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Level 1

29 points

Airport Utility cannot find Time Capsule ("device not found")

I have a brandnew TimeCapsule connected to my router via Ethernet and all my Apple devices connect to it over wifi for internet access. 1 imac (mid-2010 27 inch), 2 iphones (4 and 5s) and 1 ipad (3). The Time Machine backup is working fine. I'm running the lastest software versions on everything including Maverick on the imac.

Every now and again, the Airport Unitlity on the imac can no longer see the TC ("device not found"). The internet connectivity over wifi still works, however, on all devices including the imac. The TM backups also seem unaffected. The TC itself is showing a green operating light the whole time.

What's strange is that when I run the Airport Utility App on my ipad simultaneously it shows everything is fine while on the imac it says "device not found". Restarting the airport utility doesn't change anything. I have to turn the imac wifi off and back on and then the TC shows up again. But within minutes the problem repeats itself and it says "device not found".

I've been reading a lot of support discussions and can't seem to find the same issue anywhere. The closest thing I've come across is a problem with wifi channels (neighbours using same channel). Could this be the problem?

Could the fact that the problem is only showing up on the imac not the other devices be linked to the different frequencies the TC basestation operates at (2.4 and 5Ghz)?

Any advice greatly appreciated!

Jan

iMac (27-inch Mid 2010), OS X Mavericks (10.9.1)

Posted on Dec 17, 2013 2:05 PM

Best reply

LaPastenague

Level 9

67,226 points

Posted on Dec 17, 2013 3:51 PM

This is a standard issue.. the bug has been there since Lion but got worse in Mountain Lion and is apparently worse again in Mavericks..

Reboot the TC itself .. not wifi in the computer.. it is the disk that is lost.. not the network connection.

There is no fix as such.. Apple keep releasing new versions of the OS but each seems to have the same issue.

Some things help.

IPv6 must be on to Link-local in whatever network client is being used.

Use names on the TC that are smb compatible.. note.. Mavericks now uses SMB for default connections.

So names are short, 2-20 characters, no spaces and pure alphanumeric.

Is the TC the main router or is it bridged?

I would have a go setting longer or shorter lease times for dhcp.. very short is the way I would go.. 30min.

I would manually mount the hard disk.. and force it to AFP in Mavericks.

AFP://TCname or TCIPaddress if static.. replacing with the actual name or IP obviously.

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26 replies

europajan Author

Level 1

29 points

Jan 8, 2014 2:33 PM in response to LaPastenague

It appears I've round a rather simple answer to my problem. I was using a USB Dongle to stream music from my itunes library. The device is from Arcam, it's called rWave and is used to stream music to the rDac, a digital to analogue converter. The device never interfered with my Netgear router but for some reason the TC doesn't like it.

When I unplug the rWave, the "device not found" problem stops. When I plug it back in it reoccurs.

I've not tried it for long so may post another update if anything changes. But hopefully this settles it. Sadly I have to find another solutiuon to stream music.

My other issue with delayed Time Machine backups is still unresolved and I've not had a single response. It is not related to the problem descirbed in this thread. Please see here:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5736235

nchai

Level 1

4 points

Jan 25, 2014 7:06 PM in response to europajan

I just bought a Airport Time Capsule which has a built in Router with 2TB Harddrive. I too noticed a similar problem almost 3 times now. The Network Connection is good but the TC has an error "Device not found" in the Airport Utility. Since I have been using PCs for a long time now, I thought let me just restart the MBA instead of resetting the TC and Voila it worked....So as someone earlier suggested that its the Mavericks X issue, I can confirm that now.

So in short restarting your Mac would be useful if you have an OS upgrade.

europajan Author

Level 1

29 points

Jan 27, 2014 1:02 AM in response to nchai

Thanks for your reply. This may help some people but in my case I had restarted my mac several times without any effect on the issue.

As I wrote on 8 January, I seem to have found the answer to my own problem which is that a USB dongle I use to stream music was interfering with the connection to the TC. It seems slightly odd since the network/internet was not affected but since unplugging the USB dongle I no longer have the 'device not found' problem.

Feb 5, 2014 5:22 PM in response to europajan

I had a similar problem. Intermittent connectivity loss. Reboot sometimes solved it but not always.

I had McAfee software installed with a firewall set for a "Public" network. It was cutting off contact with the Time Capsule (and other devices). Changing the setting to "Home or Work" solved the problem.

I found the solution here...

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5744871

ealm

Level 1

11 points

Nov 15, 2014 1:18 AM in response to Jack Wentz

Bought a TC half a year ago and I've had this problem daily. Since the product obviously can be considered broken and since it seems Apple isn't really fixing it, do you think the product can be returned under warranty?

PS. Also a big joke that an expensive router like this doesn't have any kind of QoS. In 2014. I should have read up more on the TC before buying it...

Jan 15, 2015 6:38 AM in response to europajan

My problem: my solution: On the computer, select the FAN internet connection icon and see if there is more than one "network" available. It appears that whenever a guest logs on using my connection, a new "network" name is created. When I wake up the computer from sleep, it automatically joins the last named network, which is NOT the one originally set up to use with TimeCapsule. The original doesn't have a dash (HOMEB2E2 vs HOME-B2E2)

ww77

Level 1

4 points

Aug 15, 2016 8:29 PM in response to europajan

This is a August 15, 2016 response to that same problem ("lost" TM) on a IMac running 10.10.5. I tried most of the fixes suggested in earlier posts. None worked. I found another site that recommended deleting the "Back to My Mac" from the TM. I had to hard reboot, search for other device, choose other options (once it was found), choose restore previous settings, and then quickly edited the TM to remove the BTMM account. This worked like a charm when nothing else did. I am passing this on to you all, your mileage may vary. Thanks.

Aug 16, 2016 7:47 AM in response to europajan

Hi Jan, are you from CZ? I have a same problem and would like to call you. Thanks. Michal

Aug 23, 2016 5:46 AM in response to europajan

For me, the problem was solved disabling the feature "Back to My mac", removing all Apple IDs.

Unplug the AirPort from electricity, when connected again with AirPort, be fast to access with the AirPort Utility and remove all Apple IDs from "Back to My Mac".

Aug 23, 2016 7:32 AM in response to Marconato

Thank you Marconato! The problem was solved too.

Mar 5, 2017 5:36 PM in response to LaPastenague

Yes. For two hours tried everything above this post. Then, this solution did it, just like that. THANKS!!

Airport Utility cannot find Time Capsule ("device not found")