AirPort Time Capsule is a steady amber light

Solid amber means a dead drive.. so pressing reset will not kill it.. (it never wipes out backups btw) because it is dead already.

Sometimes it can be a dead power supply.. but since the light has stayed on that is less likely.. dead power supply usually means no light on at all.

What actual hardware model is it?? A1xxx from the base please.. don't give us serial number.. it is moulded into the first line of rubber.. not the label until Gen4.

1TB model can be Gen1-3.

I have an issue with what LaPastenague is stating, at least for the sake of expanding this topic and hopefully solve my own issue.

I have an A1409 that had worked flawlessly since purchased sometime in 2011 or 2012. My IT guy set it up and I didn't mess with it.

Sometime around September 2014 I happened to open Airport Utility and noticed an update available (7.6.3). Instead of checking with my IT guy I applied the update. No problem.

Several weeks later I lost internet. Solid amber light and no connectivity.

I poked around and all of the info I got suggested that the power supply was toast or possibly the hard drive. My IT guy came to the same conclusion after doing his own independent reasearch. Notwithstanding, the overall resolve was to replace the Time Capsule. It thought this was BS.

Reason: I had an issued (slow processing) with my laptop after downloading Yosemite and Apple said it was a hard drive failure after running me through various tests. Although I questioned the advice because it started happening immediately after downloading I heeded their advise and replaced the hard drive (Upgraded to SDD and larger RAM) and it fixed the issue. A few days later my daughter and wife updated their laptops (same model and make-up) and they immediately starting having the same problems with their computers (slow processing). I am convinced it is something to do with Yosemite and programing conflicts with HDD drives or some other parameters.

So considering the above mentioned, I decided against purchasing a new Time Capsule and instead unplugged it over night and plugged it back in the next morning. Out of happenstance it worked. Ha I thought. It was a simple fix.

A few weeks later, the same thing happened. Solid amber light and no connectivity. I unplugged the Time Capsule for about 20 minutes (previous trial and error attempts indicated that I had to have it unplugged for at least 20 minutes) and plugged it back in. Sure enough it was back working again. Again, after a few weeks the same thing happened and my resolve was the same.

As time went on I would only get about a week, maybe 4 days, and the Time Capsule would fail.

Convinced it was a programming issue I looked up how to re-install the previous version of the firmware (7.6.1) and found a how-to on how to do it. I went ahead and re-installed the old firmware and it worked. I did not have one hiccup. This was about two months ago.

After I re-installed the old firmware I played around with the setting and now Airport Utility opens up every time I start the computer. Instead of trying to figure out how to shut this off I just close the window. There is that indicator that says I need to update the firmware but I just ignore it.

PROBLEM: About three weeks ago I inadvertently applied the update. I realized my mistake halfway though the process and force-quit AirPort Utility. No problem I thought.

A few days ago we had a power outage and upon restart the Time Capsule had that same amber light. This time my normal protocol for resolve did not work. The amber light would not shut off. Moreover, when I try to do the factory reset (power off; hold in reset button; power up) I am unable.

Theory: My theory is when I inadvertently applied the update and Quit the program some weeks back some of the programing must have been applied. When the power went off and back on the Time Capsule got confused and is hung up.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

I am not sure as of now. I am hoping someone will chime in with information on another reset option or to spark interest on other possible ideas. The fact that I cannot do a factory reset now is irritating. I surmise Apple knows of these faults but the failures are designed obsolesces in order to keep folks buying new equipment. It is starting to feel a lot like the PC environment.

As far as you, have you made any headway? Have you tried resetting after 20+ minutes of having the Time Capsule unplugged?

kevinfromcastro valley wrote:

Thanks for the response.

It is A1254

Sorry to take so long to answer but my activity monitor is giving me rubbish and is running a week behind.

Yours is a gen 1 TC and is really due for replacement.

The hard disk has had a tough life and that model is hard to fix as you would need both a replacement disk and power supply which is not economic.

However if you want it for something .. you can pull out the hard disk and run it as an airport extreme.. which it is once the hard disk is gone.. just ignore the hard disk error.

What do you say to a A1409 not resetting? What about my theory? You think it is plausible?

Oddly, I was successful in resetting once tonight but when I unplugged it i lost the reset. I am trying to get it to reset gain.

Is your TC actually over 3years.. clearly if you bought in 2011 it is.. if you bought in 2012 it may not be..

If you have applecare on anything.. check with apple and as long as applecare is on a computer it will cover the TC but the rules are complicated. TC is too old to buy a product now and get coverage which is bad luck.

This fault is one I can probably repair but very few other people in the world would bother.

Open it and pull out the hard disk is the first step.

https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Apple_Time_Capsule

Then run it again and see if the hard disk is actually the problem.. if it is.. you can then run whatever upgrades or downgrades you like. But I think that will be irrelevant.. replace the hard disk as it was going bad.

No luck pull out the whole board which is also described in the article above and try replacing the onboard battery.. I have never found a dead one yet.. but it was reported that it fixed one TC.

Otherwise it is a strange issue.. Gen4 are less reliable.. I think it is bad soldering but it is hard to say the exact cause. I collected some info. But yours is more like the Gen3.

https://sites.google.com/site/lapastenague/a-deconstruction-of-routers-and-modem s/apple-time-capsule-repair/gen4-a1409-issues

I have indeed fixed the early Gen4 which suffered a Gen3 fault.. the ceramic capacitors were shorted but it has to be on the 3.3v supply not 5v otherwise it would show dead. no lights on.. no body at home.

That it partly works leads me to think this issue.

I have managed to fix gen4 using this method.. but it is fairly rare problem. Perhaps some caps left over from the Gen3 model.

Is any of this worth it or in your power to DIY.. probably not.. it sure isn't going to be fixed without. And I doubt it is stuck due to the half completed firmware update.. it is simply not booting at all. If you had broken the firmware install it would not have boot again ever. The fact that it worked still proves it was only copying the firmware and not updating at the time of power cut. But please never do this again.. allow the firmware to install and simply downgrade again.. that is safe.. what you did is never safe.

LaPastenague wrote:

Is your TC actually over 3years.. clearly if you bought in 2011 it is.. if you bought in 2012 it may not be..

If you have applecare on anything.. check with apple and as long as applecare is on a computer it will cover the TC but the rules are complicated. TC is too old to buy a product now and get coverage which is bad luck.

I do not have AppleCare on any of my 13 Apple products therefore I do not qualify for the AppleCare procedure. I never really saw the use over the years. I may have to reconsider this.

LaPastenague wrote:

Then run it again and see if the hard disk is actually the problem.. if it is.. you can then run whatever upgrades or downgrades you like. But I think that will be irrelevant.. replace the hard disk as it was going bad.

Are you suggesting that a faulty hard drive could have been adversely effected by the firmware update?

LaPastenague wrote:

And I doubt it is stuck due to the half completed firmware update.. it is simply not booting at all. If you had broken the firmware install it would not have boot again ever.

I am not sure how to define booting - I am just not the familiar with the signs therefore I am including a video of the boot process here - http://youtu.be/2MLOHCb0vKw

I am also including the ethernet port lights that come on when powering up here - http://youtu.be/1eok2jeIYdI

LaPastenague wrote:

But please never do this again.. allow the firmware to install and simply downgrade again.. that is safe.. what you did is never safe.

HUA (Heard, Understood and Accepted) Thanks

Are you suggesting that a faulty hard drive could have been adversely effected by the firmware update?

No I am suggesting a flakey hard disk or a flakey board.. we haven't figured out which yet.. has been causing you problems for a while.. to figure out which the problem.. I want you to follow the ifixit instructions and pull out the hard disk.. because a disk that fails SMART boot test will stop the boot. It simply refuses to go further..

It may not achieve anything.. then again it may give us information.. and you can get a useful hard disk out of it if the TC board is dead and the hard disk is ok.

I have watched your boot sequence videos.. and it sure shows what I would expect from a dead hard disk.. so pull it out and see if you get anywhere.

If not I recommend you pickup a cheap Gen3 TC from ebay .. and stick your larger hard disk in it.. as sort of the best of both worlds.. you will also have a spare power supply. Total cost maybe $50.

Otherwise it is junk and you scrap the lot.. the Gen4 TC has proven the least repairable.. I cannot fix them.. but if you pull out the board you can post it to me and I will take a look.. LOL.. or at least change the button cell and see what gives.

You did not damage it with your firmware upload and stop.. Apple use a protected system.. since they are one of the few companies that do not have rules against wireless upgrade.. the firmware is fully transferred to the TC.. tested and CRC checked.. unencrypted.. so none of us can find out apples secrets.. then finally copied to flash.. only if you powered down during the write to flash.. would you break it.. and you haven't. Otherwise it be dead from that point on forevermore.

OK... Thanks....

So, what do you think of the new Time Capsules? Are they better then mine. I am think that I may as well just drop the coin and get a new one.

If Apple follow their usual practice a new model is due mid year.. of course I have no idea if they intend to even continue making Time Capsules.. or introduce a new model.. but the current one is less than great.. I bought one to check it out.. died inside one week.. second one is still running ok.. but improvements over the old model not enough to justify the price.

They used the same chipset as the Asus RT-AC66U and achieved less than half the performance.. how can they manage that.. ?? Because Apple rewrote the firmware in NetBSD instead of using the manufacturer OEM linux so they don't have to release source code. And in the process threw away the good things.

If you want backup use a proper NAS and Carbon Copy Cloner. Or Time Machine and an external drive.. plugged directly into the Mac.. don't try and backup with TM over networks for the moment. (until Yosemite is debugged).

If you want an AC wireless router buy an Asus RT-AC68U.. which shats on TC wireless and router performance.

See http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/tools/charts/router/bar/113-5-ghz-dn-c