Time Capsule Powered Off, Won't Power Back On

Add mine to the list of those that failed after around 18months of usage. Called Apple Support yesterday (though I never purchased AppleCare for anything) and just mentioned I had seen online that many folks had the same problem. Was put on hold for about 3 minutes, then the tech came back and said he was processing a replacement. They shipped it out the same day priority overnight and I'll have it this morning. While I don't have anything too sensitive on it, I am a little uptight about the whole "send the old unit back as is" issue.

The methods described seem a little "neanderthal" but work. To remove the rubber boot, use a heat gun on low power to really warm up the rubber (and adhesive), use a plastic paint scraper to ease the boot away from aluminum plate. If you're gonna cut a hole in the base plate, use an electrician's hole punch (Greenlee or other) of about an 1" - 1 1/2". Remove the fan entirely, then draw a line between the two corner holes to find center then drill a small pilot hole for the punch. Alternatively, http://sites.google.com/site/lapastenague/a-deconstruction-of-routers-and-modems /apple-time-capsule-repair/apple-time-capsule-fan-mod Ray uses a hole saw backed up with wood behind the plate. He also describes how to perform a fan mod for running at less than full blast.

"FreddieTheOne" Fackrell also has a method to direct the cooling air flow more directly to the PSU (see his earlier posts or contact at Ray's site: http://sites.google.com/site/lapastenague/a-deconstruction-of-routers-and-modems /apple-time-capsule-repairers)

My own solution is to move the PS outside the box, eliminating about 30 Watts of heat. I use a readily available Power brick from Cisco, make an adapter to the brick and get rid of the internal supply altogether. This is how I resurrect dead Time Capsules.

Well I'm going to add my name to the list of Time Capsule failures but also publicly thank AppleCare for exemplary service which I hope will give hope to others.

My 1TB Time Capsule suffered a complete failure this morning and like everyone else I have no lights anywhere. I tried reconnecting into another wall socket just as everyone else has done and it is completely dead.

I then read all the similar problems on this thread and was ready for a battle with Apple. First I went on the website and checked the serial number to see if it was covered by anything and it wasn't.

I then called Apple in the UK and spoke to a very helpful guy who immediately spoke to his manager and got the okay to replace the unit! I then explained that the TC held all my music and photographs - including my wedding pictures and he suggested that I take it to a Genius Bar for the replacement and they will recover the data, swap out the drives or give me the old drive out of the faulty TC.

I'm really hoping they will give me the old hard drive so I can then use it as a back-up after copying all the stuff back on to the new TC.

I'm really impressed with Apple and once I have had my appointment tomorrow with the Genius Bar at Apple, Bluewater I shall get back to you with a report.

So don't lose hope guys!

cheers

Rich

My story is the same as everyone else's. TC bought in March of '08. Turned off suddenly last night and wouldn't power on, even after allowing it to cool off overnight. Called Apple first thing this morning, all I had to say was it turned off and wouldn't turn on and the tech new what I was talking about. Put me on hold for about 5 minutes to talk to a Senior guy and when he came back said he was overnighting me a replacement.

This isn't the first time I've had a problem with Apple hardware, but in both cases they took steps very quickly to fix the situation. I can't really ask for much more than that.

Check with Apple Cust. Svc. first to see if they will offer to replace. If they will replace with a refurb. unit, you have 30 days to return broken TC. Use that time to remove HD to an external case for transfer to some other HD. Then re-assemble TC and give back to Apple. Do this before swapping outright for a NEW TC as they will not recover your files for you.

If you get no satisfaction from Apple, your TC can be repaired easily and fairly inexpensively from known repairers listed here: http://sites.google.com/site/lapastenague/a-deconstruction-of-routers-and-modems /apple-time-capsule-repairers

Email for quotes and other options.

Another one bites the dust.

My Time Capsule 500GB died this morning after 25 months of a joyful relationship with me and my Apple products. I am quite sad and disappointed about it.

And unfortunately, I am not the only one in this situation: Time Capsule seems to have this heating problem (a project mistake actually): the power specs inside the unit just crack after an average of 18 months (should I consider myself lucky for having mine operating for 25?).

Apple says there is no way "to fix" Time Capsules... So I've requested a TC exchange directly to the US Customer Service since Apple does not operate based in Brazil. Let's see what happens.

I will keep you all up to date.

Best,
Marcelo

My TC, purchased 02/28/08 just died 03/26/10. I phoned Apple and advised I am well aware of the problem. They are sending a new one gratis. I took the HD out of the dead unit, and gather from previous posts, they probably won't care. With an external power supply and adaptors, I've powered up the Seagate from the the dead TC and mounted it on my MacBook Pro, so nothing wrong with the drive, just a dead power supply.

Well.......Standard here too. Had just over a year.......dead. No power at all. Nothing is failing on HD because I pulled it out and recovered everything by putting it in a hot-swap. Sad story, would be a great product if they FIXED the overheat/electrical fail issue.

Hello JB2 😉

How much valuable data is tucked away on the hard drive? Is the data elsewhere other than the TC?

If the answers are... 'Lots' and 'Nowhere else'... get it repaired and modified.
If the answers are... 'Lots' and 'On my Mac computer'... get a nice new replacement from Apple.
If the answers are... 'Not much' and 'Nowhere else'... think carefully which route is better for you.
If the answers are... 'Not much' and 'On my Mac computer'... get a new one from Apple.

International bands of TC repair warriors populate the world. See Ray Haverfield's site and choose one...

http://sites.google.com/site/lapastenague/a-deconstruction-of-routers-and-modems /apple-time-capsule-repairers

Otherwise pester Apple into swapping for a new-ish unit.

Regards,
CF
York,
UK

That's not true grepe. I'm in Brazil (we have no Apple Store - only third party retailers and Authorized Repairers).

I called Apple US Customer Service, explained my case (dead 500GB TC after 20 months), gave them my serial number. I was transferred to a Sr. Adviser and he handled the rest, i.e: he gave me a code number and asked me to present my dead TC AND the code at the Authorized Apple Repairer. So I did it. And I have a brande new TC free of charge (only paid for transferring the data from the dead one to my new TC).

So, make no mistake about it: call US Custumer Service (oh, by the way, I did it via Skypecause it supports 0800 US numbers).

Best of luck,
Marcelo

Thanks for the encouragement Raicon44, I called the Apple support line. They said the Apple Genius was wrong and my Time Capsule was within the serial number range and was covered by the extended warranty, so I'm looking at a new 500 GB Time Capsule. Interestingly, as many of you probably know, it comes in the brown box, with no power cord, and only the simplest directions that says to refer to the documentation that came with the original Time Capsule. I think it's considered a DIY replacement part.

It is also of some interest maybe only to me that I was not required to return the old Time Capsule. After my wife took the Time Capsule to the Apple Genius at the brick and mortar store, and confirmed with him that it was dead and he told my wife that the Time Capsule was not covered by any warranty, I broke it open. They first said the TC would need to be returned, but when I told the support line that I had opened it, they indicated that they did not need the old one back. I'm sure I would not have had coverage if I had opened it before we took it to the Genius Bar.

Hi awhite,

Excellent options outlined above. However, whatever you do, do not try item no 2. That is going to lead you nowhere. Remember that people answering your call are the not the ones who made and supplied this product to you. They are there to help you resolve your problem.

Be extremely polite, but very very firm that you need something to be done. Get yourself bumped up to supervisor level. Maintain your cool at ALL TIMES. That will pay off to some degree.

There are ways to retrieve and keep your data, and if you are successful in getting a free replacement, nothing is lost.

Having said that, I agree with all other points above and all of the posts by these respected community members who have helped many people here to get back up and running.

I have found the easiest option for repair is to use external power supply as suggested by rdalem here in various posts. In fact, he will send you a complete kit to DIY. I am in a distant country and he sent me one, total cost including postage $60. For me, that is great. Now only have to do some soldering.

Hello PhillNZ,

Good reference there! The range referred to for 'dodgy' TCs is: XX807XXXXXX - XX814XXXXXX.

My very first failure was outside of that, it was XX817XXXXXX and it was powered by the slightly cooler running DELTA PSU. It still performed like a slug on Mogodon, and Apple were no help ("It's one of those things...") so I pulled it to pieces, etc. The rest is history.

So... it would seem like the brackets of failure have been defined as those with Flextronics PSUs (just my guess but every repair seen so far has been between those numbers fitted with a Flextronics. The other oddities have been with the DELTA supply fitted. One has scattered molten components around inside the plastic case cover of the PSU! Very nasty indeed. Another has been a bridge rectifier that was a total short circuit and one recently has had a dry joint and cracked PCB track. These failures are probably heat related, but are seemingly so random from so few samples it is hard to tell.

The good old Flextronics PSU repairs quite well because the fault is well defined. Capacitors that have overheated. Once the PSU is cooled however, that particular weak link in the chain is gone and the faults, if some ever return, will be far more without pattern.

Apple STILL have yet to redesign the problem away, not merely build bigger and bigger bolsters to hold up the weak walls. (There is some dodgy analogy used here but I'm lost as to what it is).

Enough already, - 6x more repairs and modifications to do! Hi-ho Silver... away!....

Regards,
Chris Fackrell
YORK,
UK.

Hello Gicker,

Welcome to the land of smouldering Time Capsules. Yours indeed has survived longer than others; perhaps you run it in a cooler room than most? That would do it.

Asking Apple to 'come on' seemingly has NO EFFECT at all. <Deity of your choice> only knows, I've tried!! Lots!!

Someone somewhere reads these posts, as a bout of foul-mouthed insanity, got me a 'yellow-card' warning from the moderator. Don't do it - be nice.

However, your comment is eminently sensible, a swap-out facility does exist but in the form of 'refurbished' units from Apple. These are awarded against some S/N jiggery-pokery and world-wide lottery. Some people seem to be very lucky and have had new TCs, allowed to keep the old TC, or at least prise it open and get the old hard drive out.

The whole unit is swapped out. Which is INSANITY. All the personal precious data is trapped on a perfectly good hard drive (95%+ probability) and this is scrapped by Apple. The TC case is scrapped, The baseboard is scrapped along with the errant PSU. Not green in any way shape or form.

The TC has a design flaw, which manifests itself as overheating and bits of things dying of heatstroke.

Look at my website here: www.fackrell.me.uk

and wander to look at the Techie page in there, it will show WHY a fan mod is needed. Infra Red pictures on Just FYI, will show the effects of a fan mod.

Personally I'm exhausted. I posted back 7x TCs today and now I'm working on 6x more to repair and modify. Doing this seems to make existing TCs have a new lease of life; back from the dead and all that.

Rant over.

Enjoy life.

Regards,
Chris Fackrell
YORK
UK.

Correction - ordered in Jan, shipped in April so about 17 mos. old. At least this problem is predictable. On hold now with Apple and because this is a known problem (even though it's technically not in warranty) they're going to replace the unit.

Glad to know that Apple realizes thousands of people with $500 bricks is not a good business plan. 🙂