Chosen Solution
I have the 2 TB Time Capsule A1409. Worked perfectly for about a year and a half (like everyone else has experienced). When mine stops working, it simply shuts down… it does not go from a green light to flashing yellow. Instead, it simply powers down and will not restart under any condition. I can hear the fan restart when I plug it in; I can feel the heat generated from use, but it is not recognized as working and there’s no amber or green lights at all….while it gives me secondary indications that it’s working (heat / fan re-starting) it is clearly down for the count., I thought it could be an overheating issue and have been careful to keep it elevated and cool…I’ve opened and inspected and see no visible cord damage or anything else mentioned here. No matter what I do, it will not restart to the level of providing an internet signal or any backup / restore function. I’ll use an older wifi device (no backup capabilities) to tide me over but here’s the kicker…I’ll plug the Time Capsule in a few days, or a week, later, and it restarts as if nothing has occurred. On / around the days it fails, there’s nothing I can do, but when it makes up its mind to work…typically a few days must pass for this, it re-starts. I assume this is not an “over heat” issue, but something more serious. Thoughts anybody? Thanks!
I cannot say for sure if you are experiencing the same exact fault, as we’ve not done much work on the time capsules, as they are not as universally accepted as Apples other products are, so are less common… But there is a really common problem with the time capsules, that i’m very surprised Apple didn’t own up to over the years, as every unit i’ve seen has suffered from the same problem. The power supply is typically the failure i’ve seen. It suffers the exact symptoms you’ve described, and it is related to the load balance of the PSU. The only workaround i have found, is to either send the PSU off to get repaired by PSU repair specialists, or to swap the 3.5" drive out for a low powered 2.5" SATA drive. Using all the exact same components and only swapping out the hard drive has taken multiple DOA time capsules back to full working condition in my testing experience. Hopefully this helps you a bit, but i’d suggest backing up your time capsule data and either looking to replace it with an alternate solution (most routers have USB ports now-a-days, so time machine backups can be organised via standard external drives instead of a time capsule). But if you are looking to tinker with it, have a go at removing the 3.5" drive, then boot it up. if its the same fault, it should fully function as a router without the drive fitted. Then you can either repair the PSU, replace the 3.5" drive for a 2.5" drive, or drill a hole through the outer casing and run a separate 12V molex power cable to the internal drive so its not drawing power from the internal PSU. i hope this helps.
