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yellow light keep on blinking - normal?

hi. this is my first experience with the tc - forgive me but i am a mac newbie all together.
i didn't seem to have any problems during the initial set-up up until it said that all of my connection settings have been successfully set and i had to wait for it to restart. it never did/does pass this point. never got the green light besides for a sec, when i first plugged it in. instead it says that my computer has lost connection with tc or i don't have internet connection at all. the yellow or "amber" light keeps blinking. while it's still blinking, i opened time machine-and there it was. Also the backing-up process was able to start!! is this normal with that light? i restarted it, reset it, reinstalled cd with updates, what not - can't even remember all. i am trying to join our wireless office network with linksys G modem. can't have this as a router, but rather as an external drive for backing up my files.
that is probably a silly one to some of you, but i live on the east coast and it is about 4:30am here - can't sleep until i get this thing working... don't want to be found here still trying on Monday. shame on me

macbook pro, Mac OS X (10.5.5)

Posted on Nov 1, 2008 1:27 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 1, 2008 2:03 AM

herig,

Welcome to the Apple Discussions!

According to pg.10 of the Setup Guide, a flashing amber light means:

+"Your Time Capsule can’t establish a connection to the network or the Internet, or is encountering a problem. Make sure you have installed AirPort Utility and use it to get information about what might cause the status light to flash amber. See “If Your Time Capsule Status Light Flashes Amber” on page 31."+

Then, on page 31 it states:

+"*If Your Time Capsule Status Light Flashes Amber* The Ethernet cable may not be connected properly, your Time Capsule may be out of range of an AirPort network, or there may be a problem with your Internet service provider. If you’re connected to the Internet with a DSL or cable modem, the modem may have lost its connection to the network or the Internet. Even if the modem seems to be working properly, try disconnecting it from its power supply, waiting a few seconds, and then reconnecting it. Make sure your Time Capsule is connected directly to the modem via Ethernet before reconnecting power to the modem. For more information about why the light is flashing, open AirPort Utility, select your Time Capsule, and then choose Manual Setup from the Base Station menu. Click Base Station Status to display information about the flashing light. You can also select “Monitor base station for problems” in AirPort preferences. If the base station has a problem, AirPort Utility opens and walks you through solving the problem."+

So...

*Check Time Capsules’ Status*
Open Airport Utility. Select your Airport devise in the pane on the left. Is there a green dot beside it? If not click “Manual Setup”. Select “Summary” and double click the green/yellow dot beside “Status” and follow the steps to resolve any issues discovered. Click “Update” and wait for the Airport devise to restart. Now try to connect.

Let us know if this was helpful.

Cheers!
5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 1, 2008 2:03 AM in response to herig

herig,

Welcome to the Apple Discussions!

According to pg.10 of the Setup Guide, a flashing amber light means:

+"Your Time Capsule can’t establish a connection to the network or the Internet, or is encountering a problem. Make sure you have installed AirPort Utility and use it to get information about what might cause the status light to flash amber. See “If Your Time Capsule Status Light Flashes Amber” on page 31."+

Then, on page 31 it states:

+"*If Your Time Capsule Status Light Flashes Amber* The Ethernet cable may not be connected properly, your Time Capsule may be out of range of an AirPort network, or there may be a problem with your Internet service provider. If you’re connected to the Internet with a DSL or cable modem, the modem may have lost its connection to the network or the Internet. Even if the modem seems to be working properly, try disconnecting it from its power supply, waiting a few seconds, and then reconnecting it. Make sure your Time Capsule is connected directly to the modem via Ethernet before reconnecting power to the modem. For more information about why the light is flashing, open AirPort Utility, select your Time Capsule, and then choose Manual Setup from the Base Station menu. Click Base Station Status to display information about the flashing light. You can also select “Monitor base station for problems” in AirPort preferences. If the base station has a problem, AirPort Utility opens and walks you through solving the problem."+

So...

*Check Time Capsules’ Status*
Open Airport Utility. Select your Airport devise in the pane on the left. Is there a green dot beside it? If not click “Manual Setup”. Select “Summary” and double click the green/yellow dot beside “Status” and follow the steps to resolve any issues discovered. Click “Update” and wait for the Airport devise to restart. Now try to connect.

Let us know if this was helpful.

Cheers!

Nov 1, 2008 2:35 AM in response to Glenn Carter

thanks so much, Glenn! will try disconnecting the power on the router next.
one question though and that is what's getting me confused still(maybe bad pc habits): how is the tc able to start a back-up data transfer, connect wirelessly to my computer without that proper connection, with the light continuously blinking?... it made me believe it was working.
it is the oddest thing - i have uninterrupted wireless and i see the tc in time machine.

Message was edited by: herig

Nov 1, 2008 3:01 AM in response to herig

Well, it's probably not flashing because you have issues with your home network. As the documentation states, it could simply be flashing because the TC does not have contact with the internet. You see, your home network is separate from the internet. Time Machine does not require the internet to transfer your files from your Mac to the TC.

So while the light may flash amber, your wireless network may very well be up and running porperly. the light is just indicating that it can't connect outside of the network you have established.

BTW, the light is not there to indicate disk activity as is a light on a regular hard drive. So don't go by the light to verify if Time Machine is working.

Does this makes sense?

Glenn

Message was edited by: Glenn Carter

Nov 2, 2008 1:22 PM in response to herig

update: i was finally able to connect tc wirelessly to an existing network in a snap.

my issue seems to have been the linksys G modem we had. we just bought a linksys N and it took a minute to set up.
initially, the apple tech person (very nice guy) suggested i create a separate network for my macbook pro and tc, but every time i had to do the back up, i had to switch from my wireless internet to that new tc vs mac network - what a pain - no internet, but worked. the amber light kept blinking though and the reason was that tc could not connect to the internet or the "Ethernet cable was unplugged" as it stated when i clicked on the yellow dot beside my device status.
upgrading wireless network routers resolved the issue IMMEDIATELY!
hope that helps the folks who are still in the loop...
good luck to all!
LOVE MY MAC!

Message was edited by: herig

Message was edited by: herig

yellow light keep on blinking - normal?

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