Q: Why would two machines in my house loose connection overnight while 3 still have it. The status light in air port utility turned orange on the two while it is still green on the other 3?

From what I can tell from reading specifications on the Time Capsule wi-fi model you state

is in operation, it has a dual wireless of two different bandwidths and one of them may be

failing or intermittently fading out. The unit may be failing, basically, at least in one of the

channels and perhaps those items which can use the lower bandwidth are still running if

they can automatically shift to it, or if the higher band is sustained, the lower one is out.

There were three versions of the "Time Capsule 2nd Generation" according to mactracker:

Introduced    March 2009 (500 GB / 1 TB) July 2009 (2 TB)

Discontinued    July 2009 (500 GB) October 2009 (1 and 2 TB)

Model Number    A1302

Order Number    MB764LL/A (500 GB) MB765LL/A (1 TB) MB996LL/A (2 TB)

{If your Time Capsule is a 2nd Generation 802.11n version that puts its age in the range

of where things could be happening. Although I have a basic AirPort Express that is fine

& is older by about five years, (06-2004 to 03-2008; model A1084 - A1088). Plus others.}

That is a guess. You'd have to try and test the Time Capsule to see if one or the other

bandwidth is not working. A few 'expert' contributors here have yet to see your post, so

I am interested in their ideas and they may have a means for you to test this idea.

A newer model Time Capule would be more robust, and could be a possible cure.

However I'm not certain, troubleshooting may help determine this factor.

Good luck & happy computing!

This is typical wireless fun..

Gen2 TC is pretty old.

Is it possible the two failed items were on the 5ghz band.. and the other 3 devices were on 2.4ghz.

I can never keep track of models with or without ethernet but plug at least one of your computers into the TC by ethernet..

Reset the device and use all short names.. no spaces and pure alphanumerics.. I recommend a full factory reset as well.. in fact here is the full mods I think you should do.

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 Mavericks--Yosemite--ElCapo. (MYELCAP)

1. Use very short names.. NOT APPLE RECOMMENDED names. No spaces and pure alphanumerics.

eg TCgen5 for basestation

use TC24ghz and TC5ghz with fixed channels for wireless.

 

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.

See https://discussions.apple.com/message/25135547?ac_cid=tw123456#

But this is important.. having IP drift all over the place when MYELCAP cannot remember its own name for 5 min after a reboot makes for poor networking.

 

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. (this is not a big issue in your case)

 

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. iOS there is no issue this is just for the computers.

Set it link local in the TC as well. Auto is not good enough.. ignore my dynamic global hostname stuff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 NVRAM/PRAM/SMC.. has helped some people. Clean install of the OS is also helpful if you upgrade installed.

 

https://discussions.apple.com/message/29202159?ac_cid=ha123456#29202159

 

I do need to know what modem you have and how the TC is setup if none of this works.

But you might just have to replace TC.

The suggestion was to reset the Time Capsule wireless (airport base station) not those others.

• Resetting an AirPort base station - Time Capsule FAQ - Apple Support

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=reset+AirPort+time+capsule&t=ffsb

There is a sequence and for your model it probably is different than mine; to look into the results

and change a few words should allow you to get the Support article for your model T.C. wi-fi.

Because your Time Capsule unit uses two different wi-fi frequencies, the reset may help it.

Good luck!