You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Airport Extreme

My Airport Extreme is blinking yellow but I have internet. When I click on the message(1) it says that it may be overheating. It is in an open air ventilated place and it is slightly warm but not overheating. Can anybody explain what to do?

iMac 27", macOS 10.15

Posted on Dec 16, 2019 12:44 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Dec 16, 2019 11:50 AM

it is slightly warm but not overheating


This is a fairly common problem. Although the fan can get clogged with dust and a fair number of people have fan issues.. often it is a mistaken reading.


Let me suggest you turn off sharing on the disks tab in airport utility.


This is the disk tab on my Time Capsule.. assuming you don't actually have a disk plugged into the USB.. just uncheck the

enable file sharing box.



This is a solution you will find often used.. it has absolutely nothing to do with overheating which I think is a false reading.

If you have the same thing happen in the future after a power down and the overheat warning comes up.. turn file sharing back on. If the overheat goes away then you know it just needs you to force the stupid box to restart without a power cycle.


On the Time Capsule I have the same problem but cannot turn off file sharing so I change the secondary DNS on the Internet tab.. each time I reboot I will get the issue again so change it back and forth all the time.


Similar questions

5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Dec 16, 2019 11:50 AM in response to Gunilla Mateus

it is slightly warm but not overheating


This is a fairly common problem. Although the fan can get clogged with dust and a fair number of people have fan issues.. often it is a mistaken reading.


Let me suggest you turn off sharing on the disks tab in airport utility.


This is the disk tab on my Time Capsule.. assuming you don't actually have a disk plugged into the USB.. just uncheck the

enable file sharing box.



This is a solution you will find often used.. it has absolutely nothing to do with overheating which I think is a false reading.

If you have the same thing happen in the future after a power down and the overheat warning comes up.. turn file sharing back on. If the overheat goes away then you know it just needs you to force the stupid box to restart without a power cycle.


On the Time Capsule I have the same problem but cannot turn off file sharing so I change the secondary DNS on the Internet tab.. each time I reboot I will get the issue again so change it back and forth all the time.


Dec 16, 2019 10:35 AM in response to Gunilla Mateus

You basically have a few choices:

  • Vacuum the vents on the bottom of the base station.
  • Open the base station up to attempt to remove any other form of dust/debris and inspect the fan to see if it can rotate without any obstructions. Care must be taken to avoid damaging any components.
  • You can monitor the actual operating temperature, but that most likely will only confirm if the temperature sensor is faulty or not.

Airport Extreme

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.