Time Capsule keeps disconnecting while trying to backup or copy files, can someone please help me?

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Time Capsule keeps disconnecting while trying to backup or copy files, can someone please help me?

I have a MacBook Pro, a Desktop PC running Windows 7 and a wifi router connected to the Broadband Internet. All devices share the same local network.

My Time Capsule (early 4th Generation) is connected via ethernet directly to the modem, I'm also able to connect wirelessly.

I also have an external seagate 3t drive connected to the time capsule.

For some strange reason, my Time Capsule keeps disconnecting form the Network after I try to access the data either in the tc or the hd, however the light is always green.

The problem mainly happens when copying data either from my Windows PC or my MacBook Pro: eventually, the connection between it and the Time Capsule is lost, interrupting the copy. It keeps happening every time, after a while, and only gets fixed rebooting Windows and the Time Capsule. I can't copy my PC data.

I've tried soft and hard reset, the time capsule it's discoverable again and able to connect either via ethernet or wirelessly, however if I try to copy something to it or do a backup, it immedialty disconnects itself.

Can someone please try to help me solve this issue?

Thanks

Posted on Jan 26, 2014 10:35 AM

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Answer 1

Jan 26, 2014 12:33 PM in response to Penelope_aw

Tracking some of these issues can be very difficult. So be warned it takes a lot of testing and a lot of time. Sometimes it is impossible to get to the bottom of it. There is simply not enough info leaking out of the TC to even keep the NSA happy.. it tells nothing.

So where do you start.

1. Network layout.

a. What is the wifi router you have?? I presume this is modem as well.. please give all the details of the modem router .. make and model and what role it has in the network.. ie main router or bridged. If wireless is running what you do with it. Are devices connected to the modem router and so some devices are connected only indirectly to the TC?

b. What setup and role does the TC have.. ie is it router or in bridge. If the main modem is also router than the TC must be bridged.

c. What firmware is the TC running?

d. Has this been stable in the past and now has failed.. or was it always bad?

2. Initial changes to get the ball rolling.

Let me strongly recommend you do these thing...

a. downgrade the firmware of the TC to 7.6.1 or even an early gen4 go back to 7.5.2.

b. then full factory reset.

c. setup with full SMB compliant naming.

So

A. Firmware downgrade by holding the option key whilst clicking the version number in airport utility v6 in the Mac.

B. Then full factory reset.

Either directly on the airport utility.

Or manually.. i must admit I trust manually ..

The Factory Reset TC Gen1-4. Or AE Gen1-5

Unplug your TC/AE. Hold in reset. and power the TC/AE back on.. all without releasing reset and keep holding in for about 10sec.

Release it when the status light flashes rapidly. If it doesn’t flash rapidly you have missed it and try again.

Be Gentle! Feel the switch click on. It has a positive feel.. add no more pressure after that.

TC/AE will reboot after a couple of minutes with default factory settings and will wipe out previous configurations.

No files are deleted on the hard disk.. No reset of the TC deletes files.. to do that you use erase from the airport utility.

C. Clean setup. When you redo the setup..

All SMB compatible names.. that is for windows to work properly.. so short.. 2-10 is plenty of characters.. but make 20 the limit, no spaces and pure alphanumeric. (This is narrow, but easy to remember).

Good TC name. TCGen4

Good 2.4ghz wireless name. TC24ghz

Good 5ghz wireless name TC5ghz

They are just examples. Whatever you like but stick to the rules.

From there we can then start the real testing (if you still have issues, which may well not go away)

First part of the testing will be to remove the USB drive and deal just with the internal drive of the TC.

USB drives can have strange effects.

Exactly what format is the USB drive? Is it partitioned GUID and formatted HFS+ on the Mac?? this is the only way really.

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Answer 2

Penelope_aw Author

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Jan 26, 2014 3:34 PM in response to LaPastenague

Wow! Thanks so much for such a prompt reply and for trying to help me, I really do appreciate it.

Your reply is so detailed because, unlike me, you are an expert, so I’ll try to answer the questions you are asking, however I’m not that good at computers so please be patient and excuse me.

1. Network layout.

What is the wifi router you have??

Answer: I’m connected to the internet through my ISP (centurylink formely Qwest) modem, ZyXel Q1000Z, I went to my modem page and copied this for you, it hope it helpsModem Status

Modem Parameter	Status
Firmware Version:	QZZ001-4.4.015.1-Q1000Z
Model Number:	Q1000Z
Serial Number:	S110Y12050750
WAN MAC Address:	40:4a:03:f4: I deleted some #s to post it
Downstream Rate:	20127 Kbps
Upstream Rate:	892 Kbps
ISP Protocol	PPPoE
Encapsulation:	ATM - LLC Bridged

I presume this is modem as well.. please give all the details of the modem router .. make and model and what role it has in the network.. ie main router or bridged. If wireless is running what you do with it. Are devices connected to the modem router and so some devices are connected only indirectly to the TC?

Answer:

Make and model listed above, not sure about the bridge thing but in the image above it says something about encapsulation, does that help? If the wireless is running, (I assume you are talking about TC) I usually backup my MBP and my Windows PC, I also have a Seagate 3T Connected to the TC and I save music, photos and files on it to share within my network. Yes there are tons of devices connected to the modem, eg. Mac, MBP, MAir, Ipads, AppleTVs, iphones, printers, etc. Although when I first set-up time capsule (about 1 ½ years ago) I created a wireless network connection, Nobody ever connects to that network to access the internet, the only person that connects to the TC is me and that will be either through my MBP or my pc.

I think I should mention that my ISP modem is connected to my PC through and Ethernet cable, although I connect wirelessly to it and my TC is also using an Ethernet cable to connect to the modem, however I sometimes connect to TC wirelessly. Not sure if you needed to know that be just in case.

What setup and role does the TC have.. ie is it router or in bridge. If the main modem is also router than the TC must be bridged.

Answer: Not sure??

What firmware is the TC running?

Answer: 7.6.4

Has this been stable in the past and now has failed.. or was it always bad?

Answer: Yes!, it used to be stable before, I really never had issues, this has happened since last November I think.

2. Initial changes to get the ball rolling.

Let me strongly recommend you do these thing...

Comment:

I’m about to do your recommendations after I finish typing this, however I thought I should mention that while on Windows 7, I am only able to see the TC on Airport Utility as soon as I unplug the TC and plug it back in, other than that TC doesn't show up on it, I am only able to see the TC through Windows Explorer/Network. Also sometimes while I’m doing something else, like being on the net, I notice the HD connected to the TC seems to be reading something

All SMB compatible names.. that is for windows to work properly.. so short.. 2-10 is plenty of characters.. but make 20 the limit, no spaces and pure alphanumeric. (This is narrow, but easy to remember).

Comment:

When doing the factory reset do I need to this SMB thing? I’m a bit confused here, you are talking about me doing manually, so I can type something like this right?

Good TC name. TCGen4

Good 2.4ghz wireless name. TC24ghz

Good 5ghz wireless name TC5ghz

Exactly what format is the USB drive? Is it partitioned GUID and formatted HFS+ on the Mac?? this is the only way really.

Answer: The Hard Drive connected to the TC is a Seagate 3t, I did do a partition GUID and half of it is to be used in my mac and the other in pc, I had no issues in the past with these partitions, I was able to save files from my MBP to the HD and from my PC to the HD, and then later able to see either files on both my mac or pc.

I use my TimeMachine to Backup on the TC and it backs up both the TC and the HD connect it to it, I then have another HD connected to my MBP and do another backup there, I have lost information in the past and that’s is why I do so many backups.

I also wanted to mention that most of the time the TC disappears from the network is when I try to copy something to it.

I'm also enclosing a couple of photos of my windows airport utility, I am not sure if they will help you know something, I deleted my name and Ip address.

Thanks again LaPastenague

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Answer 3

Jan 26, 2014 6:05 PM in response to Penelope_aw

Ok, very good ..

I have got the picture of the what is happening.

If you plug the computer you are using into the TC directly it will be easier to access and not drop out as much.

You are using the windows PC mostly.. rather than Mac to do this setup??

Comment:

I’m about to do your recommendations after I finish typing this, however I thought I should mention that while on Windows 7, I am only able to see the TC on Airport Utility as soon as I unplug the TC and plug it back in, other than that TC doesn't show up on it, I am only able to see the TC through Windows Explorer/Network. Also sometimes while I’m doing something else, like being on the net, I notice the HD connected to the TC seems to be reading something

All SMB compatible names.. that is for windows to work properly.. so short.. 2-10 is plenty of characters.. but make 20 the limit, no spaces and pure alphanumeric. (This is narrow, but easy to remember).

Comment:

When doing the factory reset do I need to this SMB thing? I’m a bit confused here, you are talking about me doing manually, so I can type something like this right?

Good TC name. TCGen4

Good 2.4ghz wireless name. TC24ghz

Good 5ghz wireless name TC5ghz

In the utility the automatic setup will lead you through setting up names like you have now.. this is wrong.

Type the names directly into the boxes.. I would do this from the MacPro but make sure you connect to the TC wireless.

So after the firmware downgrade.. you factory reset and then do the setup again.

In each box set the name.. eg. TC name here.

Wireless names here.

Save or update at the finish.. don't worry if you need to change small things.. you can hop back into the utility and do some more.

Answer: The Hard Drive connected to the TC is a Seagate 3t, I did do a partition GUID and half of it is to be used in my mac and the other in pc, I had no issues in the past with these partitions, I was able to save files from my MBP to the HD and from my PC to the HD, and then later able to see either files on both my mac or pc.

I use my TimeMachine to Backup on the TC and it backs up both the TC and the HD connect it to it, I then have another HD connected to my MBP and do another backup there, I have lost information in the past and that’s is why I do so many backups.

I also wanted to mention that most of the time the TC disappears from the network is when I try to copy something to it.

I'm also enclosing a couple of photos of my windows airport utility, I am not sure if they will help you know something, I deleted my name and Ip address.

Thanks again LaPastenague

Are both partitions formatted HFS+? That is helpful if they are.

The windows screenshots also help.. I am sure you have the TC in bridge mode which is correct.

So the manual setup you make sure the network tab shows off bridge mode.

But be aware.. by connecting to the Main router you do cause difficulty connecting with TC itself or clients hanging off it.. you should NOT but you do. This maybe caused by different domains..

We can go into that at the next stage.

And btw you do not have to worry about IP address etc.. it is all private and completely useless. Nobody can hack unless they have your public IP which I do not advise you to post.

Here is my summary.

None of this is even factionally useful to a hacker.

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Answer 4

Penelope_aw Author

Level 1

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Jan 26, 2014 7:20 PM in response to LaPastenague

Once again, THANK you so much for trying to help me, I really do appreciate it, since this is a problem that has been going on for a while, so at first I just gave up and kept resetting or unplugging the TC to make it work, but boy is that annoying!.

The reason I came to ASC was for another issues, first my Apple TV wasn’t reading the files on my pc (I fixed that, so I think), then I updated my iTunes software and now ITunes is not working at all, so before deleting it and install it again I wanted to back up my iTunes library and of course I was going to do it through TC on my HD connected to it, but the connection kept dropping, until the point I simply gave up and came here to search for help, finding a wonderful person like you to help me.

So here are my comments:

If you plug the computer you are using into the TC directly it will be easier to access and not drop out as much.

By saying this you mean via Ethernet? Or how do I plug it directly to the TC?

You are using the windows PC mostly.. rather than Mac to do this setup??

Well, yes and no, as much as I love using my MBP, it doesn’t have a drive, so storage is limited and although I do have several external HD’s I rather use the PC to store my music and photos, so I use both, and I do the backup with Time capsule on my MBP. The initial setup was made on my MBP, I just happened to place the TC near my pc and plug the Ethernet cable to it, since the modem is there. But as I said before I do connect wirelessly to RC from the PC sometimes and obviously all the time from the MBP.

Comment:

In the utility the automatic setup will lead you through setting up names like you have now.. this is wrong.

Thanks for explain the SMB compatible names, pretty clear now (excellent explanation for someone like me that doesn’t know much about technology)

Comment:

So the manual setup you make sure the network tab shows off bridge mode.

I’ll do so and let you know what happens But be aware.

And btw you do not have to worry about IP address etc.. it is all private and completely useless. Nobody can hack unless they have your public IP which I do not advise you to post.

Thanks for telling me, as I said before, I'm a bit behind in this field and I had no idea if someone could hack or not.

Thank you so much! I have kids running around and I need to put to bed, so I doubt I’ll finish with this tonight but as soon as I do what you recommend I’ll post back.

Thank you!

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Answer 5

Jan 26, 2014 7:52 PM in response to Penelope_aw

If you plug the computer you are using into the TC directly it will be easier to access and not drop out as much.

By saying this you mean via Ethernet? Or how do I plug it directly to the TC?

Yes, ethernet. You have only two choices to connect to network.. ethernet or wireless. Ethernet direct to the TC can help. There are domain issues.. and it can be tricky and something we will look at later.

So the manual setup you make sure the network tab shows off bridge mode.

I’ll do so and let you know what happens But be aware.

And btw you do not have to worry about IP address etc.. it is all private and completely useless. Nobody can hack unless they have your public IP which I do not advise you to post.

Thanks for telling me, as I said before, I'm a bit behind in this field and I had no idea if someone could hack or not.

Glad to help.. especially when you answer the questions and follow the guides.. exactly.. so nice.. !!

Makes it easy when people post clearly and enough pics or formatting to be sure what each item means.

I will perhaps take a few hours to answer if I am busy but Bob is welcome to jump in.. He covers most of my posts.

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