activation failed

Okay, trying to restore the Apple TV again did lead me to a solution, but it was a round-about process based upon information given to me by iTunes.

This might help other people. The end result was that the problem was with my Apple ID account, specifically my payment information! To properly activate an Apple TV it has to be able to connect to iTunes, and when you enter your Apple ID and password, that is where the device tries to connect for it's activation. If there is a problem with being able to purchase from Apple, the process will fail. Not sure why that matters, but that was what I had to fix in order to get it to work.

I removed the payment method from my Apple ID, added another one, and voila, everything worked. It seems that iTunes didn't like the method I had provided, although Apple was perfectly happy with it regarding my iCloud storage and purchases from my iPhone and iPad.

I gathered this info from the Manage Payments selection in iTunes. The next screen had a message in red about verifying the payment method. iTunes was the only place where this showed. Not online via a browser, not from a device, only iTunes.

So, whatever iTunes checks must also be what an Apple TV checks when it tries to connect for activation.

This is the only conclusion I can think of.

Got it working. Oh, and also the wireless connection cannot have poor security either. Apparently the latest updates for the Apple TV involve extra security checks. It simply won't work unless everything is deemed properly secured.

Regards,

I have done all of this. The problem actually started after doing a reset, and then a restore. There was a problem with an update and so I had to do a restore, as a reset didn't correct the problem. Now, after the restore, it fails to activate and there are no apps on the main menu either. I cannot sign in on iTunes, or iCloud on the Apple TV, either.

I do think I will try to restore it again. Perhaps that will correct the problem. Either way, it won't hurt as it isn't working for me anyway. I'll update after.

Thank you for your quick reply.