MacBook Air and problems with Time Capsule in 5GHz Radio Mode

We have our Time Capsule configured to 802.11n only (5 GHz). We've done this to work more efficiently in a particularly noisy wireless area. The problem is that the MacBook Air can't maintain a connection to it and when it loses the connection, the wireless interface seems to disappear from the Mac altogether - the wireless status indicator just shows an empty cone. The only solution is a restart. Sometimes it loses the connection after a couple of hours, sometimes within minutes, though it always goes eventually. All other machines on the network are fine, and switching the Time Capsule to 802.11n only (2.4 GHz) solves the problem, though there's a lot of noise at that frequency and our network performance as a whole suffers.
I know there's similar threads around dealing with the MBA and wireless issues (I've tried all the solutions vaguely related, e.g. deleting and recreating the wireless interface), though none that deal with this specific problem, which I'm convinced is caused by the radio mode of the Time Capsule.
All software / firmware is the latest:
MacBook Air 10.5.2 Wireless Card Firmware Veriosn Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (4.170.46.5)
Time Capsule Version 7.3.1
I was hoping the recent firmware updates would sort this... any one else running a Time Capsule in 5GHz mode with a MacBook Air?

I'm running my TC in 5ghz mode with my MBA. My original problem was the lack of signal strength coming from my AEBS caused the MBA to have a slow connection. There are a number of pipes in the wall that separates the two rooms where my MBA lives and the AEBS is.
So, I hard wired the TC to the AEBS and placed the TC in the room where my MBA lives most of the time. Now that the signal strength is really good I'm not having any issues.

Similar Messages

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    *Some Observations*
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    WEP provides no real security, so think of it as you would an open network.
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    I am having an issue where the time capsule shares become unavailable. It is an intermittent issue, and I have been unable to identify a test case. This happens for devices connected over ethernet as well as wireless. The Time Capsule shows in the Finder list, but the volumes are not available. Connecting to them fails.
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    Hi,
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    I am fairly frustrated with this! any suggestions / help would be gratefully accepted.
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    Hi, I have the following problem with Time Capsule: La imagen del disco de copia de seguridad “/Volumes/Data/MacBook Pro de Carlos.sparsebundle” ya está en uso. Please your comments to solve this problem, i can't made a backup. Thanks.

    Try Here  >  http://pondini.org/TM/Time_Capsule.html
    Perhaps P 2  >  Time Machine could not complete . . . sparsebundle could not be accessed. (Error 109).

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    new help with my mac air and airport extreme time capsule dont know how to save to time capsule and use as a external hd would like 2 store my home videos and pictures on the time machine (ONLY) as the MAC AIR has storage space limited space please help. THANK YOU.

    See the info here about sharing or using the TC for data.
    Q3 http://pondini.org/TM/Time_Capsule.html
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    It is a backup target for Time Machine.. that is the software on the computer that does backups.. it has no direct connection to the Time Capsule.
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    The TC is slow to spin up the hard disk and fast to spin down. iTunes and iPhoto will continually lose connection to their respective libraries.
    iPhoto in particular is easy to corrupt when you move photos over wireless into the library.. once corrupted all is corrupt. A single photo will ruin it all.. so backup is utterly essential.
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  • I am out of space on my Macbook Air and have a Time Machine Backup. I want to complete reset my mac, but wonder if I can pick and choose what I restore to my computer? Can I also use my time machine backup and external storage as well?

    I am out of space on my Macbook Air and have a Time Machine Backup. I want to complete reset my mac, but wonder if I can pick and choose what I restore to my computer? Can I also use my time machine backup as external storage as well for the files I don't need everyday?

    If you are using "Restore from Time Machine Backup" option from OS X Recovery, you can only choose from the broad categories presented.
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  • Problem with Time Capsule after backup session

    I have a problem with Time Capsule after a backup session. Our two Macs (on Maverick) loose connection with the station and the only thing that seems to help is unplugging the Time Capsule  and starting it again! After the next backup session the same thing happens again. The Macs seem not to be able to hold on to the connection and continually loose it.  The iPhones and iPads that we have (4 units) are not affected - it is the Mac Mini and Mac Powerbook that experiences this problem!
    I would be grateful for your help!
    Thor

    This is standard Mac issues and has been a bug floating around since Lion.. it hits some people worse than others.. but once it starts it is awful hard to get rid of.
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    TC name and wireless name/s should conform. By default the disk share name is data which is fine.
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  • Since I upgraded to 10.7.2 lion I have these problems with Time Capsule. What is the problem? thanks

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  • Complex Problem with Time Capsule and Network

    I have setup an airport network based on a 500 gb Time Capsule which for about a year was working perfectly. Last days some problems came up. The network is shared to 2 different macbooks pro. The first macbook pro works perfectly, the internet connection is stable and fast. The other macbook works weird: Although it finds the network the internet speed is very slow and not stable. Also it can't backup on the time capsule as it used to do (msg: can't find the server). Ι have the same network settings for both the macbooks pro and I had several times restart and reset the time capsule.
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  • Internet Problem with Time Capsule (Wi-Fi) and AT&T U-verse Motorola NVG589 (Bridge Mode)

    I'm having a problem with my Internet connection. For some unknown reason it keeps cutting out every 5 min for about 5 seconds. The wi-fi signal doesn't drop or anything like that, just the internet connection stops working for a little bit and then its fine again (pages don't load, etc).
    Here is my current set-up:
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    2. Apple Time Capsule (latest model 2TB)
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    I tried contacting AT&T and they just sent me a new Motorola router, I installed it, put it in bridge mode and still the same thing is happening.
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    Please let me know if anyone can help.

    Ok, here is an update on how I decided to deal with the problem. I will include all of my troubleshooting step by step for easy reference.
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    3. Third, I bought an ASUS RT-AC87U Wireless AC2400 Dual-band Gigabit Router to try and substitute the TC in previous steps and see if it helps. Same problem persisted when I put the NVG589 into Bridge Mode and RT-AC87U as the main router as well as RT-AC87U into bridge mode and NVG589 as the main router. The problem was exactly the same as when I tried using TC initially so my conclusion was this is NVG589's fault of being not compatible with other wireless routers.
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  • Wireless comm problem with time capsule or airport extreme using iMac G5

    I did buy a Time Capsule and an iMac 20" G5 January 2009...Installed all the components and created a wireless network...MacBook, iPhone and iPod Touch connected perfectly...iMac connected but started to drop communications with Time Capsule...Safari, iTunes and other internet-access programs had problems to connect 100% with the web...After reviewing all the post here and "testing/trying" several parameters, I found out that you need to define a WPA/WPA2 password protection with more than 13 characters...FYI, Time capsule is configured using 802.11n (b/g compatible)...

    Further to Bob's comments..
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  • Printer Problem with Time Capsule

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    Hi djmaq,
    Your English is fine and easy to understand.
    I am experiencing the same problem with a Vista PC and a Epson RX595 connected directly to a TimeCapsule. It started printing the page, stopped halfway through, and then finished printing the page and started printing MANY other pages with just "hieroglyphics" in random spots. I had to pull out the pages and cancel the print job.
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  • Problem with Time Capsule used with an External Hard Drive (with it's own power supply)

    I have a mid 2012 Macbook Pro with Mavericks installed. I have the latest Time Capsule (802.11 ac) with an external hard drive hooked up via the USB port. The external hard drive was taken from an older Mac desktop machine and is formatted correctly (Mac OS Extended Journaled). The external hard drive has it's own power supply and shows up fine when connected directly to my laptop.
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    I've tried unplugging and restarting my Time Capsule and the External Drive with no luck.
    Any advice?
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    Welcome to Mavericks.. and its new concept of network drives not just being hard to find like in Mountain Lion but totally invisible.
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  • Problem with Time Capsule backup

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    I finally resolved this.  However, I had to erase the entire backup on my 3tb and start with a new backup.  I connected via hardwire to make it go faster.  No problems now.

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