Q: Airport Utility cannot find Time Capsule ("device not found")

This is a standard issue.. the bug has been there since Lion but got worse in Mountain Lion and is apparently worse again in Mavericks..

Reboot the TC itself .. not wifi in the computer.. it is the disk that is lost.. not the network connection.

There is no fix as such.. Apple keep releasing new versions of the OS but each seems to have the same issue.

Some things help.

IPv6 must be on to Link-local in whatever network client is being used.

Use names on the TC that are smb compatible.. note.. Mavericks now uses SMB for default connections.

So names are short, 2-20 characters, no spaces and pure alphanumeric.

Is the TC the main router or is it bridged?

I would have a go setting longer or shorter lease times for dhcp.. very short is the way I would go.. 30min.

I would manually mount the hard disk.. and force it to AFP in Mavericks.

AFP://TCname or TCIPaddress if static.. replacing with the actual name or IP obviously.

IPv6 is currently set to Automatic. I've no idea what changing it implies.

You need it set to link local.. not automatic.

Apple released a doco.. which is barely visible.. but it is important.

Need ipv6 in 6.3 utility

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4597

I used to tell people to turn ipv6 off.. now I have to tell them to use it in a particular mode.

It is easy to set.. open the network preferences go to the advanced settings and fix it.. you will not notice anything other than more stability if it helps.

I've set the Netgear router to modem mode so it doesn't emit any wireless signal, and connected it to the TC Ethernet WAN port.

So that means the TC is in pppoe or dhcp mode on the Internet tab.. please post a screenshot and then I can tell you if it is right or wrong.

My DHCP lease is currently set to 1 day. I've no idea what this means.

Some things you need to lookup.. dhcp automatically provides your computer an IP address.. a Lease time is how long that address will last.. I want you to try changing it.. You change it on the airport utility.. it is dead simple.. set to a new number and update.. you will notice nothing.. except maybe improved stability. You can just tick hour instead of day.. one variable.. save it and update the TC.

I also have no idea what forcing to Apple File Protocol (AFP) imples. Where and how do do this and to what effect?

It means that you will change over in Mavericks from using SMB to AFP.. you will only notice improved stability.

You set it in finder.. Go, Connect to server.

Type in AFP://TCname or AFP://TCIPaddress.. exactly as I posted above.

The computer will request a password.. this is important that it is stored in the keychain..this might be part cause of the instability.. by default it is public.. type that.. save in keychain.

why can I not access any of the Base Station menu options (they are all greyed out)?

You are in a mode where the options are not allowed.. eg in PPPoE mode then other options are not possible.. pick one option and other options are eliminated..

Find out.. this is how you find things out.. you can export your current settings if you are worried about getting back again. top menu of airport utility.. under file, press reset and start over. Factory reset.. now all the options are accessible .. set some.. then set the key one.. internet.. when you set that one.. all the others will change that are no longer valid or will grey out options that will not work.. the more you set the less other options are available. .. because it fixes certain items that HAVE to be used..

eg Network has to be DHCP or DHCP+NAT .. you cannot bridge to PPPoE.

What does "Allow setup over WAN" mean? It is currently unticked.

So you have remote access to control the TC or airport.. this should be off by default or it will give you an error anyway.. It is a huge security risk to turn it on. You never allow remote access to setup.. But for instance you need help and Apple offer to do remote setup for you they might ask you to tick it.. I doubt it ever happens but that is what it could be for.

Try the options.. if it doesn't work go back to how it was.. import your exported configuration and voila.. you will be back to the same setup you had before you started.

First of all a simple reboot of the TC is usually enough to get it going..

If not then a reboot of the network.. shut everything off and turn on in correct sequence.. modem, TC. clients.

europajan wrote:

 

OK so today the issue is back. Airport Utlity says 'device not found'.

I will spend some time this weekend trying out the options you decribe above. Should I try them in sequence and test for a while after each change or do them all together?

Try them in sequence if you want.. the problem is you will have to work out which is going to be important by testing over several days if you do that.. Basically as soon as you start doing things .. any power cycle of the TC should bring it back into operation.

 

Before I do anything, I'd be grateful for advice on the following: how come airport utlity on my ipad does not show the 'device not found' error? How can the wifi internet connection be working on all devices when airport utility on my imac says 'device not found'.

Many thanks.

Excellent question.. the problem isn't the TC.. the problem is your computer. Or at least mostly your computer.. because it can be computer plus TC that is having the trouble. This issue was introduced at Lion and never fixed.. it doesn't catch everyone.. and so I still do not know the exact cause.. hence the scattergun approach with trialling multiple solutions. None of which btw may fully fix it but might alleviate it..

Mavericks has made it that much worse though.

Many more people are finding it doesn't work.. I personally am not upgrading to mavericks for a few more point revisions but I did get the same problem when helping a friend.

A new install of mavericks could find but not mount a Time Capsule.

I need to revise my post info above but cannot edit so please note this revision.

Using the TC name alone failed.. for no good reason..

So AFP://TCname to mount the drive was no good.. I had to use the full domain name.

The TC name should comply as I said.. short, no spaces and full alphanumeric.. mine is TCGen4.

AFP://TCGen4.local did work.

What this means is that the network on the computer is now too stupid to understand when a device is in its own local domain.. you have to explicitly tell it the domain.

So please take careful note as it is probably something you have never looked at.

When you setup the name. In the new utility it does not show domain any longer.

BUT the old utility did show it.

Sorry had to start a new post.

You can see the default domain is .local

When you attempt to mount a drive in Mavericks if you need to do it via manual you have to use the domain as well.

 

I've also observed various strange things in the Internet settings as seen in Airport Utility (as stated above my internet connectivity and wifi on my imac and all other devices is never interrupted):

- the router address sometimes changes from 77.101.152.1 to 10.0.1.1 (this happens when the TC disappears

from Airport Uitlity, but not every time)

- the first DNS server changes from 194.168.4.100 to 10.0.1.1 (as above)

- the second DNS server never changes. It is 194.168.8.100

 

This one is very important.

Let me just get clear.. if the modem is bridged you are using pppoe client on the TC?? Or are you using DHCP?

Exact model of the Netgear router please.. I don't think you have listed it so far.

Now I have another odd request.. I want you to obtain.. purchase.. beg . .borrow.. in some legal way a small 10/100 switch.. which I want you to plug in between the netgear modem and the TC.

I also want you to buy a cross over cable as an alternative to the switch. To plug in between the modem and the TC.

I want to stop this happening. so if those don't work, then I want you to go back to running the netgear as router and run the TC in bridge and see if that gives you any improvement.

Post lots of screenshots.. of things working and things failing.. it helps ever so much to see that detail as there are things you can miss that I can pick up.

Yes,, Happy NY to you..

Thanks for relating your careful observations..

My observations are that,

1. Never upgrade install an OS.. it never has a happy outcome.. you always clean install and migrate the data back in again.

2. Mavericks is just a pain.. avoiding Mavericks has allowed me to avoid the pain. Sometimes the latest OS is well worth being one behind. But there are too many issues related around the networking that seem to be pure Mavericks I will load it onto a laptop and see if I can then reproduce any of these issues.

When people try to use wireless on older machines with Mavericks they seem to be having more issues..

There is a process of clearing the problem..

I just had this similar problem happen to me! Although you have probably resolved your issue by now, this is what I ended up doing to fix it.

1. Go to System Preferences and open 'Network' - or click your wifi triangle along the top tool bar and select 'open network preferences'.

2. Click your wifi on the left hand side from the list, and then click the small cog at the bottom of that box, and click 'Make Service Inactive'.

3. Once you've done that, click the minus to delete your wifi as an option from this box.

4. APPLY!!

All other instructions I read said to click the plus and add your wifi again and then restart. Well that did nothing for me, infact it did nothing about 7 or 8 times, soooooo...

5. Restart your computer now, without any wifi configuration setup.

6. Once restarted, go back into system preferences, into network, and use the + button to add a wifi connection back into your computer.  With any luck, you will be able to click on 'Turn wifi on' and it will actually work!

From this thread. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5219345?tstart=30

I still don't know how to point to a particular post.. but it is byAtlantaElise

I probably thought you were on ethernet on the imac.. is it possible to run a cable??

Avoiding wireless is always a good first step to avoiding network issues.

I have some other crazy stuff for you to try.. if the wake up packet is not working..

Lets see if we can force it.

Open Network Utility and do a scan of netstat.

Notice the TC name in the listing.

Then do a port scan of the TC.

Notice the open ports.. 5009 and 10000 both will open to telnet but no commands are going to work..

So just type into terminal a command like this

telnet TCname 5009 (where the TCname can also be IP address of the TC.).

When I do this the TC is open..

telnet 192.168.2.146 5009

Trying 192.168.2.146...

Connected to tcgen4.lan.

Escape character is '^]'.

just press enter a heap of time.. anything else you like.. it is just to wake it up.. it will close telnet automatically after 5min.

See if that wakes it up again.

But it might get the airport utility to discover the TC again.

The same as the MBP is keeping it awake because it is correctly sending the packet to keep it open.