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Time Capsule is online... but not visible in Airport Utility?

This is weird. My home network consists of a cable modem connected to a Time Capsule (latest generation), and a slightly older Airport Express (1st generation N) in "Extend a network" mode.

Tonight, my PowerBook told me that it cannot find the backup disk on my Time Capsule. I can no longer see the Time Capsule under "Shared" in the Finder, and I cannot see the Time Capsule in the Airport Utility.

BUT... and here's the weird part... I am still online!

I can see the Airport Express in Airport Utility, and it shows that it is connected to the Internet, and I am definitely online using the network that is being provided by the Time Capsule through my cable modem. But I cannot see or connect to the Time Capsule in any way.

I've unplugged and restarted the Time Capsule several times, no change in behavior.

Has anyone seen anything like this before?

Posted on Dec 6, 2016 5:24 PM

Best reply

LaPastenague

Level 9

67,226 points

Posted on Dec 6, 2016 8:52 PM

Very typical in Sierra.. is that what you are running??

There are several issues.. mostly AV software or security, cleanup and speedup apps.. get rid of all of them.

Otherwise I need more details.

What cable modem do you have? Make and model please.

Can you plug the computer directly into the TC by ethernet.. ??

If you have to use wireless.. turn off the Express so you connect directly to the TC.. there is a bug where if the computer doesn't connect directly to the TC it cannot see it..

Another method is to use the TC IP address.. if it is acting as router to the network and you set it to default .. ie didn't change IP, then it is 10.0.1.1 (you will see this if you open your wireless network on the computer and check the router address..)

In Airport Utility go to the top menu, file, configure other.. and type in the direct IP address.. it will then work.

For finder to use the TC.. use Go, Connect to server in the top menu again..

And type in AFP://10.0.1.1 which should then find the network resource and ask for the password.. remember to check it is included in the keychain.

No luck or find it hard to find out what is happening.. reset the TC to factory and start over.

Make sure the TC uses short names. No Spaces, no special characters.. pure alphanumerics.

Make sure it has a static IP address.. this is not an issue when the TC is router for the network.

Post a couple of screenshots of the setup .. after the factory reset and reconfigure..

View in context

40 replies

Dec 9, 2016 5:37 PM in response to Reid_GA

I cannot get to the disappeared TC to attempt to reset it.

Not sure what you mean here....unless you are saying that you cannot physically access the TC.

To reset the TC......

Make sure that it is powered on

Hold in the reset button on the back of the TC for 7-8 seconds

Release the reset button and allow a minute for the TC to restart

The TC has now been reset.

Restart your Mac

The TC will not "show up" in AirPort Utility at this point....because it has not been reconfigured yet.

Open AirPort Utility

Click the Other WiFi Devices button

Click on Time Capsule to open up the setup "wizard", so you can set up the TC again

Reid_GA

Level 1

8 points

Dec 9, 2016 5:54 PM in response to Reid_GA

I am replying to my posting. I did find the IP address of the Time Capsule and doing as you proposed. I did have my Apple ID in the "Back to My Mac" field. Once I removed this, the Time Capsule shoed up again.

SOMETHING APPLE CHANGED AROUND DEC 6-7, 2016 IS CAUSING THESE ERRORS!

Thanks for your work-around.

Dec 9, 2016 6:00 PM in response to josephsv

Thanks for solving this problem for me (and apparently for lots of other folks). I just returned home, logged into my TC using the "Configure Other" command and default AFP address, and deleted the "Back to My Mac" entries. Restarted and everything is working as it should.

This was a rare and great experience - to ask a question, receive confirmation that my problem was real and being experienced by others, and to receive a definitive solution so quickly!

I hope that someone in Apple reads these forums and notes that they created this issue for TC users!

Thanks,

-Barry

Dec 9, 2016 6:31 PM in response to Reid_GA

Message deleted.

Dec 10, 2016 12:57 AM in response to kataroekfromnonthaburi

Thank you - this resolved as well my issue with the time capsule!!! 🙂

How this can happen to apple?

Apple seems to switch to the Microsoft World?!?

Fortunately we have a big community to resolve this issues - Thank you very much!

mmstav

Level 1

4 points

Dec 10, 2016 2:29 AM in response to josephsv

I did the same thing, disabling back to my Mac made everything back to normal and now my WiFi devices and hardwired Win 10 Machine see the TC on the Airport Utility software.

mmstav

Level 1

4 points

Dec 10, 2016 2:30 AM in response to kataroekfromnonthaburi

Exactly what i did one on of my wireless OS X devices, worked like a champ, thank you for your help. Must be something on Apple's server side.

DO you guys use Back to my Mac a lot?

Dec 10, 2016 6:02 AM in response to Reid_GA

Hi, I'm experiencing a very similar problem. The last successful Time Machine backup is from 5 December, after which date it simply stopped working. The Airport Time Capsule no longer shows up just as your screen grabs illustrate.

Dec 10, 2016 6:07 AM in response to kataroekfromnonthaburi

This sounds like it might be the solution to my problem as well. However, I don't know how to find the Time Capsule IP address. What does 'modem admin page' refer to? Thanks.

dwpj65

Level 1

4 points

Dec 10, 2016 7:34 AM in response to mw5375

By any chance did you perform the Sierra upgrade in this time frame? My ability to connect to my time capsule disappeared within two days of Sierra's install, and the same problem manifested itself on three macs within the same period of their respective upgrades.

dwpj65

Level 1

4 points

Dec 10, 2016 7:40 AM in response to iberomania

If your air port connect to the internet through another modem/router, you can use the administrative web page of the modem/router to determine the IP address of the Air Port by looking at the "network map" or "connected devices" list.

Dec 10, 2016 8:58 AM in response to iberomania

if you didn't have any fancy setting it should be something like

192.168.1.2
10.0.1.2
172.16.1.2

or you could use Network Utility app (use spotlight search to find it) then ping your IP address but change the last number to 255 (ex. if your IP address is 192.168.1.24 change it to 192.168.1.255) you will see something like this

look at another IP which is not your IP

in this case my IP address is 192.168.1.7 and the Time Capsule / Airport should be 192.168.1.2

Dec 10, 2016 9:04 AM in response to iberomania

However, I don't know how to find the Time Capsule IP address

IF....the Time Capsule is set up as your main router, then its IP address will be 10.0.1.1

If that does not work, then rather than hunting for other possible IP addresses and checking them one by one.......things would likely be much simpler and faster if you reset the Time Capsule back to factory default settings and then set it up again.

You can use the same device name, same network name and password, etc that you used before if you wish.

Do not enable Back to My Mac when you set up the Time Capsule again until you see the "all clear" that Apple has resolved their server issues.....which have affected countless numbers of users.

Reid_GA

Level 1

8 points

Dec 10, 2016 10:13 AM in response to Bob Timmons

If you don't know how to access your cable modem's routing table, a simple app like LanScan HD for the iPad/iPhone will show you your IP addresses and devices. When I used this app, I could see the TC name displayed.

Dec 10, 2016 1:13 PM in response to Barry Fishman1

I am outraged beyond belief! What a colossal aggravation.

Yesterday I got the "Disk getting full" message and went in to delete a few things, move stuff to a USB drive, etc. and then decided to see what the Time Machine status was. HELLO!!! last backup December 6th. Went in to APU and it didn't know the drive. Fussed with it, reset it, etc. until I stumbled on this thread. Apple did something and as usual didn't tell anybody. Probably dumped Keychain data out into the cloud or something.

Anyway, the fix, as mentioned above, is to have APU forget your TC and then use File->Configure Other... to reset the thing.

Of course, you have to know the IP address, I didn't, but you can get LanScan for free from the App Store and it will find it for you.

Lastly, I killed 'Back to my Mac' in iCloud and on the TC...I never used it.

This just supremely ****** me off...and I have had an Apple product since 1980. **** Apple, just want to slap you upside the head sometimes.

Time Capsule is online... but not visible in Airport Utility?