Infinite loop of reseting after factory restore?

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It would seem at this time that this issue only affects pre 2.0 units or at least only those with pre 2.0 units have reported this issue so far, however it clearly doesn't affect the vast majority of pre 2.0 units and so it would be my concern that the theory that only pre 2.0 units are affected is likely correct, but of course there is no guarantee.

Yes, but these issues had to do solely with an unmodified unit. I now have a different drive in the box, that is it. In effect, I have one partition that is not identical to the original hard disk. And, I have the original disk in a safe location to always put back in and compare.

My unit is long past its support date, so that wasn't a concern.

Yes, all of my Macs/PCs/devices were still on the network this time 'round. It didn't seem to make a difference at all.

I find that difficult to follow, are you saying you had a problem with an unmodified unit, took out the drive that may have a problem on it, cloned it to another drive and used that.

I don't have an issue with you modifying your tv, I don't even have an issue with you posting your findings, but potentially your tv may work differently than others here and any results you obtain should be considered in that light.

I had a problem with the original unit, as described previously. I solved the problem on the original unit as seen above. Then, and only then, I upgraded the drive in my Apple TV and got to experience the same issue all over again, because I had to do a Factory Restore to make the drive work (part of the upgrade).

So, the root cause of the issue lies in the Apple_Recovery partition on the Apple TV. If you have one of the original units with a 1.0 firmware in the Apple_Recovery partition, then you're likely to enjoy this issue at some point, when you have to do a Factory Restore. 😟 At least we seem to have found a somewhat consistent workaround.

Sharp-man wrote:
I had a problem with the original unit, as described previously. I solved the problem on the original unit as seen above. Then, and only then, I upgraded the drive in my Apple TV and got to experience the same issue all over again, because I had to do a Factory Restore to make the drive work (part of the upgrade).

I understand now.

So, the root cause of the issue lies in the Apple_Recovery partition on the Apple TV. If you have one of the original units with a 1.0 firmware in the Apple_Recovery partition, then you're likely to enjoy this issue at some point, when you have to do a Factory Restore. 😟 At least we seem to have found a somewhat consistent workaround.

Whilst the workaround being discussed here as certainly worked for some, it doesn't appear to have done so for all, but of course an explanation for that might be that the procedure wasn't followed correctly.

I don't accept at this stage that this is an issue that those with pre 2.0 units will likely experience, there are simply too few people that have experienced it so far, I think it quite likely that there is a contributing factor here, which is the element that really needs resolving.

Well, I fixed mine using bits and pieces of the info provided here.... but I couldn't tell you exactly how I did it? All the networking stuff is a bit above my skill level, but I plugged an ethernet cable into my Apple TV and then disconnected my wireless signal to my iMac (although a wireless signal was still present) and the 2.4 update came thru to my Apple TV?

So anyway, all is well now and by using the bits and pieces of the info you all provided.... I'm up and running again. How, I don't know? But thank you.

The "Two Router" Solution. (You are all going to love this one 🙂 )

1. You get two routers. Router 1 (probably you normal router) is attached to the Internet with DHCP on and powered on as usual.
2. Attach Router 2 to Router 1 (via a normal port ie NOT the WAN port) with DHCP turned off on Router 2.
3. Make sure both Routers are turned on and running normally.
4. Connect the ATV to Router 2 where it will get its IP address from Router 1.
5. When the ATV starts looping, disconnect the ethernet cable from the ATV and work your way to the Update Software section.
6. Disconnect Router 1 from Router 2.
7. Reattach the ATV to router 2, select update software and watch the little gizmo spin. It will keep spinning because a router exists and it is requesting an IP address. It won't timeout for around 30 seconds when it fails to get an IP address from Router 2 (because DHCP is turned off).
8. In that 30 seconds simply plug router 2 back into router 1 and watch your update proceed as normal.

If you don't own a 2nd router, beg, borrow, steal etc etc

PayPal donations will be accepted.

If this doesn't work for you. Please let me know.
If it does work for you. Please let me know as well.

Good luck (again!)

Sorry I meant to say, don't forget to allocate a seperate address to each router in the same subrange.

eg Router 1 192.168.0.1
Router 2 192.168.0.2

C'Mon everybody, just one last try to convert your brick back to where it was and then I won't bother you again, honest!

WHEN IS APPLE GOING TO PROVIDE A PATCH OR SOMETHING - MY APPLE TV IS USELESS RIGHT NOW DUE TO THE UPGRADE TO SNOW LEOPARD AND ITUNES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just wanted to say that I also had this problem, and I was able to solve it by turning all the WiFi in my apartment off, connecting the Apple TV via the ethernet cable, and the looping stopped and I was able to perform a software upgrade.

I had kept my machine on 1.0 of the software, because of all the stuttering/hiccup problems with media playback from the hard drive, and building of thumbnail menus (which is covered exhaustively in other threads). Seems like 2.4 finally doesn't have those issues, so...so far, I have an upgraded Apple TV that seems to work, although I haven't tried watching a video yet.

Why Apple has been writing multimedia software for the Mac for years that's rock solid, and can't seem to get Apple TV bugs worked out is beyond me; the Apple TV software is so simple when compared to something like Final Cut Pro, or iWork...or even iTunes. C'est la vie.