Airport Time Capsule connectivity keeps failing

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Level 1

123 points

Airport Time Capsule connectivity keeps failing

Starting sometime in early 2015 (I think) I started losing my internet connectivity via my Airport Time Capsule. The WiFi would show that it is connected to my SSID and the unit's light is green, but no internet.

The Airport Time Capsule was connected via CAT5e to my Arris router which came with the cable TV installation, thus creating a two-router / double NAT system in my house which is redundant, but I generally stopped broadcasting my Arris router and just logged all my computers and devices into the Airport's DHCP. For a very long time I never had any issues with this.

When I started losing internet connectivity, it ONLY happened with my iMac, not with my Mac laptop or any of my PC devices or Kindles. If I selected "Turn of WiFi" on my iMac and then turned it back on, it would re-connect with the Airport and then internet gets restored. I started to wonder if my iMac wireless card was starting to go wonky, but it seemed like it wasn't my WLAN that was the problem, but the internet connectivity. I don't understand.

It would lose internet connectivity even when I'm busy using the computer. I would know something went South when all my Mail accounts started showing exclamation points.

Then things got worse. Around early July, possibly coinciding with the 10.10.4 system update, I started losing WiFi connectivity altogether. And in fact now all my computers and networks were struggling to stay connected to the Airport Time Capsule. When I opened Airport Utility and checked it, the Internet would be a yellow light at the top, followed by different arrangements of my Airport Time Capsule and both Airport Express units changing - sometimes with the Time Capsule at the top with the two Expresses beneath (which should be the normal configuration), and then all of them side by side, and so on.... It changed every few minutes, lights turning green to yellow, yellow to green, etc.

So I did a full reset on everything from the ground up. Unplugged Arris router, Time Capsule, etc... Waited... Plugged it all back in starting with the Router. Then rebooted all computers and devices. But it did not fix anything. Behavior continued.

I finally decided to remove the Airport Time Capsule from the equation and logged all my computers and devices into the SSID broadcasted by my Arris router, and suddenly all the problems went away. (Except of course I lost connectivity to my Express modules, and the network drive I had connected to the Airport via USB.)

My question: Do you suspect based on the above information that my Airport Time Capsule's router functionality is going bad?

The drive in the unit still seems OK, though of course it wasn't working via WiFi when the WiFi went down. So I plugged the Time Capsule directly into my iMac via the CAT5 and the iMac immediately found my Time Machine. I was able to make a new backup with Time Machine. And now even that is gone. Airport Utility doesn't see it, and it's not mounted on my iMac anywhere. It doesn't even show up in Disk Utility.

Advice?

I believe my Airport firmware is up to date.

iMac (27-inch Mid 2011), OS X Yosemite (10.10.1)

Posted on Aug 1, 2015 1:34 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

LaPastenague

Level 9

67,202 points

Aug 1, 2015 1:51 PM in response to LegendMaker

The problem with the computer running Yosemite.. that is stock standard Yosemite.

But if everything is failing then something else is happening.

So I did a full reset on everything from the ground up.

Just so you realise this is not a reset.. this is a restart. Reset means wiping out the configuration and starting over.

double NAT system in my house which is redundant

This will always lead to issues.. although Apple recommend it.. no network expert does.

I recommend you do a few changes to your TC setup..

Here are the main configuration changes I need you to do.. but this may not fix it... if it is still in warranty then take it back to Apple store and get it replaced.

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

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.

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 for basestation and TCwifi wireless name.

If the issue is 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. ie plan on a first and second round of changes to fix this.. hopefully.. I will point out other steps that can be round2.

2. Use all passwords that also comply with 1. but can be a bit longer. ie 8-20 characters mixed case and numbers.. no non-alphanumerics.

3. If the TC is main router you can skip this point. This is only an issue when the TC is bridged.

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. Don't use double NAT.. that leads to loads of other problems.

Static IP is another method to use the TC if bridge is a problem.. I have found this works well.. see.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5981989?answerId=25135547022#25135547022&ac_cid=tw123456#

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. Do the same for ethernet if you use it.

There is now another bit IPv6 to fix on the TC itself.

Problems with IPv6 firewall and connecting devices

This is not relevant if the TC is in bridge or static IP mode.. which it should be.. for your situation the ARRIS modem should be the only router in the network.

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 computer 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.

Someone posted a solution.. See this thread.

Macbook can't find Time Capsule anymore

Start from the bottom and work up.. I have a list of good network practice changes but I have avoided Yosemites bug heaven.

Yosemite has serious DNS bug in the networking application.. here is the lets say more arcane method of fixing it by doing a network transplant from mavericks.

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2015/01/why-dns-in-os-x-10-10-is-broken-and-what-yo u-can-do-to-fix-it/

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Answer 2

LegendMaker Author

Level 1

123 points

Aug 1, 2015 4:22 PM in response to LaPastenague

Excellent information. Thanks for the long response. I will work on this.

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Answer 3

Aug 5, 2015 11:41 AM in response to LegendMaker

I have one Time Capsule and two AirPort Express devices. The Time Capsule is connected to the ISP modem, and the AirPorts extend the network. About a month ago, one of the AirPorts started to lose connectivity. Green light...no Internet. It would disappear from my network. I downgraded the firmware and that has seemed to make a little improvement - just a little. But similar to the OP, I started to lose Internet altogether about a week ago as now my Time Capsule drops out about twice per day. I have to power cycle it. Pretty frustrating and really not sure why/what is going on here.

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Answer 4

LegendMaker Author

Level 1

123 points

Aug 5, 2015 12:10 PM in response to BMBell1919

BMBell1919: While I haven't taken the path laid out by LaPastenague yet (I fully intend to when I get some time), FYI my experience was EXACTLY like yours. I had an Airport Express on top of the Airport Time Capsule which was used to broadcast iTunes into a particular room. It started dropping out spontaneously. This was an older Express, the vertical kind that plug straight into AC. I thought perhaps a recent upgrade was rendering the Express outdated so I bought a much newer one (the flat kind) and replaced the old one, and the problem seemed to vanish. Later I put the old one back into my network by plugging it straight into my Time Capsule with ethernet, to get music into the same room where the Time Capsule was.

But that's also around the time I started having increased troubles with my Time Capsule. For months before this I was losing connectivity spontaneously with my Time Capsule via my iMac, and turning on and off the Airport Card would restore it. I would NOT lose connectivity with other computers so I thought perhaps there was something wonky with my Airport Card. But then more recently (within the last month or two) the Time Capsule started going up and down, and so did the Expresses.

The noise I'm hearing from the community is that these problems are probably being caused by some bad networking bugs in recent Yosemite builds. I don't understand how those would impact the firmware on the Time Capsule... I had PCs also linked to the Time Capsule and they seemed to not have nearly as much trouble keeping a connection, but even these started to lose connectivity also, so it appeared that something was going wrong with my Time Capsule. At present, I'm still unclear as to the exact cause of the problem, but now that I've taken the Time Capsule completely out of my network, and linked directly to the Arris router that came with my ISP, all problems have gone away. (Unfortunately, so have my two Expresses. And, while the Time Capsule is linked directly to my iMac via ethernet, it does not mount so that I can access it. It did at first then disappeared.)

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Answer 5

LegendMaker Author

Level 1

123 points

Aug 14, 2015 6:17 PM in response to LaPastenague

So I made it as far as resetting to factory. The Time Capsule is linked up to my Arris router via the same Cat5e that it used to use, via the WAN port. Got the fast blinky while pressing reset; waited for it to reboot. But when the light turns green it seems there is nothing else I can do.

The SSID broadcast list doesn't show it as any name - not the old one or any new one. The Airport Utility just has "Internet" with a green light (because I'm currently linked up to my Arris router to get on the internet) and nothing else is found. If I click on "Other Wi-Fi Devices" the old name for the Time Capsule does show up as an option, but when I select it I get a popup that says "Reading settings on 'xyz'" (the name of my airport) and it spins for a long time and finally errors out with "An error occurred while reading the configuration."

My trick knee is still telling me this airport is fried.

Originally when I had it wired up to my Mac via Cat5e directly, it showed up as an external hard drive, but it doesn't do that anymore either.

--Chris

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Answer 6

Aug 14, 2015 6:29 PM in response to LegendMaker

It should show as a new wireless device.

In airport utility it should show in Other wifi device (1)..

Click on that..

Otherwise we can do it manually..

Disconnect the TC from the arris modem.. (I do want to know the model of that BTW).

Plug it by ethernet into the computer.. and do a fully manual setup..

Airtport Utility can't find Airport Time Capsule on either of my 2009 Macs

This has become pretty well the norm now..

Another solution is not use a Mac.. use iOS version airport utility which is far more reliable than Yosemite.

What model is your TC.. sorry I cannot see it in all the details.

And as requested.. the model of Arris.

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Answer 7

LegendMaker Author

Level 1

123 points

Aug 14, 2015 7:04 PM in response to LaPastenague

Well that's the thing - when I try to manage it via Ethernet directly to my iMac it no longer mounts. Not even the Disk Utility sees it. There is an old instance of it under "Shared" on my Finder window that is always there (even when it's unplugged) but when I try to connect from there nothing happens. Airport Utility doesn't show anything but Internet - there are no found Airport devices on it at all. Here again when I click on Other Wi-Fi Devices it finds my TM under its old name, and when I click on that it spins for a long time and gives me an error saying that it can't connect. All of this while it's cabled directly from the WAN port on the TM to the back of my iMac. (Same behavior as when it's plugged into my Arris, except that of course the light has a slow blinking yellow when it's not plugged into the Arris.) BTW the Arris is a model DG1670A.

When I plug in the TM I don't even hear or feel the disk spinning up either. It's quiet as a mouse. I think this thing has fried.

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Answer 8

Aug 14, 2015 10:13 PM in response to LegendMaker

You are connected to the wrong port.

LAN port of the TC to mac. NOT WAN.. not ever WAN. WAN is always to the internet.

Disk Utility can never mount a TC drive. It is not supposed to.

Do it exactly as I said.

Full factory reset.

Plug ethernet LAN TC to Mac.

Use configure other in the airport utility.. and put in the IP 10.0.1.1

If that does not work.. then something is wrong.. if the connectivity light for Ethernet is not on it is faulty.. try another port.. or the front LED is solid amber it is faulty.. dead hard disk.. but flashing amber is correct.

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Answer 9

LegendMaker Author

Level 1

123 points

Aug 15, 2015 6:33 AM in response to LaPastenague

UGH, good catch. No wonder I was connecting to it properly originally but after moving back and forth to the other side of the house (between router and iMac) I stopped switching to the LAN port and forgot about it. OK I was able to move forward immediately after switching ports. In fact I've moved the TC back to the Arris (switching back to WAN) and I am now using my 5 GHz connection on TC again from the iMac. I'm going to let this ride for a while and see if it's stable.

I do recall my problems had gotten much worse when I started attempting to make it iPv6-ready, which is completely unnecessary, but now it's back IPv6 Link-local only mode. I wonder if changing that is what sent me down the rabbit hole? I did have some networking issues prior to that, but they were different issues. For now I'm going to wait and see if those re-surface.

BTW I have it in Bridge mode again. Some time ago when I was having problems with my Airport Express on the network someone told me to use Bridge mode because the double NAT was an issue, and it did work for a time and then when something else started going wrong I switched it again and things got progressively worse. I presume I could go back to using DHCP and NAT if I disabled wireless in the Arris?

Another off-hand question: in Airport Utility there's a checkbox for hiding my SSID but can I hide just the 2.4 and not the 5? Or can I actually disable the 2.4 and keep the 5? (I can do both with the Arris.)

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Answer 10

Aug 15, 2015 2:38 PM in response to LegendMaker

I presume I could go back to using DHCP and NAT if I disabled wireless in the Arris?

No.. The wireless off or on in the arris makes no difference to it being the main router..

The TC is run in bridge when plugged into a router.. with create a wireless network.

Enable or disable the wireless on the Arris and you can do nothing at all on the TC.. it is irrelevant.

To run the TC in DHCP and NAT you would need to bridge the Arris which may not even be possible.. your ISP will often control that.

If bridge is not stable.. use the static IP method I posted a while ago. This does require a bit of tricky setup changes in the Arris if you are unused to doing router configuration.. and i can help if you give me some screenshots.. but I have found this setup helps loads to keep the airports happy.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5981989?answerId=25135547022#25135547022&ac_cid=tw123456#

I know apple would never do things like color code their ports.. but using Yellow and Blue as many routers do now, and supplying a WAN cord in blue and Lan cord in yellow makes things immediately obvious to people. There just isn't enough visible marking on the ports.

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