Deploy consistently completes, but SSH never returns after reboot (TimeCapsule6,116 / Firmware 7.8.1)

[gcldn]

Firstly, thank you for all the work you’ve put into TimeCapsuleSMB. I’ve been trying to install it on my Time Capsule, but I appear to be consistently getting stuck at the same point after deployment.

Environment

• TimeCapsuleSMB: v2.2.9 (Build 20215)
• Time Capsule: A1470 (TimeCapsule6,116)
• Apple Firmware: 7.8.1
• Detected OS: NetBSD 4.0_STABLE
• Payload family: netbsd4le_samba4

What happens:
The deployment appears to complete successfully:

• Upload mdns-advertiser ✓
• Upload nbns-advertiser ✓
• Upload Boot Files ✓
• Upload Runtime Config ✓
• Apply File Permissions ✓
• Verify Upload ✓
• Flush to Disk ✓
• Request Reboot ✓

The Time Capsule reboots, but SSH never comes back.

TimeCapsuleSMB eventually reports:
Timed out waiting for SSH after reboot and deploy did not get far enough to activate Samba after reboot.

Current state:

After the reboot:

• The Time Capsule is still discoverable over Bonjour.
• It receives a DHCP lease from my router (192.168.1.132).
• ACP (port 5009) is reachable.
• SSH (22) returns Connection refused.
• AFP (548) returns Connection refused.
• The LED flashes amber.

What I’ve tried

• Waited well beyond the 4-minute timeout.
• Multiple power cycles.
• Soft reset.
• Removed and rediscovered the device.
• Re-ran the deployment.
• Tried Open SSH Access and Enable SSH (both hang indefinitely).
• Tried from two different Macs (same behaviour on both).
• Confirmed the Time Capsule remains on the network throughout.

Diagnostics

TimeCapsuleSMB correctly detects:

• Model: TimeCapsule6,116
• Firmware: 7.8.1
• OS: NetBSD 4.0_STABLE
• Payload Family: netbsd4le_samba4

The deployment consistently reaches the reboot stage but never gets any further.

Question:
Is there a known issue affecting firmware 7.8.1 or the A1470 / TimeCapsule6,116 hardware?

Since ACP remains reachable after reboot, is there a manual way to:

• re-enable SSH,
• manually run tcapsule activate, or
• recover the deployment without factory resetting the device?

I’m happy to test development builds, run additional diagnostics, or provide the full diagnostics output if it would help.

[gcldn]

screenshot above of what happens;

[jamesyc]

What does doctor/checkup say?

[gcldn]

Hi, thanks for the reply.

Here’s the latest Checkup output after resetting and reconfiguring the Time Capsule, then performing a fresh deployment with TimeCapsuleSMB.

Environment

• TimeCapsuleSMB: v2.2.9 (Build 20215)
• Time Capsule: A1470 (TimeCapsule6,116)
• Apple Firmware: 7.8.1
• Payload Family: netbsd4le_samba4

Checkup summary

• 16 PASS
• 3 FAIL
• 1 WARN
• 2 INFO

The failures are:

FAIL
SSH command failed for root@:
Timed out waiting for ssh command to finish:
/bin/echo ok
WARN
SMB not reachable at :445 (timed out)
FAIL
No resolved _smb._tcp service matched target IP

The remaining messages are:

INFO
Active Samba NetBIOS name unavailable (SSH login failed)
INFO
Active Samba share names unavailable (SSH login failed)
FAIL
Authenticated SMB listing failed:
Attempt 1:
STATUS_IO_TIMEOUT
Attempt 2:
NT_STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED

I also tested SSH manually:

ssh -vvv root@

It hangs while connecting and eventually reports:

debug1: Connecting to port 22.
debug1: connect to address port 22: Operation timed out
ssh: connect to host port 22: Operation timed out

I also confirmed that:

• ACP (port 5009) is reachable.
• The Time Capsule is discoverable via Bonjour.
• The device obtains a DHCP lease normally after reboot.
• The deployment always completes successfully (uploads files, verifies them, flushes to disk, and requests a reboot).
• The failure consistently occurs after the reboot, when SSH never becomes reachable again.

To rule out configuration issues, I also:

• Reset and reconfigured the Time Capsule using AirPort Utility.
• Performed a completely fresh deployment.
• Reproduced the exact same behaviour.

[jamesyc]

Hmmm. Can you manually SSH into the device? Does it freeze when you try to manually SSH?

[gcldn]

Yes. I tried connecting manually from Terminal using:

ssh -vvv root@

It doesn’t freeze indefinitely, but it hangs while trying to establish the connection and then eventually times out. It never reaches authentication or presents a shell prompt.

The output ends with:

debug1: Connecting to [] port 22.
debug1: connect to address port 22: Operation timed out
ssh: connect to host port 22: Operation timed out

One thing that may be relevant is that earlier, before I reset and reconfigured the Time Capsule, SSH was returning “Connection refused”. After resetting/reconfiguring the Time Capsule and performing a fresh deployment, that changed to “Operation timed out”.

The deployment itself still completes successfully every time (uploads, verification, flush to disk, and reboot). The failure only occurs after the reboot, when SSH never becomes reachable again. ACP (port 5009) remains reachable throughout.

[jamesyc]

The SSH timeout is mostly a red herring: the app was probing a stale IP after the Time Capsule apparently reset itself again.

“Connection refused” at .132: the device was there, but SSH was disabled.
“Operation timed out” at .212: the device was no longer at that address.

Try setting your device to 1 static IP address, since it seems to change IP addresses on reboot due to DHCP.

[jamesyc]

Alternatively, try deploying with --no-reboot and then just running the rc.local file immediately after