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As stated above, the posted instructions (unplug, press and hold re-set button while plugging into power and hold button for 6+ seconds) do not work. The message is a "there is an error...."
Nice work.
I suggested the method that I posted above because it takes the reset button out of the equation. It is quite tricky for most users to first hold in the reset button and keep holding it in while you plug the power cord back into the Time Capsule.......because you almost need 3 hands to do this.
Instead, it takes a few mouse clicks to get the Time Capsule reset back to default settings, but everything is done via software......there are no hardware buttons to mess with while you are trying to do one thing while doing another.
Nice work.
I suggested the method that I posted above because it takes the reset button out of the equation. It is quite tricky for most users to first hold in the reset button and keep holding it in while you plug the power cord back into the Time Capsule.......because you almost need 3 hands to do this.
Instead, it takes a few mouse clicks to get the Time Capsule reset back to default settings, but everything is done via software......there are no hardware buttons to mess with while you are trying to do one thing while doing another.
One does the following:
Power off the AirPort Time Capsule
Restart your Mac
Power up the AirPort Time Capsule again and let it run for a minute or more
Open AirPort Utility on your Mac (Finder > Applications > Utilities > AirPort Utility)
Click on the AirPort Time Capsule to select it
Click Edit in the smaller window that appears
Click the Base Station menu.....up where you see the other menus like File, Edit, Help, etc
Click on Restore Default Settings
If an error message continues to appear after several attempts, the AirPort Time Capsule is unfortunately defective.
With the AC Airport routers there is very little difference between a hard reset and factory reset. Maybe none. The earlier models had a system for holding multiple configurations. A hard reset would not remove those stored configurations where a factory reset would. That option was removed from later versions of the Airport and does not exist in the v6 airport utility to use them.
Have you tried, with the TC up and running to just hold in the reset button.. be gentle.. you can feel it click.. and keep your eye on the main front LED which should begin flashing rapidly.. if that does not work then as Bob says something is faulty.
The message is a "there is an error...."
You could actually have been successful in the reset.. but the airport utility cannot find the reset TC due to your network configuration. The TC will go back to 10.0.1.1 home IP and if your TC is bridged and your computer is using ethernet or wireless from a different router it may not pick up the reset TC. In that case it is often better to use a computer with ethernet connection.. and the TC plugged directly to the computer.
In the airport utility you need to then swap to ethernet.
Here. A most unusual place to find the need to swap to ethernet I think you will agree.
Just a note to point out that even if the reset that you have tried previously is working correctly, the Time Capsule will not appear in AirPort Utility until it has been reconfigured again.
Might help to know what the exact text of the message that you are receiving might be.
Thanks for the helpful information. I followed the advice of powering off the Airport Time Capsule, letting it sit for 10+ minutes, then holding down the re-set button, while I plugged it in, and holding the reset button for 10 seconds.
Rather than use the Airport Utility on my MacBook Pro, I used the same utility on my iPhone X running iOS 14.0.1. Ultimately I was able to extend my existing base Airport Time Capsule network with another - one in the house and the other in the garage.
The above seemed to work, particularly since I exclusively used the Airport Utility on the iPhone X. I had been flipping back and forth between the MacBook Pro and my iPhone X. Also, I was going through these re-set routines multiple times with little break. Thus, I think that the setting for 10 minutes + was likely quite useful.
Thank you!
I posted the screen shot with the error message which I was getting.
I have a total of 3 devices where one is a main floor base, one is an extended in the basement and the other is an extended in the garage. The Main is connected via ethernet and the other two are connected via wifi. In my spare time, I am going to rewire for ethernet between the extended devices to preserve wifi bandwidth and capacity.
The most important points for me is allow extra time for power down and use one AirPort Utility to set up the entire network, avoid going back and forth between devices.
Your help and expertise are much appreciated.
How does one reset an Airport Time Capsule running 7.9.1 to factory settings?
