3TB Airport Time Capsule keeps dropping when using guest network

birk00 wrote:

I have a 3TB aiport time capsule. I've been using it for over a year now and in the last week I setup the guest network. Now for some reason my router keeps disconnecting. The light stays green but all connections drop.

Does that included wired ethernet connection??

How often is the disconnection and for how long? Is it coming back online itself?

If not, what are you doing to get it back online?

What OS is your computer running and what airport utility?

With a v5.6 utility it is possible to see the logs.. you can do nothing useful from v6 utility.

There is nothing wrong with the setup as per the screenshots.. but if you do turn off the guest wireless does it start working properly again?

Try a full factory reset if you haven't done that and then setup the guest wireless again.

Can we get the make and model number of your modem?

The TC is not happy at all if it is asked to try to produce a Guest Network when it is connected to another modem/router. The TC wants to be connected to a simple modem.

What OS is your computer running and what airport utility?

- I am running many different devices osx 10.8.5, 10.6.8, Windows 7, iPad's, iPhones.

- airport utility 6.3.1

With a v5.6 utility it is possible to see the logs.. you can do nothing useful from v6 utility.

- how do i tell what version of utility I am running? is it 7.6.1? If not please advise where I can find it.

Don't mix up firmware, ie the actual OS on the TC.. which is 7.6.1 to the airport utility in the Mac which you have stated as 6.3.1 but that is on Mountain Lion.. on other computers it will be different.

On the computer running 10.6.8 open the airport utility to advanced and go to the log.. keep the log open so you get as many error messages as possible before it fails.

Whether or not you are going to get the error message for the failure I am not sure.. perhaps running slow ethernet you might have more chance.

What I would do is reset to factory and redo the set from scratch.. normally guest network does not use 192.168, so I think it is better to let the TC do its own configuration as much as possible.. do not change IP ranges.

Finally if it just won't work.. don't hassle about it.. buy a $35 router, eg low end TP-Link N lite wireless.. plug that into the TC and use it for your guest network. Sometimes it is not worth the hassle when a simple low expediture item will fix it.

Logs are quite normal.. so that was a bit of a long shot..

All looks perfectly normal.

I noticed that I can upgrade the OS that is on the TC to 7.6.8.. is that recommended?

IMHO 7.6.1 is most stable.. but it is up to you .. since it isn't providing the stability you want I am not sure.

If I factory reset my TC, will I loose the backup?

Also I changed it to 192.168... from the default which was 172.16... to test as I thought that might help the situation.

Please factory reset.. you will not lose any backups.

Changing defaults is never a good idea if it is unstable..

Universal Factory Reset.. any model TC or AE.

Unplug your TC/AE from power or turn off at the power point.

Hold in reset. and power the TC/AE back on.. all without releasing reset and keep holding in for about 10sec. (this is often difficult without a 2nd person or a 3rd arm).

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

Note..

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 of the router.

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

I noticed that I can upgrade the OS that is on the TC to 7.6.8.. is that recommended?

7.6.4 is the latest firmware that Apple has offered in the U.S. Might be different where you are.....but I can find no Apple documentation on a 7.6.8 update....(or 7.6.7, 7.6.6, or 7.6.5 for that matter).

Best to use Apple's defaults when you are trying to set up the Guest Network, so LaPastenague's suggestion of resetting the TC back to factory defaults and then setting it up again makes good sense.

I have to admit at this point I would take the $35 opt out solution of running a secondary AP as guest.

The issue may well be a client that has some issue .. eg windows would have to figure prominently in that scenario. But Android phones/devices are also known problematic. If the TC is stable without using the guest wireless it sounds to me that the problem is not the with the TC per se but one of the clients you are adding to the guest network.

The right way to test it would be to add all the clients to the main network and see if it then also falls over.. in which I would blame one of the clients.

But using a cheap Atheros based wireless AP, keeps a lot of those problematic devices from causing issues on your broadcom based wireless router.. there has been some issues between supposedly compatible wireless chipsets for some time.