internet via Time Capsule airport not working

Question

internet via Time Capsule airport not working

Hi all,

I'm facing a problem with my internet connectivity; it started suddenly today evening where I found that I couldn't connect to the internet and looking at Airport Utility, I got the Amber light for the Internet icon and 'disconnected' status. however Time Capsule itself was showing Green with only 'ipv6 relay error' which was present earlier too and which I had marked as 'ignore'

background/Setup:

I'm using Time Capsule as router and 'created' a wifi network from it as well. The cable/DSL wire was connected to the WAN port of the Time Capsule and from ethernet ports of the Time Capsule I had connected LAN cables to a Windoze PC (direct) and to a SIIG hub to connect to the MBP via USB-C. (It is a 2016 model, so no ethernet port on the MBP but only 4 USB-C ports). Also had wifi enabled on MBP to connect to the wifi from the Time Capsule; also the iPhone and other cell phones of other folks in the house also connected to the wifi from the Time Capsule.

The internet connection stopped abruptly just like that and no error messages or nothing occurred to make me think anything was wrong.

I then tried various options to get the network working from the Time Capsule such as

switched off the Time Capsule and restarted
soft reset
hard reset
factory default reset
checked the PPPoE settings, DNS, etc and everything was just the way it was. User ID & password accurate (again, it was all working perfectly fine until it abruptly didn't)
no other changes were done by me and as per the cable guys, they haven't either.

but no luck. Right now, I have the cable wire directly connected to the SIIG hub and then USB-C to the MBP, PPPoE setup on the MBP itself, and enabled internet sharing in Sharing Prefs on the MBP. So at least got net now on the MBP and the phones. For the Windoze PC, am using a TPLINK USB Wireless adapter to get connected (the PC doesn't have WIFI capabilities).

Any suggestions as to why the Time Capsule router is not connecting to the net? What do I do to get it working again? Also, due to the new setup I have done, not able to connect to Time Machine so backups have stopped. the new connectivity is very awkward so would like to go back to using the Time Capsule as the router.

Is the Time Capsule router gone kaput or something?

MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2016), macOS High Sierra (10.13.5), Time Capsule 1 TB (1st Generation)

Posted on Jul 16, 2018 11:21 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Jul 17, 2018 2:28 PM in response to liquidmetalin

Green with only 'ipv6 relay error' which was present earlier too and which I had marked as 'ignore'

Ignoring an error won't make it go away, even if things seem to work OK for awhile. When you see this error appear, you have the wrong IPv6 setting on the Time Capsule.

So, for starters, try setting up the Time Capsule to Configure IPv6 Using Link Local Only. The IPv6 error will go away now. No guarantee that this will fix things, as other issues may be present.....and need more troubleshooting.

Reply

Answer 2

Jul 17, 2018 1:33 PM in response to liquidmetalin

This is a common problem with airport routers. They do not work properly on SOME PPPOE configurations. I have the same issue.. my ISP does something that prevents any airport router from working. I have tried lots and loads of different configurations.. unfortunately it is simply a case that Apple kept all the complexity hidden.. but sometimes you actually need to set parameters like PAP first or CHAP first.. otherwise it does not work.

Understanding CHAP Authentication on a PPPoE Interface - Technical Documentation - Support - Juniper Networks

If this was working and has now failed it could be due to reconfiguration by the ISP. The Apple router does work fine for other people on different ISP.. so it is not universal issue.

I have no choice but to use another router.. and keep the airports for static IP and bridge duties.

It looks like you are in the same boat.. there is no way to make airport work if some aspect of the PPPOE setup is wrong.. that Apple has hidden.

Reply

Answer 3

Jul 21, 2018 12:16 AM in response to LaPastenague

yippee 😁 good news. The Time Capsule is working great again. As mentioned, I went down to the cable guy's office with the MBP & Time Capsule in tow. Showed him airport utility's messages-for the good it did. (Fact is lots of people and even ISP/cable internet providers in India do NOT know of Apple and much less of Time Capsule & its settings or Airport Utility). Anyway, he connected the WAN to the port in his office; AU revised the messages that it was showing earlier but still NO net. He checked on his software, but apparently no luck. Then I 'updated' Time Capsule at which point, on his s/w, it started showing him various statuses and finally CONNECTED!!

I asked what was the cause, and he talked about MAC addresses (I know THAT term) and that he hadn't included (?) the Time Capsule MAC address in the network configuration. Then something about VIN/VIM box at which point my eyes glazed over 🙂. Also, probably they did something to password settings (overall) and mine was not passed through? Anyway, now everything is back to how it was a week back including Time Machine backups and LAN network, WIFI.

I now have the following query:

should I continue to keep ipv6 to link-local on the Time Capsule or set it to auto?

otherwise I have kept 'create wifi' as discussed in above posts and everything else as it was before this started.

P.S.: he also asked how long I have had the Time Capsule (& warranty etc) and said about getting the Time Capsule updated--I'm assuming he meant s/w update (or maybe even firmware updates) unless he was hinting to replace the entire Time Capsule itself. Is it possible that the Time Capsule requires/required some kind of s/w update from 

Reply

Answer 4

Jul 17, 2018 2:41 PM in response to liquidmetalin

Asus RT-AC3200 is what is currently doing PPPOE.

Any of the Asus series above RT-AC68U should work fine.. they all use basically the same firmware. Not cheap though and you might find hard to get in India.. Don't buy the cheap ones.. they use entirely different hardware.

I was running a router with gargoyle firmware.. but it was having PPPOE issues as well. In fact the Asus stood out from several routers I tried as the best on my connection. YMMV.

The problem here is PPPOE which should be simple has actually become rather complex. One of our ISP in Australia started using cheap and nasty Huawei DSLAM in the exchange and loads of modems would fail to authenticate. The ISP naturally never accepted any blame and forced people to use their preconfigured modem. Belkin actually produced a firmware specific to the ISP.

Though of course I'd probably have the option of asking the cable guys to provide me with their compatible router

Yes, this is likely your best and cheapest route. They will tend to keep the firmware updated.. perhaps even remotely so that it works without issues.

You can setup the Time Capsule in Static IP mode.. using DHCP. This works very well.. much better than bridge in my experience.

No DNS error, Airport roaming network

You are effectively using the TC as a true router.. with no NAT. This allows the TC to control clients without having double NAT.

If you need help just give me the modem router you get IP address and DHCP settings and I can give you the specific settings for the TC.

Reply

Answer 5

Jul 21, 2018 1:15 AM in response to LaPastenague

Simply not allowing the password or upsetting the password handling is more likely.

Yup, almost certainly the case; just as the example you stated, I recall the same last year.

so hours spent on support calls to finally get someone who know more than reading from the standard sheet.

ahh yes, 'support' is what they call it...!! And amazingly, guys who don't have a clue of things--nothing happens to them. But someone who takes risks and gets things DONE, if he makes one mistake, he gets screwed!

Yes,, until or unless your ISP moves to IPv6.

Okay.

I do not even know which generation your TC is but it can die tomorrow.. just so you know.. at this point it is one day at a time lifespan.

I think it is first generation (bought when I was in the US in 2009-10). And yeah, it IS old 😟

Sorry but what does this updated mean.. you cannot have updated the firmware since it could not get a connection.

no, no, not updated the firmware or anything like that. What I meant was when one clicks 'edit' on the Time Capsule in Airport Utility, there are two buttons 'cancel' and 'update' at the bottom. That is what I clicked, so you know Time Capsule goes into 'updating settings' mode...

nothing you could do about the problem.. it was their changes..

Yup.

Thanks much LaPastenague. Have a good weekend (or maybe it is the new week over in Australia) and best.

Reply

Answer 6

Jul 17, 2018 1:03 PM in response to Bob Timmons

Thanks for your reply Bob. I tried the link-local setting but no luck. Some screenshots follow. It shows PPPOE password as an error message, but I'm 100% certain I have entered the correct password in the Airport settings since I've entered the same in the PPPOE service via the MBP that I've written about in the first post. I also found that it is not automatically getting the DNS servers info; I tried by manually entering that but no change.

PPPoE service enabled on MBP and internet sharing ON via WIFI

Reply

Answer 7

Jul 17, 2018 2:35 PM in response to LaPastenague

oh and another query...

If I stop 'internet sharing' from sharing prefs, then the MBP wifi connects to the Time Capsule router wifi and Time Capsule shows up in Finder as well as Airport Utility. However, when I try "back up now" from the Time Machine menu bar icon I get another error. Why is this? Shouldn't it be backing up via WIFI considering it is showing up on the Finder

Reply

Answer 8

Jul 19, 2018 12:11 PM in response to LaPastenague

Thanks much. This is all too messed up for me 😟 i.e. this connectivity thing. I tried 'extend network' on the Time Capsule and initial few times again there was a problem with Time Machine backup. Then I don't know what I did, then switched Time Capsule on/off couple of times and now it is showing backing up (though with previous backups=none). I think the UNIVERSAL panacea for all machines is probably 'Restart' 🙂

Anyway, the WIFI settings screenshots are also below. I'll mess around with this some more time, using the info/links you suggested, but probably the ISP did something which has screwed it all up, so on Saturday will take my MBP and Time Capsule and sit in his office until something comes of it!!

Reply

Answer 9

Jul 19, 2018 1:49 PM in response to liquidmetalin

Extended wireless is very definitely the wrong configuration.

You should setup the TC still in router mode.. ignore the lack of WAN connection.

Create a wireless network. It has some hope of working.

You can see the current problem.. your TC has IP of 192.168.2.9

But your DNS is 10.0.1.1 which is how you would setup the TC in router mode with defaults.

Reply

Answer 10

Jul 20, 2018 12:19 PM in response to LaPastenague

I had tried 'extend wifi' few months back and had run into a gamut of problems, so agree that 'create wifi' is better. But see these screenshots...it seems to have backed up yesterday, and it started backing up after I 'restarted' Time Capsule again in the night when I returned from work today!! Of course, restarting Time Capsule frequently is also not a good practice (first of all I shouldn't need to do so, and second, that may cause the Time Capsule hard disk to die on me). Well, anyway, Saturday so lets see what the cable guy has in store for me. Thanks for all your help and responses.

Reply

Answer 11

Jul 20, 2018 12:27 PM in response to liquidmetalin

Restarting the TC will renew arp table in the Mac so it can find the TC at least for the first couple of hours after the TC starts up.. thereupon it gets lost because it has no way on the current network setup to find it.

You do need to make the changes I suggested.. run the TC as router independent of the internet and setup network on the Mac statically to locate it.. but that will depend on how you get things sorted with the ISP.

Good luck on that.

Reply

Answer 12

Jul 20, 2018 12:33 PM in response to LaPastenague

Yup, I will set up as you suggested and if I hit a roadblock will probably have to trouble you again for help. But lets see what crap the ISP tells me regarding what he has done (i.e. similar to the Australian one you wrote about)!!

Reply

Answer 13

Jul 17, 2018 1:33 PM in response to LaPastenague

Thanks LaPastenague

If this was working and has now failed it could be due to reconfiguration by the ISP. The Apple router does work fine for other people on different ISP.. so it is not universal issue.

yup, it was working perfectly until yesterday (Monday) when it suddenly didn't!!

I assume the ISP has changed something

I have no choice but to use another router.. and keep the airports for static IP and bridge duties.

Could I ask which router you are using so if I'm not able to get the Time Capsule router working as before, I might have to go for that or something similar considering availability here in India. Though of course I'd probably have the option of asking the cable guys to provide me with their compatible router

Reply

Answer 14

Jul 17, 2018 3:01 PM in response to liquidmetalin

oh and another query...

You snuck in a second question while I was still answering the first one.

High Sierra is a pain network wise.

Because the WAN side routing of the TC has failed my guess is the LAN side is not working properly.

Check in your DNS and Domain setting on the computer.

If it gets wrong values from the TC which is now in mass confusion without WAN connection .. TM cannot find it.. albeit finder works just fine. (To do with Bonjour failure.. which TM is more dependent on than Finder.)

Show me a screenshot of what the laptop is showing for network preferences under wireless /advanced/ DNS tab which also shows domain.. It is perhaps going to need a change of DNS to 10.0.1.1 and blank or local for domain.

One other way around the problem until you fix the TC being lost to the network is to mount it directly.

In Finder.. Go, Connect to server.

Type in IP address

SMB://10.0.1.1

(I think it has to be SMB in High Sierra not AFP.. but if you have issues you can also try using AFP in place of SMB).

You will be asked for the password which you save in the keychain.

Now in Time Machine.. you can add the new disk.. 10.0.1.1 and select it for backup. TM will say it is going to begin a new backup but in reality will (after a lengthy check) do the next incremental.

You should be able to do TM backups and connect to internet at the same time.. (sharing probably would fail) although it can be tricky getting the DNS value and domain correct. Mounting the disk in the TC as IP directly should get around the problem.

Reply

Answer 15

Jul 21, 2018 12:48 AM in response to liquidmetalin

Most of the excuses are pretty weak.. MAC address is load of rubbish..

Simply not allowing the password or upsetting the password handling is more likely.

That is one I have run into.. ISP made changes but old modem connected just fine.. new modem would not connect as it needed the full URL.. nothing was published to explain this so hours spent on support calls to finally get someone who know more than reading from the standard sheet.

should I continue to keep ipv6 to link-local on the Time Capsule or set it to auto?

Yes,, until or unless your ISP moves to IPv6.

P.S.: he also asked how long I have had the Time Capsule (& warranty etc) and said about getting the Time Capsule updated--I'm assuming he meant s/w update (or maybe even firmware updates) unless he was hinting to replace the entire Time Capsule itself. Is it possible that the Time Capsule requires/required some kind of s/w update from 

Your TC is old.. for domestic equipment it is long overdue replacement.. that is probably his attempt to cover the fact it didn't work .. ie it is Apple's fault.. but the latest firmware update was only a few months ago.. 7.6.9 is the latest and perhaps last.. as Apple is no longer developing their routers.

I do not even know which generation your TC is but it can die tomorrow.. just so you know.. at this point it is one day at a time lifespan.

Then I 'updated' Time Capsule at which point

Sorry but what does this updated mean.. you cannot have updated the firmware since it could not get a connection.

Your first screenshot shows you are on the latest firmware.. nothing you could do about the problem.. it was their changes..

Reply

internet via Time Capsule airport not working

Similar questions