Airport Time Capsule overheating

peakachu wrote:

Greetings and thank you. It is the "tower" style, 2TB Time Capsule, purchased in January, 2017.

You are right on schedule for the clogged fan syndrome which Bob mentioned.

Talking recently to another Technician he has replaced a few of these fans.. he tried cleaning and lubricating them but found the fans just failed again in a few months. Since then he just orders new ones.. you can get them from ebay.

You can see the make and model here.

This was a new replacement fan after a few months of use.

Here is a fan after a couple of years of service.

Although the fan still works.. (the picture makes it seem worse than it really is).. obviously the fan becomes less efficient. As your ambient temperature goes up the fan will need to work harder.

If you open the airport utility and go to the diagnostics it will show you the current duty cycle.. it should be 57 in normal operation but can go up to 255.

Apple offer no repairs or replacements. However if you have valid applecare on product, computer, ipad or appleTV it also covers the TC.. although the rules are complicated so ask your Apple store.

There are instructions for removing the fan over at ifixit

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

The Time Capsule teardown is based on the Extreme.. since they are basically the same.. but the TC does require more care as the hard disk must be removed as well.

These are NOT easy to do .. and if you are not a DIYer.. I would check with a repair shop for quote.. or get a technical friend to help. Unfortunately the cost of repair professionally often leaves you seriously questioning the value of the original purchase.. as it will happen again in a similar period of time.

You can see from previous posts this is not unusual.

Re: why is my airport extreme overheating?

There is a strange solution in the above thread.. to turn off file sharing. Which is fine for an Airport Extreme.. but will render a Time Capsule a paper weight if you actually want to do Time Machine backups.

Note I have also found sensor problems so this can be caused by multiple issues. The power supply thermostat seems to be particularly bad. So replacing fan and power supply might be both required.

If you are super heavy DIYer post again as I have finally beaten the thing into submission.

If your Time Capsule is the most recent "tower" shaped model, the fan is always on inside this device to help keep the electronics from overheating. Normally, the fan is inaudible during normal use.

Unfortunately, the fan tends to get clogged with dust....on average....after 12-18 months or so. When this happens, the fan loses some of its ability to keep the electronics at normal operating temperature. So, the internal temperature begins to rise and fan speed increases automatically to compensate when this occurs. Things return to normal for awhile, until the process repeats itself regularly.

To see if we are on the right track, we need for you to confirm the model of Time Capsule that you have and give us a general idea of how old the Time Capsule might be.

Please provide that information when you can.

Ran out of edit time.

And I meant sensor not thermostat.. but I figure you can work it out.

Here is write up of the work I did.

Repair AC version Time Capsule or Extreme - LaPastenague

It took me a fair while to really track down the issue to much more than a faulty sensor.. the actual chip that provides fan control and temp functions is actually bad.. and short of replacement which is well nigh impossible, I rebuilt the TC without a case or fan and got the overheat error to shut up.

It is the "tower" style, 2TB Time Capsule, purchased in January, 2017.

Unfortunately, as LaPastenague notes......your Time Capsule is right on schedule for the fan clogging issue.

The Time Capsule is out of normal warranty......but.....if you happen to have AppleCare in effect on a Mac, the Time Capsule is usually covered for up to 3 years from its purchase date under the coverage umbrella.

The "rules" are a bit complicated, so you will need to get with Apple Support for a replacement Time Capsule if you might have a Mac that qualifies.

Otherwise, LaPastenague has already detailed your other option, if you want to keep the Time Capsule operating normally.