Time Capsule does not play nicely with Cisco Router

Three days ago, I had an older Linksys router attached to our ISP's cable modem by ethernet; the network included a wireless time capsule and apple express base station set up by our son last year (who understands this stuff, but lives 2,000 miles distant). The router died and I purchased a new Linksys router (E2500). It is occupying the same spot as the old router, but running with no security settings as yet. My wife's iMac and two Windows XP laptops work just fine on the network, as well as our NetFlix connection on our TV. My MacPro, however, can not access the main network - it can see it but won't grab an IP address. It will, however, see and connect to the router's guest account, although with reduced signal strength. The Time Capsule is now connected to the MacPro by ethernet (if I make it wireless, it will back up fine, but I can't access Internet or send email on the guest account). The AirPort Express is unplugged and not a factor.
Yesterday, I spent most of the day on the phone with Cisco (who claimed AirPort Express will not work with their routers, which I know to be, um, less than accurate), and with Apple Support - who did not help (other than to set up a Genius Bar appointment this morning at the local Apple Store). The Genius Bar turned out to be a disappointment as well - the MacPro with Time Capsule attached worked perfectly on the main network in the store, but at home, even with a test user account with Admin authority, as they suggested), no go.
If I unpower Time Capsule, I loose Internet. With Time Capsule plugged in, I can access my router's guest account -
Aside from returning this router and starting fresh with a different brand router, any suggestions?
Thanks for any guidance, suggestions, etc.

My first reaction is to suggest you ring your son.. !!
And I guess my second one, would be to remove the E2500, and connect the time capsule directly to the cable modem.. they are equivalent devices. The TC is an excellent wireless router and will work better as the primary router in your network. Turn off the cable modem so it can pick up the new device.. plug the TC directly to the cable modem then turn on both.
Make sure the TC is working as router.. and you should be able to setup the wireless to connect all your computers etc.
The E2500 can also be used as a WAP if you need more range. But be aware you have to make sure it uses a separate channel to the TC. Plug it in via ethernet to LAN port not WAN.. and turn off dhcp and set the IP to same IP range as the TC but make it outside the dhcp scope. So for example the TC is running 10.0.1.1 and then make the E2500 10.0.1.254
The express cannot do WDS to the Linksys.. so what you were told is correct. It may be able to connect via ethernet but not as repeater. But you can do that with the TC now that it is the main router.

Similar Messages

My Time Capsule does not work with existing WiFi

Following a question solved on March 24 by LaPastenague, but gone bad again.
Apple AirPort Time Capsule
I felt the need for a physical backup of my data, as I would not completely trust the different clouds. I use, and have used Dropbox for 4-5 years and are very satisfied with that, but I am still not sure if or when a political lunatic will shut off the internet.
I purchased the Apple AP Time Capsule 2T, because all my other stuff are Apple, and that it's wireless. My old backup is Maxtor 300 GB.
Since we stay 2-3 weeks on two locations, one in Norway and one in Sweden (two different countries) we must use Mobile Broadband 4G, cables or fibre connections are useless for us, and we don't have it up to the houses. I have one mini router for each country, we bring with us iPhones, iPads, iMac, Apple TV, APExpress. When we pass the boarder I change the mini router, and the system continues working perfect on the WiFi, except the APExpress that needs to be reconfigured, but then it works.
The APTC was difficult to make working as it would not accept to be in an existing network, but with good help from the Apple Community, LaPastenague, with forcing the TC connect to the APE with Ethernet cable in bridge mode, ref "My Time Capsule does not work with existing WiFi" from March 24, the problem was solved and all gadgets worked together in a perfect harmony, until we changed location.
Now, as I have my second WiFi network, and the APExspress is reconfigured, it's like the TC thinks, I am the base boss here, I am not taking orders from APE one more time, and it simply does not work, not only that, it fluctuates all the time.
I have a slight feeling that the two WiFi bands are making the trouble as during the configuration of the TC sometime the last figure 6 and 7 pops up, and that has something two do with the two different 2,4 and 5 GHZ bands
So, I am curious if you have any idea ?
I am thinking of returning the TC if I don't make it work now, but how do I delete all the data that's on it?

I can deal with the last question first and easily.
I am thinking of returning the TC if I don't make it work now, but how do I delete all the data that's on it?
Open the airport utility .. go to the disk tab and select erase.
When you select erase you will get mulitiple options.
Quick removes the file table but does not delete the files,, it takes 2min or less.
A Zero out data is the secure way,, by writing 0 ie low level drive format.
It can take several hours..
7 pass will take a week.. not recommended..
35 pass erase is ridiculous.. it would take a month.. put an ax through the TC. It is quick and better.
Now, as I have my second WiFi network, and the APExspress is reconfigured, it's like the TC thinks, I am the base boss here, I am not taking orders from APE one more time, and it simply does not work, not only that, it fluctuates all the time.
The fact that it did work and has now failed might point to faulty unit.
The only way to tell is reset it properly to factory and start over.
Universal Factory Reset.. any model TC or AE.
Unplug your TC/AE from power or turn off at the power point.
Hold in reset. and power the TC/AE back on.. all without releasing reset and keep holding in for about 10sec. (this is often difficult without a 2nd person or a 3rd arm).
Release it when the status light flashes rapidly. If it doesn’t flash rapidly you have missed it and try again.
Note..
Be Gentle! Feel the switch click on. It has a positive feel.. add no more pressure after that.
TC/AE will reboot after a couple of minutes with default factory settings and will wipe out previous configurations of the router.
No files are deleted on the hard disk in a TC.. No reset of the TC deletes files.. to do that you use erase from the airport utility.
Generally having multiple wireless AP should not cause problems.. but it is better to set channels manually.. so it doesn't go beserk rotating channels.
Remember to keep all names short, no spaces and pure alphanumeric.
Sadly though the Apple routers have no logging now and no SNMP and almost nothing to help diagnose a problem, so if it continues .. take it back to apple.. they have given you no other method of fixing it.

Can I get an older release of Firefox? 36.0 does not play well with Windows 7.

Firefox 36.0.4 does not play well with Windows 7. If it opens at all, it freezes within a minute so the screen goes pale and I get the classic spinning circle of death. Then the header says (not responding).
Ideally I would like to drop back to version 32 or 33, but 34 and 35 had fewer problems.
Can I find older versions anywhere?

You can [[Install an older version of Firefox]] any time. But which will cause significant security risk. So If you can't use the latest version of Firefox, we recommend that you use the latest version of another browser.
If the latest version of Firefox is causing problems for you or you just don't like something about it, please give us feedback about it here:
[https://input.mozilla.org/en-US/feedback/ Submit your feedback and suggestions about Firefox]
Anyway head for the ftp for older version but please be careful with these: ftp://ftp.eu.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/

Time capsule does not appear in the finder.

My time capsule appears in airport utility. It is ready to go. I have it on ethernet because airport isn't a very powerful wireless router. The time capsule does not appear in the finder. It does not appear in the disc utility. It does not appear in time machine. The airport utility will do factory resets, get it ready for internet, whatever. The rest of my net work can not see it.
I have done the finder preferences. I have restarted the computer, jiggered the sharing preferences, done factory resets, tried to find sparce bundles and sparse bundles, reset the finder, force quit finder, tried to find finder plsts, trawled the discussion pages, tried to find server addresses and apple ids. Nothing seems to work.
Time capsule never seems to work as smoothly as it supposed to. I shudder to present my problems to apple support because I know that its a long road and will probably end in tears. But here I am, naked before this disappointing edifice.
Does anyone have any ideas?

What is the make and model number of your modem?
I have a microwave modem on my roof. I don't think that has anything to do with this. I am not using my airport for a wireless router, only as a time capsule connected by ethernet. The Airport Utility calls my airport : Airport Extreme 802.11 ( 1st Generation )
Is the Time Capsule acting as your main router or is another device handling those services?
No, I have a lyncsis router. The wireless router function on airports doesn't seem to work very well. I don't think thats a problem with mine. My brothers have gone with lyncsis as well.
Was the Time Capsule visible in the Finder before, and is now "lost", or has it never appeared in the Finder?
It appeared on my previous laptop. That died. Now I have an imac. The airport has never appeared on the imac.
Thanks for trying to help so quickly
JOhn

Airport time capsule does not appear within wi-fi networks on my OSX neither on my IOS devices, even though the backup for my OSX is on progress. why it does not appear?

Airport time capsule does not appear within wi-fi networks on my OSX neither on my IOS devices, even though the backup for my OSX is on progress. why it does not appear?
Is it because the backup on progress?

Hmmm.. ok.. well you are kind of on your own.. purchasing from another country leads to problems.. especially as the TC itself is regional .. all the setup applies to the region it is sold in.
Make sure you are using ipv6 in the computers..
See
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4597
The 6.3 utility will not work without it.
Make sure all names are short, no spaces and pure alphanumeric.
Do a full reset and start over.
But there are no more controls.. you cannot set mode..
You can set wireless channels.. so do .. try different wireless names for the different bands.. and set fixed channels.. whatever your country allows, usually 2.4ghz you can use 1, 6, 11 but 13 maybe an option as well. 5ghz is much less clear and there are more variation. Just set to one channel and then another.
Set WPA2 Personal security with a 10-20 character password .. pure alphanumeric mix of upper and lower case and numbers.

We love apple email, but it does not play wall with other venders when you want to use your own domain (lags, disconnections, etc.)? What vendor should we use to make it push and work well? We want to stay with Apple Mail.

Help, our AppleMail does not play well with other Vendord to use our own domain. iCloud mail works great, but so far others we have tried lag, disconnec, etc. not nearly as good as icloud mail. Should we try exchange or office 365 plans with Apple Mail/ a lot more expensive?

Microsoft Exchange is the best business solution, Office 365 will give a hosted version that works well, as you noted it is not the cheapest. You should also look at Zimbra, an excellent service.

I cannot play music with my slideshows. I setup the music but it does not play, even with my older slideshows I hear no music.

I cannot play music with my slideshows. I setup the music but it does not play, even with my older slideshows I hear no music.

This category is for iPod shuffle. Is that the type of iPod you have, because your description of the problem does not sound like it's about a shuffle? If it's not a shuffle, what is the iPod model...?
There is music there and I can play it connected to laptop.
Are you doing the playing using the iPod, or are you playing the music using iTunes on the laptop?
All mucis icons read "No music" and this is not correct
Do these icons with "No music" appear on the laptop's screen, or on the iPod's screen

Time capsule does not appear in shared devices

All of the sudden my Time Capsule does not show up in the shared devices. It's all up to date, it is working fine as a router and internet connection works fine. It also show up in the airpot utility and the light is green however it does not show up on the shared devices so I cannot access the data folider anymore.
Furthermore Airport utility indicates that the disk is damaged but I cannot repair it because I cannot access it.
Any ideas? (beside doing a reset which I have already done)

That is bad.. the light should not be green unless you told the TC to ignore the problem.
A damaged disk has to be replaced.. if the SMART has gone off or is showing as bad or no capacity then you need to replace the disk (or if under warranty.. the whole TC).
How old is the TC?
Model number from the base A1xxx helps.
You can try doing an erase from the airport utility if the disk shows up at all. But if SMART has gone off the disk will need replacement anyway.
If less than 1year return to apple for warranty replacement.. and if you have applecare on a computer it will cover the TC for up to 3years although the rules are strict.. so check.
See instructions for removal of the hard disk.
http://www.ifixit.com/Device/Apple_Time_Capsule_Model_A1302
Certainly if the TC is older than 3years.. it might be better to consider replacement. Certainly replacing a hard disk could be just short fix until the power supply also goes.

Time Machine does not cope well with nearly-full disk

Although Time Machine is supposed to delete old backups when the disk fills up, under some circumstances it does not cope well with a disk-full condition.
Hardware: iMac (mid 2007)
OS: Mac OS X version 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard)
Processor: 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory: 2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
The other day I noticed that I had not had a successful Time Machine backup in over a day. Backups were taking a long time to run (4 hours or more), during which time the backup disk was chattering constantly and the disk showed "Estimating index time" in the Spotlight menu (even though I had excluded the disk from Spotlight indexing). When the disk finally stopped chattering, the backup finished with no visible errors but Time Machine continued to state that the last successful backup was yesterday. The backup disk was nearly full, but I had assumed that Time Machine was designed to cope with this situation by deleting old backups.
A complete annotated log file of the incident and my observations can be found here: http://bentopress.com/backup.log.zip
Here are some of the interesting entries from the system.log file:
Sep 7 16:22:14 Bento-iMac com.apple.backupd[56515]: Starting standard backup
Sep 7 16:22:14 Bento-iMac com.apple.backupd[56515]: Backing up to: /Volumes/My Backup Disk/Backups.backupdb
Sep 7 16:23:07 Bento-iMac com.apple.backupd[56515]: No pre-backup thinning needed: 100.0 MB requested (including padding), 137.2 MB available
Sep 7 16:25:49 Bento-iMac com.apple.backupd[56515]: Copied 32984 files (23.7 MB) from volume iMac HD.
Sep 7 16:25:53 Bento-iMac com.apple.backupd[56515]: No pre-backup thinning needed: 100.0 MB requested (including padding), 108.4 MB available
Sep 7 16:25:57 Bento-iMac KernelEventAgent[47]: tid 00000000 type 'hfs', mounted on '/Volumes/My Backup Disk', from '/dev/disk1s3', low disk, very low disk
Sep 7 16:25:58 Bento-iMac mds[45]: (Normal) DiskStore: Rebuilding index for /Volumes/My Backup Disk/Backups.backupdb
Sep 7 16:25:58 Bento-iMac KernelEventAgent[47]: tid 00000000 type 'hfs', mounted on '/Volumes/My Backup Disk', from '/dev/disk1s3', low disk
Sep 7 16:25:59 Bento-iMac mds[45]: (Normal) DiskStore: Creating index for /Volumes/My Backup Disk/Backups.backupdb
Sep 7 16:26:00 Bento-iMac KernelEventAgent[47]: tid 00000000 type 'hfs', mounted on '/Volumes/My Backup Disk', from '/dev/disk1s3', low disk, very low disk
Sep 7 16:26:00 Bento-iMac mds[45]: (Warning) Volume: Indexing reset and suspended on backup volume "/Volumes/My Backup Disk" because it is low on disk space.
Sep 7 16:26:02 Bento-iMac mds[45]: (Normal) DiskStore: Reindexing /Volumes/My Backup Disk/.Spotlight-V100/Store-V1/Stores/35367D91-8096-4D43-802B-A8658DBAB581 because no basetime was found.
Sep 7 16:26:02 Bento-iMac mds[45]: (Normal) DiskStore: Rebuilding index for /Volumes/My Backup Disk/Backups.backupdb
Sep 7 16:26:04 Bento-iMac mds[45]: (Normal) DiskStore: Creating index for /Volumes/My Backup Disk/Backups.backupdb
Sep 7 16:26:14 Bento-iMac com.apple.backupd[56515]: Error: Flushing index to disk returned an error: 0
Sep 7 16:26:14 Bento-iMac com.apple.backupd[56515]: Copied 776 files (17.3 MB) from volume iMac HD.
Sep 7 16:26:15 Bento-iMac com.apple.backupd[56515]: Backup canceled.
Note the "error: 0". Error code zero normally indicates success.
There were also many, many, many copies of the following message, which occurred while Spotlight was trying to index the backup disk:
Sep 7 17:28:40 Bento-iMac com.apple.backupd[58064]: Waiting for index to be ready (100)
Here's what I think is happening: at the very end of the backup, after the files have been copied to the backup disk, mds resets indexing because the disk is now full. backupd's attempt to flush the index to disk then fails because indexing is suspended (error zero), so the backup is canceled. I suspect that this may occur when the new backup and the old one(s) being deleted are both small enough that the disk "packs" tightly, leaving no room for the index. If a large (>500MB) old backup had been deleted to make room for a small (<100MB) new one, the problem would not have occurred.
I worked around the problem by switching Time Machine from the full disk to my Time Capsule. (I did not have this system backing up to the Time Capsule originally because I purchased the Time Capsule later for a different system.) The downside of this is that I lost access to older backups (though they are still accessible by right-clicking on Time Machine in the dock and selecting "Browse other Time Machine disks..."—however, I have not actually tried this). I'm also not completely happy having both my main systems backing up to the same hardware, but everything seems to be working well at this point and I do have a secondary backup system, using SuperDuper to clone the systems' disks to an external HD, which I do about once a month.
Although I have worked around the problem, I am posting this in the hope that it will be useful to someone else, in the hope that someone at Apple will notice and perhaps improve the performance of Time Machine in this situation, and also in the hope that someone can suggest a solution that does not involve throwing a bigger disk at the problem. Is there any way to free up space on Time Machine's backup disk, for example by manually pruning older backups, either through Time Machine itself or via the Finder or command line?

If you suspect that the disk being full is the problem, have you tried deleting some of the old backup data on the TM disk?
When in TM, go back to the past a long way, right click on a file/directory and select "delete backup". Do this on some big files you have (so that you get more space per removal) that you change all the time (so you'll still have recent backups).

Time Capsule Does Not Port Forward FTP Ports

Hey there,
I recently purchased a Time Capsule, and I found out that while it fixes the NAT-PMP bug found in my previous AirPort Extreme Base Station (Gigabit-N), it introduces a new problem which makes it refuse to forward port 21 properly.
It seems to me that the Time Capsule has some sort of FTP server built in, and is either enabled but closes connection on client connection, or disabled but still listens for client connection.
This message is what I get when I connect to my IP via FTP from the WAN side (FTP port forwarded to a local machine with an IP 10.0.0.8):
421 Service not available, remote server has closed connection.
When it is accessed from the LAN of course, I can connect to 10.0.0.8 with no problem. However, what is interesting is if I connect to the Time Capsule via FTP I get this as well:
421 Service not available, remote server has closed connection.
Thus, I am 100% certain that the FTP message I see when I connect from WAN is from the Time Capsule instead of the machine I port forwarded to.
Apple needs to fix this annoying problem and at the same time fixes some VPN issues I'm having with my Nortel VPN client (4.68). It was all working when I had the AirPort Extreme Base Station.

I am having a problem establishing an FTP session that is started with my FTP Client (CuteFTP) on my local network and attempting to connect to an FTP Server with one of my hosting providers. My first few attempts used FTPS (Secure FTP) as that is what I typically use when transferring FTP packets over the net. Well, this didn't work so I thought maybe the Time Capsule had a problem inspecting the encrypted packets so I switched to standard clear-text FTP just to see if the Time Capsule handles FTP session management functions correctly. This didn't work either. I'm using PASV FTP and have never had a problem before with my CISCO Router or with another consumer-based NAT router. I don't believe that the Server on the Internet gets the initial request on port 21 as I believe the Time Capsule is not allowing the packet to pass and my FTP Client spits back an error message : "Couldn't access FTP service " "Connection Failed". I have also used "Terminal" and initiated the ftp utility and attempted to connect to the same server and receive the following error message : "421 Service not available, remote server has closed connection.". I have attempted to put my computer in the DMZ by using the Default Host feature on the Time Capsule but that resulted in the same errors. I believe that I have tried most of the settings available on the Time Capsule to attempt to get this to work but no luck yet. If the packet is getting through to the server and the response back on the current ephemeral port is not getting through the Time Capsule I'm really hoping the solution is not having to port map all ephemeral ports as this is in the tens of thousands. Has anyone successfully established an FTP Session (Secure or Not) from your local client through the Time Capsule to a Server on the Internet. If so, could you help by providing any Time Capsule settings that were required for this to function properly....Thanks in Advance.
Note: I have attempted to ftp to several different public ftp servers on the Internet and get the same error results. I have no problems ftping to local serverson my local network.

New Time Capsule does not see Airport express

Hi
We purchased A new Time Capsule but are not able to get the existing Airport Expresses to work with it. I tried looking for the AE with AIrport Utility and cant see them.
Any idea how to get these to work with our new Time Capsule 3 TB? My Airpot Utility is Version 6.2
Thanks
Jenny

I've reset one of them. no luck
Suggest that you try the following if you have not already done so.
Power down the AirPort Express (AX) for a few moments
Hold in the reset button and keep holding it in for 10-12 seconds while you plug the AX back in to power
Release the reset button and allow 40-45 seconds for the AX to restart to a slow, blinking amber light
Move the AX near your Time Capsule and computer
Temporarily, connect a spare Ethernet cable from your computer to the AX
Open AirPort Utility to configure the AX
If you do not have a spare Ethernet cable handy, the AX is broadcasting a wireless signal with a name like Apple Network xxxxxx. You must first connect to this network from your computer.
Then, open AirPort Utility. You may be asked to "switch" networks so that AirPort Utility can connect
If you use the recommended Ethernet cable method, you can disconnect the Ethernet cable once the AX has been Updated. Then, move the AX to the desired location.
Configure the second AX like you did the first.
If you have the older "b/g" version of the Express devices, unfortunately you will need to configure the Time Capsule and Express devices to Participate in a WDS network if you need to enable the Ethernet ports on the AX devices.
This will result in the Time Capsule being changed to a "g" wireless router, since WDS will only operate at "g" wireless speeds.

Time capsule does not show the blue bars near backing up. Any idea why?

Time Capsule is not showing that it is backing up. Any idea why?

For some reason it was going in a loop. Support had me omit some com.apple....plist files. Retarted and Tiime Capsule started as though it had never seen the external hard drive. I set it up again and it worked fine.
Thank you,

Time capsule does not install - unexpected error

Hello,
I just purchased my first Time Capsule. I intend to use it as a back up disk - I already have a Cisco Router.
I initially tried setting it up wirelessly - I only plugged it in and I run Airport Utitilty. The software prompted me for some options and I selected "add to an existing network". It asked me for authorization to join my network, it appeared to joint it successuflly but then the message said that it was waiting for Time Capsule. After a long while, an error message appared that read: unexpected error occured. Please try again.There was no error code. I can only press "done". However when I tried again, Airport Utility could not located the Time Capsule.
I reset my Time Capsule by pressing that little reset button but it did not work. I then tried connecting TIme Capsule to my Cisco router via an ethernet cable - the effect is the same.
What am I doing wrong?
Thanks.

Why do I have to have it connected to my router.
TC is a network device. You have no access to the TC via USB.. it is not.. NO WAY.. an external hard disk.. if you wanted an external hard disk, that is what you should have purchased.
The primary idea of the TC is a backup target for Time Machine in laptops. So that you can backup over wireless, without having to connect an external hard disk.
Once you have a desktop an external drive is cheaper, faster, and far better with TM and eliminates overloaded network file transfers.
Getting it connected to my router makes me worry that it is not entirely safe.
Why.. it is safe as any network device can be.. although I have to say Apple could do with a firmware upgrade or three to fix some outstanding issues. A crash of the network will not harm files on the hard disk.. the worst that will happen say with power outage in the middle of a backup is a file will be corrupted. The whole idea of the TM is to keep multiple versions of files available for restore.
Does it have to be connected to my router? What if everything crashes? I will need to find a router before I will be able to restore my data? I will not be able to just "plug in" my Time Capsule into my computer and get my stuff back?
Sorry for all the questions but I asked at a Mac store and I was told that it is the greatest back up on earth....
I guess one rule of marketing is to believe in your product.. to the exclusion of any rational argument or thinking or demonstation to the contrary.. and apple do not lack for total belief in the product. Beware of people who believe their own propaganda.
If your computer crashed.. dead hard disk.. you need to firstly get the hard disk replaced. Then you load onto it an OS or boot from a boot disk boot partition.. depending on what version OS you are using. That boot OS will have network ability sufficient to locate the TC and use TM to restore the computer.
Please do read up how you use TM to do a restore.
Q14-17 of Pondini's excellent knowledge base article.
http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
If you wanted to boot the computer from the backup.. you need an external disk.. with a direct image of the computer. You do this with superduper or even disk utility in the Mac. But you cannot boot from a network drive. Or not with Apple you cannot.. boot from network is rather complex and built into commercial type network computers.
Now let me try to explain why the TC has to be plugged into a router..
The TC is a router. It either must function as router or be plugged into a router in order for your network functionality to provide full services. eg internet.
Please consider a setup where you have a network.. like you already had.. and a TC not plugged into the network.. but creating its own.
You connect by wireless to the network.. but you cannot connect to two wireless devices at once.. so you need to choose.. either connect to the main existing router and use internet.. or connect to the TC.. and do backups but have no internet, no printing, no file sharing.. except with the TC.
Now you can work around it.. you can plug the TC in by ethernet and use the main router by wireless or visa versa.. but you cannot connect to two different network devices on different networks at once unless the networks are joined.
If you want the TC stand alone, I can give you details of the setup.

Time Capsule does not have a valid IP address

We have 2 computers in our home office: a Win 7 desktop and an iMac.
We have cable internet; the cable modem (Toshiba PCX2500) is plugged (ethernet) directly into the Time Capsule, which we use as our router to the two computers (also by ethernet).
The wireless functionality of the Time Capsule has been turned off.
We’ve been using the Time Capsule like this for the past 18 months (we purchased it new) without any problems.
Last month, however, we began losing our internet connection regularly (about 3-4 times per day) and getting the dreaded golden flashing light (as opposed to solid green) along with the error (paraphrasing here) “the Apple Wi-Fi does not have a valid IP address.”
We hadn’t made any changes in our hardware; it just showed up out of the blue.
After contacting our ISP, we were advised to unplug the cable modem for about 30 seconds, then plug it back it. Most of the time this worked; if not, we had to “cycle” the Time Capsule as well.
We’re now having to do this about 4-5 times per day.
Sometimes the Time Capsule’s status light is still green when we have no internet connection. Out of the blue the connection just isn’t there.
We “cycle” the cable modem and we’re back in business every time.
Additionally, when we actually do have an internet connection, the speeds fluctuate wildly. We’re paying for 15 Mb service; as of the past 4-5 weeks, we get 15Mb about 50% of the time. The other 50% it generally averages between 3Mb and 6Mb.
The ISP’s tech support (we’ve contacted them no less than once a week since this started) swears up and down that it’s the router, not their signal or their equipment in any way. They deny all culpability.
We even had the ISP’s repair people come out on an occasion about 10 days ago to test the signal strength; they reported no problems. “You’ve got great signal strength to your home…” were the exact words.
Similarly, after calling Apple on 2-3 occasions, we get the exact same response: “It’s not the Time Capsule router, it’s your ISP.”
The last Apple technician we spoke with (yesterday) said, “I’ve been doing wireless/Internet tech support for years and I can guarantee you – 100% -- that it’s a ‘DNS caching’ issue. I’m 100% positive that’s your problem, and I’m also 100% positive it’s your ISP’s fault.”
After contacting the ISP again we were informed that they don’t have any such caching problems.
We’re tired and frustrated! Please help.

I would suggest running the network via a pc for the day.. pick either your Mac or win7 pc.. you will need to do a bit of fiddling.. even better would be to just borrow a router. Or buy one on a 7day return .. !! Beg borrow.. don't steal. Just get a router other than TC. it won't take long to determine if the TC is the issue.
IMO at 18months you are suffering failure of the TC power supply. early days but it is showing signs of delinquency. And will get worse. But another router will show it up.. if the PC has dual ethernet cards you can run ICS.. or same sort of thing on the imac to the wireless .. ie the PC or Mac becomes the router with direct connection to the cable modem. Then share internet from there.
Once you do that for a day or two, you will quickly be able to track down if the issue is cable service/modem or the TC as router.

Time capsule does not allow me to select bridge mode or manual setup

I've got an Aztech combined router and modem. I have disabled its wireless feature, and from what I have read, understand that I need to set up the Time capsule in manual mode in order to have a bridge connection (?). I've reset the TC several times, but the manual setup option or the bridge connection option does not seem to be available. I can backup fine, but want to use the router facility given the price I paid! If I try to edit the router mode with the TC already setup, the option to change it is greyed out (DHCP & NAT)
Bit of a novice at these things, so any help greatly appreciated!

You need to make sure your ISP supports pppoe as a method of authentication.. if so then you must bridge the Aztech modem.. so it no longer handles the connection.. look up the manual for the modem to find out how to do this.
With the modem bridged.. reset the TC and the airport utility should recognise that it is now needing to run in router mode.. you are running Lion or ML and v6 utility has no manual setup.. it auto sets bridge. You need to force it to router.. but by default from reset the TC will be router.. you then need to setup pppoe client.. have no idea how to do that in v6 utility.. I am pleased to say!!
If you run lion.. download and install the v5.6 utility.. then all your troubles will go away.. it is a tool.. rather than Lion version being a toy utility.
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1482

Time Capsule does not play nicely with Cisco Router

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