Craig Southworth
Level 1 (6 points)

Q: Turned Apple TV 4 on and it's all in Chinese

Brand new Apple TV 4 delivered to me in the UK. Plugged it in and it's all in chinese. Looks like it's telling me to swipe down on the Siri remote but that doesn't do anything. I pressed the menu button on an ATV 3 silver remote and another chinese screen appeared. Can't get anywhere. Do i need to return this? Not a great start i must say,

Posted on Oct 30, 2015 1:26 PM

by Craig Southworth,Solvedanswer
Craig Southworth Craig Southworth
Level 1 (6 points)
A:

Sorted it.

 

I managed to get past all of the chinese login screens by looking at screenshots on the internet and guessing which buttons to select. I got to the main menu and got into settings where i was able to select English UK language and voila, sorted.

 

From there i was able to hit Reset factory settings and go through the instal process in English, including configuring the Siri remote. The front screen that showed up after the Reset was definitely not the screen i had when i was initially setting things up so dunno what happened there but at least i have it working now.

Posted on Oct 30, 2015 4:11 PM

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Craig Southworth

Q: Turned Apple TV 4 on and it's all in Chinese

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Smenus,

    Smenus Smenus Oct 30, 2015 1:45 PM in response to Craig Southworth
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 30, 2015 1:45 PM in response to Craig Southworth

    In my case it went through different languages, it's just Apple's welcome screen.

     

    I think you should be pressing on the remote, not swiping down. Then it should go through the setup process (including setting the language).

  • by Craig Southworth,

    Craig Southworth Craig Southworth Oct 30, 2015 2:19 PM in response to Smenus
    Level 1 (6 points)
    Oct 30, 2015 2:19 PM in response to Smenus

    Nope, not a single button on the Siri remote got me past that first screen. Would only respond to old silver remote. Up and down scrolled through lots of different chinese selections it was not giving me the option to select any other languages. Upon clicking one of them it then went to a two option screen, again in chinese, where option 1 appears to refer to setting up using an iPhone and option 2 appears to be setting up by manually keying in Apple ID. Every screen thereafter remained in chinese.

     

    I couldn't get past any of these options as the iPhone wouldn't register and i couldn't understand what the ATV was telling me. This can't possibly be normal setup behaviour.

  • by Smenus,

    Smenus Smenus Oct 30, 2015 2:23 PM in response to Craig Southworth
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 30, 2015 2:23 PM in response to Craig Southworth

    It's definitely not normal behaviour; as I mentioned mine let me pick the language from the get-go.

     

    You could try restoring the OS, and charging the remote. If it still doesn't work, you might have bad hardware.

  • by Craig Southworth,Solvedanswer

    Craig Southworth Craig Southworth Oct 30, 2015 4:11 PM in response to Smenus
    Level 1 (6 points)
    Oct 30, 2015 4:11 PM in response to Smenus

    Sorted it.

     

    I managed to get past all of the chinese login screens by looking at screenshots on the internet and guessing which buttons to select. I got to the main menu and got into settings where i was able to select English UK language and voila, sorted.

     

    From there i was able to hit Reset factory settings and go through the instal process in English, including configuring the Siri remote. The front screen that showed up after the Reset was definitely not the screen i had when i was initially setting things up so dunno what happened there but at least i have it working now.

  • by danoah,

    danoah danoah Oct 30, 2015 9:35 PM in response to Craig Southworth
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 30, 2015 9:35 PM in response to Craig Southworth

    Exact same problem here. All Chinese, including all the languages in the list. Remote not responsive. Had to use my old apple remote and figure out how to navigate through it all in Chinese and switch the language then do a full restore. Thanks for the advice!

  • by stumphman,

    stumphman stumphman Oct 30, 2015 9:50 PM in response to Craig Southworth
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 30, 2015 9:50 PM in response to Craig Southworth

    Thanks Craig, this helped BIG TIME.

    Stumphman

  • by Sean M,

    Sean M Sean M Oct 31, 2015 3:25 AM in response to Craig Southworth
    Level 1 (127 points)
    iTunes
    Oct 31, 2015 3:25 AM in response to Craig Southworth

    Where did you find the screenshots in Chinese?

  • by Frits Van Heekesen,

    Frits Van Heekesen Frits Van Heekesen Nov 12, 2015 2:56 AM in response to Sean M
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 12, 2015 2:56 AM in response to Sean M

    Same problem, here, can't use the remote to swipe to the Chinese menu's.

     

    Please remove the green 'Solved' it is not!