Do Not Buy Time Capsule Unless You Only Need It For 18 Months

eddieyou1018 · Oct 20, 2009, 07:56 AM

If you've recently been on mac-related forums or apple support, you will know that the Time Capsule is having major issues. As you may know, the TC came out around early last year, and just recently, around 1000 TCs had broken down and impossible to fix without inter-modding or a new machine given under Apple's Warranty. Listen to this: If you have or are going to buy one, do expect your Time Capsule to break down and die around 17-20 months old, mostly exact 18 months (as people recently called this the "magic" number).
This is issue is known due to the power supply, since the whole thing is so packed up together inside, the power supply just can't hold to the intensely high temperature (yes the fan is ****). In result your whole damn TC will break down, and you can either mod it by changing it's capacitors (sorry Taiwanese don't know if the word is spelled right) or change the internal power supply to external.
The thing that is really really pissing me off is due to Apple's ignorance, they don't accept or agree that their product has a flaw, here is the case: My cousin's time capsule broke down after 17.6 months and he took it to the apple store (they want him to buy a new one), and i called the next day (just to test them out if they are lairs, turned out they were), and they said they haven't got a case with a time capsule breaking down. You see? this is how ignorant and selfish Apple is, and they go: you should have bought apple care, i was like WTF, u money ripper son of a ****.
So in conclusion, do not buy the Time Capsule anymore, at least for now until this problem is fixed and a new model comes out. Seriously, you can find further evidence and complaints in the following sites and forums:
Complaints and objections:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread....art=0&tstart=1
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=507488

To register your "dead" time capsule (so someday steve may realize the problem):
http://www.timecapsuledead.org/

We really need to let Apple know that they should stop messing with their customers, we chose apple in the first place due to it's simple and error-less specialty, and now after all these major problems with snow leopard (some people lost everything) and time capsule (poor engineered product), you are telling us to question you. And i did not pay hundreds of bucks just to buy a so claimed "server-grade" wireless hard drive just to know that it will die within 18 month old.

Apple, stop being so ignorant, or the consequences may be unbearable (if such silence continues to be proposed by apple)

Thank you for reading this apple fans, of course i love apple (I have almost all apple products), but this is serious, because this is more like the act of deception. Please apple, do not disappoint us (wake up steve jobs).

Have a good day members.

Eddie

jessica. · Oct 20, 2009, 08:10 AM

I've seen this reported before but I refuse to register any product on a site linked by a random person. I do believe it is an issue and I think AC only extends the warranty by 1 year. I could be wrong about that.

Oh yeah and paragraphs please.

dXTC · Oct 20, 2009, 08:45 AM

Actually, jessica., there are paragraphs. There simply aren't the extra blank lines between the first few paragraphs like we're accustomed to seeing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by eddieyou1018

... and you can either mod it by changing it's capacitors (sorry Taiwanese don't know if the word is spelled right) or change the internal power supply to external.

FYI: You spelled capacitors correctly.

scienide09 · Oct 20, 2009, 09:13 AM

Ars Technica discussed this. A week ago.
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/20...l-cemetery.ars

Eddyisgreat · Oct 20, 2009, 02:09 PM

OP Do you have a machine that's currently under AppleCare? If so it covers perhiperals regardless of when you bought it. I brought in a mighty mouse and wireless keyboard that were older than the machine with AppleCare and they replaced it with no issues.

cube · Oct 20, 2009, 02:13 PM

You shouldn't have bought Time Capsule in the first place because it's not made for upgrading and it's too slow as a NAS.

montex · Oct 25, 2009, 06:00 PM

My 1TB TC died after 18 months almost to the day. I took it to an Apple Store in Seattle, but they would not exchange it. I bought the TC in March of 2008 by itself, not with a computer and I was not aware that you could buy Apple Care for a Time Capsule alone.

However, I was able to disassemble the unit, identify the blown capacitors on the power supply board and replace them. I also left off the rubber base pad and stuck some 1/2" high self-adhesive feet to the four corners of the TC to aid in cooling. Now it works normally. So the TC can be repaired, but I wouldn't recommend someone who has never used a soldering iron or has a basic understanding of circuits try to attempt fixing one.

OldCorpse · Oct 25, 2009, 08:23 PM

Didn't Apple just upgrade the TC? I thought they have new ones out? It's my understanding that the issue is weak power supply that conks out after 18 months. I bet they changed that. So hopefully that problems should not exist anymore in the new ones. I guess we'll find out in 18 months

Yanwoo · Oct 25, 2009, 09:06 PM

I thought this 18 months 'timed' breakdown was a little too wacky to be true...now I am a believer: mine gave up the chase this afternoon. I bought it on March 22nd 2008...

Has anyone had any joy getting support from Apple without applecare?

Tiki35 · Oct 25, 2009, 10:02 PM

I also would love to know if they updated the power supply in their latest release. How could they not? The bad publicity alone regarding the many failures after 18 months is really hurting them. The guys at IFixIt usually tear it apart within days of its release so I hope we receive a positive report on the latest Time Capsule.

mikecorp · Oct 26, 2009, 05:40 AM

Guys, my TC died after 18 months of use.
I read about this issue and I was hoping that my TC will survive, It did not.

Today I called Apple for more info:

- I simply said that my TC died with the other 5000 registered on the internet.
And I want to know what should I do and if he knows about it?

Answer was: We do not know about it so right now we process every case individually!!!!

From representative there was not a single question what is wrong with the TC and what is happening. He was more interested in the Serial numbers, of TC, my imac, and macbook. TC was bought without apple care.!!!!!! in USA and I live in Europe. (money saving reasons)

There are definitely SN that must fit into TC replacements conditions.
Because no other questions were asked.

I believe you all get replacements if you play it right. If you start to dig inside of the box, Forget it and do not cry.

I spend 20 minutes confirming my ID.
30 minutes on hold.
Final result, TC will be replaced.
Feedback= very satisfied.

guy

PS: I asked what happens with all the data on the HDD! answer Parts will get destroyed, plastic melted. Can somebody confirm that??????? Hope they are not like HP to sell old Computers to Nigeria and then they steal the data.

XboxEvolved · Oct 26, 2009, 05:57 AM

I would have never bought it because it's overpriced, underperforming, and limited but thanks for giving me one more reason to stay away from it.

Jasondh · Jan 9, 2010, 01:38 PM

Mine has just gone bang.

Bought it Mar-08 1TB.

I'm gonna take the drive out and stick it is an external caddy I think.

iSee · Jan 9, 2010, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jasondh

Mine has just gone bang.

Bought it Mar-08 1TB.

I'm gonna take the drive out and stick it is an external caddy I think.

Consider calling Apple Care before you do that -- you be able to get it replaced for free.

Ours died around Christmas (purchased the same month as you) and Apple replaced it without resistance because we have Apple Care on a Mac we use it with. If you don't have Apple Care on a Mac, I've heard you can usually get it replaced anyway. You will need to be speaking to a senior support person (i.e., not the person you first speak to.)

Anyway, good luck. My replacement process went smoothly -- Apple just sent me a new one (overnight) and I shipped the old one back in the same box using the prepaid shipping label.

The only catch (which hopefully does not apply to you) was that due to legal privacy obligations I had to delete the contents of the hard drive in the old unit before sending it back. So I did end up opening it up to do that. It made me a little nervous because I was afraid if I was too obvious, Apple would claim I broke the TC and charge me after all. But that went smoothly, too.

I now backup the Mac that holds the sensitive data to an external drive so I won't have to go through that again.

Jasondh · Jan 9, 2010, 02:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iSee

Consider calling Apple Care before you do that -- you be able to get it replaced for free.

Ours died around Christmas (purchased the same month as you) and Apple replaced it without resistance because we have Apple Care on a Mac we use it with. If you don't have Apple Care on a Mac, I've heard you can usually get it replaced anyway. You will need to be speaking to a senior support person (i.e., not the person you first speak to.)

Anyway, good luck. My replacement process went smoothly -- Apple just sent me a new one (overnight) and I shipped the old one back in the same box using the prepaid shipping label.

The only catch (which hopefully does not apply to you) was that due to legal privacy obligations I had to delete the contents of the hard drive in the old unit before sending it back. So I did end up opening it up to do that. It made me a little nervous because I was afraid if I was too obvious, Apple would claim I broke the TC and charge me after all. But that went smoothly, too.

I now backup the Mac that holds the sensitive data to an external drive so I won't have to go through that again.

Don't hold up much hope for them swapping it.

I took the back cover off and ripped the plastic cover in the process.

I have bough a caddy for the drive so I am going to plug it into my airport extreme via the USB. Thanks all the same. Glad you have a result.

ryan.hayes79 · Jan 9, 2010, 03:08 PM

I had almost the same situation. Time Capsule died shortly after 18 months. I just wrote Apple a letter saying I understand things fail but for the money paid was expecting a minimum of 3 years. I printed out some of the material from the Times who had done a story on it I believe and also listed all my current Apple products.

I got a call about 5 days later saying they would exchange it and that was that. I wasn't nasty in the letter I simply stated my disappointment and how it was different to other Apple product experiences.

Good customer service and why I like the brand.

jeremyisweary · Jan 9, 2010, 11:16 PM

So is it safe to buy one now? Has Apple addressed the problem, or are they just giving people new, yet still defective products? I need one to back up my info, and I wanted to keep everything smooth using TC. Or should I perhaps wait until this upcoming Apple event? Thanks in advance.

macjunk(ie) · Jan 10, 2010, 02:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeremyisweary

So is it safe to buy one now? Has Apple addressed the problem, or are they just giving people new, yet still defective products? I need one to back up my info, and I wanted to keep everything smooth using TC. Or should I perhaps wait until this upcoming Apple event? Thanks in advance.

I am waiting for that too...but I have no idea whether they have fixed the TC issue. I think I will not risk it. I might go in for a Omega NAS (ix2-200)...It is Time Machine compatible and more bang for the buck....

Oct 20, 2009, 07:56 AM	#1
eddieyou1018 macrumors newbie Join Date: Oct 2009	Do Not Buy Time Capsule Unless You Only Need It For 18 Months If you've recently been on mac-related forums or apple support, you will know that the Time Capsule is having major issues. As you may know, the TC came out around early last year, and just recently, around 1000 TCs had broken down and impossible to fix without inter-modding or a new machine given under Apple's Warranty. Listen to this: If you have or are going to buy one, do expect your Time Capsule to break down and die around 17-20 months old, mostly exact 18 months (as people recently called this the "magic" number). This is issue is known due to the power supply, since the whole thing is so packed up together inside, the power supply just can't hold to the intensely high temperature (yes the fan is **). In result your whole damn TC will break down, and you can either mod it by changing it's capacitors (sorry Taiwanese don't know if the word is spelled right) or change the internal power supply to external. The thing that is really really pissing me off is due to Apple's ignorance, they don't accept or agree that their product has a flaw, here is the case: My cousin's time capsule broke down after 17.6 months and he took it to the apple store (they want him to buy a new one), and i called the next day (just to test them out if they are lairs, turned out they were), and they said they haven't got a case with a time capsule breaking down. You see? this is how ignorant and selfish Apple is, and they go: you should have bought apple care, i was like WTF, u money ripper son of a **. So in conclusion, do not buy the Time Capsule anymore, at least for now until this problem is fixed and a new model comes out. Seriously, you can find further evidence and complaints in the following sites and forums: Complaints and objections: http://discussions.apple.com/thread....art=0&tstart=1 http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=507488 To register your "dead" time capsule (so someday steve may realize the problem): http://www.timecapsuledead.org/ We really need to let Apple know that they should stop messing with their customers, we chose apple in the first place due to it's simple and error-less specialty, and now after all these major problems with snow leopard (some people lost everything) and time capsule (poor engineered product), you are telling us to question you. And i did not pay hundreds of bucks just to buy a so claimed "server-grade" wireless hard drive just to know that it will die within 18 month old. Apple, stop being so ignorant, or the consequences may be unbearable (if such silence continues to be proposed by apple) Thank you for reading this apple fans, of course i love apple (I have almost all apple products), but this is serious, because this is more like the act of deception. Please apple, do not disappoint us (wake up steve jobs). Have a good day members. Eddie

Oct 20, 2009, 08:10 AM	#2
jessica. macrumors 604 Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: missing plugin … cue sadness	I've seen this reported before but I refuse to register any product on a site linked by a random person. I do believe it is an issue and I think AC only extends the warranty by 1 year. I could be wrong about that. Oh yeah and paragraphs please. __________________ … and if you were a kiss I know i'd be a hug …

Oct 20, 2009, 09:13 AM	#4
scienide09 macrumors 65816 Join Date: May 2007 Location: Canada	Ars Technica discussed this. A week ago. http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/20...l-cemetery.ars __________________ I'm a librarian. Macbook Pro 15" 2.33 \| MacBook Aluminum 2.0 \| iPhone 8GB (original) \| Black iPod 8GB \| Backup: RAID-1 640GB NAS.

Oct 20, 2009, 02:09 PM	#5
Eddyisgreat macrumors 68000 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Seattle, Wa	OP Do you have a machine that's currently under AppleCare? If so it covers perhiperals regardless of when you bought it. I brought in a mighty mouse and wireless keyboard that were older than the machine with AppleCare and they replaced it with no issues. __________________ 2.5 Penryn MBP (4GB, 80 GB x25-m) + ACD 20", 32Gb Black iPhone 3G S⃣ Tuned by Jobs™ , G-Drive Q , G-Drive G-Raid Mini I live within walking distance of an Apple Store.

Oct 25, 2009, 06:00 PM	#7
montex macrumors regular Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Seattle, WA	My 1TB TC died after 18 months almost to the day. I took it to an Apple Store in Seattle, but they would not exchange it. I bought the TC in March of 2008 by itself, not with a computer and I was not aware that you could buy Apple Care for a Time Capsule alone. However, I was able to disassemble the unit, identify the blown capacitors on the power supply board and replace them. I also left off the rubber base pad and stuck some 1/2" high self-adhesive feet to the four corners of the TC to aid in cooling. Now it works normally. So the TC can be repaired, but I wouldn't recommend someone who has never used a soldering iron or has a basic understanding of circuits try to attempt fixing one. __________________ Narffle the Garfunk!

Oct 20, 2009, 02:13 PM	#6
cube macrumors 68040 Join Date: May 2004	You shouldn't have bought Time Capsule in the first place because it's not made for upgrading and it's too slow as a NAS.

Oct 25, 2009, 08:23 PM	#8
OldCorpse macrumors 65816 Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: compost heap	Didn't Apple just upgrade the TC? I thought they have new ones out? It's my understanding that the issue is weak power supply that conks out after 18 months. I bet they changed that. So hopefully that problems should not exist anymore in the new ones. I guess we'll find out in 18 months __________________ OldCorpse quietly rotting

Oct 25, 2009, 09:06 PM	#9
Yanwoo macrumors member Join Date: Aug 2006	I thought this 18 months 'timed' breakdown was a little too wacky to be true...now I am a believer: mine gave up the chase this afternoon. I bought it on March 22nd 2008... Has anyone had any joy getting support from Apple without applecare?

Oct 25, 2009, 10:02 PM	#10
Tiki35 macrumors member Join Date: Oct 2009	I also would love to know if they updated the power supply in their latest release. How could they not? The bad publicity alone regarding the many failures after 18 months is really hurting them. The guys at IFixIt usually tear it apart within days of its release so I hope we receive a positive report on the latest Time Capsule.

Oct 26, 2009, 05:40 AM	#11
mikecorp macrumors newbie Join Date: Mar 2008	How I managed Guys, my TC died after 18 months of use. I read about this issue and I was hoping that my TC will survive, It did not. Today I called Apple for more info: - I simply said that my TC died with the other 5000 registered on the internet. And I want to know what should I do and if he knows about it? Answer was: We do not know about it so right now we process every case individually!!!! From representative there was not a single question what is wrong with the TC and what is happening. He was more interested in the Serial numbers, of TC, my imac, and macbook. TC was bought without apple care.!!!!!! in USA and I live in Europe. (money saving reasons) There are definitely SN that must fit into TC replacements conditions. Because no other questions were asked. I believe you all get replacements if you play it right. If you start to dig inside of the box, Forget it and do not cry. I spend 20 minutes confirming my ID. 30 minutes on hold. Final result, TC will be replaced. Feedback= very satisfied. guy PS: I asked what happens with all the data on the HDD! answer Parts will get destroyed, plastic melted. Can somebody confirm that??????? Hope they are not like HP to sell old Computers to Nigeria and then they steal the data.

Oct 26, 2009, 05:57 AM	#12
XboxEvolved macrumors regular Join Date: Aug 2004	I would have never bought it because it's overpriced, underperforming, and limited but thanks for giving me one more reason to stay away from it. __________________ I need that i7 iMac like fat people need chocolate.

Jan 9, 2010, 01:38 PM	#13
Jasondh macrumors newbie Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Chorley, Lancashire. U.K.	Mine has just gone bang. Bought it Mar-08 1TB. I'm gonna take the drive out and stick it is an external caddy I think. __________________ 17" MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac, AppleTV, Time Capsule, AirPort Extreme, MacMini, MacBook (White), iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS

Jan 9, 2010, 03:08 PM	#16
ryan.hayes79 macrumors member Join Date: Jun 2008	I had almost the same situation. Time Capsule died shortly after 18 months. I just wrote Apple a letter saying I understand things fail but for the money paid was expecting a minimum of 3 years. I printed out some of the material from the Times who had done a story on it I believe and also listed all my current Apple products. I got a call about 5 days later saying they would exchange it and that was that. I wasn't nasty in the letter I simply stated my disappointment and how it was different to other Apple product experiences. Good customer service and why I like the brand. __________________ Regards, Ryan Hayes 24" iMac, 3.06Ghz, 500GB, 4GB RAM 13" MacBook Pro, 2.26GHz, 160GB, 4GB RAM tv + iPhone 3G S⃣

Jan 9, 2010, 11:16 PM	#17
jeremyisweary macrumors newbie Join Date: Jan 2010	Buy now? So is it safe to buy one now? Has Apple addressed the problem, or are they just giving people new, yet still defective products? I need one to back up my info, and I wanted to keep everything smooth using TC. Or should I perhaps wait until this upcoming Apple event? Thanks in advance.

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