Level 1

6 points

Time Capsule Powered Off, Won't Power Back On

My Time Capsule was running just fine, then spontaneously just powered off by itself. All the other devices in the power strip were fine and I tried switching outlets, plugging it directly into the wall, and unplugging the TC and plugging the power cord back in. The network port lights in the back are out and the light on the front is dark. However, when I first plugged the cable back into the TC, the network lights came on for a split second. I'm guessing that there's a power connection fried (because if it were a power supply failure the lights would not have blinked on at all).

Any suggestions? Thanks!

iMac G5, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Aug 27, 2009 8:58 AM

Top-ranking reply

LaPastenague

Level 9

67,322 points

Posted on Jul 5, 2010 1:14 PM

Basmar wrote:
Well you can add me to the list of ever growing users that are having the PS problems with their TC!!! I'm going to hit up Apple and see what they will do for me... Replacement would be great, but I'm not holding my breath

Unfortunately in Australia, Apple doesn't have the enlightened policies they do in Euro and USA.. here they just put their fingers in their ears and sing ting-a-ling-a loo!! But if you have AppleCare on any current product then they should replace it.. otherwise talk to a repairer.. see the list.

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

I have done about 50 all up now.. !!

View in context

1,343 replies

Mar 4, 2012 2:26 PM in response to smanders

Hello smanders,

You describe the death throes of a PSU. It has been too hot for too long. The TC is repairable and it is more than 99% certain the hard drive and all your data will be perfectly OK and intact.

Apple have opted to not repair the TC, they may offer to sell a refurbished unit at a high % of the new price.

The amateur support community, on the other hand, have a whole seemingly worldwide network of repairers.

Ray Haverfield from Australia lists a group that can be seen here...

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

Hope this helps? Sorry you're not happy... :-(

Cheers,

Chris Fackrell,

YORK, UK.

Mar 4, 2012 2:38 PM in response to JohnFierro

Hello JohnFierro,

You too describe 'classic' symptoms, which sadly is the lot of the TC owner. These symptoms would indicate like 100x of TCs before yours, that the PSU has cooked in its own heat. The internal capacitors have dried out and the PSU effectively goes into shutdown.

As mentioned above, it is also more than just highly likely that the hard drive will be undamaged and still containing all the valuable data. Statistics are a wonderful thing and more than 99% of the damaged TCs seen by me, so far, have been repairable. With modification they also never run hot again and so far (again) have been utterly reliable more than two years down the line.

Ray Haverfield's list is a very good starting point for finding a member of from the keen amateur support groups that have sprung up to fill the vacuum left by Apple's desire to not support the TC beyond its first year or so.

See that list here...

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

Cheers,

Chris Fackrell,

YORK, UK.

May 7, 2012 1:31 PM in response to CPTApple

CPTApple wrote:

.5 TB Time Capsule just died, SN 6F914S1R2UJ. I am seriously disappointed. With research this appears to be a manufacturers defect. When I put my TC in place it has not moved, temperature and humidity completely controlled. I just can't believe it. Apple needs to man up here.

Since they have produced 4 generations of the product and still haven't done the most basic alteration to the cooling.. ie turn the fan on, they clearly don't believe lifespan is bad enough to warrant a major redesign.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4577/airport-extreme-5th-gen-and-time-capsule-4th- gen-review-faster-wifi-/4

This review of the Gen4 TC proved to have one major mistake. The stuff about the fan turning on is completely untrue. The fan spins up during power on for 10sec and never turns on again. Without fan on and some temperature control the TC exceeds the manufacturers recommended max running temperature for the power supply.

A 500GB TC is at least 3 years old though.. basically all soho computer equipment seems to be built for that sort of lifespan.. either replace it or modify it.. the TC is reasonably easy to fix.. the design just needs more cooling.. or an external power supply.

If you have basic handiman skills you can easily use an external power supply.

I have given several methods here.

https://sites.google.com/site/lapastenague/a-deconstruction-of-routers-and-modem s/apple-time-capsule-repair

Sep 2, 2012 10:29 AM in response to houying83

Hello houying83,

In my opinion the TC is worth getting fixed. This is by far the least expensive solution to getting a networked backup and printer port. It looks neat too.

The design flaw is well documented in this forum (probably by me - I do go on) or certainly by Ray Haverfield.

I have no idea where in the world you are (probably UK, as you mention £200) but Ray's list of repairers will give you a start.

See it here.

I'm on that list, so I can only really say that out of more than 340x TC repairs (All Generations) that I have worked on, NONE have failed afterwards because of overheating, which is the primary reason for yours failing. I have also had NO hard drives that have failed.

This leads me to believe that the PSU cooking in its own heat, makes TCs die.

There are two schools of thought on the way to avoid this heat.

1. Modify the case so the internal fan blows through the (repaired) PSU.

2. Move the PSU to outside the case.

I have tried both and came down in favour of the modified TC case. Lots of others favour the external PSU.

Both are effective and both work well.

I guarantee what I do for one whole year. Only one unit has failed but that was because of a lightning strike which blew up the PSU! Even then I repaired at no cost to the owner. A 'Fix and Modify' is £95.

Probably all the people on Ray's list, do this to help fellow Apple users from the awful vacuum left when Apple deem a perfectly good product to be 'beyond repair'.

A repair is a very sensible way to make what was a hot, potential white door-stop, into a functioning and (if cooled) reliable TC.

An Airport Extreme will take an external drive and you can use one in a similr way to a TC, you just have more wires and plugs trailing around.

Kind regards,

Chris Fackrell (freddietheone), YORK, UK

May 16, 2013 5:10 PM in response to chake2

it will not last very long.. the power supply will continue to get worse until it doesn't work at all.

They sell replacement power supplies on ebay.. from HK or China, although they may not sell internally in China.. They are $50US aprox and you are the better Delta brand supplies.. Grab one and you can put a larger drive back into your TC.

And I have added the page on the fan mod that I posted earlier above.

https://sites.google.com/site/lapastenague/a-deconstruction-of-routers-and-modem s/apple-time-capsule-repair/apple-time-capsule-fan-mod

This will keep it from dying again fairly quickly which they seem to do.

Oct 2, 2013 1:58 PM in response to smeelytoes

Apple do not help .. they will replace TC under warranty.. but yours is over 3years.. they will never help recover files.

You should never use the TC to store files btw.. for just this reason.. it is a sealed unit and apple will do nothing.

But of course you can unseal it.. remove the hard disk and put it in a holder with USB and plug it into your computer.. as long as the failure is not the hard disk .. and a 3year old will be Gen3 most likely and it could have a bad disk.. !!

To get the disk out neatly.. see http://www.ifixit.com/Device/Apple_Time_Capsule

It is not hard.

Repair of the Gen3 TC is a bit tricky.. I can fix them in Australia and Chris fixes them in the UK but I am waiting to get someone in the US. The Gen3 power supply is likely ok but the board has faulty capacitors.

You can see the info here for what goes wrong.

https://sites.google.com/site/lapastenague/a-deconstruction-of-routers-and-modem s/apple-time-capsule-repair/new-issue-with-a1355-gen-3-tc

If it is a very early Gen4 A1409 then it is probably a similar fault but none have got into my hands yet.. but I think yours will be Gen3.

iFeghali

Level 1

14 points

May 25, 2014 3:33 PM in response to LaPastenague

Thank you for your encouragement, I have replaced the faulty power supply, installed a brand new WD green drive and improved the cooling mechanism. I didn't change the control wire though. Instead, I have placed the temperature sensor in a heat sink inside the power supply... It made the fan work more frequently and keep the power supply cooler.

Everything is documented here:

http://ifeghali.blogspot.com/2014/05/how-to-bring-your-time-capsule-back-to.html

It's in Brazilian Portuguese but the pictures say it all.

May 15, 2015 2:14 PM in response to Andrew Gillespie

Hello Andrew

Sadly your new TC is suffering from a dead power supply.. There is no repair. Yours will be the AC model and I have not had a chance to start repairing them yet.

At 6months old just ring apple support in your country and they will arrange for a replacement.

Mine died the first week I owned it.. The second one was fine though. There is a power supply problem.. I was itching so bad to open it and find out.. but really it is too expensive a unit to be playing with.. and forfeiting warranty.. just get apple to do their duty.

Ronniebel

Level 1

121 points

Apr 19, 2010 8:05 AM in response to elroySF

Mine did the same after 21 months. I called Apple and gave them the serial number and they replaced it for free. It was a batch of bad ones that they will replace if you call them.

Bob St

Level 1

8 points

Sep 1, 2009 9:35 AM in response to elroySF

I just thought I would add my response to this ever growing problem.
Everything with my Time Capsule was working fine until last night when my network went down as a result of my Time Capsule going dead. Exactly the same story as others in that I purchased it back in March 2008. It appears to be far more than coincidence that we are all having the same problem. Luckily I don't totally rely on my TC for keeping backups as I have other backups built into my network but I do use the modem capability to run my network. It will be interesting to see what Apple will do. I have bought a new one today but plan to keep the old one in case Apple decides to replace them. If it is due to substandard materials used hopefully they have found the problem and corrected it in the newer batches or we may all be back on this forum in 18 mos complaining of the same thing. Certainly doesn't help Apple's image regarding reliability and quality control.

Sep 5, 2009 9:54 AM in response to openarchitecture

A follow-up note.

Took my TC to the local Apple Store where they confirmed it was dead. I asked about it being covered under my multiple AppleCare contracts (multiple Macs - see below) and was told by a "Genius" that it had to be purchased with a computer which I had tried when I bought an iMac but the local store was out of TCs so had to order separately). This is wrong. The AppleCare contract clearly states that the TC only has to be used with a covered computer, and only monitors have to be purchased at the same time as the Mac to be covered. Instead of making a scene in the store I walked out and called AppleCare from outside the store and within 5 minutes had a replacement TC being shipped to my office free-of-charge. It arrived the next morning.

In my opinion, this is the way to go. Don't bother going to the store, just call AppleCare and get a replacement (and be sure to send the old one back or they will charge you the original purchase price!)...

Sep 9, 2009 4:52 PM in response to eflyer

+but then decided to try again since the room was now cooler and it started up and has been working since..+

Don't trust it... electronic components don't self repair.

Make sure anything important is removed and get ready to replace it if you have applecare... The very fact that it has failed indicates the capacitors are sitting on the edge... and just a bit more time will further increase their ESR to the point the power supply will be unable to work... you probably won't be able to restart it hot even now...

< Edited by Host >

Sep 20, 2009 8:48 PM in response to elroySF

Well, add me too. Today, my ~March 2008 500g TC died. The unit no longer powers up, and I do not see my wireless network. After the unit has been unplugged for a while and I plug it in, I see the green led flash for about 1/2 second. I think this means I have the bad caps and will attempt the repair type 2 detailed here

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

Apple, Apple, Apple, you are testing my patience between this and the Google Voice iPhone App.

Sep 23, 2009 7:25 AM in response to Nightie

Same story for me, too... 17 months and TC is dead, PSU dead. I'm an electronician, so I opened the box to be sure. The PSU is a cheap peace of chinese crap, that didn't withstand the temp inside... some caps are dead, but almost impossible to replace because components are sunk in some sort of rubber.

But no PSU can be ordered, nor at Apple, nor anywhere else... although it would take 2' to replace.

This is total scandal, for a company which talks about 'Green' IT... so when your TC's PSU is dead, throw the whole away, although board and disk are OK, ridiculous !!!

Furthermore, Apple says we should use the TC for backups... so, when the TC PSU is dead, the data is gone, too ?? Or what is Apple's plan at that point ?? There's no official way to get back to your data... that's completely unacceptable !!!!

This has been my last TC ever !!! This box is crap !

Sep 25, 2009 9:29 AM in response to elroySF

+1... 19 months, no power, on the flipside let me just say, that

APPLE CUSTOMER CARE IS INCREDIBLE!

i think threads like this are getting through, somebody is aware of the problem

Went to the Apple Store on 14th St in NYC for a walk-in appointment (at 9am...right when they open). They had me fill in the serial number, some contact info, and got me in to the genius bar in about 3 minutes. I put the TC on the counter, and told them that it suddenly lost power, and wouldn't turn on. I also said, there are 2 threads with about 30,000 hits in the support discussions with people with the same problem, and that it's a power supply failure (that appears to be VERY common).

the delightful woman asked if i used this TC with my other apple products. I said yes, i used it with the laptop that happened to be in my bag that had APPLECARE.

She typed for about a minute, asked me to hold on another minute while she went in the back.

She returned with a replacement unit, said she talked to her manager, and he said to just replace it.

I have a new (refurb rox0r!) TC. I signed a sheet of paper, and was out in --not kidding--11 minutes flat.

Interesting tidbit:

she didn't even look at my TC. i put it on the table, told her what was wrong, and she took it as a given. no power tests, no monkey business. as if they're now expecting it. pulled the refurb out of a box, and put mine back into the same box...as tho mine were going straight where that one had come from.

Also, on my way out, i picked up a usb bus powered laptop fan that i plan on running under the TC. Hopefully this will drop the operating temperature 10-20 Degrees so i can get 2-3 times more life out of the power supply. any thoughts?

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Time Capsule Powered Off, Won't Power Back On