Time Capsule overheat message

Hi

Yes, I think it is giving you hints.. if you come to it and the fan is already on, it might have already cooled off a bit... but more likely is faulty board. I wrote this up some time ago..

https://sites.google.com/site/lapastenague/a-deconstruction-of-routers-and-modem s/apple-time-capsule-repair/new-issue-with-a1355-gen-3-tc

Gen 3 board is not reliable. I have seen a number of strangely different results and haven't been able to investigate all of them.

Steps to take now.. if you have applecare on any computer and the TC is less than 3years old (and purchased within 2 years of the computera) it will be replaced under warranty. So make sure there is nothing you rely on, stored on its hard disk.

If it is out of warranty.. sell and replace it.. more below.. or I would jump to and improve the cooling now. Right now.. !!

I have listed various ways to do that.. fan mod or using external power supply.

If you open it up and see it has a delta brand power supply definitely change to external power supply.. all the ones I have seen dead.. (other repairers as well) have delta supplies.. we don't know why.. the alternative brand, flextronics are not as robust a design, but have a lot more protection built into them.

Remember this is a product designed to last 3years.. till end of applecare warranty but not too much longer.

Buy a new Gen4 and swap out the Gen3.. clean up the hard disk and put on ebay.. !!

Yves M wrote:

Thanks for the infos, LaPastenaque !

Might I add that I am sure that overheating is NOT the problem here : this morning, the same "Possible Overheating" alert appeared a mere 3 minutes after I plugged in my Time Capsule (I now unplug it at night), and it was litterally cold.

Going to the Apple Store today, the buying dates for my Time Capsule and of my new iMac appear to entitle me for a replacement.

YM

Ok, 3min from start up, that is a board fault.. which is not a recoverable failure in the most part. If you can demonstrate the issue.. which might be your problem.. then definitely get Apple to replace it ASAP.

There is one thing I would do if you are stuck with it.. and the Apple guy might try.. do a reset and flash the firmware back to a more reliable version.. eg 7.5.2 and then see if the same thing happens. A hardware fault it will keep doing it.. but firmware does get corrupted. In all the cases where I have seen hardware faults like yours a firmware change made no difference at all. I also suspect that the fault is similar to the first one I listed.. if it happens that near to start up. The log file can sometimes have an indication.. by connecting and disconnecting ethernet or something else like that.

Apple will unfortunately replace like with like.. and not allow you to put the difference into an upgrade.. generally you will get a refurbished.. I would stick that straight on ebay without even unpacking it and buy yourself a Gen4. Refurbished are often not up to scratch for the TC. (And you will only get remainder of the existing applecare coverage AFAIK).

For the second time this month, an alert appeared on my screen telling me that my Time Capsule "might be experiencing an overheating issue", eventhough my connection was working perfectly normal.

Oh man, I wish you would take a screenshot of that, as it is truely a rare event. Seems throwing the TC into a boiler won't even reproduce this... 😝

Love you...