why is my airport extreme overheating?

I had the same issue and Apple replaced it with a refurbished that started having the same problem within a month.

Today, I pulled it out again and updated the firmware. Amber light came on again.

I checked out the settings and turned off enable file sharing (In Airport Utility, click on the icon of your base station and then select Edit from the popup window, then select Disks tab). I thought I would turn this off since my model does not have the internal disk.

Low and behold, the light went green and is staying that way.

I shut off File Sharing on my Airport Extreme Settings and amber light disappeared. No More Potential Overheating Message. ( Which always bothered me because the airport was fairly new, on a open wire shelf, in an cool room, without any other equipment near it.)

but I’d like to know what’s causing this.

Tesserax gave you his best guess.

if there is a "run-away" process taking up the base station's CPU resources. Having file sharing enabled, would be one of these processes.

As a person who knows a lot about network and routers I think he is on the right track. Just like your computer.. if you run google chrome at some point the CPU activity will go to 100% and the fan will start roaring.

The CPU in the AE is a dual core 1ghz.. and will get really warm if a process goes messy and starts running 100% CPU.

BUT there are other possibles like power consumption and the sensor getting false readings.

If you use iOS version or earlier airport utility before Sierra you can look yourself at the fan and sensor readings.. although they are not in clear.. simple to understand .. but here are mine as way to compare.

Open the setup on your AE.. and go here.

As something useful this was removed from Sierra I heard.. Airport Utility should be as toy like as possible before Apple will be satisfied.

You will see a stack of info in various logs

Open ThermalInfo .. last one on the bottom of the list.

I cannot easily translate those numbers for you.. The Tmps Internal are the key ones..

But I do have access most don't so I can tell you the real numbers so this might be something that helps.

envstat

Current CritMax WarnMax WarnMin CritMin Unit

[accel0]

Accl X-Axis: 1049 0 0 0 0 none

Accl Y-Axis: 47 0 0 0 0 none

Accl Z-Axis: -7 0 0 0 0 none

Accl Temp: 19 0 0 0 0 none

[applfan0]

Fan_rpm: 1750 RPM

T_hdd: 0.000 degC

Fan_dcy: 57 0 0 0 0 none

[emc141x0]

T_internal: 40.875 degC

T_external1: 38.625 degC

T_external2: 45.000 degC

T_external3: 46.500 degC

As you can see the 4 internal temps are from 38-46

Inside house temp is around 15C so the temp are 30deg above ambient..

Interesting. File sharing should not be enabled by default on the AirPort Extreme base stations. Not sure if having it enabled without an external USB drive attached would cause this, but of course, anything is possible.

Yes, I can verify that it does. Turing off File Sharing got it working again, but now I can no longer back up to the external drive attached to the Airport... It makes no sense since the drive is not inside the device.... Any ideas?

The "overheating" symptom may also occur if there is a "run-away" process taking up the base station's CPU resources. Having file sharing enabled, would be one of these processes.

Which exact model is your AirPort base station?

It’s the Airport Extreme 802.11ac. It doesn’t have a model number on the outside, but I believe it’s the ME918LL/A, the same one currently available.

It’s the tower, with no internal drive. I’m using only one of the Ethernet LAN ports for a HP laser printer, and otherwise I have between 5-10 devices at most connecting wirelessly (well shy of the supposed 50 users claimed on the Apple page for it).

I’ve been using an external 1TB Seagate 2.5” drive for Time Capsule for my laptop (which often doesn’t even come out of my bag when I’m at home), for about a year, with no issues until recently.

Naturally, I checked airflow, dust, and the temperature in the room, and none of these should be problematic. The unit was only very slightly warm’ certainly not warm enough to it to actually be overheating.

I turned off File Sharing yesterday, which fixed the noise, the yellow light, the error message in AirPort Utility, and intermittent internet access immediately. I re-enabled it this morning in order to run a backup, but 7 hours later it’s running fine. I will disable it again if it acts back up, but I’d like to know what’s causing this.

Thanks for any input you may have!

Sorry if I wasn't clear there. I meant I'd like to know what is causing File Sharing to (seemingly, only recently) have issues that make the device to run at those levels/speeds.

As I read it, describing it as a 'run-away process' makes it pretty clear that it's not supposed to behave in that manner. Since there is only one device that even connects to that file sharing, and then only occasionally, it seems like there is some sort of flaw in the File Sharing portion of the software/firmware.

So, from a software standpoint, I'd like to know what is making File Sharing's processes go (for lack of a better term) ape-****, and thereby cause the heat issue; and how to correct that in the software. It seems that is where the correction needs to happen, no?

Unfortunately, there are no settings in software or firmware to "correct" things, so if the issue continues, the only thing that most users can do to try to fix the issue is replace the Airport Extreme and hope for better luck on the next try.

If you suspect that the internal fan is not operating correctly.....(it does tend to get clogged after 12-18 months of operation, which may be one of the causes of the intermittent overheating)......and......you are a dedicated do-it-yourself type of person, it is possible to open up the AirPort Extreme so the internal fan can be cleaned out and/or replaced.

Having done this myself, I would caution that it is not an easy task to disassemble and reassemble the AirPort Extreme. In particular, it is very easy to break connectors and/or ribbon cables unless you are extremely careful. I chose to replace the fan rather than try to clean it out, and the heat issue that I was experiencing has been solved. I do not look forward to doing this again in another 12-18 months, and will probably replace the router rather than try to fix it.

and how to correct that in the software. It seems that is where the correction needs to happen, no?

I have had several faulty AE and TC.. but none have had that particular problem.

i.e. this was completely unrelated to a setting in firmware.. the faults I see are always hardware.

IMHO what you are seeing is not so much firmware.. as an actual fault in hardware.. which causes a daemon to spawn multiple instances of itself.. which in the end is the reason the particular AE you have overheats.. and others with exactly the same firmware don't. So to fix it .. the correction is replacement of the hardware not a software setting.

If the fault was purely a firmware issue then all AE with that particular setting would also have the problem.. this clearly doesn't happen. If I got hold of one that had the problem whilst running I could find out more info.. how much do you really want to get down to the problem??.. it is possible to turn on root access.. but you need to talk to me. And trust me.

Contact me direct. Details are here.

Apple Time Capsule Repair - LaPastenague

Happened to open up Airport Utility yesterday and noticed the overheat status error on my Airport Extreme

(ME918LL/A). Checked the unit and it was not at all warm. I unplugged the unit and let it sit overnight. Restarting it in the morning immediately gave the overheat indication, so I concluded that it was a bogus alarm.

I googled and found this thread. I do have an attached disk (no internal time capsule), but I turned off file sharing as suggested here and that cured the overheat flag. Since I do need to access my attached disk, I re-enabled file sharing. So far (several hours) the status has stayed green. Fingers crossed; breath held. If it comes back, I'm inclined to simply ignore it since I know it's not hot and the unit continues to function.

Follow-up to my previous narrative:

Lasted a few days but the unit again went into overheat and I began to hear strange mechanical noises. After consulting at iFixit for disassembly instructions I tore down the unit to inspect the fan. The fan has a snap on cover than when removed gives access to the spindle and bearing. I cleaned the spindle with a citrus based degreaser and lubricated it sparingly with a fine light oil. It's back together with a fan that now rotates and the LED indicator is staying green.

My story is not quite as smooth as related above. I had to open it up a couple of times to get the fan spinning freely. Also I believe the overheat indication I was getting was not directly triggered by internal temperature, but by the stall current drawn by the stuck fan rotor. Google "airport extreme fan replacement" for more help and for sources of replacement fans.

I posted a while ago with the actual details of temperature measurements you can find..

This is a Time Capsule not Extreme and turning off file sharing as a way to fix overheating.. a. never worked.. b. is totally pointless when the device is being used to backup files.

Also I believe the overheat indication I was getting was not directly triggered by internal temperature, but by the stall current drawn by the stuck fan rotor.

There is indeed a current sensor chip in there..

I can even give you the number.. PAX10 or 20 from microchip.

The Temp measurement is EMC1414 also from microchip.. but I cannot get readings from the former.. the later I do.

So unfortunately I cannot test it to see what is going on.. nor can i find the fan controller chip at this point.

But there is no doubt something going wrong with one or more sensors.. not much else I can do.. and fixing it has proven quite impossible.

Followup to my own posting: Lubricating the fan didn't really work as it bound up again.

I just installed a new replacement fan and is seems to be working fine. I paid $9.99 + $3.99 shipping direct from China to my mailbox (in the U.S.). They projected about a 4-week delivery schedule, but it arrived in less than 2 weeks. Go to Amazon and search for "MG60121V1".

Hi Folks,

I have never posted to any of those… but I know how to fix this, I fixed it - I'd like to share. I might copy & paste this to other message boards.

All you need is five things: Micro spatula, Exacto, T8, T10, and machine oil.

You probably have seen the iFixit article about disassembling Airport Extreme. You just need to go a little bit further.

After you take out the fan, inspect it - it consists of two plastic "shells," combined with four small plastic clips. Carefully open those clips with Exacto, and open the casing.

Gently pull out the rotating part (the fins). The metal shaft comes out with the fins, and on the casing, you see the hole (surrounded with the brushless motor electromagnetic units) where the metal shaft used to be in.

Apply ONE DROP of machine oil on the hole where the metal shaft used to be in.

Apply a very small amount of machine oil on the metal shaft.

Insert / pull out the shaft from the hole a few times, and finally fully insert the shaft. Turn the fins by flicking it with your finger a few times. It might not turn much first, but after a few "flicks" it should start spinning like those fans are supposed to.

Re-assemble everything, carefully, not to pinch or sever any small wires.

That's it.

I hope this works for you. I'm certainly not saying 100% of all the overheating cases can be fixed with this method, but - it makes sense. Fans break after a while. They need lubrication. My Airport Extreme has been happily working WITHOUT ANY CHANGES IN SETTINGS since I did this. This worked for an old graphic card, even worked for a very old battery charger that "broke" three years ago.

Good luck! 🙂