. So far so good for the past couple days, only 1 connection drop. So it looks like there is some stability after all.

Same issue here and will try to complete the Down grade. How will we know when there is a fix and what upgrade iafter 7.2.1 it is in? ajm

Im looking to buy a AE , is it still working for you since you downgraded the firmware?

Some mention here about disconnects.
http://www.macfixit.com/

Tesla760 - Back level firmware did not help me. My Macbook and AE are very new and 1-800-APL CARE said I could not go back to 7.1.1 . Instead we back leveled my firmware to 7.2. We also changed the Channel several times - no help. Apple Care has corrected several errors I made including formating the HDD to the wrong format. For the intel based computers the HDD must be GUID Partitioned. In my case the hub mounted HDD, behind the AE, will stay online until some other major system event, such as Time Machine launching for it's hourly sweep, or Itunes opening. Because Time Machine launches every hour - that is my normal connection duration. I have hundreds of phone minutes with Apple Care working on this issue. There does not appear to be a silver bullet yet. - Because I planned to put a large external HDD behind the AE and use it as the dedicated Time Machine drive, and this will not work, I am stuck. If you planned the same set up I personally would wait for Time Capsule just on the hope that Time Capsule would integrate better. The other thing you may consider is to wait and see if new firmware is releases soon or someone else comes up with a reliable work around. Good Luck. ajm