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Repeatable crash of Time Capsule wifi

MaxBurn

MaxBurn

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Nov 25, 2010
1,487
424
Questions: what is the difference between OSX and Windows as it pertains to pulling files off the Time Capsule via the network share?

Think asking for a replacement Time Capsule will fix this?

Problem background:

I have a four month old 4th gen time capsule here that is crashing the 802.11g and or the 801.11n network. Whatever network I am connected to I found that I can trigger this crash every time when downloading large files from the TC over the wireless network using a windows 7 computer. The computer can be in VMware fusion on my MBP or a separate dell laptop so I don't see how drivers or hardware could be an issue on the laptop side.

When it crashes the wireless network the TC still broadcasts an SSID but you can't get data from that connection from any device be it iPhone, mac book pro or a dell laptop.
When it is in this state:
-The opposite (802.11n/802.11g) network will still pass data
-Wired network devices will still pass data
-The TC network file share will still be available via any connection still working.
-It will never recover, until I cycle power to the TC, or trigger a reboot via the airport utility via a connection that is still working.

I have not been able to be able to trigger this when copying files from the TC using OSX.

Distance and signal levels aren't a concern, we are only talking 20 feet and top level signals.
 
Also why the heck can't I set up a repair for this on apples site? I can look up the sn and see that there is plenty of time but when I hit the set up a repair button the next page just never loads. Been like that for three days now. If I do the same thing with my mbp sn the page works fine.
 
MaxBurn said:
Also why the heck can't I set up a repair for this on apples site? I can look up the sn and see that there is plenty of time but when I hit the set up a repair button the next page just never loads. Been like that for three days now. If I do the same thing with my mbp sn the page works fine.
Click to expand...

I can't speak to your specific TC problem, but do the repair entry based on your MBP. For some reason Mac accessories are not "repairable" via their own serial number entries, but rather under an existing warranty for a computer. I just went through that with my trackpad.
 
They are going to replace it but didn't have any, have to wait a couple days to get one in.

I'm going to use a windows server and backup everything I can see in the root of the Time Capsule, I'm turning off time machine first.

Can I restore that to a new Time Capsule and have Time Machine use that backup or will there be something else necessary? I looked at some instructions online but they were mentioning disk utility and needing both drives at the same time which I won't have, I will just have the contents.
Click to expand...

Answer is yes, moving a TC backup to another TC is as simple as moving the sparsebundle files and pointing time machine to the new disk.
 
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Unfortunately the wifi crashing problem on large file transfers to windows clients was not fixed by swapping the time capsule.

This is kind of a big deal for this device to not work in its intended role in a mixed environment.
 
MaxBurn said:
Unfortunately the wifi crashing problem on large file transfers to windows clients was not fixed by swapping the time capsule.

This is kind of a big deal for this device to not work in its intended role in a mixed environment.
Click to expand...

Does the same problem exist if you access a USB disk attached to the TC? I only use my TCs for backup, but I do have a 2TB USB disk attached to one of them for file sharing around the house. I haven't used it with a windows PC in a long time.

/Jim
 
I don't have or want one but I will look into it for troubleshooting sake.
 
Any luck figuring out this problem, I'm experiencing exactly the same thing. My Time Capsule 3rd gen shows solid signal strength on my wifi devices, but connection to the primary network always fails, the guest network works fine. Spent an hour with apple support, they sent a replacement refurbished TC as the root cause was not found, but I'm experiencing the exact same problem, i.e. both networks show up on my iPad but am only able to connect to the guest network. Thanks.
 
For you I would say start by turning them off and doing a site survey to find some free channels in your area. Then turn them on and disable the auto channel selection and select some free channels. The auto channel selection seems to have some problems and when using it I had problems connecting several devices, this happened on both of the TC's I had and multiple devices but after going manual they could connect fine.

Unfortunately the transfer of large files still will crash the device for me, I am having to go wired for my MBP.

I'm dealing with it only because I want network time machine and this box is unreturnable by now.
 
Just curious. How big is the single file being requested by the windows 7 machine that causes there error?
 
A couple hundred meg minimum to three or four gig. Thing is it usually fails within the first minute when it does it.
 
MaxBurn said:
For you I would say start by turning them off and doing a site survey to find some free channels in your area. Then turn them on and disable the auto channel selection and select some free channels. The auto channel selection seems to have some problems and when using it I had problems connecting several devices, this happened on both of the TC's I had and multiple devices but after going manual they could connect fine.

Unfortunately the transfer of large files still will crash the device for me, I am having to go wired for my MBP.

I'm dealing with it only because I want network time machine and this box is unreturnable by now.
Click to expand...

Does the problem repeat if the windows machine is hard wired into the router?

/Jim
 
Hardwired is fine. Even while the Wi-Fi is crashed the hardwire works fine.
 
A little fishing here, but I am wondering how windows 7 sees the file format of the drive when connected wireless. Seems like window 7 NTFS mode will support 16TB or so file size, but otherwise might be 4GB. Perhaps the thing dies wireless at the point it time it hits a file slightly greater than 4 GB?

Would it be possible to work your way up one file at a time and see if you can find a single offending file or rather the first file ?
 
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LFMNX said:
A little fishing here, but I am wondering how windows 7 sees the file format of the drive when connected wireless. Seems like window 7 NTFS mode will support 16TB or so file size, but otherwise might be 4GB. Perhaps the thing dies wireless at the point it time it hits a file slightly greater than 4 GB?

Would it be possible to work your way up one file at a time and see if you can find a single offending file or rather the first file ?
Click to expand...

Test what? It works every time wired but doesn't over wifi, sometimes it fails 5mb in, sometimes 40mb in, sometimes it works. Talking about the same files here. When the wifi component goes down the wired still works. Also whatever radio you crashed, the opposite radio still works. If I crash the 5ghz N network the 2.4 G network still works and the other way round. When the wifi is crashed nothing else can join that particular radio N or G, whichever is crashed.

I'm working on the theory that there is something environmental going on here. I'm in a rather crowded area here and I can usually see ten or more access points. I should do a site survey myself.
 
It didn't fix it. Plus I really need search on my work machine.

I went into vmware and started up bootcamp, disabled search and rebooted. Then I was able to transfer a 800mb file that was problematic before. Then I went for a 3gig iso and that got about halfway before it took down the entire 5ghz wireless.

That article says 7.5.2 works, I will try to downgrade to that. Currently on the latest 7.6.1.
 
Looks much improved under 7.5.2. I just moved four ISO's sizing from 2-3.5gb and no problem. Will wait and see.
 
LFMNX said:
Tough problem. It really seems that the Time Capsule specs for windows do not include windows 7.

Some interesting posts here especially entry 2.
Click to expand...

This right here is pretty much ********, not you LFMNX, this is apples problem. Lets see, how long has win 7 been out for and we can't make the product support it?

I wish I knew that back when I was thinking about buying it.

Another thought; as there is never a problem with the wired connection I could and add another "reliable" wifi router and have the windows machines connect to that.

What I will likely actually do is run a wire for the macbook pro. Leave the wireless to the non serious toys.
 
MaxBurn said:
Looks much improved under 7.5.2. I just moved four ISO's sizing from 2-3.5gb and no problem. Will wait and see.
Click to expand...

Hi MaxBurn,

Did 7.5.2 conclusively solve the issue?

On 7.6.1, I'm having the same issues you described. It's repeatable and very frustrating.

Thanks!
 
Yes ever sense going to the older firmware I haven't had one problem with it. I don't know what the new firmware was supposed to do but I haven't missed anything. You can suppress the update warning in the app too. I haven't seen a newer firmware notice for it in about eight months either.
 
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