WAN input intermittent on Time Capsule?

Hello le.bouch

If you have WAN port issues it could well be damaged. A Gen4 TC should be less than 3years old.. do you have applecare on a computer at all?? If so get the TC replaced by apple. Of course if it is within one year.. get it replaced now. In the UK you might even push for 2years..

If the WAN port is not working properly in bridged TC and the LAN port are it is highly likely as you say the WAN port is damaged in some way.

Do a test..

You need v5.6 utility to do this..

Set the WAN port speed of the TC with it in router mode.

Set the WAN port to 10Mbps full duplex.. does it now work.. ??

Set the WAN port to 100Mbps full duplex.. does it now work?

Simply a fizzed port will often work at 10mbit.. and will fail once you take it faster.

If you are running a PC the airport utility will work fine or Snow Leopard.. but later ones you have to do trick installs.

How to load 5.6 into ML.

1. Download 5.6 for Lion.

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

Click to open the dmg but do not attempt to install the pkg.. it won't work anyway.

Leave the package open on the desktop so you can see the file. AirportUtility56.pkg

2. Download and install unpkg.

http://www.timdoug.com/unpkg/

Run unpkg on the desktop.. If your Mac refuses to run the software, because it wasn’t downloaded from the Apple store, go to security in preferences and allow other software to work.. this is limitation of trade methinks. You can set back later if you like.

Now drag the AirPortUtility56.pkg file over to unpkg.. and it will create a new directory of the same name on the desktop.. in finder, open the new directory, drill down.. applications, utilities .. there lo and behold is Airport utility 5.6 .. drag it to your main utilities directory or just run it from current location.

You cannot uninstall version 6 (now 6.3 if you updated) so don't try.. and you cannot or should not run them both at the same time.. although I have had no problems when doing so.

For screen shots see this post.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4668746?tstart=0

la.pastenague.

So, if Apple will not play ball and just replace the TC my best financial option would appear to be to purchase Apple Care for one of my Apple TVs (both within their 12 month warranties) and then approach them again.

Apple TV Apple Care is £26 on the UK Apple site, and as low as $9.99 online in the US! Although interestingly, on the US Apple site the ATV AC coverage extends only to "Airports" whereas on the UK site it specifically mentions "Time Capsules"

Anyhoo, enough rambling - thanks for your help!

They will not consider an ATV sufficient applecare to cover a TC.. ie the ATV could operate by ethernet with a switch.. and will not cover the TC.. they really only cover the TC on a computer applecare.. even ipad is generally rejected.. as the ipad is not actually built to require access to the TC (how you are supposed to run a wireless network. ???)

So be very careful.. they have more loopholes than the average corporate lawyer.

Your need to lock the WAN port and the fact that it only works at 100mbit might not be a fault in the TC at all.

I would replace the cable with a known good LAN patch cable.

I would test with a gigabit switch between the TC and modem. You might find ethernet timing problems on the modem.. rather than TC.

The fact that 10mbit does not work.. but 100mbit does is what suggests to me the issue is not the TC. An ethernet port can often fail to correctly negotiate speed.. but when fixed works fine.. that is why the switch is an important test.. with a switch the ports on each should lock to their highest speed and the switch will sort out the packet flow.

Ok.. our local Apple agents seem to be hard hearted.. they have been dragged into our local consumer protection office for a number of violations.. so I am not sure how it works in the UK.. If the coverage is stated to include the TC then yes.. it should and that is cheap insurance over the failure of the TC.

Apple TV Apple Care is £26 on the UK Apple site

Although I imagine that is substantial percentage of the cost of ATV.

With the modem connected to the TC (set at 100 Mbps) my Internet speed is reduced down from its usual 38 Mbps to around 10 Mbps.

If that is the case even with the TC wan port set to 100mbps and full duplex then indeed something is wrong.. but I think it might be WAN to LAN throughput issue.. this is a hard one.. The TC is very sensitive to the gateway address your router is using..

When you plug the computer directly into the modem.. get a screenshot of all the values on the ethernet.. IP address, subnet mask and gateway (apple call it router) and DNS.

Then plug in the TC.. and connect via the TC and see what the WAN values are in the TC.. does it get the same subnet mask.. it should get a different IP.. but more important is it getting the same gateway.

I am not sure how much networking you follow but is the gateway in the subnet mask of the IP address?? This value can really mess things up on a router which are fine on a computer which seem to handle wrong values better.

THere is also just a lot of reported slowness in some setups with the TC or AEBS.. we do not know the reason. People are often forced to replace the Apple router with another brand. And use the Apple for just WAP and switch duties. On paper and in lots of tests.. the Apple routers are wildly fast.. but the real world experience is often much worse.. and it is hard because we cannot reproduce the problem.. Internet being I guess.. a more complex environment than anyone wants to acknowledge.

In other news... By setting the TC's ethernet WAN port to 100 Mbps Half-Duplex my internet speeds shoot back up to normal - 38 Mbps. My Googling of Half/Full Duplex reveals that it is a 'good thing' to run Full Duplex but out of curiousity, what are the real world effects likely to be in my home?

My setup is the usual family type stuff - wireless iMac, iPads, iPhones, ATVs, plus ethernet-connected Sky cable TV boxes.

Thanks again!

Half duplex means ethernet is only able to talk in one direction at a time.. so instead of getting two way comms which is the big advantage of ethernet over other media. you are reduced to one direction..

Half-duplex was required when we had hubs.. but since cheap switches came out hubs went the way of the Dodo.. and they allowed two way comms.. at the same time.

So if you speed goes up dramatically there is a switch issue.. something has failed to connect correctly .. that makes sense since the auto is wrong and unable to work.. It probably doesn't slow you down alot.. and depends on how well the modem or router can buffer packets.. it might have almost no effect on the upload speed which is usually fairly slow anyway cf download. ie it is not ideal but if it works better than full duplex. stick to it.

I see you're busy on many other threads - thanks so much for helping me out.

I am the universal peanut butter of the universe.. a thin coat of me on everything.

Perhaps I need a holiday.. Bilbo says to Gandalf he feels thin .. stretched.. like butter scrapped over too much bread. Tolkien at his best.

So only wired connections will suffer at Half-Duplex? The majority of my gear connects wirelessly so running this way shouldn't be an issue?

Wireless by its very nature is half-duplex. It cannot transmit and receive at the same time.

Although that is irrelevant in the sense that wireless data coming into the router and connection out of the router over wired connection with not act synchronously. ie the half duplex of each will not correspond.. but all ethernet/wireless connections will buffer packets. So as long as the total bandwidth is sufficient you will get almost no difference in speed but perhaps extra latency.

When you say it may well be a 'switch issue', that's still likely within the TC and not the modem?

The only way to test is to check with another router on the modem.. and the TC on a known good working modem.. but I do think it can be either.. !!

That is because we are ex-residents of the British Gulag.. Long before the Russians dreamed up the idea... the UK was busy transporting its unwanted population to the other side of the world.

Now we are more local monarchists than the people in the UK.