Time Capsule Powered Off, Won't Power Back On

Apple confirmed that (1) mine really won't power on; (2) that they don't open them and work on them; (3) that they will replace it (I bought it with two iMacs with Apple Care 18 months ago. My husband is worried about the disk full of data inside the dead one. I wonder if they will give it back to me???

Just to let everyone know, an updated step-by-step procedure has been posted by Revs per minute (aka La Pastenague)... and I was the one that recommended the Cisco power supply... should arrive shortly so I will post the steps to use it, but like it says in the tutorial, just short the ROF to RTN (GND)...

http://sites.google.com/site/lapastenague/a-deconstruction-of-routers-and-modems /TCRepair.pdf?attredirects=0

Mine is dead as well (first gen 500GB model). No power, no light, just died overnight. Just about 6 months out of warranty so it's around 18 months old.

I took it to the Apple Store and a technician suggested a power surge because it appears the power supply has failed. It's connected to a UPS so I know it's not that and everything else is fine.

I have Apple Care on an iMac I bought over Christmas which will cover it. They wouldn't replace it with one of the newer models so I have to wait a few days for Apple to ship a replacement to the Apple Store.

Running on my old workhouse WRT54G router now.

In the UK there is extended warranty on design fault products.. this includes TC and several UK users have had theirs replaced outside of 1year apple warranty... but you ripped the rubber boot so now they will refuse to replace it...

But you can still repair it yourself or have the capacitors in the power supply replaced at a tv/electronics repair shop.. it is a relatively easy job and shouldn't be that expensive... take the power supply to the shop and get them to follow the notes I have posted... I won't post it again... people will get bored with me posting them over and over but there are several references to my repair website.

I must agree with LaPastenague on this. You'd have to build an enclosure for the power supply as the mains voltage would be otherwise enclosed. You'd also probably would ruin the PCB power supply pads where the ground, +5V and +12V during desoldering, so you can reuse the custom connectors used. Much simpler and probably cheaper to just buy a reasonable quality external "brick" power supply such as the one for the Cisco routers.

Count me among the mourners. My 500 gig TC died after almost exactly 18 months of service. Clearly a dead power supply. Apple genius was sympathetic but unhelpful. No warranty and the Applecare on our TWO laptops don't cover it because they were bought earlier. They don't even have a repair option.

Very disappointed in both the product and the Customer Service. First time that Apple has let me down in 20 years.

If the applecare is current on any of your computers they have to replace the TC... don't let them get away with this... whether the laptop is purchased before or after the TC is irrelevant... !! Ring applecare support and get them to sort it. They don't seem to be familiar with their own extended warranty conditions.

Jim Bonner wrote:
I removed the bottom rubber pad and metal cover. Inside I found that the fan was installed with the exhaust side facing the side of the hard drive rendering it useless. The fan has one rounded corner that has to clear a standoff that is attached to a circuit board. That requirement means that the fan can only be installed in two positions. Now get this -- the other position places the fan's exhaust inline with the end of the power supply! The power supply itself has side covers to form a tunnel that could direct the fan's air flow down the length of the power supply. The fan has three rubber attachments (in each of the non-rounded corners) that fasten it to matching holes in the metal bottom cover. Installing the fan in this alternate, more useful position would invert the three rubber attachments and render them useless. Perhaps the fan could be reinstalled in a useful position and held in place with appropriate springy (foam or rubber?) shims.

The are several problems. The first is that the fan is a centrifugal fan. They are designed to draw in air from the bottom, but that is covered with the rubber foot and there are not many perforated holes (without the rubber foot installed) to make it very efficient. If you were to remount the fan upside down so it could be aimed at the supply then the fan's air intake is the hot air inside the capsule, not a good solution.

The other problem is that the fan is speed controlled by the motherboard and it is set such that it comes on at power up time and then shuts down again until the innards become unbearably hot.

Your best bet are to remove the fan and cut a larger air intake hole on the metal plate and then disconnect the speed control lead and wire a resistor in series with the +5V lead to the fan so the fan is always on, albeit at a reduced & quiet speed. This is all outlined in the web site.

Yes one or two of us posted on the time machine dead?? thread on the same subject as this one that we got replacements by the Sale of Goods act route. Repplacement was never volunteered and initially rejected at several stages so it is not just dropping a line referring to the law or being pursuasive once or twice although that is a good start. In each of the known cases on this I have seen for claims under SOG - including mine - the replacement was finally given for users who Apple considered regular customers and replacement was a "goodwill" gesture without admitting liability. Other routes to pursue if you track back both threads on this other than the obvious "take out Applecare on something else and then claim " route and depending upon where you live are the European 2 year warranty and credit card extended warranty although I have "yet" not seen many reported successes on the latter two routes.

PZS wrote:
Rudy, please look at the postings since my previous post and you'll see that what I stated was true and that Apple is willing to make exceptions for certain serial number ranges. <SNIP>

I stand by what I said PZS, the airflow cooling is non-existent and the internal power dissipation is too high for the cooling, it will get too hot inside and lead to premature failure. The electrolytic capacitors in the internal power supply being the weak link will fail first. It is as simple as that. The replacements being selectively offered by Apple to some customers have the same flaws.

Rudy(CA) wrote:
Taking into consideration that the switching power supply efficiency is typically around 70%, then the total power dissipation difference comes to around 1.2 Watts. Not much difference in my mind.

If you are using the drive for other additional purposes that result in more frequent read/writes, then the difference is much more significant.

I agree with Rudy... the difference might not be that significant as the power supply efficiency is usually highest near its peak output...which will be when everything is running. Even if you lower the current draw, the total heat dissipation by the power supply stays roughly constant. The new TC might feel cooler when running a backup but the heat build up in the layer between main board and power supply can still be very significant. And a slightly cooler top will actually make very little difference to that. Remember the old TC is dying even if you never do a backup and just run it as a wireless router. It is also dying in climates with very different ambient temperatures.

What the PS manufacturer could do is use solid capacitors which are higher temperature and longer life devices. Even using 10v elecros instead of 6.3v might make a difference. We will see after they have run 24/7 for 2 years or so.

Unfortunately the pics on the other site are pretty poor resolution and I cannot see any big difference between the old v1 and the new v3 or v4, whatever they are up to.

Many thanks to LaPastenague for including me as a "Repairer of Dead Time Capsules". Go to his website to find my email.

To date I have only repaired one of my own TCs and have not yet found a ready source of external power supplies but I am in the process. I think replacing the current PS with external is the only long term solution but if somebody wants the original look, the PS could be repaired and the fan modification implemented (no crying about warranty tho').

A lot of credit for research and destruction ( R&D ) goes to FreddieTheOne in York, UK. Thanks

If anybody out there is willing to bear with my learning curve, and has nothing left to lose, I'll do some units at cost just for experience. Sorry, I cannot promise quick turnaround yet but a look on eBay may turn up some repairable units for exchange.

More on this later.

rdalem,

FYI... I did the Cisco Router PS Mod using a 6-pin molex that is connected externally. As a backup, I repaired the original PS (2 caps for $0.20), stuck it in a vented enclosure also with a 6-pin molex as a backup in the event the Cisco PS dies (which I doubt it will since they are ROBUST). Anyway, as mentioned previously, LaPlastenague was the inspiration for me to save $300 on a new TC. Been working ever since!

If you are at the end of your rope with Apple (no satisfaction!) remember that these puppies CAN be repaired! Ray has posted very detailed photos and clear instructions here: http://sites.google.com/site/lapastenague/a-deconstruction-of-routers-and-modems /apple-time-capsule-repair/apple-time-capsule-fan-mod

Don't want to attempt it yourself? Email the repairers-of-dead-time-capsules listed on Ray's site! "Operators are standing by......"

stevekn wrote:
Although not cold the new TC does feel cooler at the front getting warmer towards the power supply at the back, but overall cooler, I think, than the early model.
I'm not sure whether to do the external power supply mod on the new TC having made sure to back it up!

From the way the electrolytic capacitors in the power supply fail, I would theorize that the internal TC temperature when new, is still too high for the electrolytic capacitors. The electrolyte will progressively deteriorate causing an increase in the capacitor's ESR (Equivalent Series Resistance), which will cause them to generate even more heat, which in turn accelerates their time to failure.

Under this failure model, the TC would progressively experience higher and higher internal temperatures which will result in warmer case temperatures until premature failure occurs.