Time Capsule Powered Off, Won't Power Back On

ust thought I'd add that my replcement TC is still going strong after 2 years and a few months. My other TC (6/2009) still going strong. Just a bad batch in 2008?

Just got my TC back from repair and modification by Chris (www.fackrell.me.uk). He did a great job and now it's back to working as before (and a bit better due to the mod - runs way cooler). Here are some pics:

The new back with air intake and rubber feet

Fan air intake

Repaired Power Unit

Optimized Fan

Dead caps as a souvenir

I highly recommend the service if you wish to revive your dead TC. Great work and customer service.

Cheers!

Just wanted to add to the pile of folks who have had their Time Capsules die. My 500GB who I affectionately refer to as 6F82328PYZV died today. Same symptoms as others - turning itself off after a few seconds. Tried a reset with no result. I presume the power supply is the issue.

I live in Costa Rica and replacement is a non-trivial issue. Regrettably, all is ports were full with Vonage and home security gizmos. Fortunately, our house is full of steel and concrete - meaning that I have a host of Airports. I have moved things around to keep some continuity, but obviously no time capsule. Kind of a ******.

I am hopeful that I will not have anything else crash until I can replace the unit. I am presuming that somewhere in this forum there are instructions for recovering data from the HD.

That said, it is a warm and sunny day - but then most days are.

Pura vida,

Peter

After my 500GB TC died a couple of months ago, I replaced it with a 2TB model and put the old one back in the box. A few days ago, I pulled it back out and plugged it in to an Ethernet port on the new one, set it up without wireless under the setting "Disable wireless and connect to a computer or network using Ethernet" and it's now working fine simply as an external hard drive. Maybe the repetitive backups caused its early apparent demise? Regardless, I'm happy with the current setup. Hopefully, some of you can experience the same. Good luck.

The files on the hard disk are fine in 99.9% of cases.. it is indeed just a dead power supply if the power led never turns on or goes off after a few seconds. As in the post above showing Chris' work to repair it, the capacitors in the power supply need replacing. Google around because both Chris and I have posted instructions for people to do it themselves.

There are a number of choices as to repair.

But you can also just remove the hard disk and buy a usb holder, and plug it into a Mac and recover the files.

IMHO if you can repair the TC cheaply do so, it is still worth something second hand as a repaired item. As scrap it is not worth much.

I have given a stack of repair ideas here.

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

Some repairs are actually very simple if you are creative. Remember every computer in the world has a power supply, and those supplies are available cheap, and they have a heap of 4 pin molex connectors for hard disks unused. Any of them can supply 12v and 5v at sufficient current to power the TC. Use it as a temporary way to get access to the files, if nothing else.

my tc is probably 2008 vintage, just gave up the ghost tonight. following the google trail, sounds like you & chris are the experts by far. I have downloaded the repair instructions - frankly they look too much for me (although I'm tempted).

question - given the age of the TC is it worth doing the repair? has apple corrected the problme in new TCs?

is it straightforward to remove the HD from the TC & then connect to a mac?

thanks in advance for any info.

chuckiezip wrote:

my tc is probably 2008 vintage, just gave up the ghost tonight. following the google trail, sounds like you & chris are the experts by far. I have downloaded the repair instructions - frankly they look too much for me (although I'm tempted).

question - given the age of the TC is it worth doing the repair? has apple corrected the problme in new TCs?

is it straightforward to remove the HD from the TC & then connect to a mac?

thanks in advance for any info.

The latest TC are less prone to failure in the first 2-3years.. they do run substantially cooler. In fact it does sound like the gen 4 do actually run the fan.. in some controlled way when it gets hot, which the older series refused to do.

There is likely nothing wrong with the TC except the power supply. So repairing it makes it an item of some value. I would say that value closely matches the repair cost. In other words it will cost you as much to repair it as you can sell it for in working condition. But if you repair yourself the cost is not that high. They are worth less than half the repair cost if not working. So you will need to do the sums. The new ones are much better value than in the past.. they dropped the price of the 2TB gen 4 by $200 odd which was about huge reduction. So that can be good.

Removing the HD is easy .. there are plenty of sites about how to upgrade your TC hard disk. The main trick some of the sites leave out is to heat the rubber mat to almost hotter than you can touch .. heat gun or hair dryer on hottest setting.. heat for several minutes until uniformly hot.. then lift up one edge and pull it slowly, still heating from the corner you lift. Undo 10 small philips head screws.. don't lose them.. the hard disk can be removed after removing the plugs and the heat sensor.

Stick the hard disk in a Mac pro.. or connect in a USB to sata drive box. Copy the files off to some other storage,, then erase the drive. Put back in the TC and then you can sell it on ebay.

Adding our story to this seemingly never ending list. Our time capsule is maybe 12 to 18 months old, very light use. SN-6f 925#####, bought in late 2010, now DOA. Guess I'll keep researching and reading to find a remedy. The daunting task of due diligence and the leg work to be done with faulty equipment in order to get a working product should be considered when pricing this crap. I am an Apple lifer and even own a mountain of stock but this is beginning to get ridiculous. I know things break and nothing is intended to last forever but when so many units die In such a short period of time AND when the burden of "proof" lay othe back of the one who spent the money.... It's near impossible not to view the relationship as "punitive". Gonna start comparing this type of customer service with the Airlines!

I had the same problem, the posts on here are very useful re the issue, The product seems to burn out its power supply. I'm not sure what apple intended with the design of the heat disipation, possibly they felt it would convect through the plastic without the need for air circulation but it does seem that the bottom line is the earlier models are proving to have an unacceptable failure rate. As a note, I had mine sat on its side on a surface (the light faced forwards and was near the top) which would mean all the heat would gather and be focused on a small area at the top which might have made things worse but to be fait, there's nothing in the instructions which say you can't sit in on it side plus there is a wall mount bracket which would do the same. Anyway, like you I'm an Apple lifer but persisted with my complaint and in the end they replaced mine with a brand new full 12 G'tee 2 gig model. That said, I've not even opened the box as I'm still in 2 minds about using it and whilst my complaint was being dealt with I set up a lacie drive and separatre wifi which work fine and give me greater confidence. So my message to you is persist with your complaint.

Hello Stacyparrish,

All the TCs to date have a basic design flaw. They overheat. The flaw would cost too much money to design it out of the product, so Apple have 'beefed up' some aspects of the innards of the TC but not quite enough to make the product 'solid'.

To recap (I have done this before):

1. There is NO AIR INLET hole for the in-built fan.

2. The in-built FAN POINTS THE WRONG WAY.

3. Until the most recent model; the FAN IS NOT TURNED ON.

The fan now runs proportional to the internal temperature probe that is stuck onto the side of the internal hard drive. This is a seemingly sensible place to put the probe but the hard drive does not generate the bulk of the internal heat; the PSU does. On a warm day the internal temperature of some key components, in the PSU, goes beyond the recommended maximum.

The PSU has a plastic wrap to screen and insulate it from other components. It is open at both ends and air can be blown through it.

The fan, presently pointing the wrong way, can be made to blow air through the PSU case and when this is done the whole case temperature drops by some 10 to 11 degrees C. When this is done the excessive heat is removed and the whole TC settles into a reliable mode of operation.

Putting in a PSU, of different make that can withstand the high temperatures, stops the weakest link being the power supply. However, the 'fault' then moves to the next weakest link in the chain, probably the voltage regulators on the main board, which ar surface mounted and far more difficult to repair.

Putting in a 'Green Drive' that will take slightly less current and therefore produced slightly less heat build up merely forestalls the inevitable failure of the TC, because IT RUNS TOO HOT.

Ray Haverfield (Lapastenague) was at the vanguard of TC fault finding and prefers installing an external PSU. This has many technical advantages, not least removing at a stroke the major source of the damaging heat. He and many other 'fixers' prefer this option. See his wonderful site on:

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

I, on the other hand, created a far steeper and rocky path for myself by trying to fix 'the design' of the TC, which is where I am now. I have probably optimised the present set-up but need to work on the fan speed control rather than permanently at half speed.

I have asked Apple for comments on what I do, on this and via their feedback option. I have done this more than once.

A deafening silence so far.

Regards,

Chris

YORK, UK.

(www.fackrell.me.uk)

I have asked Apple for comments on what I do, on this and via their feedback option. I have done this more than once.

A deafening silence so far.

Regards,

Chris

YORK, UK.

(www.fackrell.me.uk)

Actually I think they finally accepted that the fan had to be turned on.. so even if it fails to draw in cool air and blows hot air over the wrong component.. hard disk not power supply.. they finally did what 3 generations of TC production failed to do (and every firmware update which could have also turned on the fan but didn't)

APPLE TURNED ON THE FAN!!

Yeah.. !!

Balloons, streamers.. !!

Hello Ray,

LOL :-)

Let us be thankful for small mercies. I like the balloons and streamers idea, is that perchance some new TC addition you are working on?! When things get too hot, the TC blows streamers all over the room?

Forget lights and beepers, that's my kind of early warning device! :-)

Cheers,

Chris

I like the balloons and streamers idea, is that perchance some new TC addition you are working on?! When things get too hot, the TC blows streamers all over the room?

Forget lights and beepers, that's my kind of early warning device! :-)

Cheers,

Chris

Hi Chris

White doves would be fantastic, but they leave a terrible mess so had to be realistic.

After 4 generations they finally turned on what could have saved them from day 1. At least from premature failure. If not fixed the underlying issue.

StingRay

Hi everybody...my TC 1TB of 30-oct-2010 died on 31-dec-2011...same problem of yours, green light off and no power.

I opened it but seem that supply is ok...but i'm not a technic...

How do you mean it seems alright.. did you open the covers and look at the capacitors?

Remove the hard disk power connector.. and try powering it again. If it can power up the board then plug in the hard disk.. What you find is the hard disk start current is too great for the power supply in poor condition. and it trips the supply.

Gen 3 have a new issue though. Something goes bad on the board and they will eventually power off.. different symptoms but same results.