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Time Machine can't find Time Capsule

B

bobnlyne

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 14, 2011
41
0
San Antonio
After a couple years of using my Airport/Time Capsule to back up both my iMac and MacBook Pro I just got a message on both stating that it has been over ten days since my last back-up. Everything is connected, iMac by hard wire and MBP by WiFi.

Both machines running 10.11.4.

???

Help please.
 
Does your time capsule show a green light on it?
Have you tried launching Airport Utility to see if it finds your time capsule?
 
bcave098 said:
Also you can try to verify the Time Capsule disk (assuming it shows the green light and can bee seen in AirPort Utility) but restarting the Time Capsule from AirPort Utility.

https://support.apple.com/kb/HT202174
Click to expand...

All lights green, the Air Port Utility sees the disk, but when I enter the Time Machine Preferences and it goes looking for the disk to do a backup it searches for a while and returns a dialogue box that says the disk is not available.
Yet I can open Time Machine and scroll through all the backups prior to the time the disk "got lost" so it appears like the disk is available, but for some reason inaccessible. Or???
 
Last edited:
I followed the link and besides sounding a little (?!) beyond my skill level, it seems to imply I've lost connection to the Time Capsule. I am able to enter Time Machine, I can go back and view the list of past backups, and apparently I could restore, but I can't make any new backups (11 days now).
 
Running out of ideas here. So I pulled the plug on the Time Capsule, let it sit a while, and powered back on. Now Finder says it is there but not connected. (This is from my iMac which is hard wired via Cat 5.) When I try to reconnect on Time Machine I get OSStatus error 2.

Is it time to wipe the disk and begin from scratch? Not much good the way it is.
 
bobnlyne said:
I followed the link and besides sounding a little (?!) beyond my skill level, it seems to imply I've lost connection to the Time Capsule. I am able to enter Time Machine, I can go back and view the list of past backups, and apparently I could restore, but I can't make any new backups (11 days now).
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure the web page I linked is your answer and probably the only answer. Specifically, the "if your backups are on a network" section and you want to associate the backup.
 
I printed the instructions from the link, and while I was studying them I was also poking around trying other things. On a whim I opened Time Machine preferences and the TC began backing up just like it was supposed to.

Thanks for your help. I will keep the linked page in my favorites. Just in case.

I really hate it when stuff like this happens. I don't know what I did so if it ever happens again I will be at square one again.
 
BrianBaughn said:
You might need to "reassociate" the TM backup with your computer via Terminal. I've had to do it a few times for some customers with Time Capsules. I don't know how the disconnect happens but the fix usually works.

http://pondini.org/TM/B6.html
Click to expand...

Hi because at the moment I have the same problem with my wifes MacBook, she can see the TimeCapsule and work with the AirPort Utility Tool but she can't make a Backup and not connect in the Finder.

I tried to open http://pondini.org/TM/B6.html but it looks like the page is not working correct, can anyone tell me what they did to fix the problem.

Thanks a lot.
 
Schaffnix said:
Hi because at the moment I have the same problem with my wifes MacBook, she can see the TimeCapsule and work with the AirPort Utility Tool but she can't make a Backup and not connect in the Finder.

I tried to open http://pondini.org/TM/B6.html but it looks like the page is not working correct, can anyone tell me what they did to fix the problem.

Thanks a lot.
Click to expand...

I've been having this problem quite a bit over the past week as well. Right now I'm assuming it's something going on in the newest beta as it worked just fine before
 
Schaffnix said:
Hi because at the moment I have the same problem with my wifes MacBook, she can see the TimeCapsule and work with the AirPort Utility Tool but she can't make a Backup and not connect in the Finder.

I tried to open http://pondini.org/TM/B6.html but it looks like the page is not working correct, can anyone tell me what they did to fix the problem.

Thanks a lot.
Click to expand...

Can you connect to the TC with a different Mac?

The Pondini site isn't up...perhaps because it wasn't being updated. The last version that Archive.org has is here but I think you'd have to be able to access the TC to use the guide.
 
BrianBaughn said:
The Pondini site isn't up...perhaps because it wasn't being updated. The last version that Archive.org has is here but I think you'd have to be able to access the TC to use the guide.
Click to expand...

Pondini has closed. What a shame, it saved my Time Machine bacon on more than one occasion.
 
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