Time Capsule Powered Off, Won't Power Back On

My TC died this morning. I found out that it IS covered via my iMAC Apple Care plan. It is covered as long as it is purchased during the duration of your AppleCare plan on an associated MAC or if it was purchased within 2 years (I think) of purchasing your Mac.

I spoke with Apple and they are sending me a new one. Nothing can be done (using this method) about the existing data, but that's not a big deal to me.

Well I've joined the ranks! My 1 TB Time Capsule purchased in Mar/2008 died last night (sound familiar?). No warranty or Apple Care.
I phoned Apple Canada support (which I think got passed to someone in the States judging by the accent and friendliness. All good efficient interaction and they're sending a replacement without a power cord (you keep your old power cord). He said a batch of the early Time Capsules had "a faulty capacitor" and it affected a bunch but "not a whole lot" of them...also said it won't happen with the replacement.
I guess time will tell, since this seems contrary to what I've read.
Anyway I'm happy for now and relieved that in the meantime while waiting I can keep my wireless going with my humble Airport Express.
---Norm

same problem as everyone else. took it to the apple store, they had me call apple customer service. even thought out of warranty they authorized a replacement. clearly, apple must be aware of this problem and now has a policy to make an exception to their warranty in this case. thanks to those who set up the time capsule memorial register (http://timecapsuledead.org/), you appear to have made a difference and saved a lot of us a $500 loss.

Had the 500 GB Time Capsule bought in March 2008. It just died as described here and on other message boards (no LED light on, no wireless signal emitted, once in a while when you plug it in, the amber light comes on for about 10 seconds then it dies again). The store Genius Bar was totally hostile since it was past the 1 year warrranty. Said that all of the posts/articles online that I showed them about this were "only a handful of the products sold" and that the people that said they were able get replacements even after the 1 year warranty "don't speak for Apple." However, they said that I could call 800-APL-CARE to see what happens. Just called them and they said that they would ship me a new one after I described the problem in 2 sentences. Really helpful. I'm happy because I was really feeling burned after paying $300 for a wireless router that doesn't work 18 months out (any $30 Cisco one goes for years). But given their help with this, I won't hesitate to continue to pay up for their newest gadgets when they first come out as I have had excellent experiences buying the iPod 1G, iPhone 3G, and Time Campsule (when it worked) when they first came out.

I called Apple support a second time, armed with this information. But, before I could get into it, he said they would replace it for free, and they knew it was an issue.

So, keep calling till you get someone who knows what they're doing.

It stinks that the Power Supplies were defective, but Apple is trying to do right, so I appreciate that.

Russ

I went to the local Genius bar last night. At first he just said "sorry, it's out of warranty". After I said that I had an iMac still under warranty (no AppleCare though) and that lots of Time Capsules were dying from heat after 18 months, he went to talk to supervisor to see what could be done. Surprisingly, he came back and said they would replace it free of charge. I'm not sure what criteria they used for making the decision, for all I know they might have done it because I've bought a lot of Apple stuff in the past.

They didn't have any replacements in stock, so he gave me a print-out authorising the replacement, which I have to bring back when stock comes in. I'll try to hang on to the old unit, so I can rip out the hard drive and get the data off it, but I don't know yet if they'll allow that. I'm not going to open the broken unit before I get the replacement though. Luckily there isn't anything critical on it.

Overall I can't complain. It's bad that Time Capsules have this design flaw, but I'm getting a brand new unit to replace the failed one. Hopefully it won't die after 18 months, because I doubt I'll get another free replacement.

My TC died last Thursday night, Dec. 17th. It just wouldn't power on again. I tried to call Apple, but was five minutes too late. I did some research and found that TC's have been dying after 18 months.

My nearest Apple store is Indianapolis and that's 2 hours away so I don't typically take my problems there.

I called Apple the next day (Friday) and they said it was out of warranty (purchased March 2008) but fortunately I knew that it should be covered under the AppleCare agreements of both my MacBook Pro and my wife's iMac (bought this year).

I told the support rep I knew these things were dying because of heat, bad design, etc. and that my AppleCare agreement should cover getting it replaced. He started to lodge the ticket for replacement but then I told him I would like to extract the data from the hard drive because it had some data on it that was nowhere else (another story which I won't go into). He said that they don't usually allow that, and it would require special permission which he would have to get from another department and that this would likely not be forthcoming before Monday 21st.

On Monday at 5:45 p.m. the guy returned my call and said I could keep my old Time Capsule, remove the hard drive, and do whatever with it. He also said that they would ship out a replacement but due to the upcoming holiday, it probably wouldn't be here any time soon.

Yesterday, Tuesday 22nd, at 2:00 p.m. the replacement Time Capsule arrived by FedEx Overnight Priority.

Monday night I removed the hard drive from the Time Capsule and put it in my Mac Pro and copied all the data off it. I'll keep it in the Mac Pro for extra storage.

When the replacement TC came, I plugged it in, went through the setup wizard, and had everything up and running as before in less than 5 minutes.

Hi Dutch1171

Take the TC to your local electronics repairer. They can simply change the caps in the power supply for you.. info here.

http://sites.google.com/site/lapastenague/a-deconstruction-of-routers-and-modems /apple-time-capsule-repair/apple-time-capsule-repair-type2

But there are other methods of repair available.

Even an external computer power supply will work..

At least malaysia still has some repairers, yang sangat pandai membaiki barang serperti itu.. Lama tidak menguna BM.. maaf kalau ada salah.. .

Cheers

Hi JDL

It was a pity you didn't power it down and start up again in the store.. I am pretty sure it would have failed there. In fact the genius, if he was worthy of the name would have done so... but I guess if the problem walks out the door all good.

The new Delta made power supplies when they go bad certainly behave differently to the older flextronics ones.. and in fact what you describe is exactly how a dead one in the UK mentioned in these forums went.. but it was already 18 months old.. not new-refurbished..

Either make another appointment or ring up applecare.. this time allow it a minute or two to warm up.. then unplug and replug.. it will fail to restart once warm.. power supply is faulty.. !!

Hi there,

although I am no Apple Computer user I have used my TC since March 2008.
The power supply died one week ago and while googling around I have found several victims like me.
Bur I have some good news, especially for those who bought their TC in the German Apple Store.
Today I have had a very nice phone call with a young lady from Apple Support and she approved that this is an known error.
I only had to give her the serial of my component
Next week I will get a replacement of my dead TC.
I think that it is woth a try to contact apple support.
That may save money.
I hope that the next power supply will not again loose it's life in the heat

Good luck to all TC owners

Helge

Just a follow up... to my case reported yesterday

I took my DEAD time capsule into the local Apple Store. Explained to the sales person that I was looking for an "out of the box" response from Apple not the usual legal diatribe. Indeed I got one that was satisfactory. Despite the fact that my Time capsule was out of warranty, the Store manager, took the dead time capsule back and replaced with New timecapsule. Got a new receipt on the item.

I did not need to use my Apple care plan which I purchased on my macbook pro. It turns out that Apple is aware of this problem but, the official line is that it is not widespread.

So if there is an Apple Store close to where you live, go there first and talk to a person face to face.

Also, for those of you that have an apple care plan on a recently purchased computer, it will apparently cover (per the posted policy on the Apple site) your time capsule so long as it was purchased no more than 2 years before the start date of the plan.

Good Luck.

I can confirm another dead time capsule. My 500Gb was purchased at the end of March, 2008 for $299. I had purchased my first mac just a couple months earlier. The death certificate for the TC is January 20, 2010. I was using it as a network extender in its "golden years, I mean MONTHS". That evening I noticed my network was not picking up the computers upstairs. Went up and saw that the light was off completely. Unplugged it, and plugged it back in... no luck. I then read this forum and saw the dead time capsule registry. After following the steps to secure my data as outlined on the registry, I made my appointment at the Genius Bar.

Today, I stopped by for the appointment and stated the following:
1) Time Capsule purchased March 2008, out of warranty now.
2) Read on the apple website forums about this problem with TC's from that era and that Apple is now realizing there was a design flaw.
3) People are bringing them in to get replaced due to this flaw.

The Genius scanned my box (still had that as well as the receipt, but he never even glanced at it). He typed away for a while... never said a word... went into the back and came with a brown box. He opened it... took out just a TC and gave it to me, taking my TC and putting it in the same box. It didn't have a cord (I still had mine in the original box). He had me sign some papers... said that Apple has not recognized a problem... told me my TC was 2 years old and that the replacement has a 90 day warranty.

It was dead-simple... he was neither friendly nor unfriendly... very matter-of-fact actually. I definitely appreciate not getting any static over this because once I saw the $299 plus tax on my old receipt and then realized my slightly older macbook as the "backup device" for this doorstop... I got really upset and was ready to fight for a while. This will keep me buying Apple.

The replacement TC is a 500Gb dual-band model (so that part is an upgrade).

I actually am going to just sell it to be honest... can't really trust it and would rather go another route with my macs for backup. Besides, I already had to buy a D-link gigabit switch just to keep that end of my network humming. I like the concept, but I could tolerate some noise from a fan and a power brick if it means this thing lasts for 5+ years. Also, it could stand to have a few more dedicated USB or a FW800 or better yet...eSATA! Also at least one more ethernet port.



It does seem like Apple is doing right by people now...

Message was edited by: dailydisco

I had the same experience with Apple Support as IthacaRonD.

My TC failed earlier this month. I've spent the last few weekends using online info to (safely) remove the HD and move the data to a replacement external drive.

I just called Apple Support. The tech asked for the serial number of the device in question, looked it up and said, "What's wrong with your Time Capsule?"

I told him the power had failed exactly as described by the Apple Discussion Thread titled "Time Capsule Powered Off, Won't Power Back on Help!" and he immediately replied that they'd send me a replacement. No other questions about the circumstances, or any troubleshooting related questions.

He took down a CC number to insure I'd send back the broken device, verified the address and said it'd be here in a few days. I asked him if was a new one in the box or refurbished and he said refurbished, no sealed in a box, no box at all except the delivery box I'd be reusing to return the dead TC in.

So it seems like the tide is turning and they are replacing dead TCs, no questions asked. My only decision now is to list it on ebay with a reserve price or not.

Yes I purchased mine in Aug. of '08. Crapped out on Saturday...

Took it to my Apple store and they told me - to coin a phrase - SOL... They'd be more than willing to sell me another one though... I asked if they could contact Apple on my behalf or look into any warranties that are now offered. They said NOPE, there are none.

Came home called Apple and guess what? I didn't even get the chance to tell my full tail of woe and they are shipping a replacement to my door in 2 days. All they ask is the old unit back. Send it in the same box the new one comes in and postage is paid.

They have restored my faith in Apple.

rdalem wrote:
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.

In Europe you have 10 days to return the broken unit to Apple