Airport Utility can't find Time Capsule but wireless is fine

Question

Level 1

20 points

Airport Utility can't find Time Capsule but wireless is fine

Hi

I have my Time Capsule connected via cable to my NetGear Modem/Router and have wireless enabled on the Time Capsule.

I never have any problems with the actual wireless connections to the internet via any of our Macs or PCs in the house, but on a fairly regular basis, the AirPort Utility comes up and tells me 'AirPort Utility was unable to find any apple wireless devices. Please make sure the Apple wireless device you want to set up is plugged in and in range of your computer, and then click rescan to try again.'

Wireless access continues to work just fine when this happens, but I just can't get to the Time Capsule with the Airport Utility. Un-plugging and re-plugging the Time Capsule makes it appear in the Airport Utility again, and it's fine usually for a few hours or most of the day, but then quite often I will open Airport Utility again later in the day and it again will not be able to find the Time Capsule again.

I have tried firmware 7.3.1 and 7.3 but it didn't make any difference.

So I wonder if anyone might have any suggestions as to why Airport Utility would not be able to find the Time Capsule yet the same Mac from which I am trying is quite happily connected wirelessly and surfing the web.

Thanks in anticipation!
Ken

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.2)

Posted on Apr 27, 2008 2:12 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Taman

Level 1

5 points

May 7, 2008 9:17 AM in response to kjw97

I have exactly the same problem. Have you been able to solve it?

Cheers, Taman

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Answer 2

MikeyT.

Level 1

0 points

May 7, 2008 1:38 PM in response to Taman

Same here! My Internet is fine but I cant access the files I put on my TC... This is really annoying!

Can anyone help with this problem?

Thanks,

Mike

Message was edited by: MikeyT.

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Answer 3

WR450F

Level 1

5 points

May 7, 2008 5:50 PM in response to MikeyT.

Yeah, I have the same issue too with my Time Capsule (500MB). The only way I have found to fix it is to reset the thing. I am not impressed. My old linksys ran over a year without a single problem and the TC can't run for two days straight without having to unplug and plug it back in. Extremely disappointing...

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Answer 4

MikeyT.

Level 1

0 points

May 7, 2008 11:21 PM in response to WR450F

I just woke up my iMac this morning and TC was mounted and I could access the files.... I don't get it...

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Answer 5

LexBelly

Level 1

0 points

May 8, 2008 5:09 AM in response to WR450F

I tried resetting the time capsule, unplugging it, replugging it with the MacBook off, replugging it with the MacBook on and nothing is working. I used to see it in my Airport Utilities and now it's not seeing any wireless devices.
Anyone have any suggestions?

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Answer 6

May 8, 2008 1:56 PM in response to LexBelly

I have the same problem. I've had Time Capsule for about 3 weeks. It worked fine the first two weeks. And then suddenly stopped showing up. I've reset while plugged in, and also reset while plugging in as it says in the troubleshooting guide, but with no result. Airport Utilities doesn't show up the device. The wireless connection is fine, as it shows up an airport extreme base which is much further away.

I think there is something simply wrong with the device and I may have to send it back for a replacement. Gabriela

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Answer 7

May 9, 2008 12:20 PM in response to kjw97

I'm having all of these same problems with my Time Capsule since the recent Airport Utility update. This is nuts. My Airport Utility can't find any apple wireless devices and I end up unplugging it and restarting. This has got to be a problem with the recent update. HELP!!!

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Answer 8

Razan

Level 1

0 points

May 12, 2008 4:07 AM in response to RDZumbaugh

I have the exact same problem! Ever since I updated Airport Utility, it can no longer find my Time Capsule. Someone please help!

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Answer 9

May 12, 2008 8:18 AM in response to kjw97

Same identical problem as all previous victims. TC does not show up in the Airport Utility section despite properly functioning (and separate) Internet router/access.

Resetting according to instructions in Setup guide (page 31) does not help a bit -- (nevermind that all data is now gone, too ;-(

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Answer 10

Ohmac4

Level 1

0 points

May 12, 2008 7:13 PM in response to Rapattack

I can find my TC in the AirPort Utility, but cannot find it as a drive for my laptop. This changed right around the time of the last firmware upgrade, but I haven't heard much talk about the issue except in this forum.

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Answer 11

Bills09

Level 1

8 points

May 21, 2008 1:12 AM in response to kjw97

Wow it took me awhile to find this thread.
1047 views. I guess I'm not alone.

Every few days my macbook pro quits recognizing the Time Capsule even
though it works fine for wireless internet.

Airport Utility doesn't see it either. Shared disk access, gone.

I found I can get things working again over wireless if I plug the computer
into the time capsule with a cable. When I plug it in the time capsule instantly
appears on the list of available backup devices in time machine settings.

If I do a backup and then disconnect the cable backup continues to work for
awhile. Then I need to connect again.

Pretty silly bug.

When it works time machine and time capsule are great. We've used it to
recover data very easily.

Wish the connection wasn't so flakey though.

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Answer 12

marius1

Level 1

0 points

May 21, 2008 1:37 AM in response to kjw97

I have the same problem. My TC worked fine for a few months but now my Mac can't find it and my network has disappeared. I can find all of my neighbours networks which makes it all the more irritating.

Anyone got any solutions that work?

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Answer 13

May 21, 2008 3:20 PM in response to marius1

Wow i have this problem but i have discovered something usefull, when airport cant find the TC i goto File -Configure other. Put in the IP address and password and your in.
You can now restart the TC from the config screen and airport then finds the TC.
Saves moving from you computer to unplug the TC.

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Answer 14

GPF

Level 1

0 points

May 21, 2008 11:28 PM in response to kjw97

Hi
I have my Time Capsule connected via cable to my DLink ADSL noden and have wireless enabled on the Time Capsule.
Wirless work fine, but AirPort Utility was unable to find any apple wireless devices and my Macbook can't see shared TC disk.

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Answer 15

kjw97 Author

Level 1

20 points

May 30, 2008 5:09 AM in response to webinfusion

Hi I am the original poster but I couldn't get my old login to work!!

This is a GREAT tip ... thanks so much! Saves me wandering out to the other room and resetting the TC. Here's hoping that a 7.3.2 firmware update sometime soon fixes this problem once and for all!!

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