Time Capsule Went on Vacation

I would like to state first off I can't help you 😟 I am in a similar situation. Everything was working just fine this morning but when I came home I couldn't connect to the internet. The symbol on my mac book said I was connected and that there was no problem and even my time capsule has a steady green light. Connected my macbook directly to my cable router and was able to access the internet so it's definitely the time capsule/air port. I have also tried unplugging and restarting (which I have done multiple times throughout the few years I've had this device) but with no luck. Now I'm trying to scan the device for any bugs that may be affecting it's capability to work (not even sure if that's possible but I might as well try). I did not mess with the time capsule before all this happened and can not think of a reason why it is acting up all of a sudden. Any help is much appreciated!

and i apologise for the lengthy post.

It is a bit scary but reads as straight continuous narrative and makes sense.

Please tell me how old the TC is.. and the model number from the rubber foot.. A1xxx

Does it have any warranty left? Or do you have apple care on any computer.. judging from your comments no.

I would call it a warranty job.. the fact that you connected by ethernet and did the factory reset should have immediately made the TC available.

There is a nasty fault in the boards of the Gen3 that will probably creep into the Gen4 where some onboard capacitors go bad.. I think you are looking at something serious where the TC is failing.

Anything you do now, testing should be done isolated from the network and start with the TC cold.. leave it off for several hours.

1. With Lion (or a windows laptop) download and use the v5 utillity.

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1482

Do this first.

2. Connect the TC to just the MBP by ethernet to a LAN port.. and turn off wireless in the MBP.. so you now have nothing but the TC and MBP connected to each other. Start up the TC.

Check the boot up sequence goes correctly.. at power on, the front led flashes green and then starts solid amber and starts to then blink amber.. the ethernet leds flash green momentarily. At the end of the boot sequence the hard disk will spin up (feel it with your hand, the vibrations are obvious).. and the ethernet led turns on that is connected to the MBP. If any of that fails please report.

3. Open the ethernet preferences and make sure you got an IP from the TC.. if not set a manual IP address.. 10.0.1.10 with 255.255.255.0 subnet.. no router no dns. (remember to return this to auto dhcp at the end of the testing!!)

4. Presuming you do have a connection. Open the 5.6 utility, manual setup. On the summary page check the list of issues under status. After a factory restart there will be several. Don't worry about them now.

5. Go to the log, and this is what is important.. get a copy of the log and keep tracking it. Keep your eyes on disconnections.. as that is a sign that the board or power supply in the TC is failing.

6. Continue doing the setup.. put in new TC and wireless names.. use SMB compatible.. short no spaces pure alphanumeric. etc.. follow through all the issues.. passwords etc either ignore or fix .. if it seems to work ok.. and a final update keeps it going.. try putting it back into operation. But keep track of the log and see how long it works for.

Yeah the later equals better equation certainly doesn't hold true for everything.. indeed.. your TC might be early enough you can flash back to 7.5.2 firmware.. a lot of other problems disappear when you do that.. later Gen 4 (your model) cannot go back.. hold down the option key when you choose firmware updates.. and select the earlier one.. nothing bad can or will happen.. (even if it does apple has to replace it). If it doesn't work as you want you can upgrade to the latest firmware again. Try and see what happens.

But I still think it has become flakey and will end up needing replacement.

Apple care on a computer covers the TC.. there is no separate applecare for it.

Ozzie7576 wrote:

i was able to revert to firmware 7.5.2 via ethernet (but i had to enable wireless to download it).

but when i disconnect the ethernet, the airport utility cannot detect the TC.

i suspect we've done what we can & i need to take it in to the apple store.

Yeap.. sadly it is kaput..

Make sure the genius reboots it a number of times if it starts working ok.. they always seem to come good in the store.. albeit only there.

At least it is under warranty.. !!

Thanks.. I don't always manage to wrap my head around things.. but I am better at the hardware than anything software.. old engineer type.

I have repaired more than 100 Time Capsules now and sent kits to repair the power supplies to perhaps half that number again.

Your Gen 4 is early example of a fault I have been expecting since they showed up in Gen 3. I gave some clues above in my first post.

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

The fault is not easy to class but it is a breakdown in the ceramic onboard capacitors. This can happen in one of several places on the board.. leading to odd faults.. which are different hot to cold and gradually get worse.

I think this is why you can connect and do things.. but when you try and update the setup it fails.. you have exceeded the boot time until it gets hot.

The power supply is too young to go.. it will but not yet.

Wifi itself is a standard broadcom card.. I do not see any reason why it will go. The fault does not sound wireless.. it is not accepting your setup so is rather more major than that.

Apple do not repair the TC.. they have no parts.. even their repair network are not given parts.. but if possible they will give you a refurbished one.. ie white box not retail.. but Gen 4 refurbished are probably few and far between at this point. So I would hope you get a new retail. What you do with it.. hmmm.. ?? They are a typical apple product.. brilliant concept.. could be so much more than it is.. fails miserably when it does fail.. apple pretend there is nothing wrong. Fine as long as you have warranty.. bad luck about your backups.. really too bad if you were foolish enough to load your itunes library onto it.. and forget to back it up.

My advice.. for what it is worth.. if you want a wireless router.. buy a wireless router.. apple airport extreme is ok.. there is much better out there for the money.. but that doesn't bother most Apple fans.

If you want a NAS.. buy a NAS.. Synology or QNAP are the top of the list.. not cheap but they store files with security and backup those files.. Apple cannot match those products. You can use a Mac Mini as HTPC and media store.. even TM backup.. but it doesn't have the right ports ie esata.. that would really do the job. FW is dead and Thunderbolt is too new and too expensive. Besides you really want the storage via ethernet.. and not have to use stacks of external disks.

Do not use TC for anything but what it was designed for .. a backup target for TM by wireless in particular ie laptops, although over ethernet is ok. Do not keep it more than 3years.. Do not store a single file on it that is not stored elsewhere.. ie just backups.

Having experienced exactly the same problems as "Ozzie" and several others on the Apple Support Forum, and having tried everything under the sun to fix the problems, and having a Comcast technician here for the better part of two hours trying to get my Apple wireless products (latest generation of TC, Extreme, and Airport Express) to work with the brand new Comcast modem, I've pretty much given up on Apple.

I always prided myself in buying and using Apple products, because they "just worked." I was the envy of friends and foes alike. But since I installed Mountain Lion and the latest iOS versions (I've got an iPhone 5, a second and fourth generation iPad, and new MacBook Air; I've also got a 2008 MacPro) I've had nothing but headaches trying to get the devices to play nice with one another. Like "Ozzie," everything worked fine—and then they didn't, without any changes on my part whatsover.

By the way, my TC was within warranty. I took it down to the local Apple Store; the "Genuis" confirmed it was "bad." So I got a brand new one (2TB version). I brought it home, only to continue with the headaches.

The good news is that the Comcast modem (it's a "gateway") works splendidly, each time, and all the time. Until Apple figures out how to do wi-fi again (it used to know, apparently), I'll be using alternative products for the indefinite future.

The good news is that the Comcast modem (it's a "gateway") works splendidly, each time, and all the time. Until Apple figures out how to do wi-fi again (it used to know, apparently), I'll be using alternative products for the indefinite future.

The TC should be semi ok as bridged device plugged into the Comcast.. but there is some major bug between the TC in particular and Lion and particularly Mountain Lion. Apple have yet to fess up to this. Some changes introduced in Lion simply haven't worked out.. and I think releasing a new OS without fixing the bugs in the last one, just introduced a new cycle.

The problems do not apparently happen for everyone. Otherwise there would be a general outcry.. and some action taken. The current TC is well overdue for replacement.. but I wonder if Apple will reconsider the whole thing as being a distraction from consumer electronics.