Time Capsule LED is solid Amber, will not show up in Airport Utility after any resets. Ideas?

Now there is just a solid amber light. Unplugging the unit for over a minute and then plugging it back in has the same result. A soft reset does nothing, a hard reset does nothing, and a factory reset gets the amber light blinking but when I release the reset it goes back to solid amber.

Unfortunately, if you have tried a Factory Default Reset several times with the same result, the TC is defective.

The solid amber light is an indication that the TC cannot get out of startup mode, likely due to a power supply component failure.

Suggest that you take the TC to an Apple Store....if you have one near you...or contact Apple Support to discuss your options:

http://www.apple.com/support/contact/

The solid amber light is an indication that the TC cannot get out of startup mode, likely due to a power supply component failure.

Solid amber is not power supply.. it is a dead hard disk.. the TC cannot finish its boot if the hard drive is not working.

Jeepaxle

If the TC is in warranty or you have applecare on any computer Apple should replace it..

Otherwise it is the poor WD green drive they now use..

Open the TC and replace it.

Sometimes a low level format will revive them.. but I never trust a drive again that died.. Look for a 2TB hitachi or Toshiba.. (same thing). Far better than WD green.

http://www.ifixit.com/Device/Apple_Time_Capsule

Solid amber is not power supply.. it is a dead hard disk

Apple replaced an AirPort Extreme for me that had a frozen amber light. The "genius" said it was the internal power supply. He could be wrong, I suppose.

Apple replaced an AirPort Extreme for me that had a frozen amber light. The "genius" said it was the internal power supply. He could be wrong, I suppose.

TC and AE are very different in this area.. the internal supply of the AE is dc to dc converter.. and yes, they go bad.. if one goes bad and not another the frozen amber light may indicate that.

On a TC if the Amber LED is solid it means the hard disk is dead.. but the power supply of Gen 4 are much better than earlier ones.. and is plainly still working otherwise the LED would go out.

Good info, thanks. I will leave the internal workings of the products to you, since you can probably take apart a Time Capsule with your eyes closed.

They can only fix what they see as wrong..

But self fixing is well, the worst of faults.. because they do tend to self unfix shortly after.

You can see what Apple will do .. if it was only a few weeks old they might replace it but not if it is over 12months.

I'm also backing up to a Seagate drive in the meantime just in case it pulls an Elvis again...

Yes, very wise.. and do not be surprised if it fails again.