Time Capsule Powered Off, Won't Power Back On

For what it's worth, if you end up keeping the old TC for whatever reason, and want to undertake a project, an old Mac LC's power supply will run it just fine. It's sort of a Frankenberry project. The upshot is than mine works fine now, and has for almost a month. If anyone would like to see some directions and pix of the finished product, let me know and I'll send it to you.

Ninety day warranty means that the TC is a refurbished model which means that nothing has been done to the design. The PSU is still an UNCOOLED hot brick and chances are even money that it will die of heat stroke within the same period.

Best not to trust any irreplaceable files on there unless you are willing to open it up later and extract the HD to an external case.

I, for one, would be interested in seeing pix of your solution. I have been repairing these as a service to forum users by installing an external Cisco "wall wart" supply via a Molex connector.

You can find my email under Ray's list of repairers (mentioned a page or two back).
http://sites.google.com/site/lapastenague/a-deconstruction-of-routers-and-modems /apple-time-capsule-repairers

Dale

Hello to everybody. I have exactly the same problem with my TC. After 20 months of working is dead. If TC is for backup should work a little bit longer than 2 years. Do you know, is there any answer of Apple in order to this problem??????

januszkawa wrote:
Hello to everybody. I have exactly the same problem with my TC. After 20 months of working is dead. If TC is for backup should work a little bit longer than 2 years. Do you know, is there any answer of Apple in order to this problem??????

I don't believe Apple has owned up to any issues with the previous model TC but have stated the new one is not going to fail like series 1 did because it is better.. trust us.. we have only your best interests at heart.. cough, gollum, gollum, cough!!

Chris in the UK did an infrared camera view of the new TC vs the old one.. and it runs about 2deg cooler.. it probably will last a bit longer.. but is still a bad design.. it runs too hot.. it has no access to the drive.. no possibility to mirror the drive... no way to recover data if it goes wrong (well not officially).. as a backup device it is a dismal failure. And IMHO continues to be over expensive and how do you backup to an unreliable device. When it hits 2years do you go out and buy a new one.. before failure.. or after it??

Buy a real NAS.. one that has cooling, a power supply that is external hence replaceable.. a hdd that is accessible and hence replaceable.
If you want wireless router get AEBS.. you can plug a usb hard drive into it.. but it ain't fast.. ok for wireless backup.. but real NAS is much faster than TC over gigabit connection.. I think the TC uses a USB to SATA converter internally instead of ethernet direct to SATA.

well my 500GB time capsule died on wednesday evening 😟 rang apple yesterday, gave them the serial number and a replacement has just been delivered 🙂

what's even better is that they sent me a 1TB one - well played apple, well played!

my 500Gb Time Capsule died after about 18 months continuous (and flawless) use the other week.

After a bit of deliberation, I decided to cut my losses (it's an unreliable means for backup using it's current design) and remove the internal HDD and put it into a Drobo storage system. I don't think I'd have spelt too well, knowing that if I'd been using an apple replacement, it could fail (again) at any time.

IMHO you make backups of data that you don't want to lose (otherwise, what's the point in making a backup, right ?). Apple have failed with their solution to this, so far.

I'm sending the remains of my non-working TC (minus the hard drive.. so my TC "lives on" within my Drobo 🙂 ) to Chris @ York .. he will have far more use for it than I.. I hate to see what is otherwise perfectly good hardware going to waste 🙂

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

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.. !!

This has just happened to me, Time Capsule just died - no power yet all my Mac is working and scanner which runs of the same power thread.

Help!!!!

Hello awhite6000,

You may have had your TC for between 1 and 2 years, possibly slightly longer? Is it a 500GB or 1TB unit, that used to run 'hot' to the touch?

If yes, to these two questions, it is highly likely (>95%) that the power supply unit (PSU) has cooked itself to death. The PSU stops supplying power and the whole TC dies. Again, it is highly likely that the data stored away on the internal hard drive, is perfectly OK. It is merely physically isolated and sealed away in a dead box. This happens to lots and lots and LOTS of people - almost everyone who visits this thread and one other on these Apple forums.

Options open to you are:

1. Sweet talk Apple into swapping this unit for a 'new' refurbished unit.
2. Loudly harangue Apple for producing a 'server grade' back-up device that has singularly failed to do what it was designed to do. It is not 'fit for purpose' and should be exchanged forthwith for a 'new' refurbished unit.
3. Do not approach Apple. Extract the hard drive and put it into something like a DROBO case and use it that way. Find some other way of wifi linking your computers though.
4. Get the unit 'repaired' by one of the people on this list, kindly compiled by Ray Haverfield (Melbourne, Oz. All round good guy).

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

5. Do it yourself, using Ray's help, etc.
6. Don't give up!

NOTE: Points 1 and 2 above have the same outcome but one might involve raised voices and unpleasantness. 😉

You are following the path that so many before you have trodden. Welcome to the club! 🙂

Regards,
Chris Fackrell
YORK,
UK.

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 people,

I'm so sorry if my irony and possible sarcasm is interpreted as the method by which progress should be made. I did put in an ironic comment and note about the same. Maybe that was not noted?

Dale Mosher has a really good idea for a 'repair kit' and that will get you up and running. Fitting an external supply is the option also favoured by Ray Haverfield in Australia. External supplies have many technical benefits that make for an easier 'conversion' to the existing TC. The PSU, which is the greatest heat source, is moved outside the TC case and into a product designed to work without a fan.

Personally I favour a modified Apple TC case, where the internal fan is put to good use for the first time. The case size and looks are maintained but above all the temperature is lowered considerably and TC life extended to the expected 'years of service'.

The 'trade-off' with these two methods of making your TC have a long life are simple. The internal supply and fan modification take an inordinate amount of time for me to do - typically about 4 to 5 hours. I have found no way to make short cuts into the work done... and to maintain my perfectionist standards! I suppose I simply undervalue my time... which from a business point of view does not make me any money. 😟

The upside is, I actually enjoy doing the work and being neat and tidy with the finished result. Providing a 'service' to fellow Apple users has allowed me to meet some really bright and amazing people, who seem genuinely to enjoy my repair and modification work, and their TCs brought back from the dead!

Dale, Ray and I communicate by email and have each compared notes on what we do and what we can offer. We have all been helpful-critical with each other's methods and even passed bits and pieces to each other to help with repairs, at no cost. No one gets rich fixing Time Capsules, that's for sure!

Don't harangue Apple. The kind people who answer the 'phone, as has been said, did not have a hand in the design of the TC and its inherent flaws. Speak to them as you would like to be spoken to, that always works best! 🙂

Now... 3x new TCs have arrived this morning for repair and upgrade to 2TB... I have the forge up and running, the anvil wiped down with an oily rag and I've polished up my very best hammer... Let battle commence!! 🙂 *PLEASE NOTE: This is humour, +I do not have a forge and anvil!+ I do though have a nice shiny hammer! Mwhahaha!

*Mad-scientist mad-laugh, borrowed from Hollywood B-Movies, with thanks.

Kindest regards, fellow Apple users, take care (please)...
Chris Fackrell,
YORK,
UK.

I enjoy each and every post from you which has lot of sense in a nice envelope of humor and wit, sparkling wit.

It was just that the poster was new to the forums and maybe he did not read all of your posts to be really familiar so thought to just add a word of caution. In no way was disparaging even a word of your post and the emotinotes. (heh, new word!)

I have had the chance to get a dead TC in my part of the world. The customer simply took out the HD and left it with the service repair center and I had told the service repair person to alert me if he gets a dead TC to give away. He just did and now going to do the thing. The PSU was uncovered, but does not seem that any tinkering was done with the circuit board.

Also, I have had the chance to closely look at the design and having followed the posts; I might have a small, very small, opinion on the 'venting'. 😉

This is only my theory. Please understand.

From what I can see the fan seems to be a centrifugal type fan, that it ***** air from its center and throws it out from the periphery. What good is that, one might ask, if the 'thrown' air gets nowhere.

However, I noticed that the rubber boot does not completely cover the oval holes along the side of the aluminum bottom. So there is an airflow possible, at least in theory. Okay, it may be 50% or less than designed, but it is there, it is not 0%.

That said, would like to reiterate that it does not in any way counter your premise that in the sum, the PSU generates more heat than is dissipated, and the bottom line is a cooked PSU. There is no escaping that fact as you have pointed out over and over in the forums.

Perhaps it was bad batch of electronics, that does not match up to the venting provided. Maybe? I don't know. I am only a ship designer and not electronics person to comment on that aspect.

I have seen the excellent infra red pictures you posted. They prove beyond doubt the bad heat concentrations. But just an idea, if you could place a working TC on a raised pedestal smaller than the boot, and take an infrared shot from UNDER the TC, would it show red clouds coming out?

I could be completely off track if the fan is not what I think it is.

Hello Meherally,

I was not even thinking about a suggestion of an opinion that you might have in anyway been getting at me! :-D I don't think I'm that precious!

You are quite correct however, that 'awhite' may have missed my twitish (new word?) humour.

The parser that edits the words on here will not allow fans to S U C K air in at all. They can only ever ** air in. (See what I mean?). I love your idea of 'thrown air' - what a visual concept that makes.

Sadly the venting around the edges of the TC case, simply cannot be useful to a driven fan. The air will merely circulate around inside the case and mostly just around the fan itself.

I have added a teccy page to the website, which should explain all, or most. Sadly it will not prevent global warming, economic strife or even Apple ever altering the design of the TC! You gotta love 'em!

http://www.fackrell.me.uk/page2/page7/page7.html

Regards,
Chris Fackrell,
York,
UK