Apple updates AirPort Express, Extreme firmware

Apple on Monday updated the firmware used by its AirPort Express and AirPort Extreme base stations. The new firmware is available for download from Apple’s Web site, and is available in various forms for Mac OS X and Windows users — as well as a “raw firmware” version for users trying to update from Mac OS X v10.2.8.

The AirPort Express firmware is now at version 6.1.1. The AirPort Extreme firmware is now at version 5.1.1. Both contain the following changes:

Hard reset behavior is improved. With this firmware version pressing and holding the reset button for more than 5 seconds will cause the LED to flash rapidly. This visual feedback lets you know you’ve held the button long enough to trigger a hard reset

Improved reliability of Wireless Distribution System (WDS) networks when using Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) security. If you had a WDS network secured by WDS and then removed any of the WDS nodes, this could cause a memory leak resulting in the need to reboot your WDS network nodes

Resolved an issue with inbound passive File Transfer Protocol (FTP) to a port-mapped computer on the network

Resolved an issue with certain printers which were no longer recognized by the base station after the 6.1 (or 5.5) firmware update was installed. With the 6.1.1 (or 5.5.1) firmware these printers are again recognized by the base station.

Additionally, the AirPort Extreme firmware update fixes a potential problem with Point to Point Protocol over Ethernet (PPPoE) configurations when updating from 5.4 or earlier.

Both updates also contain changes made in their respective previous releases.