Time capsule unrecognised volume error and not restarting

I tried backing up today and got a "unrecognised volume error" - that my disk had changed identity and a question whether I wanted to proceed to use the current disk. I chose yes but the backup failed.

So I tried powering off the Time Capsule as I thought that would resolve the issue. Only the time capsule rebooted with an orange light and was making strange clicking noises. I left this for 10 minutes but it still didn't reboot. And there was no connection to the Time Capsule through Airport Utility and no wifi.

So I thought I'd give it another reboot, this time it seemed to get further as after 5 minutes it was making some loading sounds then it stopped making noise and was still on orange, with no Airport Utility connection or wifi.

At this point I googled for the issue and there were lots of reports of Time Capsules dying without any kind of solution.

I was now thinking I may need to buy a new Time Capsule. But before doing that I thought I'd ask Apple Care for assistance. On the website I put in a problem with backing up on my MacBookPro (which has Apple Care) and I was able to get them to call me immediately.

Initially the support analyst asked me to do a software update on my Mac, then I explained I had rebooted the Time Capsule and it was showing an orange light (and I had no wifi), he then said we need to fix that issue first. Then the support analyst instructed me how to do a reset/reboot by pressing in a small button at the rear of the Time Capsule (I didn't know about this!). Unfortunately after several attempts that didn't seem to do anything - it was meant to make the light start flashing.

Anyway the next step was to unplug the Time Capsule and leave for 10 seconds and plug it in again. Miraculously the Time Capsule started flashing an orange light, making booting sounds and then it went green. I checked the computer and there was wifi and the Airport Utility could talk to the Time Capsule. I then kicked off a backup and this time it worked.

Thank you Apple Care!