For about the last week my airport extreme has been showing a status message saying it may be overheating. It was behind my iMac so i moved it out onto the desk to be sure that it is getting enough circulation, and it is still having issues. Firmware is up to date and the airport is barely over a year old. I received it last year for christmas. Not sure what is causing this. Is it just a hardware problem?
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! 🙂
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.
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".
I am assuming two things:
Your 802.11ac AirPort Extreme has an internal fan near the top of the unit and air is drawn in & exhausted from the bottom. It may be possible that you have some "dust bunnies" building up in the base or that the fan is defective.
To get a better idea on what's inside, please take a look at the following iFixit teardown for this device.
If you have AppleCare in effect on one of your Macs, the AirPort Extreme is also covered. Get in touch with Apple Support and ask them to replace the AirPort Extreme for you. If you do not have AppleCare in effect on one of your Macs, and the AirPort Extreme is barely over a year old, I would still ask Apple to replace it for you. Nothing to lose
Apple considers the AirPort Extreme a sealed unit, so they do not offer repairs or repair parts for the AirPort Extreme.
If you cannot get the AirPort replaced at no charge, then you might want to open it up using the article that Tesserax provided as a guide. Normally, this would void the warranty, but if you have no coverage, it won't really matter. You might be able to clean out the fan to get it working more efficiently, or find out enough information about the fan to try to locate a replacement online.
Be very careful when taking components out of the AirPort Extreme, as ribbon connectors can break and other connectors may pull loose as well.
This actually helped me in discovering that my fan went bad. Thank you very much!
It worked!! Just turning off sharing files.
I had the same issue with my AirPort Extreme and was about to replace it when I read your solution. I unchecked file sharing and have had no problems since doing so. Thank you very much.
Worked!!!! Thanks
Same here....read the entire thread, and was believing it was hardware....but I've got a green light again. No file sharing needed (just using for wi-fi), so no big deal.....
why is my airport extreme overheating?
