New Time Capsule ethernet connection failures with Magicjack and Dropcopy

Question

New Time Capsule ethernet connection failures with Magicjack and Dropcopy

I recently replaced my Apple Extreme base station (2009) with a new 2GB Time Capsule (802.11ac V7.7.3). The old AE base worked perfectly, I just wanted to add an additional Time Machine backup to my system. Unfortunately, the new TC will not work with my MagicJack+ and with Dropcopy.

I exported the AE base settings to the new time capsule and all appears to be fine with email, browser, back-to-my-mac, iTunes, iMessages etc and the various port forwardings to a wireless Mac mini (10.9.5) with a static IP running my weather station and IP camera software. So far, I have not implemented the Time Machine backups to the TC drive.

The configuration is that my cable modem (TWC) connects to the TC WAN port and the TC distributes addresses in the 10.0.1.X range to devices around the house such as iPads, iPhones, MacBooks, Apple TV etc. The TC and all connected computers are set for IPV6 as link-local only.

My MacBook Pro (10.9.5) in my study normally connects via Ethernet to one of the TC LAN ports and I also plug in my MagicJack Plus to a LAN port. The MagicJack+ may work for a few minutes before going offline. It has the latest firmware and is assigned a static IP of 10.0.1.253 which is also the DMZ port in the Time Capsule. MJ+ works fine if plugged into a USB port on the MBPro. For good measure the MJ+ also has its Mac address assigned to 10.0.1.253. Pinging this address from any machine returns "no path to host".

I routinely used to use DropCopy.app (v1.9.5) on the MBPro and the Mini to send files back and forth between the machines. The interesting thing now is that when the MBPro is on Ethernet, Dropcopy cannot find the Mini; it says "no local destinations". If I unplug Ethernet from the MBPro and use wireless, Dropcopy sees the mini and can transfer files.

I am beginning to wonder if there is something wrong with Bonjour or ? when connecting devices via Ethernet to the Time Capsule. This identical setup with the original AE base station worked fine for MJ+ and Dropcopy. I cannot find any logs using the Airport Utility 6.3.2 and am at a loss as to how to diagnose the problem further.

Any advice?

Time Capsule 802.11 ac-OTHER, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on May 23, 2015 1:42 PM

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Answer 1

May 23, 2015 2:16 PM in response to Anthony Colleraine

Do you still have the old extreme? If you replace the TC with it does the network go back to operational again?

I would like you to save the configuration .. then factory reset and start over on the TC.. Do not even use the old names.. redo the whole thing manually.

Keep the old extreme as the backup to get everything working again.

There is no doubt that the new AE and TC suffer some major issues.. port forwards not working is one of them.

Do any of your computers run an anti-virus software.. that has been the culprit for some things failing as well.

The situations where things work and then don't work.. ie dropcopy app working under wireless but not ethernet.. the mj+ failing after a few minutes all point to poor DNS or poor handling of ARP in the TC.

Are both computers running Mavericks? It has a definite Yosemite smell to it.

Start over with factory reset.. use all very short names, no spaces and pure alphanumerics.. passwords too only they can be a longer.

Give me screenshots of the setup of the TC from the airport utility.. but I do need to warn you.. a lot of time can be spent and not end up fixing these things.

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Answer 2

May 24, 2015 1:00 PM in response to LaPastenague

I don't have easy access to the old Extreme, unfortunately. It is at my other place a few hundred miles away doing all the things it used to do perfectly here in San Diego.

Yosemite is forbidden in this household. Mavericks on everything, and no anti-virus software either.

I will do the reset and start from scratch in the coming week when things are quiet and will let you know the result.

Tony

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Answer 3

Jun 15, 2015 10:12 AM in response to LaPastenague

My problems have gone away. I tried all the reset/restart/reenter/reboot stuff several times over a period of a couple of weeks. No change. I was thinking about junking the TimeCapsule and getting a different brand-name device from my local Best Buy.

I tried one last thing; I used Corey J Mahler's AirPort Utility 5.6.1 Launcher for Mavericks and looked at the settings there. I also changed the 5GHz channel from Automatic to 156 (I think). Since that reboot, DropCopy via Ethernet is working and MagicJack Plus' red and green lights are blinking and all is good with my telephone line.

I don't know which action caused the blockage to break and let the traffic through (using an old version of the Airport Utility, changing the channel, a magic number of reboots, a random ping from the outside world, a cosmic ray ...???) and I have no intention of touching anything that could screw things up again. Surely there is something in the software or firmware that needs a tweak.

The only noticeable effect I have seen on other equipment in the house is that my AppleTV and MacBook Pro now have the number (2) after their names.

I would really like to see a company of Apple's stature re-address the issue of quality assurance and peer review for software. Do the code-writers actually sit down over a coffee and show each other what they are doing or do they like to keep their little tricks, and little errors, to themselves?

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