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Time Capsule loses shared disks but internet is OK

I have a 1 TB Time Capsule (2nd Gen) running 7.6.


Recently, I will lose connection to the shared disks (the Time Capsule's internal drive, plus a USB drive attached).


But the internet connection (wired or wireless) is not affected.


I cannot seem to get access to the disks again unless I unplug the TC.


After this happens, sometimes Airport Utility cannot be used to administer the TC. It will discover the TC, but gets stuck trying to read the configuration.


Any suggestions? I read somewhere else that perhaps I could downgrade the firmware.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8), 15" (early 2011) - 8GB RAM

Posted on Dec 4, 2011 6:21 PM

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14 replies

Dec 4, 2011 6:34 PM in response to debito

If it wasn't a problem before the upgrade then I would certainly downgrade and see if the problem goes away.


The issue has been turning up fairly often..


I suggest you connect to the disk by its IP address which you should be locked on the TC if it is a router, and you can lock by other means if in bridge.. as well as on the device. Then go to finder, main menu, Go, Go to Server and connect to the TC as AFP://ipaddress/

And save it as connection you wish to keep.


I think the issue has to do with the dhcp losing the router name but the IP address of the gateway is still working.

Dec 5, 2011 11:13 AM in response to CaptainMux

CaptainMux wrote:


I have pretty much the same issue except that unplugging the TC doesn't help.

Unplug the TC from whatever it is in now, plug it directly to a computer and reset it to defaults. Do the setup again. If you do use wireless for the connection that fails, setup wireless manually. Use different name for 5ghz so the computer cannot swap between them. Set fixed channels on both 2.4 and 5ghz.


Then follow the instructions I gave above .. do not connect to the TC directly but use AFP://ipaddress. from finder. That way the link to the TC is based on IP address and not TC name which is dropping out somehow.

Dec 5, 2011 3:17 PM in response to LaPastenague

Please bear with me. I'm a total newbie.


When you say "Use different name for 5ghz...", do you mean on the drop down on the window called "Radio Channels"? The 2.4 GHz channel is already called "2" and the 5GHz channel is called "149". Is that what you mean by name?


Also, where do I "Set fixed channels on both 2.4 and 5ghz."? Is that what the 2 and 149 are? Channels?


Neither of them were set to Automatic.


I'm doing the above on my wife's Mac. She's having no trouble seeing the network drives. The computer that can't see the network drives is a Vista PC.


When I get past this point, can I use the AFP://ipaddress/ or is that just a Apple thing?


I hope this clarifies and I thank you very much for your help!

Dec 5, 2011 7:51 PM in response to CaptainMux

When you say "Use different name for 5ghz...", do you mean on the drop down on the window called "Radio Channels"? The 2.4 GHz channel is already called "2" and the 5GHz channel is called "149". Is that what you mean by name?


Also, where do I "Set fixed channels on both 2.4 and 5ghz."? Is that what the 2 and 149 are? Channels?


Hi

You have fixed the channels but the name is what shows up in the client.. it is called ssid in pc terms.


To set the name for 5ghz different to 2.4ghz, you go to the wireless tab of airport. The main wireless name is on the front page.. but that is used for both unless you go to the wireless network options on the bottom of the page. Click that, and the first option is to change name of 5ghz.. check it and type in a different name.


BTW it is a good idea to spend some time actually going through all the little menu items, so you know what is available.

I'm doing the above on my wife's Mac. She's having no trouble seeing the network drives. The computer that can't see the network drives is a Vista PC.


When I get past this point, can I use the AFP://ipaddress/ or is that just a Apple thing?


I hope this clarifies and I thank you very much for your help!

Ok, vista .. you poor b. the worst MS OS ever, well since ME at least.. ironic Apple have made a big success of i(everything) and MS big disaster was ME.. there is almost no fix for vista.. upgrade to xp.. that is a major upgrade. Or win7 if you have to. Either way is upgrading.


You can definitely tell the AFP://ipaddress is a Mac thing, because the slashes go /// forwards.. whereas Microsoft always go \\\\ backwards.. story summed up there.

So you have internet via the TC but no access to the hard disk??


Open disks/ file sharing in airport utility.

1. Did you setup guest sharing for the disk access, both read and write? Do it, That will help.

2. Did you give the WORKGROUP name correctly to the WORKGROUP used by Vista? Do it, That also will help.

3. Did you open windows explorer and type, \\tcipaddress\ (tcipaddress being the IP address of the TC.. or its netbios name.

4. If the above doesn't work, open a command window and ping the TC by name and IP address. You should also ping vista from the Mac by name and IP address. If the pings fail, remove all firewalls in the OS.. I have forgotten.. but if vista has option for network location like win7 of home work public.. make sure you are in home setting. vista doubtless like windows 7 will occasional move location for the fun of it really.

5. Nothing can fix the wireless in vista.. it is so bad as to warrant the upgrades mentioned above. MS decided to do some mighty odd things with windows zero configuration in vista.. just google for vista lag wireless.

Note I used to be a computer tech but gave up when windows vista came out. it was too bad, too horrible, to upsetting to be worth the irate customers I got when a repaired computer still works like a broken one.. it is just vista and I would happily upgrade them to xp though. Started my move to Mac OS at that time.

Dec 6, 2011 4:59 PM in response to LaPastenague

I got as far as Step 2.


2. Did you give the WORKGROUP name correctly to the WORKGROUP used by Vista? Do it, That also will help.


Yes, it had the wrong work group name...an old one from my previous Linksys network. That was probably the beginning of my problems.


3. Did you open windows explorer and type, \\tcipaddress\ (tcipaddress being the IP address of the TC.. or its netbios name.


I tried that but couldn't get past the login screen. It's looking for an entry like "\\server\share". For server, I entered the IP address of the TC. It looks like ##.#.#.#. Then I tried putting in the name of the TC (Joe's Time Capsule) for share. It took me to a login screen where I tried my user ID on the laptop together with my Vista password and then the TC password and both failed, returning the message "Login unsuccessful".


Now what?


4. If the above doesn't work, open a command window and ping the TC by name and IP address. You should also ping vista from the Mac by name and IP address. If the pings fail, remove all firewalls in the OS.. I have forgotten.. but if vista has option for network location like win7 of home work public.. make sure you are in home setting. vista doubtless like windows 7 will occasional move location for the fun of it really.


I did ping the TC from the Vista laptop, using the IP address and it was successful. As far as I can tell, the Mac, the PC and the iPad all have the same IP address. Is that right or am I just seeing the IP address of my ISP?


This has all been very frustrating. I spent about 4 hours on it today trying to understand it. But I still need help. Thanks much for giving it.


If you have to pay for an upgrade from Vista to 7, does that mean you get a refund for downgrading to XP? Hmmmmm

Dec 6, 2011 10:11 PM in response to CaptainMux

If you have to pay for an upgrade from Vista to 7, does that mean you get a refund for downgrading to XP? Hmmmmm

They should have given win7 to every vista owner with a formal letter of apology.


Giving is not in MS business model though.. if you can wack them for it do so.. would be somewhat closer to it.


I did ping the TC from the Vista laptop, using the IP address and it was successful. As far as I can tell, the Mac, the PC and the iPad all have the same IP address. Is that right or am I just seeing the IP address of my ISP?


No that cannot be right. Open a command window and type ipconfig /all

The IP is connected to the device.. but there is gateway and dns which should be the same on all devices.

If you have the same IP you will get error messages.

But do turn off ipv6 in the network dialogue properties box.. and in the TC. That doesn't help anybody.


You were almost there.

I tried that but couldn't get past the login screen. It's looking for an entry like "\\server\share". For server, I entered the IP address of the TC. It looks like ##.#.#.#. Then I tried putting in the name of the TC (Joe's Time Capsule) for share.


Is that the name of the TC or its data directory??


Since you have a Mac use that to read exactly what the TC name and data directory name. It will show up properly in finder.

Or open the airport utility on the PC and look at the summary page.. right at the top look for time capsule name. That is its netbios name .. then go to the disks page. Under time capsule disk it will have a name of the disk.. does this say Joe's Time Capsule?? If it does that is a really bad name. From the PC world point of view names with spaces are not handled well. I suggest you reset the Time Capsule, and try again. Give the TC a simple name.. like TC and call the data partition of the drive.. something simple like data.

Then when you try to access it use \\TC\data


From defaults the password is public.


Jan 10, 2012 10:27 PM in response to LaPastenague

I tried this. But once the TC connection is "lost" I can't reconnect even using AFP://ipaddress. Oddly, however, I can ping the IP address successfully. And everything else about the TC is working fine ... internet is working, wireless is working.


Should mention that I have TC in bridge mode; DHCP services are provided by the broadband modem/router (AT&T U-verse). Wireless is by TC though.

Jan 11, 2012 4:50 AM in response to debito

debito wrote:


I tried this. But once the TC connection is "lost" I can't reconnect even using AFP://ipaddress. Oddly, however, I can ping the IP address successfully. And everything else about the TC is working fine ... internet is working, wireless is working.


Should mention that I have TC in bridge mode; DHCP services are provided by the broadband modem/router (AT&T U-verse). Wireless is by TC though.

What computer are you using to connect? What OS?


Try SMB://ipaddress on the mac.


Strange to be able to ping the ip address and cannot mount the drive.

Did you go back to 7.5.2 firmware in the TC?? I would do that for sure.

Jan 11, 2012 2:21 PM in response to LaPastenague

Samba doesn't work either. I'm using a Macbook Pro (one of the newer ones with Thunderbolt) and Snow Leopard. We also have an older MBP running Leopard. When the TC misbehaves, neither machine can connect to the disks (wired or wireless).


It seems that the disconnect usually happens right after I perform a large write operation to one of the TC disks. I use one of the disks as a backup for RAW photos, so sometimes I'm backing up a few gigabytes at a time.


I've thought of reverting to 7.5.2 firmware but haven't tried that yet. Do you happen to know where there are instructions for how to do that?

Jan 12, 2012 12:15 PM in response to LaPastenague

Tried changing firmware to 7.5.2 but that didn't make any difference.


I set up remote logging and have been watching the logs. Strangely, there is absolutely no indication on the logs that anything at all is happening when I lose the connection to the TC disks. The log is just reporting its usual business of checking the timeserver, associating and disassociating with various wireless devices, and rotating the CCMP group key (whatever that is). I have the logging set to level 6 - Informational. Should I change it to level 7 - Debug maybe?

Jan 13, 2012 11:07 PM in response to debito

Well, I took a tip from another post in the Airport forum and it seems to be working. I haven't had any dropped connections since I went to Energy Saver settings and UNCHECKED "Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible" setting.


Perhaps my computer was issuing a sleep command to the disks on the Time Capsule, and was not able to wake them afterwards? *scratches head*

Jan 14, 2012 1:40 AM in response to debito

debito wrote:


Well, I took a tip from another post in the Airport forum and it seems to be working. I haven't had any dropped connections since I went to Energy Saver settings and UNCHECKED "Put the hard disk(s) to sleep when possible" setting.


Perhaps my computer was issuing a sleep command to the disks on the Time Capsule, and was not able to wake them afterwards? *scratches head*

So this is the setting on the local computer... I don't see how that has anything to do with the TC.. did you actually check if the hard disk was spinning up.


I haven't hit the problem.. disk can be slow to spin up but has always done so.

Time Capsule loses shared disks but internet is OK

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