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Time capsule producing black dust?

I am having a strange problem with my time capsule (I think).


We just moved in and noticed that our walls suddenly had black stains in the corners. Then in the kitchen and in other rooms we also suddenly had black dust. The dust is very hard to remove and needs special cleaning. It's not like regular dust at least. It's like a riddle. We thought maybe it's the heating that we turned on in the winter. The hot air spreads old remains from the heating through the apartment. However, why is there more dust in our office room?


Now to our time capsule...


The device sometimes just turns off. We have to plug the power, then plug the cable in and it will turn on again. The light in front does not shine yellow and does not shine green. It is just off. Me being an IT guy can live with turning it on/off every few weeks. No problem.


But now when investigating the problem I described in the first paragraph, I noticed this around the time capsule. Everything in a circular way, almost like things blew out of the ventilation out of the time capsule. The tiny particles vary in size. When picking them up with the finger they are very sticky. They are very hard to remove from the skin. It feels like they were blown through the apartment and caused the black stains everywhere.


User uploaded file

User uploaded file


User uploaded file

User uploaded file


Has anyone had a similar problem? How can I narrow this down to exclude the time capsule?

null-OTHER, Other OS

Posted on Mar 4, 2017 2:20 AM

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Mar 4, 2017 6:25 AM in response to hendrikkleinwaechter

It is hard to imagine that the Time Capsule.....which does have an internal fan.....would be able to blow dust out of the device in a strong enough manner to deposit dust particles anywhere except very close to the device.


But, if the Time Capsule is the cause of the problem, the interior of the device will be totally covered in the black dust.


To find out, open up the bottom of the Time Capsule and take a look. You don't have to remove any of the components, just take the bottom piece off to take a look.


This article will provide a few tips on the tools and procedure needed to do this.


https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/AirPort+Extreme+A1521+Teardown/15044


The article mentions an AirPort Extreme, but a Time Capsule is the same device with a built tin hard drive.

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Mar 4, 2017 10:04 AM in response to hendrikkleinwaechter

I can believe it was bits of plastic if the TC was making a loud noise. Fans can break bearings and spray out bits of fan blades.. Without the noise no.. it is not internal to the TC.

But the ventilation system in the TC will draw in air on one side and blow it out the other.. the reference Bob gave you shows the airflow. And it is possible the inside will be filled with dust especially if it is sticky.


My immediate reaction is that this is a kitchen exhaust.. the sticky nature of it is oil from frying and other sorts of cooking. Open the vents above your stove and see if there is a problem. Something is linked to the heating ducts and spreading it around. The problem in apartment building is to figure out where from.. but I would ask your neighbours if anyone else has the problem.. remember all the computers have internal cooling fans as well.. If the dust is fine enough it is going through the computers and it will clog up fans and vents. Oh and there is your LUNGS to think about as well. 😢

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Time capsule producing black dust?

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