Time Capsule's a dud

I plug it in, get a flashing amber light, run airport utility and get the following message:
AirPort Utility was unable to find any Apple wireless devices. Please make sure the Apple wireless device you want to set up is plugged in and in range of your computer, and click rescan to try again.
The box is about three feet from my laptop with no cell phones, microwave ovens, whatever anywhere nearby.
Thoughts?
~Bill

Can I just share what I got from Apple Care (eventually) which solved the problem you're experiencing.
1. Connect your computer to the TC with an ethernet cable (this keeps things stable while it's setting up).
2. Reset the TC by holding a paperclip to the little button. It should flash fast after 5 seconds, then you can release the pin. Otherwise you might have to hold it in for the full 10 seconds. After this the light goes solid amber and about 45 secs later starts to flash.
3. Then re-run the Airport Utility. It should find the TC and then set up as necessary to connect to your wireless network.
4. When it's done you can disconnect the ethernet cable. It's only there for the set up.
It worked for me. Hurrah!

Similar Messages

I need to reset my time capsule/airport every day - time capsule has green light but I don't see any wifi signal on my mac and other computers.

as many of you do, I use time capsule as airport, too...
It worked fine for 6 months or so after I bought the new time capsule. (I bought it in September 2012.)
Since the beginning of this year, I had to reset, and power off and plug it in almost every week, then now I need to reset and power off and back on again every day...
When I first set up the time capsule, I followed the instruction with the manual.
But, now I am so lost and don't want to reset every day for wifi connection.
Anyone has problem like me or knows how to solve this issue?
Please help..
I have MacBook Pro OS X 10.8.4 & my roommates have PCs. (just in case if it helps...)

For PC it is important the wireless has names that are compatible.. short.. like 10 characters.. but 2-20 is fine. no spaces.. and pure alphanumeric.
Use WPA2 personal only.. with pure alphanumeric password .. again 10-20 characters should be fine.
The latest firmware is a dud. Go back to 7.6.1
Open the airport utility.. click on the TC and holding the option key click the actual version number..
Go back to 7.6.1 is simple.. just select it and away it will go.. ignore future requests for upgrade.. you can also tell the utility not to check weekly for updates. You will need 5.6 utility for this I think..
So do the firmware downgrade.
Then do a factory reset and follow the name information above.. for TC name as well btw.. wireless name/s and disk share name.. which by default is data and that is fine.
So some instructions in...
The Factory Reset.
Power down the TC.
Hold in reset. and keep holding it in. Be Gentle! It is a tiny surface mount switch with a plastic lever.. Attempting to push it out the other side of the TC will not make the switch turn on better.
(I fix TC and have several reset levers bent over and jammed or broken off).
Power on the TC.. remember with the reset held in.. this needs three arms.. a friend or power switch you can get to with your feet..
Keep holding in reset for about 10sec until the front LED flashes rapidly.
Release reset and wait .. the boot will be slow as it deletes previous setting.. only from router side and pulls out the factory defaults. No files are deleted on the hard disk.. but the name of the TC may change.
How to load 5.6 into ML.
1. Download 5.6 for Lion.
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1482
Click to open the dmg but do not attempt to install the pkg.. it won't work anyway.
Leave the package open on the desktop so you can see the file. AirportUtility56.pkg
2. Download and install unpkg.
http://www.timdoug.com/unpkg/
Run unpkg on the desktop.. If your Mac refuses to run the software, because it wasn’t downloaded from the Apple store, go to security in preferences and allow other software to work.. this is limitation of trade methinks. You can set back later if you like.
Now drag the AirPortUtility56.pkg file over to unpkg.. and it will create a new directory of the same name on the desktop.. in finder, open the new directory, drill down.. applications, utilities .. there lo and behold is Airport utility 5.6 .. drag it to your main utilities directory or just run it from current location.
You cannot uninstall version 6 (now 6.3 if you updated) so don't try.. and you cannot or should not run them both at the same time.. although I have had no problems when doing so.
You can also load airport utility into a pc and get access to all the settings. Untick the box for firmware updates.. it will still bug you occasionally.. regardless of the setting.. just ignore it..
You might still need to do the occasional reboot of the TC as well.

Time Capsule won't recognize my USB hard drive.

I have a 160-gb Western Digital hard drive in an external enclosure that I use to use on my PC. I want to access the drive via Time Capsule through the USB port in the pack. Currently I have a USB hub with a printer and the hard drive plugged into the port in TC. I can print remotely from TC, but the hard drive is not visible as an assessable drive. The only way I can even see it is through a manual setup and review the disk setup of TC. How do I need to setup the TC to recognize the USB external harddrive? Just plugging it in doesn't work.
This is my first Macbook, as well as first Time Capsule. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

If your drive only has NTFS on it, then I don't think Time Capsule is equiped to deal with that partition. Time Capsule will tell you that the drive needs to be checked. If the drive has another partition on it that Time Capsule can see (FAT32), it will set up a connection to that drive. You can tell Time capsule to ignore errors on that drive (eg the fact that it can't deal with NTFS) and the blinking amber light will go away and you'll get the green light.
The thing is Vista no longer has FAT32 even as a format option, you've got either NTFS or their new eFAT which is not backward compatible with FAT32. A third party program needs to be used to format your external drive. For example I use a program from Ridgecrop. Below are its available options for formatting.
C:\Users\voigtstr\Documents>fat32format.exe
Usage Fat32Format X:
Erase all data on disk X:, format it for FAT32
It is also possible to specify a cluster size for the disk, e.g
Fat32Format -c1 X: - use 1 sector per cluster ( max size 137GB for 512 bytes pe
r sect)
Fat32Format -c2 X: - use 2 sectors per cluster ( max size 274GB for 512 bytes p
er sect )
Fat32Format -c4 X: - use 4 sectors per cluster ( max size 549GB ... )
Fat32Format -c8 X: - use 8 sectors per cluster ( max size 1TB ... )
Fat32Format -c16 X: - use 16 sectors per cluster
Fat32Format -c32 X: - use 32 sectors per cluster
Fat32Format -c64 X: - use 64 sectors per cluster
Fat32Format -c128 X: - use 128 sectors per cluster (64K clusters)
Version 1.03, see http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/fat32format.htm
This software is covered by the GPL
Use with care - Ridgecrop are not liable for data lost using this tool
Now is Apple equipped to deal with all these cluster sizes. Have Apple defined anywhere what FAT32 is for them?
I can copy a small file to the external drive when its connected to Time Capsule, but if I try to copy a 700Mb movie to Time Capsule, Time Capsule gets confused and drops the network. It not only drops the network but if you try copying a large file from Time Capsule's internal disk to the attached USB drive, even that is enough to hang the machine. So it stops its network, it stops it USB connection, however the wireless carrier is still strong (it just cant transmit any TCPIP)
So is this a firmware issue that they can correct? Or do I have a dud Time Capsule? To compare your situation to mine the discussion must focus around FAT32 I believe. I suspect that Apple's own journaled file system works flawlessly with large files (but as yet do not own a mac to test this). Furthermore the point of having a large external drive is to be able to take it places and share files (which will have to be less that 4gig if I use FAT32) with non mac owning friends. Either Apple needs to support NTFS, or they need to specify or even provide a FAT32 format utility that will work with both Windows and Mac
Cheers
The Voigtstr

Time Machine Sees No Drive In Time Capsule

Time Capsule is still working perfectly as a router, but Time Machine can't find any drives to back up with. I restored Time Capsule to factory settings but my Mac still can't see it as a drive, just as a router. Any advice would be appreciated.

Can someone please respond to this thead? Any seriously in the know peeps?
I have plugged in my new 2TB Time capsule - works great as a router!
Thing is when i actually try and use time machine it cannot find the drive at all?
I have enabled file sharing etc. used tinkertool to discover that my drive is a hidden network drive but i only have read permission and nothing else?
Have i purchased a dud machine?
anyone got any simple solution as to why i cannot even see it mounted as a drive on my desktop?

Problems with Time Capsule after upgrade to 10.7.5 & firmware on Time Capsule

I got a software update to 10.7.5.   There was also a firmware update to Time capsule. It won't work now. I get the error message of (-1). They tell me it's a Western Digital software driver. I never had a western digital drive, but must have migrated the driver from an older computer.      I did have an Iomega drive on that computer, but no Western Digital.
Support has not been able to help me.    Any suggestions?

I've worked on this over the weekend with Apple Support.   I'm now on my fourth advisor, who is a tier 3 resource. Over the weekend I've downloaded the patch, erased the Time Capsule, reset it to factory settings, plugged it into ethernet, renamed the Time Capsule, the airport network & my computer and still don't have a functioning Time Capsule after a very 'Microsoft' weekend of waiting for several backups to bomb.
The only reason I'm on Lion is that I was a MobileMe customer and wanted to keep my email address.   I'm now thinking of getting a personal domain email, i.e. [email protected], dumping iCloud which really doesn't have any value to me, and in fact has less functionality that I need than MobileMe had, and reloading Snow Leopard.
That, or I can stop trying to fix Time Capsule, use third-party local drives until Apple gets around to fixing Lion.
Another 'feature' I've also discovered is that I can no longer take a Pages document and send a Mail message converting the document to PDF reliably.   It now works some of the time.
I've been one of 'the faithful' who's had Apple products since 1987 and loved them.   I stuck with Apple through the 'Soda Jerk' years and that european dude.   I'm hoping that Lion is some weird product anomaly and that Apple will improve it's product quality to where it used to be.    Also, not force people into product upgrades by not restricting features on new releases like Mountain Lion to machines less than 3 years old.   There really will not be any place else to go unless Google gets into hardware.

Disadvantages of Time Capsule?

Dudes,
Am thinking about replacing my Airport Express and USB HDD with a Time Capsule (and selling the USB HDD), as I have two Macs I'd like to backup wirelessly and my current range with the AX is poor.
Before I spending any cash though are there any disadvantages to the TC I should be aware of?
My thoughts are:
Speed - I realise it will be slower than a wired USB connection, but will it be painfully slower?
Security - my network is protected by WPA2, assume this is safe for beaming my files across my network securely?
Internet - this might be a silly question, but if I'm using the network to perform a backup, will my wireless internet connection be affected?
*Combo device* - if the TC develops a fault with its Airport connection, will I be able to plug it in via USB to backup until it's fixed? (I realise that it would have to be a totally new backup as TM treats USB and wireless backups differently) Similarly, if the HDD dies, will it still function as an Airport Extreme?
Also, if TC is needing to go in for repairs, then I would be without both wireless and backup! That said, I will be keeping the AX for AirTunes, so could revert back to this for wifi in such a scenario. Not being able to backup would be a pain though.
Power - I don't mind leaving my Airport on when I'm not at home, but I only turn on the HDD when I'm using it/backup up. I keep it turn it off at all other times, as it doesn't seem like a good idea to have a HDD on all the time, especially if no-ones in, and for wear and tear on the HDD. Again, as TC's a combo device, I assume that the HDD section of it would be constantly 'on'? Is this ok?
I have a MacBook Air running Leopard and a white MacBook 1.83 Ghz running Leopard. I'm hoping to upgrade this to one of the new unibody MacBooks shortly, as I know there's a difference between the network capabilities of my current white model to the unibody ones (although not too clear on what....).
Any help and advice appreciated!
Many thanks!
Johnnycakes
Message was edited by: johnnycakes
Added the point about power

VA2020 wrote:
Lots of good questions. I'll try to answer as much as I can.
Thanks As awesome as it looked when SJ unveiled it, a number of these sprung instantly to mind.
johnnycakes wrote:
Am thinking about replacing my Airport Express and USB HDD with a Time Capsule (and selling the USB HDD), as I have two Macs I'd like to backup wirelessly and my current range with the AX is poor.
I am assuming you were not backing up wirelessly via the Express as USB HDD isn't supported on it.
No.
Before I spending any cash though are there any disadvantages to the TC I should be aware of?
Without physically removing the TC HDD, it cannot be partitioned.
Mm didn't know that, but not too relevant in my case.
My thoughts are:
Speed - I realise it will be slower than a wired USB connection, but will it be painfully slower?
Possibly, but it's all relative. If doing an initial TM backup, connect the Mac via ethernet. It'll save lots of time.
True.
Security - my network is protected by WPA2, assume this is safe for beaming my files across my network securely?
WPA/WPA2 is as safe as you can for now with the TC.
Cool. Thought so.
Internet - this might be a silly question, but if I'm using the network to perform a backup, will my wireless internet connection be affected?
Yes, as it uses the same wireless bandwidth. Hopefully the TM incremental backups will not be that large.
Increments are usually fairly minimal, although it still takes longer than I think it should to do its thing (especially in preparing the backup - although I guess this stage requires no bandwidth?)
*Combo device* - if the TC develops a fault with its Airport connection, will I be able to plug it in via USB to backup until it's fixed? (I realise that it would have to be a totally new backup as TM treats USB and wireless backups differently) Similarly, if the HDD dies, will it still function as an Airport Extreme?
The drive cannot be connect by USB, but can be connect via ethernet. The altenative is if you physically remove the HDD and place it into another HDD enclosure.
Ah, ok, I didn't realise that - haven't used ethernet to do this kind of thing before. Assume it's as straightforward as USB or FW hook ups? Also, my MBA doesn't have an ethernet port, so that might be a bit of a disadvantage to the TC. I suppose in this case, I could mount the TC on my MB via ethernet, then use filesharing to point the MBA at it, or something like that.
Power - I don't mind leaving my Airport on when I'm not at home, but I only turn on the HDD when I'm using it/backup up. I keep it turn it off at all other times, as it doesn't seem like a good idea to have a HDD on all the time, especially if no-ones in, and for wear and tear on the HDD. Again, as TC's a combo device, I assume that the HDD section of it would be constantly 'on'? Is this ok?
My TC hasn't been off for 9 months. The HDD spins down when inactive.
Ok cool - that doesn't sound too bad.
I have a MacBook Air running Leopard and a white MacBook 1.83 Ghz running Leopard. I'm hoping to upgrade this to one of the new unibody MacBooks shortly, as I know there's a difference between the network capabilities of my current white model to the unibody ones (although not too clear on what....).
Don't know the network differences, but I think the best is still the 802.11N.
Yes, I think you're right - and I don't think my white MB supports N, which is where I think the unibody would be better, as it does.
Many thanks for all your thoughts on the matter!

Time Capsule restaurar ajustes por omisión

Hola,
Por si a alguien le sirve la información, yo tenía la duda de si al reiniciar los ajustes por omisión del Time Capsule se borraban mis archivos y carpetas personales que guradaba ahí como disco duro, pues en la ayuda no quedaba muy claro, tanto en inglés como en español dejaba las palabras medio abiertas; así que respaldé la información y restauré ajustes por omisión. Mis archivos y carpetas personales se conservaron, solo tuve que confirgurar nuevamente el Time Capsule.
Saludos!

Nothing but problems since we purchased the Time Capsule

I must admit I was very eager to purchase the TC and replace our aging Airport Base Station (the ufo shaped one)
However at the worst under the old base station it would lock up once a week and need a reset. The TC (even without using the HD because I gave up on that early on) it is way slower than the old one and seems to lock up at least once an hour. I have tried everything I know to make this thing not lock up on us so often. At first I was convinced that this thing was overheating... (No vents on it apple???)
I tried the obvious and have it up off the desktop and away from everything possible to give it plenty of room to dissipate the ton of heat this thing seems to generate. Its running cooler now but it is still locking up? OR slowing down to an absolute crawl on the wifi before reseting the thing brings it back to some semblance of working again.
The hard-drive is blank - wiped clean after the three failed attempts at using it for a backup hard drive. (Wired or wifi) All i ended up with was the sparse bundle that seems to be useless.
At this point all we are even trying to use this thing for is a wifi hub at this point and its failing at that!
Apple? What do I do? Return it? Can I get my money back on it?
Its near useless!
(Die hard Apple fan - very disappointed in Leopard (see other posts) and Time Capsule)
Release an update? Please? Or tell me I can swap this for something that works? Was there faulty hardware?
Hello? Anyone?

dude, my sympathies. I hate mine for the same reasons. Whenever TC tries to make a backup, I get a message saying the connection was interrupted. Consequently, it drags down my internet connection with it and all that will work is a hard reset. I don't really don't see how this renders time machine functional, supposedly working in the background; yeah right.
I think this problem is as serious as a Mac without a functional mouse or keyboard.

I need Help setting up time capsule

Today I took my brand new 2tb time capsule out of the box and attempted to set it up. The information on the apple site makes it sound easy peasy to set up, but I am having SO many problems and I have reset it over 7 times now, and I am frustrated thinking I have bought a dud. I want to use the TC as back up with Time Capsule and also to network my ipad, printer etc.
I connect it to my modem via an ethernet cable and to my computer via an ethernet cable and switch it on. Then I open airport. Sometimes airport keeps searching and tells me it is unable to find airport devices and tells me to rescan and this process repeats in an endless loop.
Sometimes it seems to go though the motions and tells me it's all set up and the TC will restart, but it never does.
I have even tried doing all of the above wirelessly. No luck.
I hope someone can help me. I am ready to !
All I want are some step by step instructions, and after everything else apple I have bought I am surprised by how difficult this product is.
Thanks in anticipation.

This is networking which is very hard as apple don't (as yet) control it..!!
Are you connected to an adsl modem?
Which one? I am in Australia so you won't scare me with bigpond brands.
If the modem is working as a router this messes things up, and you will need to choose which device to bridge, the modem or the router ie the TC.
So before we go further, tell me the modem or type of broadband service you have.

Airport can no longer read or write the configuration of Time Capsule

I have a MacBook Pro running OSX 10.8.3 and maintained with all available patches. I have also a Time Capsule with version 7.6.3 of the firmware. I use AirPort 6.2. So everything seems to be updated with the latest versions.
This has really been a good setup for nearly a year now, but earlier this month Time Machine suddenly stopped to work and could no longer do backups to the Time Capsule. I have tried to factory reset the Time Capsule several times, but I still get problems when writing the configuration to the Time Capsule. I get an error message saying "An error occurred while updating the configuration".
Airport is furthermore not able to detect the Time Capsule correctly anymore, so I have to configure it by entering the IP address. But after setting up WLAN, disks, etc. and enhanching the security, I just receive the error message when I try to write the config. The Internet connection works perfectly anyway, both via cable and wireless.
Anyone got any tips?

Do the setup by ethernet in full isolation from the network.
Start from a full factory reset.
I would recommend you take the firmware back to 7.6.1 or even earlier if the TC is older than 12months. 7.5.2 was very reliable. All these bugs started with 7.6 and the change to Lion.
I would also recommend installing 5.6 utility.
How to load 5.6 into ML.
1. Download 5.6 for Lion.
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1482
Click to open the dmg but do not attempt to install the pkg.. it won't work anyway.
2. Download and install unpkg.
http://www.timdoug.com/unpkg/
Run unpkg on the desktop.. it is very simple.. drag the AirPortUtility56.pkg file over to unpkg.. and it will create a new directory of the same name on the desktop.. drill down.. applications utilities .. there lo and behold is Airport utility 5.6 .. drag it to your main utilities directory or just run it from current location.
You cannot uninstall 6.1 (now 6.2 if you updated) so don't try.. and you cannot or should not run them both at the same time.. so just ignore the toyland version.. the plastic hammer.. and start using 5.6.. a real tool.
For screen shots see this post.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4668746?tstart=0

In order to create space on my MBA I just bumped iTunes media to G drive linked through Time Capsule. Now pointed iTunes at new iTunes libary on G drive and, even though all music files are there, iTunes can only 'see' 10 albums. Any help appreciated.

Bit more detail...
Mac Book Air has been struggling for space for a while so I bough at time capsule a) for back up and b) to host my itunes folder remotely. This didnt' work. I took it into the Genius bar and the genius there told me that time capsule is not designed for anything other than back up. Instead I have to connect a G drive through the time capsule's wireless router to my MBA.
I followed his instructions - moved my files from the Time Capsule and MBA directly onto the G Drive - which took a heartening 2 hrs so something must have been happening - and the held down 'Alt' when starting iTunes and selected the new itunes folder as the location of my itunes libarary which I wanted iTunes to 'point at'. When I opened iTunes only 10 albums are visible now.
In ITunes advanced preferences it says it is pointing at the correct folder. The files are all cleary there when I open the G Drive folder to take a look. But I cannot get iTunes to find them.
Any suggestions?
Secondary challenge - in spite of deleting the original itunes folder on my MBA I still get messages pop up telling me my start up disk is out of space and I need to clear some - I expected to stop getting this message now I had done this exercise above. I have emptied Trash. Again - any pointers appreciated. I am new to this world of 'intuitive' macbooks.
Cheers

After admittedly only a quick read the one thing you don't say is how you are trying to make this move. Most people with moving library issues do it the wrong way. Plenty of web sites tell you how to do it the wrong way.
If the iTunes application is started before the drive with the library is fully mounted and awake iTunes will revert back to the internal drive.

How do I use my Time Capsule with hotel wired internet

How do I use my Time Capsule as a wireless router on my hotel free internet ethernet cable?

It may not be possible..
If they use a web access page, then there is no way you can set the TC to authenticate.. you must use the computer to authenticate and then use the computer to bridge to the TC for wireless clients to access.
Look up instructions on using ICS (internet connection sharing) in the Mac.
eg for 10.6.8 http://support.apple.com/kb/PH6589
eg http://support.apple.com/kb/PH10740
Of course if there is no login then you could just use it.. but I doubt you would be asking if it just worked.

Forgot password to access my Airport Time Capsule, can't restore Time Machine backup

It is stupid, I know, but after the first time I setup Time Machine in my Airport Time Capsule (6 months ago) i never had to use the password because it stayed stored in my Keychain.
Anyway, couple days ago I had to format the hard drive of my MacBook Pro and I did it thinking that I had a complete data backup stored in my Airport Time Capsule (encrypted data). It was late when I realized that I did not have the password written/stored anywhere. Nothing to do about it, just move on and start all over again.
I need to clean up my Airport Time Capsule and set it to factory default. I already accepted that I will lose all my data and it is okay. So far all I found was how to reset the wifi user/password but nothing about deleting stored data or reset to factory default without having the encrypted password. Can you please help me? Thanks in advance!

The encrypted data is not related to the Time Capsule.. that is purely Time Machine.
Very sorry for you.. it is one big danger when you encrypt.
Reset to factory.
Factory reset universal
Power off the TC.. ie pull the power cord or power off at the wall.. wait 10sec.. hold in the reset button.. be gentle.. power on again still holding in reset.. and keep holding it in for another 10sec. You may need some help as it is hard to both hold in reset and apply power. It will show success by rapidly blinking the front led. Release the reset.. and wait a couple of min for the TC to reset and come back with factory settings. If the front LED doesn’t blink rapidly you missed it and simply try again. The reset is fairly fragile in these.. press it so you feel it just click and no more.. I have seen people bend the lever or even break it. I use a toothpick as tool.
N.B. None of your files on the hard disk of the TC are deleted.. this simply clears out the router settings of the TC.
Wipe the hard disk. Open the airport utility go to the disk tab. Click on erase disk.
Select just quick erase.. it just deletes the file table and is not secure but fine for your purposes.

I want a new and more powerful (non-Apple) wireless router but I still want to use my existing Time Capsule to continue with my Time Machine backups and I still need the Time Capsule's Network Attached Storage (NAS) features and capabilities

THE SHORTER STORY
My goal is to successfully use my existing Time Capsule (TC) with a new and more powerful wireless router. I need a new and more powerful wireless router in order to reach a distant Denon a/v receiver that is physically located in a master bedroom some 50 feet away from my modem. I need to provide this Denon a/v receiver with an Internet connection so that it can obtain its firmware updates and I need to connect this Denon a/v receiver to my network in order to use its AirPlay feature. I believe l still need the TC's Network Attached Storage (NAS) features because I am not sure if the new wireless router will provide me with the NAS like features / capabilities I need to share files between my two Apple laptops with OS X 10.8.2. And I know that I absolutely need my TC's seamless integration with Apple's Time Machine (TM) application in order to continue to make effortless backups of my two Apple laptops. To my knowledge nothing works with TM like Apple's TC. I also need the hard disk storage space built into the TC.
I cannot use a long wired Ethernet cable connection in this apartment and I cannot use power-line adapters. I have read that wireless range extenders and repeaters are difficult to successfully set-up and that they will reduce data speeds, especially so when incorrectly set-up. I cannot relocate my modem and/or primary base station wireless router.
In short, I want to use my TC with my new and more powerful wireless router. I need to stop using the TC to connect to the modem. However, I still need the TC for seamless TM backups. I also need to use the TC's built in hard drive for storage. And I may still need the TC's NAS capabilities to share files wirelessly between laptops because I am assuming the new wireless router will not provide NAS capabilities for OS X 10.8.2 (products like this/non-Apple products rarely seem to work with OS X 10.8.2/Macs to provide NAS features and capabilities). Finally, I want to continue to use my Apple laptop and AirPlay to wirelessly access and play my iTunes music collection stored on the TC's hard drive. I also want to continue to use my Apple laptop, AirPlay and Apple TV to wirelessly watch movies and TV shows stored on the additional external hard drive connected to the TC via USB. Can someone please advise on how to set-up my new Asus wireless router with my existing TC in such a way to accomplish all of this?
What is the best configuration or set-up to accomplish my above goals?
Thank you in advance for your assistance!!!
THE FULL STORY
I live in an apartment building where my existing Time Capsule (TC) is located in my living room and serves many purposes. Specially, my TC is at least all of the following:
(1) Wi-Fi router connected to Comcast Internet service via Motorola SB6121 cable modem - currently the TC is the Wi-Fi base station that connects to the modem and has the gateway address to the Internet. The TC now provides the DHCP service for the Wi-Fi network.
(2) Wireless router providing Internet and Wi-Fi network access to several Wi-Fi clients - two Apple laptop computers, an iPod touch, an iPad and an iPhone all connect wirelessly to the Internet via the TC.
(3) Wired Ethernet router providing Internet and Wi-Fi network access to three different devices - a Panasonic TV, LG Blu-Ray player and an Apple TV each use one of the three LAN ports on the back of the TC to gain access to the Internet.
(4) Primary base station in my attempt to extend my wireless network to a distant (located far away) Denon a/v receiver requiring a wired Ethernet connection - In addition to the TC, which is my primary base station, I am also using a second extended Wi-Fi base station (a Netgear branded product) to wirelessly extend my WiFi network to a Denon receiver located in the master bedroom and requiring a wired Ethernet connection. I cannot use a wired Ethernet connection to continuously travel from the living room to the master bedroom. The distance is too great as I cannot effectively hide the Ethernet cable in this apartment.
(5) Time Machine (TM) backup facilitator - I use my TC to wirelessly back-up two Apple laptops using Apple's Time Machine (TM) application. However, I ran out of storage space on my TC and therefore added external storage to it. Specifically, I added an external hard drive to my TC via the USB port on the back of the TC. I now use this added external hard drive connected to the TC via USB as the destination storage drive for my TM back-ups. I have partitioned the added external hard drive, and each of the several partitions all have enough storage space (e.g., each of the two partitions used by TM are sized at three times the hard drive space of each laptop, etc.). Everything works flawlessly.
(6) Network Attached Storage (NAS) - In addition to using the TC's Network Attached Storage (NAS) capabilities to wirelessly back-up two Apple laptops via TM, I also store other additional files on both (A) the hard drive built into the TC and (B) the additional external hard drive connected to the TC via USB (there are additional separate partitions on this drive for these other additional and non-TM backup files).
I use the TC's NAS feature with my Apple laptop and AirPlay to wirelessly access and play my iTunes music collection stored on the TC's hard drive. I also use my Apple laptop, AirPlay and Apple TV to wirelessly watch movies and TV shows stored on the additional external hard drive connected to the TC via USB. Again, everything works wirelessly and flawlessly. (Note: the Apple TV is connected to the network via Ethernet and a LAN port on the back of the TC).
The issue I am having is when I try to listen to music via Apple's AirPlay in the master bedroom. This master bedroom is located at a distance of two rooms away from the TC's current location in the living room, which is a distance of about 50 feet. This apartment has a long rectangular floor plan where each room is connected to the next in a straight line. In order to use AirPlay in the master bedroom I am using a second extended Wi-Fi base station (a Netgear branded product) to wirelessly extend my WiFi network to a Denon receiver located in the master bedroom and requiring a wired Ethernet connection. This additional base station connects wirelessly to the WiFi network provided by my TC and then gives my Denon receiver the wired Ethernet connection it needs to use AirPlay. I have tried moving my iTunes music directly onto my laptop's hard drive, and then I used AirPlay on this same laptop to connect to the Denon receiver. I always get a successful connection and the song plays, but the problem is that the connection inevitably drops.
I live in an apartment building and all of the many wireless routers in this building create a great deal of WiFi interference on both the 2.4 GHz and 5GHz bands. I have tried connecting the Netgear product to each the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands, but neither band can successfully maintain a wireless connection between the TC and the Netgear product. I also attempted to maintain a wireless connection to an iPod touch using the 2.4 GHz band and AirPlay on this iPod touch to play music on the Denon receiver. Again, I was able to establish a connection and successfully play music, but after a few minutes the connection dropped and the music stopped playing. I therefore have concluded that I have a poor wireless connection in the master bedroom. I can establish a connection, but it is intermittent with frequent drops. I have verified this with both laptops by working in the master bedroom for an entire day on both laptops. The Internet connection in this master bedroom proved to drop out frequently - about once an hour with the laptops. The wireless connection and the frequency of its dropout are far worse with the iPod touch and an iPhone.
I cannot relocate the TC. Also, this is an apartment and I therefore cannot extend the range of my network with Ethernet cable (I cannot drill through walls/ceilings, etc.). It is an old building with antiquated wiring and power-line adapters are not likely to function properly, nor can I spare the direct power outlet required with a power-line adapter. I simply need every outlet I can get and cannot afford to block any direct outlet.
My solution is to use a more powerful wireless router. I found the ASUS RT-AC66U Dual-Band Wireless-AC1750 Gigabit Router which will likely provide a better connection to my wireless Internet in the master bedroom than the TC. The 802.11ac band of this Asus wireless router is totally useless to me, but based on what I have read I believe this router will provide a stronger connection at greater distances then my TC. And I will be ready for 802.11ac when it becomes more widely available.
However, I still need to maintain the TC's ability to work seamlessly with TM to backup my two laptops. Also, I doubt the new Asus router will provide OS X 10.8.2 with NAS like features and capabilities. Therefore, I still would like to use the TC's NAS capabilities to share files on my network wirelessly assuming the Asus wireless router fails to provide this feature. I need a new and more powerful wireless router, but I need to maintain the TC's NAS features and seamless integration with TM. Finally, I want to continue to use my Apple laptop and AirPlay to wirelessly access and play my iTunes music collection stored on the TC's hard drive. I also want to continue to use my Apple laptop, AirPlay and Apple TV to wirelessly watch movies and TV shows stored on the additional external hard drive connected to the TC via USB. Can someone advise on how to set-up my existing TC with this new Asus wireless router in such a way to accomplish all of this?
Modem
Motorola SB6121 SURFboard DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem
Existing Wireless Router and Primary Wi-Fi Base Station - Apple Time Capsule
Apple Time Capsule MC343LL/A 1TB Sim DualBand (purchased June 2010, likely the Winter 2009 Model)
Desired New Wireless Router and Primary Wi-Fi Base Station - Non-Apple Asus
ASUS RT-AC66U Dual-Band Wireless-AC1750 Gigabit Router
Extended Wi-Fi Base Station - Provides an Ethernet Connection to a Denon A/V Receiver Two Rooms Away from the Modem
Netgear Universal Dual Band Wireless Internet Adapter for TV & Blu-Ray (WNCE3001)
Addition External Hard Drive Attached to the Existing Apple Time Capsule via USB
WD My Book Studio 4TB Mac External Hard Drive Storage USB 3.0
Existing Laptops on the Wireless Network Requiring Time Machine Backups
MacBook Air (11-inch, Mid 2012) OS X 10.8.2
MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2010) OS X 10.8.2
Other Existing Apple Products (Clients) on the Wireless Network
iPod Touch (second generation) is model A1288.
iPad (1st generation)
Apple TV (3rd generation) - Quantity two (2)

Thanks Bob Timmons.
In regards to a Plan B, I hear ya brother. I am already on what feels like Plan Z. Getting WiFi to a far off room in an apartment building crowded with WiFi routers is a major pain.
I am basing my thoughts on the potential of a new and more powerful router reaching the far off master bedroom based on positive reviews on cnet.com, pcmag.com and pcworld.com. All 3 of these web sites have reviewed the Asus RT-AC66U 802.11AC wireless router as well as its virtual twin cousin 802.11n router. What impressed me is that all 3 sites rated this router #1 overall in terms of both range and speed (in both the 802.11n and 802.11AC flavors). They tested the router in real world scenarios where the router needed to compete with a lot of other wireless routers. One of the sites even buried this Asus router in a media room with thick walls and inside a media cabinet. This Asus router should be able to serve my 2.4 GHz band wireless clients (iPod Touch and iPhone 4) with a 2.4GHz Wireless-N band offering some 50 feet of dependable range and a 60 Mbps throughput at that range. I am hoping that works, but it's borderline for my master bedroom. My 5 GHz wireless clients (laptops) will enjoy a 5GHz Wireless-N band offering 150 feet of range and a 200 Mbps throughput at that range. I have no idea what most of that stuff means, but I did also read that Asus could reach 300 feet and I got really excited. My mileage may vary of course and I'm sure I'm making some mistakes in my interpretation of their data. However, my Winter 2009 Time Capsule was rated by cnet.com to deliver real world performance of less than that, and 802.11AC may or may not be useful to me someday. But when this Asus arrives and provides anything other than an excellent and consistent wireless signal without drops in the master bedroom it's going right back!
Your solution sounds great, but I have some questions. I'm using OS X 10.8.2 and Airport Utility (version 6.1 610.31) and on its third tab labeled "Wireless" the top option enables you to set "Network Mode" to either:
Create a wireless network
Extend a wireless network
Off
Given your advice to "Turn off the wireless on the TC," should I set Network Mode to Off? Sorry, I'm clueless in regards to how to turn off the wireless on the TC any other way. Can you provide specific steps on how to turn off the wireless on the TC? If what I wrote is correct then what should the rest of this Wireless tab look like, or perhaps it is irrelevant when wireless is off?
Next, what do you mean by "Configure the TC in Bridge Mode?" Under Airports Utility's fourth tab labeled "Network" the top option "Router Mode" allows for either:
DHCP and Nat
DHCP Only
Off (Bridge Mode)
Is your advice to Configure the TC in Bridge Mode as simple as setting Router Mode to Off (Bridge Mode)? If yes, then what should the rest of this "Network" tab look like? Anything else involved in configuring the TC in Bridge Mode or is it really as simple as setting the Router Mode to "Off (Bridge Mode)"?
How about the other tabs in Airport Utility, can they all stay as is assuming I use the same network name and password for the new Asus wireless router? Or do I need to make any other changes to the TC via Airport Utility?
Finally, in regards to your Plan B suggestion. I agree. But do you have a Plan B for me? I would greatly appreciate any alternative you could provide. Specifically, if you needed a TC's Internet connection to reach a far off corner of your home how would you do it? In the master bedroom I need both a wired Ethernet connection for the Denon a/v receiver and wireless Internet connection for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
Power-Line Adapters - High Cost, Blocks at Least One Wall Outlet and Does Not Solve the Wireless Need
I actually like exactly one power-line adapter, which is the D-Link DHP-540 PowerLine AV 500 4-Port Gigabit Switch. This D-Link power-line adapter plugs into your wall outlet with a normal sized plug (regular standard power cord much like any other electronic device) instead of all of the other recommended power-line adapters that not only use at least one wall outlet but also often block the second outlet. You cannot use a power strip with a power-line adapter which is very impractical for me. And everything about my home is strange and upside down. The wiring here is a disaster and I don't have faith in its ability to carry Internet access from the living room to the master bedroom. And this D-Link power-line adapter costs $90 each and I need at least two to make the connection to the Denon A/V receiver. So, $180 on this solution and I still don't have a dependable drop free wireless connection in the master bedroom. The Denon might get its Ethernet Internet connection from the power-line adapter, but if I want to use an iPhone 4 or iPod Touch to stream AirPlay music to the Denon wirelessly (Pandora/iTunes, etc.) from the master bedroom the wireless connection will not be stable in there and I've already spent $190 on just the two power-line adapters needed.
Extenders / Repeaters / Wirelessly Extending the Wireless Network
I have also read great things about the Amped Wireless High Power Wireless-N 600mW Gigabit Dual Band Range Extender (Repeater) SR20000G and the My Net Wi-Fi Range Extender. The former is very powerful and the latter is easier to install. Both cost about $150 ish so similar to a new Asus router. However, everything I read about Range Extenders points to them not being very effective for a far off corner of your house wherein it's apparently hard to place the range extender in the sweet spot where it both gets a strong enough signal to actually effectively extend the wireless signal and otherwise does not reduce network throughput speeds to unacceptable speeds.
Creating a Roaming Network By Hard Wiring with Ethernet Cable - Wife Would Say, "**** No!"
Even Apple seems to warn against wirelessly extending your network (see: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4145#) and otherwise strongly recommends a roaming network where Ethernet cable is used to connect two wireless base stations. However, I am in an apartment where stringing together two wireless base stations with Ethernet cable would have an extremely low wife acceptance factor (WAF). I cannot (both contractually and from a skill prospective) hide Ethernet wire in the walls or ceiling. And having visible Ethernet cable running from room-to-room would be unacceptable, especially to the wife.
So what is left? Do you have a Plan B for me? Thanks in advance for your help!

Time Capsule set up and wifi network OK but MacBook doesn't see capsule as airport device. Do I need to do a hard reset and start again?

I recently bought a Time Capsule and sucessfully set it up in accordance with the instruction book. The home network and guest network seem to work fine but my MacBook cannot find the Time Capsule wirelessley.
Initially I set up the time capsule connected to the MacBook with an ethernet cable. The Time Machine got 30GB way through a 60GB initial back up and then stopped for no obvious reason. Since then the capsule has not been visible to the MacBook. I have tried to reconfigure through Airport Utility but even after reperated rescans the capsule remains invisible.
Any help would be extremely welcome.

1. i would restore the express to factory defaut by holding the reset button on the unit with a paperclip while you are powering it on
2. if it restored, you should be able to see it in your wifi icon at top of screen as "airport express"
or you can see it in airport utility
3. then if you want to connect it wirelessly to your time capsule, you would choose "extend network" and put in relevant security and password....this would make the express a wireless access point, fed by your time capsule(main router)
if you chose to do it wired which is a better way if you have access to ethernet port at wall, you would choose "create a wireless network" and then under the "network" tab you would choose "Bridge Mode".....this would make the express a wired access point, fed by your time capsule(main router)

Time Capsule's a dud

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