Macbook can't find Time Capsule anymore

Just now resolved very similar situation. Maybe it applies to some of you. Used Airport Utility to look at the network and TC. A notification button for Time Capsule, revealed that I was due for a firmware update. A few minutes later, firmware update is complete, TC reboots and I'm connecting through finder and accessing all my networked files.

I have the very same problem AND my printer is plugged into the Time Capsule and it won't work now either. Help!! I started to buy a new printer but I think it's the Time Capsule that is the problem.

I have a 2T TC also and it has just started to disconnect from my wifi.... All the time so that I don't get an hourly backup. I have to check to see when my last backup was and restart it again. And again. And again.

The only fix that I have found for it is to open up TM Preferences and turn off TM. Then turn it on and have it remove my TC from TM. Then I have to select the same TC again and it will start the backup process.

I don't know what is going on but that is the only way I can get it working again.

Exactly the same problem here... And I am currently with Senior Level support at Apple trying to fix this.

A quicker way to go about getting the TC to speak to your network is to hold ALT (Option) down and click your wifi icon on your MB. This shows the alternate menu in wifi allowing to you quickly disconnect the wifi, you then do the same and reconnect the wifi. This will kick the network and your TC should be recognisable again, for how long though remains a mystery? Your TM should then start and/or you can prompt a manual backup.

Thus far, Apple have suggested that it was a terminal command I used that has broken the TM/TC setup. However, I spent all weekend just past, rebuilding my entire network and the MBP. Clean install, everything factory reset, and when I say everything I mean it, router, TC, MBP... And guess what, my TC is still forgotten, for no known reason, and hence the TM's stop working on an hourly basis.

I am expecting a call from Apple this evening... with the results from my Data Capture. I am going to hold off telling them what I have done, so that if and or when they try to imply that it is my own fault, I can then explain to them that this is on a totally clean setup, no Terminal commands inputted and therefore... it simply cannot be down to end user modifications. We'll see what happens thereafter...

I suspect Yosemite has broken TM/TC for some but not all of us...

Very interesting.... I will try what you suggested (about holding down the option key to look at my wifi) and am looking forward to what Apple has to say. So far the TC has stayed connected for about a day. But it's so unreliable, I can't trust it and that is not how it should be for a Time Machine backup. It should be 'worry-free'. I gave up using the TC as a router because it was unreliable. Oh, I avoid the Terminal so it can't be something that I did with the Terminal.....

Also have a 2TB TC / AP and have had nothing but problems since the first week. Can't connect to the drive, there is no way to get into the Airport to actually do configurations (Airport Utility is a joke as it won't find it most of the time from my iMac or MPB). A few weeks ago I finally reset the TC using the reset pin on the back. It worked fine for a few (days?) until yesterday, I noticed my last backup was 12/23. I can't connect to it yet again.

Totally different topic, but I've never figured out how to get a D-link Wifi camera to work with it either. Setting it up over Ethernet and the Dlink utility just can't find the camera plugged into Wifi.

So disappointed that I paid so much for this AP / TC. It was the perfect device in concept, but way too dumbed down for the technophobe market segment of Apple Products and seems to just not simply work.

Yosemite is unreliable OS.. especially on network side.. it has multiple issues.

I have no idea what Apple thinks they are doing but a fix still has not arrived.

Here is the list of things which help but may not cure it.

A factory reset of the TC is the start.. it is required so you can find it again.

Factory reset universal

Power off the TC.. ie pull the power cord or power off at the wall.. wait 10sec.. hold in the reset button.. be gentle.. power on again still holding in reset.. and keep holding it in for another 10sec. You may need some help as it is hard to both hold in reset and apply power. It will show success by rapidly blinking the front led. Release the reset.. and wait a couple of min for the TC to reset and come back with factory settings. If the front LED doesn’t blink rapidly you missed it and simply try again. The reset is fairly fragile in these.. press it so you feel it just click and no more.. I have seen people bend the lever or even break it. I use a toothpick as tool.

N.B. None of your files on the hard disk of the TC are deleted.. this simply clears out the router settings of the TC.

Setup the TC again.

ie Start from a factory reset. No files are lost on the hard disk doing this.

Then redo the setup from the computer with Yosemite.

1. Use very short names.. NOT APPLE RECOMMENDED names. No spaces and pure alphanumerics.

eg TCgen5 and TCwifi for basestation and wireless respectively.

Even better if the issue is more wireless use TC24ghz and TC5ghz with fixed channels as this also seems to help stop the nonsense. But this can be tried in the second round.

2. Use all passwords that also comply but can be a bit longer. ie 8-20 characters mixed case and numbers.. no non-alphanumerics.

3. Ensure the TC always takes the same IP address.. you will need to do this on the main router using dhcp reservation.. or a bit more complex setup using static IP in the TC. But this is important.. having IP drift all over the place when Yosemite cannot remember its own name for 5 min after a reboot makes for poor networking. If the TC is main router it will not be an issue.

4. Check your share name on the computer is not changing.. make sure it also complies with the above.. short no spaces and pure alphanumeric.. but this change will mess up your TM backup.. so be prepared to do a new full backup. Sorry.. keep this one for second round if you want to avoid a new backup.

5. Mount the TC disk in the computer manually.

In Finder, Go, Connect to server from the top menu,

Type in SMB://192.168.0.254 (or whatever the TC ip is which you have now made static. As a router by default it is 10.0.1.1 and I encourage people to stick with that unless you know what you are doing).

You can use name.. SMB://TCgen5.local where you replace TCgen5 with your TC name.. local is the default domain of the TC and doesn't change.

However names are not so easy as IP address.. nor as reliable. At least not in Yosemite they aren't. The domain can also be an issue if you are not plugged or wireless directly to the TC.

6. Make sure IPv6 is set to link-local only in the computer. For example wireless open the network preferences, wireless and advanced / TCP/IP.. and fix the IPv6. to link-local only.

There is a lot more jiggery pokery you can try but the above is a good start.. if you find it still unreliable.. don't be surprised.

You might need to do some more work on the laptop itself. eg Reset the PRAM.. has helped some people. Clean install of the OS is also helpful if you upgrade installed.

Tell us how you go.

Hi, thanks for the detailed response. I think we have exchanged information on this on a few threads of a similar nature in here...

As it is, I have tried everything you have mentioned and a bit more... And nothing seems to have resolved the issue. On talking to Apple this evening, they seem to think that it is a Terminal command which I used to disable local TM snapshots. However, I know that it isn't, because my rebuilt system was not modified in this way and therefore, given it is behaving exactly the same way, it kinda rules out that suspicion.

However, I do believe that it is a System Preference setting, which some of us use and some don't, hence the mixed nature of the problem. My reasoning for this is, my flatmate has an older MBP and it is very similarly setup like mine but not exact, we do however share some preferences to setup etc. And he too is experiencing the same issue. Although, when we both created a test partition a few days ago, specifically to test this issue, and on configuring the test partitions in a very similar way to our original partitions, but not exact (e.g. did not sign into iCloud, did not install apps etc, but did configure System Preferences as close as can be) the issue was not present!

Therefore, it is either an app conflict that we all share, or a System Preference that does not play nice and seems to corrupt the TM settings. I suspect the latter. I find it unlikely that we all have similar tastes in apps. And my flatmate's app list differs substantially to mine, I think we both share Audacity, VLC and MSO 2011...?

Another reason for thinking the way I do is... And you can test this for yourself if you wish...

Turn on Always Show Scroll Bars in System Preferences and now open System Information in Utilities... You will see a blank right hand pane where your computer specifics should be listed. You'll notice that they are not. However, if you turn off Always Show Scroll Bars and then reopen System Information, the details are back. Now, who would have thought that something as benign as Scroll Bars could bug out the Profiler...????

I think that the TM issue is as a result of a similar conflict. The problem now is to find it...

Good instructions that I will try when I have time and some help.

My MBP has not backed up to the TC since 1:25pm yesterday. I am not connected to the TC. Connecting failed. Will try again. Ugh.

Hi, I think I might have found a workaround...

Open System Preferences and add Airport Utility to your User & Groups / Login Items. I opted to hide the app by clicking the box next to it on the left.

Reboot the Macbook and/or applicable unit...

Allow the system to boot up and log in.

You will see Airport Utility open and sit in the Dock... You will also notice that, if you click on it periodically, it continues to remember the networked TC and therefore when TM asks to connect, everything is in place.

Thus far today, since doing the above, my TM's have worked as expected...

I know this is not ideal, but it gives us a temporary workaround whilst Apple sort a fix. And yes, I have reported this to my Case Engineer.

In short, it is Airport Utility's inability to remember the TC/TM that is breaking TM.

Let me know how you get on....

I am curious to see if a more permanent fix is made available for this issue. I just purchased a 2TB Time Capsule in December and I am using it with a MacBook Pro and a MacBook Air. Both machines are running Yosemite and perform backups fine for a couple days and then I will notice it has been days since the last backup. Both machines report the drive is no longer found. I had been restarting the Airport Base Station via the Airport Utility. Once the base station completed the restart Time Machine worked immediately.

I will try Random's suggestion because I hate interrupting my entire network with the base station restarts.

Likewise here... (Hope they fix it permanently & hate having to interupt everything, restarting / disconnecting).

Let us know if it helps... I'm curious to see if my workaround is a, one size fits all and is not specific to my setup.

After the latest update to Yosemite, I noticed that TM was no longer backing up. It could not find the backup disk. AirPort Utility could not locate my AirPort Extreme Time Capsule. I noticed that after power cycling AirPort, TM could find the backup disk and get through one backup. Then it lost the disk again. I use the Time Capsule disk to backup only one computer, my iMac, which is connected to AirPort via Ethernet with WiFi shut off. This has been working with no problems for well over a year until Yosemite 10.10.1 update was installed. I solved my problem by turning on WiFi. So now my iMac is still connected via Ethernet and WiFi is on, and backups have not failed since I did this.

I hope this helps some people.

Now, I was doing the same as you, but then noticed that yes, it worked, but sometimes it missed and the longer you used the wired method the more it missed.

Thus far the only permananet way (for my setup) to back up as it should do, is by setting Airport Utility to start on Login and to leave it open...

Either or, which ever way helps any other sufferers out there, stick with it, stay patient. I have a call coming from Apple with a potential fix, some advice or hopefully confirmation that the situation is receiving the attention it deserves... and a fix is on its way.

What we can conclude is that it is an issue with OS X and not hardware. Similar threads to this are all detailing similar situations with similar symptoms.

Updates to follow.

Georgef33-thank you for that tip about having Airport Utility as one of the login items.... That seemed to have worked for me!!!! I don't think TM has missed a backup since I did that. THANK YOU! [But a fix for this issue from Apple would be nice....]