Factory reset Time Capsule 802.11n (3rd Gen)

Hi- Thank you for your swift, and clearly knowledgeable, response.

I've gone through the process you advise. When I click on the Wi-Fi icon in the toolbar, the list that drops down shows the network through which my iMac and all other devices in our place get their net access, but also shows Time Capsule, emitting at full force. To set up the Time Capsule, should I try to do it through our shared network, or switch to Time Capsule?

Thanks again.

 I have in fact now tried both methods I’ve mentioned, and a third one, and none has worked.

When I leave the iMac’s WiFi on our usual network (the signal of which is broadcast through our place by a set of eero repeaters, their mother one hard-wired to the modem provided by our ISP) and open Airport Utility, the Time Capsule doesn’t show at all and the line at the bottom says 

"No configured AirPort base stations have been found. AirPort Utility will continue searching.”

If I switch my iMac to the WiFi signal put out by the ISP’s modem - from which my Time Capsule used to get its signal when I used it as our internal router as well as my backup device, before going over to the eero repeaters for WiFi and hard-wiring the Time Capsule to my iMac - the same thing happens.

When I switch my iMac’s wifi to the Time Capsule network, Airport Utility shows the iMac linked to the Time Capsule, with the orange light pulsing to the left of the TC’s icon as it has been pulsing all along on the Time Capsule itself, but no option is offered to do anything about its password or settings - which is what I'd need to get back into it through Time Machine Preferences.

And when I open Time Machine Preferences I find the Time Capsule’s Data folder showing as ready to be selected for backups, but when I opt for it, the demand for a password appears, with my putting in the usual password producing the same rejection as described in my original message. 

Clicking in Time Machine Preferences on Other Airport Time Capsule just brings me AirPort Utility, with no option to move anywhere.

I ought to add that there's nothing corrupted about the Time Machine software of my iMac, as is evidenced by the fact that when I plug in the Western Digital My Passport Ultra I also have, and opt for it in Time Machine Preferences as the device for the next backup, the backup happens without the least hitch.

Hi

I went through this morning the process you advised, but also made an extra step, and it’s worked. 

What I mean by the extra step is that when AirPort Utility showed the Time Capsule connected to my iMac, but no Edit option, it occurred to me to click on the Time Capsule icon in the panel, and that opened a little grey page with the Time Capsule’s data, and an Edit option in the lower right corner. Clicking on this this then enabled me to change the password, which I then used in Time Machine Preferences to get into the Time Capsule, and it almost immediately began preparing a backup.

I felt most grateful for your advice.

The result, however, has brought me up against another problem. 

Which is that whereas before all my troubles began earlier this month, the Time Capsule’s connection to my iMac worked through an ethernet cable - a connection I started using when, three years ago, I went over to the eero repeaters for broadcasting our WiFi signal instead of using the Time Capsule as our internal router - now I can only initiate a backup when I have my iMac’s WiFi linked to the Time Capsule’s signal. 

This not only provides a much slower connection than the ethernet cable provided, but also means that with its WiFi linked to the Time Capsule signal, my iMac is cut off from the eero network, and thus the internet. So instead of the automatic backups I used to get, in order to use the Time Capsule as my backup device I’d have to cut the iMac off the net every time I wanted to get the Time Capsule to take a backup. 

I have no idea what would have disrupted the hard-wired connection between my iMac and the Time Capsule that had worked fine for about three years. But should you have advice on how I can get round the new problem, it would be most welcome.

Hi-

I’ve gone through the procedure, TC on the eero net, green lights showing on TC and AirPort Utility, all systems go, backup - first in over 20 days - now in progress. 

Many thanks, and best wishes

Paul

You are a true prince of advisers!

This is proving a busy weekend, but I'll go through the process you've outlined at my next available opportunity, and report.

Meanwhile, my thanks.