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Level 1

11 points

Failed back ups

My time capsule has been giving me error messages for weeks. Each time it attempts a back-up it fails. The error message is as follows:

Make sure your computer and the backup disk are on the same network, and that the backup disk is turned on. Then try again to back up.

I have had some difficulty maintaining a wifi connection. But if I turn airport on and off it usually connects right away.

I am using a MBP from around 2006 OSX 10.6.8

I'm at a loss how to trouble shoot. It says my last successful backup was in late June. I am able to connect to Time Machine and it shows backups through July and even yesterday. Presumably they are incomplete?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

MacBook Pro (15-inch 2.4/2.2 GHz), Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Aug 4, 2013 6:59 AM

Best reply

LaPastenague

Level 9

67,226 points

Posted on Aug 4, 2013 2:29 PM

I would do a complete new setup.. plug the TC into the computer by ethernet in full isolation from the network.. turn off wireless in the laptop.

Do a full factory reset of the TC.

The Factory Reset.

Power down the TC.

Hold in reset. and keep holding it in. Be Gentle! It is a tiny surface mount switch with a plastic lever.. Attempting to push it out the other side of the TC will not make the switch turn on better.

(I fix TC and have several reset levers bent over and jammed or broken off).

Power on the TC.. remember with the reset held in.. this needs three arms.. a friend or power switch you can get to with your feet..

Keep holding in reset for about 10sec until the front LED flashes rapidly.

Release reset and wait .. the boot will be slow as it deletes previous setting.. only from router side and pulls out the factory defaults. No files are deleted on the hard disk.. but the name of the TC may change.

Now open it with the airport utility.. and do a verify of the backups.

A5 here. http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html

See if the backup is still ok.. do a TM backup now.. still fully isolated from the network.

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38 replies

tsl90 Author

Level 1

11 points

Aug 6, 2013 4:15 PM in response to LaPastenague

Thanks

I'll get started on that.

For what it's worth. Now my TC won't connect wirelessly to my Mac at all. I had to plug in. This is just like it was yesterday before I reset. I haven't done anything yet. It just all quit working.

Thanks again.

tsl90 Author

Level 1

11 points

Aug 6, 2013 5:03 PM in response to tsl90

So far so good.

Running TM backup now...

tsl90 Author

Level 1

11 points

Aug 6, 2013 5:47 PM in response to tsl90

OK. I got the printer logged onto the new network. Everything seems to be working fine. I started to try and print something. Then I remembered all my problems that happened when I verified my permissions.

As you may recall I repaired my permissions twice the other day. Each time there were many many issues. So I ran verify permissions again. This was the result:

I am repairing these now. Should I be worried that my permissions are constantly like this?

Thanks

tsl90 Author

Level 1

11 points

Aug 6, 2013 6:45 PM in response to tsl90

Problems persist.

I did successfully complete an automatic TM backup. It slowed everything down and took 30min. I can't imagine it can do that every hour...

Printing wirelessly failed. Communication error...

I'm not sure how much it matters that I only have about 7GB free on my HD. Could that be part of the problem. I used to use VMware fusion for work and have a Windows VM machine that takes up about 15GB. I want to delete it, but was trying to get this wireless stuff working first. I'm afraid if I just delete VMware it will take the program and not delete the partition. I'm just grasping at straws here...

Aug 6, 2013 9:06 PM in response to tsl90

I am repairing these now. Should I be worried that my permissions are constantly like this?

Is this on the local drive... or in the backup.. for whichever disk I would be worrying about the disk dying.

You might need some help from someone more versed in the permissions issues..

Pondini has a bit about it.. but I am not familiar with the problems. I am also not clear.. but if this is the local Mac hard disk.. I would be thinking of getting it replaced post haste. It is worth while doing a full disk image to a usb external drive.. and boot from that.. and see if the issue goes away.. that also might give you a chance to then low level format your local disk.. but I am a refugee from Windows.. and this is I guess.. outside the scope of my experience.

Printing wirelessly failed. Communication error...

A very small amount of disk space will certainly slow things down.. especially if the computer doesn't have much memory.. check the Activity Monitor and see if all the memory is used up.

Windows VM disk space which is a file on the hard drive.. must be removed from the TM backup.. otherwise everytime you go into windows.. and a 1KB file is changed.. TM will backup the entire 15GB.. which is why it is taking a long time and will quickly fill the TC disk space as well. It is also good to see if you can get a bit more breathing space on the drive. Even 15GB is not really enough.

As for the printer error that might be minor issue for now.. getting the Mac fixed up would be the key priority.. once you do that the printer issue can be fought through..

tsl90 Author

Level 1

11 points

Aug 7, 2013 1:22 AM in response to LaPastenague

Thanks yet again.

Yes, those permissions are on the hd in the laptop. I don't have an external HD big enough to do what you suggest I don't think. I will do some research though.

All my photos are on this computer, so I don't want to lose the data. I am hoping that the backups I have on the TC will have all that.

I tried to remove the VM, but I think it just erased it and left the partition somehow. Which is what I was afraid of.

I agree wireless printing is a small issue. But I thought it was a symptom of the bigger problem. I will keep working.

Thanks again for the help.

tsl90 Author

Level 1

11 points

Aug 8, 2013 12:26 PM in response to tsl90

I now have 26 free GB or so. Overall things are much more stable. Worried it will collapse again soon. But pleased so far.

Little advice out there about the permissions, but the conventional wisdom seems to be to quit checking. It doesn't matter...

The printing issue persists. Working on it here:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5225254

While I have you - If I move my photo library to an external HD (not the TC) is there an easy way to automate a backup of that external HD to another external HD (also not the TC). I hope that makes sense.

Thanks again for all the help.

Aug 8, 2013 6:22 PM in response to tsl90

TM can manage that without issues.. any external drive is possible source or target for TM, as long as it is formatted HFS+.

Hope you have some progress on the printer.

I would get the hard disk replaced pronto in the computer though.

tsl90 Author

Level 1

11 points

Aug 8, 2013 7:33 PM in response to LaPastenague

Thanks for the TM info. Would it be a problem if I backed up the laptop regularly, but only plugged into the external drive now and then. Would that make a mess of things or be OK?

No replies so far on the printer.

I'm working on getting a new laptop. I can't find anyone but you and I who is very concerned about my current HD. But I agree. I'm worried. I feel much better since my TC is backing up like a champ now. Things are more stable than ever. But I'm going to get things replaced.

Aug 8, 2013 9:49 PM in response to tsl90

Do an disk image.. superduper free version can do them.. but apparently CCC is much better.. especially since Lion and ML using an OS storage partition or some such.

Even disk utility apparently can create a disk image although I am not sure it can make it bootable.

Using external drive occasionally is ok.. I do that with one laptop I don't want on the network all the time. And since I don't use it much.. TM will take longer to backup but not an issue really.

Aug 9, 2013 12:12 PM in response to LaPastenague

You can create a bootable disk image in Disk Utility.

Have a nice day.

tsl90 Author

Level 1

11 points

Aug 11, 2013 5:59 AM in response to Boyd Porter

Currently assessing upgrade options for HD. Planning to swap it myself. Might add some more RAM while I'm in there, although that is much more accesible.

Still a little perplexed by my ongoing issues. I have had periods of perfect operation (except for the wireless printing, but if I don't try to do that everything seems fine) I have even been impressed that when an automatic update happens it just takes a few minutes and doesnt make the entire system sluggish while it's going on. I think this is how it is supposed to work.

But I am still occasionally having some trouble:

Sometimes, I will get an error message saying a backup has failed or the computer will hang up during a back up. I have let is sit with the "cleaning up" bar spinning for up to 20-30min before giving up and restarting. After one of these episodes I could not reconnect the wifi. The symptoms were exactly as before I improved things.

The wifi icon is empty. If I turn wifi off and on it won't connect. It says none of my networks are available, but it shows my network as an option. If I choose my network it asks for a password. When I enter the correct password it isn't accepted. I noticed that if I open up the system preferences network pane, that sometimes it will connect quickly from there for some reason. But sometimes it won't connect at all. This is where I was constantly before I reset the TC.

It got so bad that yesterday I decided to hard reset the TC again. I connected with a cable and noticed that everything seemed to work. So I did a TM back up when plugged in and it went fine. I unplugged and everything was working great. I spent the evening deleting photos and stuff from the HD without any problems. Wireless TM backups happeneed without any trouble.

This AM it hung up during a back up. I still have wireless connection. But if I try to enter TM it takes a long time and shows only the current finder window. I can't see any of the old backups.

It also seems like when I am having trouble with wifi on the computer it is also not connecting or very slow on my phone. It all makes me wonder if there isn't still something going on with the TC.

Is there a way to test it at all?

Thanks

Aug 11, 2013 2:24 PM in response to tsl90

It also seems like when I am having trouble with wifi on the computer it is also not connecting or very slow on my phone. It all makes me wonder if there isn't still something going on with the TC.

Use the wireless tools that are available .. I do not use them on Mac or iOS so I don't know the names.. istumbler is old one that is free and does still work but there are better ones around. Just google for what is available.

I would be very suprised if the TC wireless is suddenly going bad..

But your house if near lots of wifi can be under siege.. with every spare channel used up. Remember 2.4ghz is very jammed band.. to say nothing of accessories eg cordless phones, front door camera and bells, baby monitors, av senders, bluetooth in every keyboard and mouse and phone and a zillion other things.. ad nauseum. Many of these non-network products use far higher power than wifi.. and cannot be seen by wifi tools.. you need spectrum analysis and that kind of gear is expensive.

So work out what uses wireless in your home.. and turn it off.

Use the tools and find out what signal level you get out of the TC and what is invading you from the siege.. If any signal is higher than your TC or about equal.. there is your problem.

Escalate the conflict.. get higher power wireless than the neighbours..

Move and fix the wireless channels on the TC. It is set to auto flip channels and bands.. stop that from happening.. fix the name .. as already mentioned smb compatible for everything.. different name for 5ghz .. and lock down everything.. set wireless channels and test, 11, 6, 1 in that order.

tsl90 Author

Level 1

11 points

Aug 11, 2013 5:41 PM in response to LaPastenague

Thanks. I'll give all that a try.

I think you mean that I should look for a wireless tools app to download. Is that correct?

I am pretty rural and usually no other networks pop up. VERY rarely one neighbors network will show up. But we do have a cordless phone. I'll do some digging on that stuff...

If signal strength is an issue I should mention that because of the layout of the house and the placement of the only internet access outlet in the home is pretty far from where I usually use the computer. I wouldn't have to go very far to loose signal completely, so if another signal got to the computer, it could be as strong or stronger.

The network name is short and simple. Not sure what smb is. You said use 5ghz, I think. I've read before that 2.4 has a longer range, but I could be way off base.

Thanks again.

tsl90 Author

Level 1

11 points

Aug 11, 2013 5:50 PM in response to tsl90

Sorry - I thought you had to choose 2.4 or 5. I see there is a channel setting for both. I'm testing 11 now.

Failed back ups