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I have tried a soft reset, a hard rest and a factory reset with no luck on either. When I do the factory reset, the green light comes on for 1 second when I connect the power but immediately goes to amber again. Any suggestions?
Mass-Storage Management Software
Hi. Thanks for your reply.
Please read my response to Bob too. I started the back up about 1 hour ago and it is STILL "preparing the back up". Perhaps in my resetting yesterday, I have deleted the previous backup so it's starting all over again. I'll leave it running and wait and see.
From your comments, it looks like it is a Gen4 then. I've had it about 4 - 5 years and it was given to me by a friend who had upgraded. So probably 7 or 8 years old I suspect. It has worked flawlessly until now.
Which model TC is it?? This is very typical of Gen4. ie A1409 last of the pizza box shaped ones.
If it is a gen5 then it indicates a dead hard drive .. more than likely.
Tell us which model you have.. fix for the Gen4 is fairly simple.. Fix for the Gen5 is much much more difficult and probably not worth the effort. Earlier models than Gen4 are probably too old to be worth the effort to fix.. but the constant amber LED indicates a dead hard disk normally.
How old is it?
Is your Time Capsule "tall" shaped.....like a "tower"? Or, is it "flat" or "square" shaped.....like a small white pizza box with rounded corners?
If it is "flat" or "square" shaped......look on the bottom of the device for the model number. It might be embedded in the foam pad base. The model number starts with an "A" followed by 4 numbers. Post back with that information, please. (We do NOT need a serial number).
We ask for this information because different versions of the Time Capsule tend to fail in different ways, so we may.....or may not....be able to provide you some options on possible repairs.
Hi Bob
Thanks for your reply. It's flat like a small pizza box. The number is A1409.
I left it unplugged overnight and tried to plug it in again this morning and the green light showed up! Not sure what that means about the fault yesterday. I'm just starting a backup now to see if it's working. Perhaps it's fixed or perhaps it's an intermittent fault. Looking forward to your further response.
Tim
Actually, there are several things of concern about your Time Capsule.
The A1409 vision was introduced in June 2009 and discontinued in June 2011, so your Time Capsule is at minimum about 8 years old and as much as almost 10 depending on when the product was placed into service.
The average useful life of this version of the Time Capsule was about 4-5 years, so you have had very good luck with your product. But.....you would not want to continue to keep any data on the Time Capsule drive that you cannot afford to lose because the hard drive is frankly going to fail soon, and may already be failing based on the solid amber light report, which is the usual symptom of a drive that is beginning to fail.
Likewise, the power supply and other components have already started to head downhill. A solid amber light can also be a sign of an internal power supply that is on the verge.
There is another particular issue with the A1409, and that is the main circuit board was prone to poor solder connections. So, as the Time Capsule heats up and a tiny solder connection expands, things can act up, and the same solid amber light will appear. After the Time Capsule cools off, things may work OK for awhile, but the problem will usually surface again.
It is possible to open up the Time Capsule, pull out the main board and "oven bake" the board to reflow the solder connections......a procedure that LaPastenague is an expert on......so you might want to wait for more details from him.
Unfortunately, even if the issue is the circuit board solder connections, the hard drive is still overdue to fail. So, if you decide to "oven bake' the board, it would also make sense to replace the hard drive as well.
If it were me, I would not perform this type of major work on an 8-10 year old product, and simply retire the Time Capsule. As long as it is working, and you value the data on the Time Capsule hard drive, you can copy all of the data on the Time Capsule drive over to another USB drive for safekeeping.
The info for oven baking the Time Capsule board is here.
I like the design a lot more than the Gen5 in that it is really rugged and easy to pull apart.. but I also agree with Bob.. they are definitely already beyond their normal lifespan. I still have one Gen4 which I bought very cheaply from eBay just to have a replacement for a Gen5 which has been very poor... but Apple have not done some important firmware updates.. like SMB2 or SMB3 so it is really only suitable for people with older equipment. I am sure I can keep it running but I would recommend a router like synology with USB drive or move onto a proper NAS (again Synology).
My Time Capsule has the amber light on constantly and is not responding.
