Apple TV Stuck on Top Menu - Unable to Reboot or run Diagnostics fm Remote

Question

Apple TV Stuck on Top Menu - Unable to Reboot or run Diagnostics fm Remote

My apple V became unresponsive and is stuck on the top menu.
The problem I have seems to be similar to that being reported by people who upgraded to sw V2.2. (My Itunes tells me my apple TV is on SW Version 2.1)

Odd thing is that the unit is connected to my mac and is syncing. When I restart the apple tv it restarts normal, I get the startup movie but then its just stuck. Trying to reboot with the remote doesn't work so I can't run diagnostics. Tried to restart it a few times unplugging cables and waiting more than 30 Seconds BUT Nothing ! It's still stuck. It goes into screensaver mode and shows pictures that's about all it does ?
I have the latest version of Itunes and I did have a strange glitch two days ago when I tried to rent a movie and it told me that my apple account wasn't recognized, my feeling is that this might have been related to that server glitch that was reported.
Anybody with similar problems ? Any workarounds any other ways to run diagnostics without the remote ?
M

Imac Intel DualCore, Mac OS X (10.5.5)

Posted on Oct 5, 2008 11:06 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 5, 2008 12:38 PM in response to MightyDutchman

Same problem here. Upgraded to ATV 2.2 and it worked ok. But after updating iTunes to 8.0.1 to enable the Genius feature on the ATV my ATV became completely unresponsive to the remote. I've tried three different remotes, unplugged the ATV and plugged it back in. Nothing.

I can still control it from my iPod Touch using the Remote application, but even after starting a movie that way I cannot pause, rewind or fast forward from the remote, not can I get to the Menu.

Of all the things to break on the ATV!!

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Answer 2

tmartine

Level 3

995 points

Oct 5, 2008 12:44 PM in response to MightyDutchman

when you press the remote does the light on the appleTV blink white or amber?

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Answer 3

Oct 5, 2008 5:14 PM in response to tmartine

amber

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Answer 4

Oct 5, 2008 5:41 PM in response to Robert Jones30

For fun I just unplugged the at for five minutes and then plugged it back in. No dice. Still get the amber light when pressing any button on the remote.

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Answer 5

tmartine

Level 3

995 points

Oct 5, 2008 6:40 PM in response to Robert Jones30

i'm thinking that likely the pairing on your remote has got messed up....

press and hold "Menu" and back/rwd button for about 3-6 seconds... an icon will appear in the top left hand side of the screen (a remote with two links of a chain apart) this means the remote has been unpaired... meaning that the appleTV will work with any remote... you can pair it by pressing "Menu" and right/ffwd button. i keep mine unpaired so i can use my logitech remote or my apple remote to control the box... if it's paired with one it won't work with the other

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Answer 6

Oct 5, 2008 9:09 PM in response to tmartine

The unpairing of remote worked great! Now I also can control my Apple TV and has saved me repair costs if I would have sent this out for service.

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Answer 7

Oct 6, 2008 4:41 AM in response to tmartine

Unpairing and re-pairing worked for me, too. Oddly enough, the iTunes 8.0.1 update screwed up the pairing on my iMac, too.

Thanks, Apple, for hours of frustration.

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Answer 8

Oct 6, 2008 8:43 AM in response to tmartine

OMG ! I don't believe that it ends up being a silly little thing like this ! I unpaired the remote and voila I have control over my most favorite gadget again ! Unfortunately though not after I had already removed the apple TV from Itunes so now I am re-syncing all my stuff back onto the APPLETV ! Thanks a bundle for this suggestion though, I was already getting worried I'd have to bring the unit in for repair, since I'm currently not in US that would have been a nightmare here in Israel I'm afraid !
One other query though, would you suggest to upgrade the software version to 2.2 ? I'm still on 2.1 and after reading all the posts of people having issues with 2.2 I wonder if I should hold on with this ?
Cheers.
M

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Answer 9

tmartine

Level 3

995 points

Oct 6, 2008 8:56 AM in response to MightyDutchman

i have no issues with 2.2... has some nice new features that i really like. my appleTV has been rock solid for a while now though... i think one of the biggest things is that i stopped unplugging my appleTV to restart it and since that no weird problems. you should restart you appleTV by press and hold "menu" and down button, then from the menu that appears select Restart... appleTV is really a computer and you wouldn't just yank the cord out of your computer and not expect that things might not get mess up..

anyway, 2.2 i working well for me..

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Answer 10

Oct 6, 2008 9:03 AM in response to tmartine

Agreed, however my issue was that the box wasn't responding to the remote and I didn't realize that the problem was the remote and not the box ! I'll give the upgrade a go as soon as I've resynced all my stuff again ! (Might take some time !)
Cheers,
M

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