7.6 firmware causing USB disc spin up/down?

Question

7.6 firmware causing USB disc spin up/down?

Hi

I have an Airport Extreme which has a USB disc and two printers hanging off it.

The Disc has two partitions, one of which is a Time Machine backup; the other has some shared files.

Time Machine causes the disc to spin up every hour, and sometimes when I use the Finder or an Open Dialogue, the disc will spin up to access the other partition. In either case the disc spins down after about 30 seconds of idle time.

Since installing 7.6 firmware, the USB disc spins up every couple of minutes, and as soon as the disc heads have loaded and the disc has finished rattling - perhaps 2 seconds after the whirring has reached running pitch - it spins back down.

I've done all the obvious - rebooted all the Macs sharing this disc, rebooted the Airport, powered down the disc and added it back in. All to no avail.

Does anyone else here see the same behaviour, or is this just a horrible coincidence occasioned by something else I may have changed?

Thanks!

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Nov 16, 2011 12:05 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

DESF

Level 1

5 points

Nov 16, 2011 4:19 PM in response to Derek Hasted1

Since installing 7.6 firmware, I am observing the same behavior on my Time Capsule.

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Answer 2

DESF

Level 1

5 points

Nov 17, 2011 11:34 AM in response to Derek Hasted1

AppleCare led me through the following steps, which solved the problem:

1. In Airport Utility, select the Time Capsule.

2. Select Manual Setup

3. File -> Export Configuration File -- save it somewhere

4. Base Station -> Restore Default Settings

5. Wait for it to restart with default settings

6. File -> Import Configuration File -- use previously saved file

7. Press the Update button

8. Wait for it to restart.

You may need to re-enter the various network passwords. Be sure to use the same ones as before, or you will have to change the password on all your computers and devices that access the Time Capsule / Base Station.

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Answer 3

goligo

Level 1

5 points

Nov 17, 2011 2:33 PM in response to Derek Hasted1

I have the same issue here. Since installing the 7.6 firmware the external USB drive of my Airport Extreme is spinning up and down like crazy, every 1 or 2 minutes. And for a very short time, just when finished spinning up, it spins down again. Very annoying and for sure not healthy for the drive either.

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Answer 4

etninc

Level 1

17 points

Nov 17, 2011 4:38 PM in response to Derek Hasted1

Same issue here, too. External drive powers up and down every couple of minutes. I also get a very brief (1 second) dialog that says "Server Connection Interrupted". I'm able to access the Time Capsule as normal and the light stays green. Bus, as goligo says, above, this can't be good for the disk.

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Answer 5

Nov 18, 2011 2:46 PM in response to DESF

DESF wrote...

AppleCare led me through the following steps, which solved the problem:

1. In Airport Utility, select the Time Capsule.

2. Select Manual Setup

3. File -> Export Configuration File -- save it somewhere

4. Base Station -> Restore Default Settings

5. Wait for it to restart with default settings

6. File -> Import Configuration File -- use previously saved file

7. Press the Update button

8. Wait for it to restart.

I tried that, and I discovered something really quite basic - if you save the settings, restart the unit and then put the same settings back, it, well, it works (or doesn't work) in exactly the same way...

I posted to say that I had a USB disk, not a Time Capsule, and this might be what is the issue.

But from here, saving the settings, restarting it, and putting those settings back was as successful as it sounds. Since none of those config values concerns the disk settings, I'm not really surprised it was nugatory. In the same way, setting the box back to factory defaults and typing in the config manually is also about as successful as a chocolate teapot.

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Answer 6

goligo

Level 1

5 points

Nov 19, 2011 1:20 AM in response to Derek Hasted1

I also tried the steps described by DESF. While it first looks like the issue was gone (no more spin ups for the evening), the next day the spin ups were back. I noticed just restarting the Airport Extreme and reconnecting the drive has the same effect. It remains silent for a few hours, then starts to spin up and down again.

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Answer 7

goligo

Level 1

5 points

Nov 19, 2011 10:36 AM in response to goligo

Downgraded to 7.5.2 again. It's very easy, just open Airport Utility, chose "Base Station" from the menu and then "Upload firmware...". The configuration is preserved.

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Answer 8

Nov 20, 2011 7:47 AM in response to Derek Hasted1

I've also downgraded to 7.5.2 and the peace and quiet is now disturbed but once an hour when Time Machine wakes up the attached USB disc, instead of every 2-3 minutes winding the disc all the way up and instantly all the way back down again. Bliss!

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Answer 9

etninc

Level 1

17 points

Nov 20, 2011 5:21 PM in response to Derek Hasted1

Following advice posted here, I downgraded to 7.5.2 as well. While this did solve the problem of disk spinning up/down, the other Airport Expresses on my network did not come back online. I was able to rectify this by rebooting my Airport Extreme and each Airport Express again. Everything working perfectly now. Thanks to all posters for your help.

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Answer 10

Nov 25, 2011 11:54 AM in response to Derek Hasted1

In case Apple Support people are keeping track of the number of people that are having problems, I wan to add that I am experiencing the exact same symptoms. Started with the update to 7.6.

I don't have a hub, I have an external drive connected directly to my airport extreme time capsule.

I'm concerned that the constant power cycling of my external drive is going to shorten its lifetime.

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Answer 11

Nov 27, 2011 1:43 AM in response to an alias for apple

Dear "an alias for apple", I suggest you downgrade again, and we'll all wait for Apple to fix it.

Derek

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Answer 12

Nov 27, 2011 10:24 PM in response to goligo

Yep, count me among the masses downgrading to firmware 7.5.2. Thanks for the input on how to downgrade. Not sure I'd have found that on my own.

7.6 indeed needs to be fixed.

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Answer 13

Jon G

Level 1

13 points

Nov 28, 2011 3:26 PM in response to theoriginalmatt

Having the same problem (Server Connection Interrupted), but not sure how you all are downgrading to 7.5.2. I can't find the software hosted anywhere to download. Did I miss a link in the above thread?

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Answer 14

Nov 28, 2011 3:36 PM in response to Jon G

Visit http://support.apple.com/downloads/#peripherals and you'll see it listed.

I was pretty convinced I found it in the Airport Utility by visiting the menus with the Alt Key down, but I'm either imagining it, or that's a 7.6 feature that's gone when I downgraded

Derek

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Answer 15

etninc

Level 1

17 points

Nov 28, 2011 3:39 PM in response to Derek Hasted1

Jon G, see the second post by "goligo" on November 19th, which says:

"Downgraded to 7.5.2 again. It's very easy, just open Airport Utility, chose "Base Station" from the menu and then "Upload firmware...". The configuration is preserved."

I followed that and it worked very well. Repost if you need additional info.

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