SOLVED: Dropped connections with Time Capsule and cable modem/router

I've been dealing with random dropped connections for quite a while and I thought that it would be useful to share what I've found.
I was having a very puzzling problem where my internet connection would drop randomly on wireless devices. On my laptop, webpages would suddenly become unresponsive for a minute or two, Mail would have connection problems and complain, etc...but incredibly randomly and definitely not repeatable or in any pattern that I noticed.
I also have 2 Nest thermostats in the house which connect via wi-fi. I noticed that they would randomly show Offline very often when viewed from a webpage or iPhone app, but the Nest front panels showed that they were connected with a strong signal.
As I said, the dropped connections were very sporadic. Most of the time, everything worked, but every once in a while...bam.
I worked with the level 3 tech support guys at Nest for over a week to figure out what was going on. We went through settings on my router and Time Capsule and everything seemed proper and okay. I even replaced the Nests with new ones but still had the same problem. We were all completely stumped.
Yesterday, my laptop dropped it's connection at the same time my wife's laptop dropped hers. At this point, I wondered if something was wrong with the Time Capsule or maybe my internet provider.
I called AppleCare to see if they could help with debugging the problem. They passed me up to a senior wi-fi tech and he asked me many questions about the configuration of my network. My home network looked like this yesterday (see crappy diagram below)
                                                     Motorola Cable modem/router
                                                                             |
                                                       Netgear multiport switch
                                                      |          |         |         |          |
                                                     hardwired Macs,            TimeCapsule (bridge mode)
                                                     laser printers,                   |   |   |   |   |
                                                      Apple TVs                       laptops, Nest, iphones
This configuration seemed correct to me. The Time Capsule in bridge mode would mean that the cable modem/router would be handling DHCP so all the devices would be on the same network and I could print from a laptop to one of my printers and the laptops could connect to the hardwired Macs, etc..
The AppleCare technician said he thought that bridge mode was the problem. He mentioned that there was a known issue that in this configuration, the IP addresses could get lost between the cable modem/router and the Time Capsule. He said it would be best if the Time Capsule was in DHCP/NAT mode and the first device before the switch, this way the Time Capsule was the only device passing out IP addresses.
So I repatched my network like this:
                                                   Motorola Cable modem/router
                                                                             |
                                                   TimeCapsule (DHCP/NAT mode)
                                                            |                                       |   |   |   |   |
                                    Netgear multipart switch                      laptops, Nest, iphones
                                         |         |         |        |
                                           hardwired Macs,
                                             laser printers,
                                               Apple TVs
I can tell you that in the past 24 hours, I haven't seen anything lose a connection. Not even the Nests which seemed be on and off all the time. And, in this configuration, all the devices are on the same network and able to speak to each other.
I hope that helps someone.

So you're saying that Bridge Mode not functioning properly is a well known issue?
Not to me.. I have not had issues with the TC in bridge. And it is my prefered setup. I think it is better as a wireless AP and network hard disk than a router any day of the week.. but there are other ways to skin the cat if it is proving unreliable. I am at the moment using a wireless bridge from the Gen4 TC to a Gen4 AE upstairs for TV internet streaming.. it started off very reliable.. but of late I guess I need to reboot it every few days. And it has required a full reset two or three times.. although I probably need to take some of the blame for those. I am not over worried.. i do not believe in wireless bridges except for the most interim of arrangements.. it will be wired in ethernet ASAP.
Wireless should always be used in a way that respects its status as voodoo.. not stable technology. NOT SCIENCE.. it is more a bag of beads and rattles.
Is there a way to change the cable modem/router to avoid the double NAT problem?
The answer to this may depend on your ISP. Did they provide the modem? If so they may lock it down so you have no control. But normally a Motorola cable modem will not have a bridge mode as such but will have a method of turning off NAT.. (and wireless).. this amounts to the same thing.
Once you turn off NAT.. you need to power cycle the modem so the TC gets the public IP in router mode. The power cycle time might be 5min or 20min or overnight.. it again depends on your ISP.. but you need to stop the modem capturing the public IP so it can be passed to the modem.
Depending on where you are in the world.. US is most concentration of cable network.. you can go out and buy your own modem. Pick one on your ISP list and steer clear of SB.. at least with the apple routers they are problematic.
It also can be a case that the cable modem is SB model and therefore more problematic. Sorry I have forgotten the recommendation for what to buy. There are a number of posts here about it but search is terrible now. (or I am too old to figure it out). I will get Bob to poke his nose in and tell you what works for him.

Similar Messages

Dropping connection with Time Capsule?

So, now that we have a new router - is anyone still have the connection drop out on them like AirPort Extreme was causing that plagued a lot of users? I haven't seen any comments on any of the usual mac boards that would suggest that random drop outs having been fixed somehow with Time Capsule.

Time Capsule has been one giant headache for me. It worked well with my MBP, but not my iMac. I'm constantly getting network drops, making the initial backup take forever. I got it friday morning and now it's Sat night and it still has not completed the initial backup (given it is about 200gigs of backup). It got quite a bit backed up at first and then dropped the connection. It kept what it had originally backed up, but since then, it doesn't seem to want to remember the progress it's making between each network drop. Also once I was moving a simple 5mb file from one computer to another and it took nearly 10-15mins. It hasn't done that since, thankfully. I was so excited about this product and now I'm severally let down. Apple needs to fix this network stability problems for their iMac C2Ds. It's getting frustrating, especially since I've ripped my DVD collection to an external HD and trying to use it as a media server to play off my PS (but obviously this won't work if the network keeps dropping out on me). I've used iStumbler and the network is always between 75-80% with less than 15% noise too, so the signal is fine. It's just for some reason iMac don't seem to want to hold on to their signal. I've even switched to keep a constant Channel vs using the Automatic setting, and I'm still getting drops (although much less frequently). I think I'm going to keep Time Capsule and giver it a while to see if the issues get worked out, but I may take it back if I can't get my stuff backed up and the network stable within the return period.

Time Capsule and Wireless Modem/Router

I have recently just moved. In my old apartment I have my time capsule connected to my modem that was not wireless, and I was using it creating a wireless network and backing up my mac book pro.
Now that I have moved, my new cable company has supplied me with a modem and wireless router in 1. It creates its own wireless network.
The internet works fine on the network supplied by the new router. When I plug in my TC into the router (using a ethernet cable) it still backs up my mac book, however the light still flashes and still wont connect or make a new network.
I am wondering what is the best way to set up my new wireless modem/router with my time capsule:
Should I leave as is with it still backing up my macbook or is there a better way to set it up so I have my own mac network supplied by the TC, as well as the current one supplied by the company router?

You have a choice here..
The simple way to set this up is bridge the TC.. I think that is how it must be setup otherwise your Mac could not back up to it.
The fact that the wireless network of the TC is unavailable is not a major issue unless the current router is slow.
You can do a reset of the TC.. I recommend to still download and use 5.6 utility
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1482
Still far superior to the one in Lion. You might need to do it at first with ethernet directly to the TC and set up wireless again.. use short name with no spaces no special characters. Fix and lock the 2.4ghz wireless channel.
Go to the internet tab, connection sharing and make sure the connection sharing is set to off bridge mode.
Once you do that, plug the TC back into the main router by ethernet.. reboot the whole system.. restart in order modem.. tc.. clients. It should now appear as TC wireless network.
The alternative is to turn off wireless or even bridge the modem router and use the TC in router mode. You will need to look up how to do that. That would make the current modem just like your old one which was a straight pure modem.. but you can easily run into trouble so I think it is not the best option here.

Extending a network with Time Capsule and AirPort Extreme (via Belkin powerline)

Hello -
I've seen many topics about extending wireless networks here, but none seems to resolve the issue I'm having. I currently have a setup where a DSL cable modem is connected to a Time Capsule and I need to extend this network to another room using an AirPort Extreme.
I live in a very old apartment in Brazil and the walls seem to block the signal from one room to another, hence the need to extend it. Since wireless signal is very weak between rooms, I bought a Belkin powerline AV500 so I could connect both Time Capsule and AirPort using the electrical power at home (just installing a regular Ethernet cable between rooms is not an option).
I started with the basics: configure the Time Capsule + DSL as a standalone network, and it works perfectly within it's range. Then I connected the Belking powerline, plugged a MacBook via Ethernet on the other end and still got very good results (actually better speed than expected). Used it for a while with streaming and other network intensive tasks to make sure it could sustain the connection.
Finally, pluggned the AirPort Extreme on the Belking powerline and this is where the problems started. AirPort Utility 6.3.1 only gives me the option of extending a network wirelessly - it doesn't seem to give me the option of extending it via Etherenet (roaming), which is not good in my case. Luckly I had a copy of AirPort Utility 5.6 which seems to do the job (or I thought so), but it's still not working well.
Although I managed to configure both with the same name, it doesn't seem reliable and some devices (the iPhone 5, for example) are unable to connect and end up with a self-asigned IP address. I'm almost sure I'm doing something wrong on the setup, as I've seen a similar setup working before, so if anyone out there has any clue of what can be done, it will be much appreciated.
Attached the screenshots of both Time Capsule and AirPort Extreme configurations.
Thanks a lot,
-TM
AirPort Exteme:
Time Capsule:

Hello JuliaApple. Welcome to the Apple Discussions!
You have several ways to configure both base stations for what you are trying to do.
The simplest would be to configure the Time Capsule (TC) to "join" (AirPort Utility > Manual Setup > Wireless tab > Wireless Mode = Join a wireless network) your existing 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Station (AEBSn). In this type of configuration the TC would perform as any other wireless client and not perform as a router. It will; however, still allow for both backups and sharing USB devices attached to it.

My start up disc is full i have a macbook air, i back everuthing up with time capsule and have movies all my music libraries and photos onto that too so as i have free space, but my max still says my startup disc is full with "other"

my start up disc is full i have a macbook air, i back everuthing up with time capsule and have movies all my music libraries and photos onto that too so as i have free space, but my max still says my startup disc is full with "other"

First, empty the Trash if you haven't already done so. Then reboot. That will temporarily free up some space.
According to Apple documentation, you need at least 9 GB of available space on the startup volume (as shown in the Finder Info window) for normal operation. You also need enough space left over to allow for growth of your data. There is little or no performance advantage to having more available space than the minimum Apple recommends. Available storage space that you'll never use is wasted space.
If you're using Time Machine to back up a portable Mac, some of the available space will be used to make local snapshots, which are backup copies of files you've recently deleted. The space occupied by local snapshots is reported as available by the Finder, and should be considered as such. In the Storage display of System Information, local snapshots are shown as "Backups." The snapshots are automatically deleted when they expire or when free space falls below a certain level. You ordinarily don't need to, and should not, delete local snapshots yourself.
To locate large files, you can use Spotlight as described here. That method may not find large folders that contain a lot of small files.
You can also use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper (ODS) to explore your volume and find out what's taking up the space. You can delete files with it, but don't do that unless you're sure that you know what you're deleting and that all data is safely backed up. That means you have multiple backups, not just one.
Proceed further only if the problem hasn't been solved.
ODS can't see the whole filesystem when you run it just by double-clicking; it only sees files that you have permission to read. To see everything, you have to run it as root.
Back up all data now.
Install ODS in the Applications folder as usual.
Triple-click the line of text below to select it, then copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C):sudo /Applications/OmniDiskSweeper.app/Contents/MacOS/OmniDiskSweeper
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window (command-V). You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.
I don't recommend that you make a habit of doing this. Don't delete anything while running ODS as root. If something needs to be deleted, make sure you know what it is and how it got there, and then delete it by other, safer, means.
When you're done with ODS, quit it and also quit Terminal.

My MacBook Pro (new 13") losses connection with Time Capsule.

My new Pro 13" will lose connection with Time Capsule every day. I also back up a MacBook Air (about 1 year old) that maintains connection. If I reboot Time Capsule the Pro will connect and backup to it but will lose the connection the next day. Does anyone have any idea how to address this?

You may want to take your question to the Time Capsule forum - while all of us here use MacBook Pros, the real Time Capsule experts hang out on that forum.
Good luck,
Clinton

Inconsistent connectivity with time capsule

wifi connection with time capsule inconsistent. Works for a while then stops, minute later I can connect. wifi signals at work and other locations works fine no interruptions. i work usually very close to router

There is a ton of wireless interference on the 2.4 GHz wireless channels....cordless phones, other wireless networks, electronics, wireless camera/security systems....the list goes on and on.
Hold down the option key on your Mac and click on the fan shaped AirPort icon at the top of your screen. Check to see what Channel you are connecting to. If it is a channel between 1 and 11, you are trying to use the over crowded, interference plagued, 2.4 GHz band.
The 5 GHz band has far fewer networks and might be worth a shot if you are trying to use the 2.4 GHz band now. Or, if you are using the 2.4 GHz band now....and you have a cordless phone anywhere near your Time Capsule or computer, move it as far away as possible.
Post back on your results of your channel test and we'll discuss some possible options.

Devices (iPad, iPhone) no longer can maintain wifi connectivity with time capsule

My iPad and iPhone can no longer maintain wifi connectivity with time capsule. Time capsule has connectivity to internet via Macbook, but not other devices. This started after upgrade of devices to s/w 6.0. Does anyone know if that could impact connectivity?

Yes, this is often reported with iOS 6.. there are definitely more wireless problems.
I recommend you reset the TC in the following ways.
1. Change all names to SMB type.. ie short, no spaces and pure alphanumeric.. that includes the TC itself, wireless and hard disk. I recommend a different name for 5ghz so you can force clients to that band without auto voodoo affecting it.
2. Use WPA2 Personal security only.. 8-12 character pure alphanumeric passkey.
3. Lock the wireless channels.. particularly for 2.4ghz.. pick one of the channels, out of 1, 6, 11 as these are the only ones that do not overlap.. test each in turn for the best and most stable. TC should pick the best itself but that is voodoo and I am preferring to run the system without black arts.

Backing up Mac HD with Time Capsule AND an external hard drive

I am sure that this question has been asked one way or another but I can't seem to find the exact answer.
I would like to back up my Mac HD with the Time Capsule AND another hard drive essentially to create two backups. Should one fail, I still have another copy as a precaution. The Time Capsule will be my primary back up because my external hard drive is usually switched off and will only be turned on from time to time to perform "less frequent" backups.
With Time Capsule AND the external hard drive on, will Time Machine just update the backup on the external hard drive without becoming confused with the other copy on Time Capsule? In other words, can Time Machine distinguish between two different Time Machine Backup files and bring them up to date accordingly?
I understand there is an archive function on the Time Capsule, which would also serve the purpose. However, I am wondering if there is another way.
Thanks.

Rheopaipo wrote:
I am sure that this question has been asked one way or another but I can't seem to find the exact answer.
I would like to back up my Mac HD with the Time Capsule AND another hard drive essentially to create two backups. Should one fail, I still have another copy as a precaution. The Time Capsule will be my primary back up because my external hard drive is usually switched off and will only be turned on from time to time to perform "less frequent" backups.
With Time Capsule AND the external hard drive on, will Time Machine just update the backup on the external hard drive without becoming confused with the other copy on Time Capsule? In other words, can Time Machine distinguish between two different Time Machine Backup files and bring them up to date accordingly?
I understand there is an archive function on the Time Capsule, which would also serve the purpose. However, I am wondering if there is another way.
I don't think it's possible to configure Time Machine to back up to two locations without modifying its settings frequently.
You might consider using that external drive to hold a bootable backup. You can create such a thing with either of the utilities SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner. If you pay the registration fee for SuperDuper! (~US$28), there's a mode where it will back up only what has changed, which makes the backup operation run quicker. (Carbon Copy Cloner may offer a similar feature.)

How to disconnect internet connection in Time Capsule and reconnect without restarting the whole device?

Hi, I would be very grateful if someone could tell me how to disconnect internet connection in Time Capsule and reconnect without restarting the whole device?
The thing is that as I have a dynamic IP address, everytime I restart the internet connection my IP address changes. I sometimes need it to change, so I need to restart the connection. I don't know another way to restart the connection than restarting the whole Time Capsule.
Thanks!!
PD: the computer I use is Windows based, using the Airport Utility for Windows, but I also have a MacBook Pro I could use and an iPhone too.

The utility in windows is very like Mac so the screenshots are from Mac as I don't have windows available now.
How this works depends on the setup of the TC.. which you did not tell us.. you cannot change anything if you do not have the TC as the main router in the network.
So on the internet tab you need to share a public IP address.
On the next tab where you set IP address.
Click the renew IP address.
It might work.. and it might not.. the problem is you are not disconnecting the network.. sometimes the hard disconnection is required before the address will renew..
What about unplugging the WAN port.. then click renew the IP which will fail.. then plug the wan back in again.
In the end it is easier and faster to power cycle the TC.

How do I connect my Time Capsule on my modem wirelessly?

I already have a modem that I use to access the internet wirelessly on my macbook. Is there a way that I can connect my Time Capsule on this modem without having to use an enthernet cable?
Thanks!

So you are saying that if I use the AirPort Extreme Base Station I would be able to connect my TC wirelessly and expend my wireless signal at home?
No, please see my previous answer.....
and then use it to expand the internet signal.
That is not possible. The Time Capsule could "extend" the signal only if it is provided by another Apple router.
What I did say was.....
When the Time Capsule "joins" a wireless network, it simply connects to the network...like another computer. If you configure the Time Capsule this way, it becomes a wireless hard drive. it performs no routing functions and it will need to be located where it can receive a strong wireless signal from your main wireless router.
I am not recommending that you set up the Time Capsule this way, but will provide the steps if you want.
So, to clarify....
The Time Capsule can be configured to "join" your existing wireless network. It will not extend or expand the wireless network. The Time Capsule becomes a wireless hard drive in this type of configuration.
I do not recommend this type fo setup for most users because it is difficult to configure and limits backups to wireless only. You will not be able to connect to the Time Capsule using Ethernet to backup, which is much faster than wireless.

Time Capsule and FiOS wireless router

Can I connect the Time Capsule to my FiOS router and then disable the wifi feature on the FiOS router?

Are there any known issues with the TC in general, particularly from the wifi perspective?
TC is much better than it was.. make sure you keep it cool.. place it up from the bench on a couple of pencils.. that stuff about conductive rubber.. ignore it.. rubber in all its forms is an insulator and holds in heat. If it does start running really hot.. it has a fault and you should take it back.. Same with hard disk.. they occasionally go bad.. so backup to it.. fine.. storing files on it.. no don't do it.
Remember it is covered under your computer applecare.. so if you have any computer with extended applecare it will cover TC with certain conditions.. but that gives the TC effectively 3years warranty.. after that.. dispose of it and buy a new one.. the TC is not going to be reliable as the hard disk has been starting and stopping multiple times every day for 3years.. just don't trust them.
Wireless is ok.. I don't think it is particularly good range wise. Although Apple said how much better it was than previous Generations.. I have had all 4 now.. and performance in my experience was line ball between all of them. Apple design their routers to work very well with AEBS or AEx so if you want to extend wireless it is simple.. just it doesn't work with any other brand.. apple now reflecting a rather dark empire tendency.. they used to critize in others.
Clarification question...how do I backup my current files on the Lacie to the TC? Would that simply be connecting the two devices via USB and copying over?
Backing up TM files?? Not a good idea.. TM works differently on local disks and network disks.. and TC is best left to do its own stuff. If you mean moving actual file storage.. don't. The TC is not a file store.. it is a backup target.. TC has no way to back itself up.. and TM cannot backup a network drive .. so you would have to buy 3rd party software anyway.
Also USB on the TC is purely for printer and USB connected disk.. but you cannot directly copy from one to the other.. it would have to copy over network to the computer and then back to the TC.. it will be 2x to 4x faster if you do want to copy files to use Lacie plugged into the computer.. and copy to the TC. At least files are only going one way.

I want to backup an external hard drive connected with time capsule

What to do? I want a macbook air but realise that the storage is limited. I want to have en external HDD connected through time capsule or similar to access storage "wirelessly". I want everything backed up automatically through time capsule. I understand time capsule does not back up connected external HDDs unfortunately. If it did my problem would be solved. How should I do? Can a two time capsule solution be possible where one is used för storage and the other for time machine also backing up time capsule nr 1?
I do not want to loose all my photos! They won´t fit a macbook air... I have tried "crash plan" wich is one of many ckoud solutions to try and take care of all my hundreds of GBs but it doesn´t work well. Takes forever to backup and it keeps loosing contact with the external HDD i have connected through the time capsule.
This must be a very common need but I find no good solutions?!
Thanks!

You are right.. there is no decent solution from Apple..
You need a proper NAS.. not a backup target for TM.. which is what the TC is.
Look at Synology and QNAP.. they are not cheap but will work fine with Macs, TM even although it can be messy setting up. But the real NAS will auto backup to a USB drive.. plus the raid system offers protection against a dead drive.
Some people use a Mac Mini as a server.. (you don't need server version OS on it).. but the disk expansion is going to cost you as much as the true NAS.

Can't establish internet connection with Time Capsule

I currently have a wireless Linksys router and have switch over to TC. I've connected my cable modem internet connection to the internet connection of the Time Capsule, however, with the Airport Utility it states that I do not have a valid IP Address. I've check under the Manual setting for Internet and ensured that the connection says "share a public IP address", but that does not work. Any ideas?

Did you remember to completely reset your cable modem and power cycle the network?
Push the reset button on the modem (if present)
Power the modem down
Pull the batttery (if easily accessible)
Power down every device on the network....order is not important
Wait at least 15-20 minutes
Make sure that you have the Ethernet cable from the modem connected to the WAN port (world icon) on the Time Capsule, and re-install the battery if it was pulled in the steps above
Power up the modem and let it run for 4-5 minutes by itself
Power up the Time Capsule the same way
Continue powering up devices one at a time about a minute apart until the network is powered back up
Check network operation

Airport extreme losing wireless connection with Time Capsule

I have a 1st gen Time Capsule acting as my home wireless network base station which is configured to allow the wireless network to be extended. It is also the sole DHCP server. I have a 4th gen Airport Extreme in Extend a Wireless network mode. Everything was running ok for several months. However, since I upgraded both devices to Version 7.6, the Airport extreme keeps losing its connection with the network every few hours, requiring a daily reboot. Since the problem occured, I have disabled MAC address Access Control on the Time Capsule, and allocated a reserved DHCP IP address for the Airport Extreme - but this has not solved the problem.
Does anyone have any ideas?

I had exactly the same problem. I also think it's a bug in 7.6. It seemed solved by downgrading my Time Capsule (TC) and my Airport Extreme (AE) to 7.5.2. To do so start the Airport Utility (in your /Applications/Utilities folder). Double click on the TC or AE. In the Menu at the top on your screen go to "Base Station" --> "Upload Firmware..." and the select 7.5.2. After rebooting your device, downgrade the other. Hopefully your problem is solved as well!

SOLVED: Dropped connections with Time Capsule and cable modem/router

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