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bucktrip7
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Why is my Time Capsule dead?

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Last weekend with no warning my Time Capsule died. No Post, no lights, no network and no hard drive spin up.

I've had a hard drive die in this TC before but the wireless/wired networking still worked until I replace the drive. The Drive is fine, I have it running on a USB adaptor.

Is there a replacement power supply available for the Time Capsule?

thanks

Buck

Edited by: machead3 ( ) , iRobot ( ) , Walter Galan ( )

+1 for a well-written question.

Sterling Hirsh,

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Ben Eisenman
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Time Capsules are notorious for power supply failure. Unfortunately, I am not immediately aware of a source for replacement. Your best bet is probably to check eBay until one surfaces.

Sorry I don't have better news! However, if you desire a certain catharsis, you can register your Time Capsule on the Apple Time Capsule Memorial Register. At least it will reveal that you are not alone!

Edited by: Ben Eisenman ( )

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rayven17
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You should try calling Apple Support and see if they'll send you a replacement. Apparently they’ve had enough reports for this model. You’ll just have to verify the serial number on the TC. I recently experienced the same issue on my first generation 500GB model this past Monday. They sent me a replacement the next day. I just have to send them back the broken hardware. NOTE: I don’t have AppleCare.

Unfortunately they won't help transferring the data from the old TC to the new.

Edited by: rayven17 ( )

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rab777hp
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The life expectancy of a TC is 18 mo.

I suggest you got to ATCMR like the previous poster said and vent your frustration.

@Ben This at first was humorous and cathartic. Eventually the TC Memorial ppl contacted me indicating Apple was responsive to out of warranty TCs. Apple has a new TC in the queue (backordered) to go out to me. This is how the internet should work. The time capsule memorial is basically working as a class action w/o lawyers. Apple is responding to its faulty product. I guess one lesson is to call Apple first even when something is out of Warranty. Thanks again Ben

bucktrip7,

How wonderful! I'm so glad this worked out!

Ben Eisenman,

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colleenthompson
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You don't say how old your Time Capsule is. I recently read about one person with a dead TC who got it replaced because his Mac was under Applecare, even though the TC was over a year old. Have you called Apple to see what your options are?

The failures are apparently due to insufficient cooling. I read one suggestion elsewhere to drill a bunch of holes in the top of the case, which I'm tempted to do with mine. Has anyone tried this?

colleenthompson,

it was 20 months old. @Colleenthompson: make sure you exhaust all possibility that Apple will not replace it BEFORE drilling holes. They will not replace it if the case is damaged.

bucktrip7,

It just got better. The Apple supervisor said they were back ordered for mid January shipment. I said no problem and thanked him for taking care of my problem. Later yesterday it went out FedEx. I have a brand TC this morning.

bucktrip7,

@bucktrip7: good advice, except in my case I'd rather keep it working than worry about the warranty.

colleenthompson,

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Cocodrilo
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Hello, I think the problem is the temperature.

See this article (sorry, but is in spanish):

http://www.macuarium.com/foro/index.php?...

Yes but this appears to be for a different problem, it looks like this is a good try if your TC just stops working, but if its 17-19 mo. then it's fairly apparent that its just the end of its life.

rab777hp,

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Sassyd
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Mine also died suddenly last week. I got a whole 20 months of life. Apple said it was out of warranty and my only choice was to give my old one to them and $279 ($20 savings) I could get another one. Woo Hoo! They also will not sell you apple care when purchasing a TC without a new computer. Very disappointed with apple on this one.

I've never been a fan of applecare anyways. Did you register with the TC memorial register?

rab777hp,

I haven't registered the TC yet but plan to. I am also going to attempt to extract the hard drive and put it into a new encasement. I found several how to videos on YouTube. I hope to at least get an extra external HD out of it.

Sassyd,

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dan
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I found that my TC would get no where near as hot if I raised it above the table it was sitting on.

I put mine on a couple of old cd cases and the temperature dropped significantly. I think the extra clearance gave the vents on the bottom better airflow.

The temperature difference was so significant I could hardly believe it.

That's a great tip! My TC was replaced under warranty, and the new one does not feel hot, but I put a couple of chopsticks under it to improve airflow.

colleenthompson,

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viento
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I put mine on 4 small pieces of plastic of thumbnail size 0.20" high so air can flow underneath.

Btw. i recently opened it and changed the original 500GB HD against a 2TB green Western digital one without any problams... only the apple care protection plan won´t "care" anymore, I guess...

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