How do I know if my Apple TV has died?

Question

Level 1

21 points

How do I know if my Apple TV has died?

Symptoms:
• Had been working, when suddenly...
• No picture, no sound, no nothing.
• Amber light flashing.
• No recognition of Apple TVs existence on iTunes
What I've tried to do:
• Read through support posts
• Read through troubleshooting
• Unlink remote; relink remote
No response, no effect. All I have is a blinking amber light and a black TV screen (yes, the TV is on, and it is in the right viewing mode. I've even scrolled through the modes to see if Apple TV might be somewhere else.
• I'm connecting to Sony Brava via HDMI.

Thanks,

Czet

2 x 3 GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon, Mac OS X (10.5.1)

Posted on Mar 2, 2010 3:04 PM

Reply

Answer 1

capaho

Level 4

3,677 points

Mar 2, 2010 4:17 PM in response to Czet

If unplugging and replugging it doesn't clear the problem it probably has a catastrophic component failure. If it's still under warranty, take it to an Apple store or call AppleCare. If not, you'll have to consider replacing it.

Reply

Answer 2

Alley_Cat

Level 7

20,560 points

Mar 3, 2010 12:52 AM in response to Czet

It's failed, one of mine did this some time ago - whether it's something simple like a highly corrupt disk that could be re-imaged I don't know but there's no way for a user to do this and Apple didn't even offer a repair quote on my out of warranty AppleTV.

I think it's actually probably the logic board or other non-drive component that's failed.

Reply

Answer 3

Mar 3, 2010 1:31 AM in response to Czet

If it could "DIED" It would probably do some think Reel neat like FLash " RIP:" for a wild and then slow fade to Black

Reply

Answer 4

Czet Author

Level 1

21 points

Mar 3, 2010 2:02 AM in response to Czet

Ok thanks. Out of warranty, so I'll check if there's anything at all that can get done.

Reply

Answer 5

capaho

Level 4

3,677 points

Mar 3, 2010 2:33 AM in response to Czet

Ok thanks. Out of warranty, so I'll check if there's anything at all that can get done.

Apple won't repair out-of-warranty products but some authorized Apple resellers will. You could either find one that can repair it, or see if you can find a logic board for it on the Internet and repair it yourself. With new ATVs selling for $229, you'll have to see which way is the most cost-effective.

Reply

Answer 6

Mar 3, 2010 11:34 AM in response to Czet

Try connecting with component cables and see if it works. This happened to me last week after installing atvflash and the latest update - something had gone wrong and I spent hours wondering what happened until I thought of changes cables and wow it was working all along. I restored the software and now it is fine again, with hdmi.

Reply

Answer 7

Alley_Cat

Level 7

20,560 points

Mar 3, 2010 12:15 PM in response to blade_runner_5

blade runner5 wrote:
Try connecting with component cables and see if it works. This happened to me last week after installing atvflash and the latest update - something had gone wrong and I spent hours wondering what happened until I thought of changes cables and wow it was working all along. I restored the software and now it is fine again, with hdmi.

Good suggestion - I tried that myself but to no avail when mine died.

Reply

Answer 8

VTX1800

Level 1

9 points

Apr 10, 2010 9:20 PM in response to Czet

Same issue for me too. ATV only blinks amber light. Nothing else works. Removed all cables and tried to just boot with power cord, same.

Dead.

Sigh. Nothing but issues with my ATV since my 40G model days. I wish they just worked like so many other Apple products.

Reply