TC as bridge

Question

rick_de Author

Level 1

17 points

TC as bridge

I'm having trouble setting up a network with a comcast (cisco) modem/wifi

with two time capsules ( 1st and 5th generation). To my surprise, it is the

newer (5th gen) which is causing the problem.

The comcast device has it's own wifi and I want the time capsules to bridge

and extend the signal. Both are connected via ethernet to the comcast device.

The first gen TC is working fine. As soon as I connect the 5th gen TC, the

network grinds to a halt.

I'm stumped why this would happen.

I appreciate any advice you can offer.

Thank you

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.2)

Posted on May 6, 2015 7:39 PM

Reply

Answer 1

May 6, 2015 8:46 PM in response to rick_de

The most common cause of this issue is that you had the 5th Gen originally set up to "extend a wireless" network, so the 5 th Gen was expecting a wireless connection.

When you hooked up Ethernet, that created a massive feedback loop that effectively crashed the network....or as you say....the network grinds to a halt.

The fix is easy. Start over and set up the 5th Gen correctly. Do you have a short, spare Ethernet cable....any length will do.....that you could use temporarily for a few minutes to set up the 5th Gen again?

Post back and we'll have you up and running in short order.

Reply

Answer 2

rick_de Author

Level 1

17 points

May 6, 2015 9:34 PM in response to Bob Timmons

Thank you for your reply. You nailed it, that is exactly what I had done. I connected with an ethernet cable as you suggested and went through the setup in the airport utility. I told it I wanted to connect with ethernet and extend the network then clicked update. It failed to solve the problem. Do you feel I should reset the TC to factory defaults and start from the beginning? I very much appreciate you taking time to help.

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Answer 3

May 7, 2015 6:53 AM in response to rick_de

Do you feel I should reset the TC to factory defaults and start from the beginning?

Yes, as I said above you will need to start over on the TC in order to set it up again correctly.

Go ahead and perform a factory default reset on the TC and disconnect any Ethernet cable(s) that might be connected to the TC

Then, use a short, spare Ethernet cable.....any length will do.....and connect that Ethernet cable from one of the LAN <--> Ethernet ports on the TC that is already working and connect the other end of the cable to the WAN "O" port on the 5th Gen TC.

Run the setup wizard by clicking on the WiFi icon at the top of the Macs screen and looking for a listing of New AirPort Base Station. Just below that listing, click on Time Capsule. The example below shows an AirPort Extreme.....you will see Time Capsule on your screen.

When you click on Time Capsule, that will get the setup wizard running and it will take a minute to analyze things and then present a screen that looks like this:

Type in a device name that you want to use for the 5th Gen TC and click Next. Now watch the next screen very carefully to make sure that the 5th Gen is being setup to extend using Ethernet. That will confirm that the TC is being set up correctly.