Certain sites cause AirPort Extreme Base Station to fail when accessed with Safari

MacFixIt reader Brent Rossow describes a problem where certain websites cause AirPort Extreme base stations to fail completely, i.e. no machines using the base station are able to access network services. We are seeking additional confirmation for the issue.

Rossow writes: "I have a PowerBook G4 667/512MB RAM, 10.3.5, AirPort, AirPort Extreme Base Station, all available software updates, latest firmware on AirPort Extreme Base Station, etc. I also have two WinXP machines (one wireless, one wired) and a PowerBook G3 with AirPort as well. This is all on a home network with a 3Mbps cable modem connection. The AirPort Extreme Base Station is connected to the cable modem on the WAN port and serves DHCP/NAT for the network on the LAN port.

"Now the problem: More and more frequently my AirPort Extreme Base Station seems to just disappear lately. I've been thinking that the AirPort Extreme Base Station is going bad, even though it's only a year old. However, tonight I accidentally discovered that it seems that trying to load certain websites is somehow killing off the AirPort Extreme Base Station connection. My sister sent me this URL tonight and it quit in the middle of loading: http://homepage.mac.com/brossow/macfixit/safari_aebs_crash_page.html [Note that, as described, your network may drop when accessing this page]

"I figured the AirPort Extreme Base Station had 'died' -- AGAIN! -- and so I checked for Internet connectivity on one of my Windows machines; nothing doing. The AirPort Extreme Base Station was not visible via AirPort Admin Utility. I rebooted the AirPort Extreme Base Station and we were back up and running with Internet access on all my machines. I test-loaded several websites, from MacFixIt to Microsoft to a personal website and everything was fine. I tried to load the above URL again and, once again, the connection suddenly died. Again I rebooted the AirPort Extreme Base Station and tested connectivity when it came back up. This time, I surfed other sites for about 45 minutes without issue, giving the AirPort Extreme Base Station a chance to kick off again if it was going to. Then I tried for a third time to load the above URL and again the AirPort Extreme Base Station died instantly."

"This is all when I try to load the above page in Safari. If I try to load the same URL in Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Camino, the page loads fine and my connection is unaffected. But once I attempt to load the above URL in Safari, the connection is shot for everyone and only rebooting the AirPort Extreme Base Station fixes the problem. [...]

"The Activities window in Safari seems to indicate exactly where the connection dies, sometime between loading the CSS file and the JavaScript file for the site in question. It dies in exactly the same way every time."

If you are experiencing a similar problem -- where accessing certain sites in Safari causes destruction of network connectivity for all other machines connecting through an AirPort Extreme Base Station - please drop us a line at late-breakers@macfixit.com.

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