Motorola SB6141 and Time Capsule problems

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Motorola SB6141 and Time Capsule problems

This is not a question, but a guide for those having problems connecting your Motorola / Arris SB6141 cable modem to your Time Capsule / Airport Extreme.

The following is my experience setting up my iMac (2011 27”) running Yosemite (10.2.2) to the Motorola Surfboard 6141 cable modem (non-Wifi) using my Apple Time Capsule / Airport Extreme (software updated to 7.7.3) as a wireless router (but directly connecting to my iMac via ethernet for fastest and most stable connection). NOTE: This is for Comcast/Xfinity users (not sure about other service providers).

This is a variation on a post by Yodabeesh (thanks!). Remember, this is with my Mac directly connected via ethernet to my Time Capsule and using Airport (connected to the modem) as my WiFi source (wireless router) for my other devices.

Started with TM and modem disconnected and unplugged. Connected the modem to cable to wall outlet and then did the following:

1. Plugged in the power to the SB6141.

2. Connected my SB6141 directly to computer via Ethernet cable. Tested to ensure that I had internet accessibility. Done.

3. Xfinity/Comcast customers: Open your browser. Your browser will default to an activation page. Sign in to your account with your Comcast e-mail and password. Click activate button and wait (as long as 15 minutes). When the modem is activated, click continue. The modem will cycle through and reconnect (about 5 minutes).

4. At this point my modem was connected directly to my computer via Ethernet.

5. I disconnected the Ethernet cable from my computer an plugged it into my Time Capsule/Airport Extreme WAN port (the bottom port) which was unplugged from power. I then powered it up to see what would happen. Blinking yellow.

6. I then disconnected the cable and switched another cable to that WAN port and then into the modem’s port. I then connected my iMac to the TM’s LAN port (one of the other 3 ports) using another cable Still blinking yellow.

7. I then opened my Network control panel in the System Preferences menu. I made sure that I had Ethernet chosen and then clicked on the Assist Me button at the bottom.

8. It walked me through powering down my devises (modem then TM/AE, I think).

9. Boom! All connected. Checked my WiFi devices and they were up and running.

I have no idea if I needed to go through the beginning steps of connecting directly to my computer first (but I had major problems connecting when I tried without doing it earlier . . . computer said it had Internet access, but it didn’t; Time Capsule showed everything fine in my Airport Utility on my Mac, but it wasn’t). BUT: I also had not activated the device through the Comcast/Xfinity website either. So . . . Regardless. This worked for me. Good luck.

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.2)

Posted on Apr 12, 2015 8:06 AM

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Answer 1

Mitch 751

Level 6

11,644 points

Sep 30, 2015 2:06 AM in response to LouToo

I had the same problem, and talked to Telstra the ISP company last night. They have tried remotely to do set up but still failed (after three hours).

This morning :

1. I powered down the cable modem, the switch box for 5 minutes,

2. reset the Time Capsule to factory setting.

3. connect the cable between the ethernet box with TC, switched on the cable modem and switch box.

4. Use the iPad to do the setup instead of iPhone

within a minute, green light and BINGO

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Answer 2

Sep 30, 2015 5:12 AM in response to LouToo

The latest TC and AE have issues with SB6121 and Sb6141 in particular.. there is something wrong with the TC.

I am afraid that it worked once but your method may not work or will fail and need to be repeated.

Just do a search here and people have continual issues with these cable modems where they worked fine before.

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Answer 3

Mitch 751

Level 6

11,644 points

Sep 30, 2015 5:50 AM in response to LaPastenague

Thank you for the info. Mine is DB5101 hopefully it can last longer.

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Answer 4

Sep 30, 2015 2:56 PM in response to Mitch 751

Mitch 751 wrote:

Thank you for the info. Mine is DB5101 hopefully it can last longer.

It is very old but the SB5101 were the last decent pure modems they released in Australia.. after that it is all gateways..

And I just saw on whirlpool at least that optus has started locking their cable modems to prevent bridging.. not sure of the details and how wide spread but it is typical of them.. Telstra also have made big moves recently to prevent end users making best use of their equipment.. unfortunately in Aus we cannot just go out and buy a cable modem which the US cable companies allow.

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Answer 5

Mitch 751

Level 6

11,644 points

Sep 30, 2015 10:57 PM in response to LaPastenague

In fact, this SB5101 is not mine and belongs to my friend who has problem with.

He connected this cable modem to a switch box > first generation airport express, which has been working well for over 6 years.

He asked me to upgrade his airport express to a newest Time Capsule, so I bought it with an extra airport extreme for the extension. The replacement worked fine with good connection to internet, however, I realised an orange light was flashing due to a failure of the hard drive inside the TC. So I used the Extreme to replace it, this was the nightmare started. After many time of power off power down, it still did not have the DNS, therefore, I brought these two back to the shop and got one TC available for replacement.

Badly the new TC had the same problem, therefore I called up the ISP company (they asked us to pay AUD120 in order to provide a remote service, but only if they could solve it), after a three hours attempting, it still could not be fixed.

After reading some forums, and the next morning I tried to fix it again, after power off for 5 minutes, I managed to fix it using the airport utility app on my iPad, and this time worked as a charm. Strange wasn't it

Yes all the ISP providers in Australia only supply gateways to customers, I am using ADLS2, and luckily enough I could buy a modem to replace it.in

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