Apple TV 2 has big problems homesharing - fixes? firmware update needed!

same issue here as everyone...very frustrated, especially since there is no support I can contact?! I just got apple tv a few months ago and it was working great, was recommending it to my family. The itunes update and apple tv update was pushed...home sharing no more.

ATV works if i play from iphone but not from computer library.

I just tried resetting to factory settings and now it says apple id and password are incorrect. I know what my id and password is and it is not incorrect. This is a piece of crap equipment now, i'm pretty frustrated that this is the support we get from apple.

Hey Everyone,

I feel your pain. I too bought heavily into ATV devices when things were working well (2 x ATV2 and 1 x ATV3). As well, I too went through the whole 'Home Sharing not Available" debacle. I troubleshot everything. Was it the modem coming into the house? Was it my wireless router? ATV version? iTunes version? Etc. etc.

I must have spent 30-40 hours trying to figure this out, spoke with numerous Apple Service Reps, and so on.

Things are working now and have been in a consistent manner for months. All my devices have a hard ethernet connection. All my ATV devices have been assigned static IPs, along with my desktop. I had to purchase a multi-port router to accommodate all the ethernet cables running to different locations. I was fortunate to ensure network ports were placed throughout my house when I built it.

Not sure if this is a failsafe solution, but it worked for me. I know other posts have indicated such measures worked, but only temporarily.

Just adding my voice of utter frustration. My ATV2 was working fine until I installed the last update. Apple replaced the ATV, but the same problem. A feature drops off, anywhere from 5-10 minutes after playing. I may get a message that says the network isn't connected, when it is or a message that the home sharing feature is off, when in fact it's not. I'm amazed that the problem has existed this long witn no fix. Truly *****.

Has anyone installed the update that cam out today? 5.02. Does it solve this problem?

I have a Netgear wireles router. I called my cable provider and asked them to reinstall the latest update. I disconnected the unit, reconnected it and waited for a half hour, tried Apple TV and it's been working fine ever since. The Apple support guy that I spoke with had the same problem until he updated his router, then it was fine.

I had no problems until I did the last ATV2 update, so I'll be skipping this new one.

Good luck!

Same problems as you folks have stated. I am all Mac environment. ATV3, iMac, Airport extreme, airpot base station. ATV3 stops every 5 minutes. It happened shortly after latest update. Apple has really screwed the pooch on this one.

I have the same problems as you folks have stated. I am all Windows environment (XP,WIN7, WIN8). i only have one ATV3, it stops every 5 minutes while watching Netflicks, or decides it has an error and shuts down so frustrating, It happened shortly after latest update. Sad thing is if i use my lap top everything works perfectly so i know it not my netowrk.. Apple has really messed up and needs to fix it soon...

And now it looks like i am having issues with my Ipad and connecting to the network yet another update issue possibly..

FOUND IT!!!! It was the encryption security. Apparently, Apple devices don´t cope well with WPA encryption security over wifi. Changed it to WEP encryption in my modem-router and all my Home Sharing problems are long gone. Yiiihaaaaaaa!!! 😀

Curious what kind of iPad issues you are having. I am having issues with wifi sync from my iPhone, iPad. Sometimes it will sync, sometimes it will say that it is looking for my iMac. I feel if it were a network issue it would either work or not work. My issue is intermittent, admittedly it does not work more than it works.

I have not tried turning off WPA as described in one of the posts. Will certainly try it and will report back.

Curious if other people are also having wifi sync issues with iOS devices as I am having.

Interestingly, I updated the firmware on my Wireless AP (Edimax) to cure a non Apple related issue and since then my Apple setup has worked flawlessly. I have an Apple TV2 wireless and an Apple TV3 wired. Both stream or mirror fine now from, iPad or iPhone and niether 'disappear' as they used to.

I suspect the issues people are having with this is not an Apple issue at all. This would epxlain why some hass isues and others do not and why Apple can't fix it since there is nothing for them to fix?

siwilson wrote:

I suspect the issues people are having with this is not an Apple issue at all. This would epxlain why some hass isues and others do not and why Apple can't fix it since there is nothing for them to fix?

The fact that so many of the contributors to this thread are struggling to get their Apple products working yet have no other network-related problems indicates that Apple have implemented something in their packet streaming that is either not fully supported, or obscure. There is one contributor using purely Apple based products including the Apple Airport router and still has these issues. You would think if this was a third-party network router issue then it wouldn't manifest through their own routers? This is still Apple's problem.

I switched to DLNA technology, which partners well with my Sony products and my Windows PC, and I have had no network problems whatsoever. I actually changed my router recently (it was a TP-Link and now it's a CISCO) and I still have no issues with DLNA, yet the Apple TV2 still drops out.

You have to ask yourself why so many other OTS products are working quite happyily on a home WiFi network, but the Apple products are not. Whatever the reason, we're all still stuck with non-working Apple hardware, and by switching away to other more open and widely adopted technologies (such as DLNA) we can avoid the heartache and frustration.

Also take into consideration the deafening silence from Apple on this thread. They haven't acknowledged this issue on here. Not once. A little bit of recognition and confirmation that they care would go a long way, but all we are collectively experiencing is "we've got your money, now go walk off a cliff because we don't care".

Wow, so much hate!

My point was that other people may find their issues go away with an update to their wireless or a different wireless solution.

One of my other issues was that my son's xbox360 would not connect to the wireless if WPA2 was enabled. To begin with I created another SSID with MAC security just for him. Since the Wireless AP firmware was updated his xbox 360 connects fine on WPA2. I also had issues with my video conferening dropping out during a call on my Windows PC, but never when I used my iPad. Since the formware update the PC is rock solid and so is everyting else.

Food for thought!

The hate is directed at Apple, so apologies if you felt any has been misdirected at you 😎

What you describe simply indicates to me that your router has firmware issues, which have been fixed following an update. That's great, and I'm pleased for you. The Apple TV units clearly work fine in more than 99% of cases, and you're one of the lucky 99 out of 100 that now has a functioning system. I wish my router was the problem for me, but I borrowed and tried three different routers during my diagnosis (and I'm now on my fourth having changed my own recently) and still no luck. Unless all four, each from different manufacturers, suffer the same issue, then I'm forced to conclude there's an issue with the Apple streaming implementation.

What annoys me the most is: Many other manufacturers can successfully implement streaming of one form or another that works perfectly well on a simple home WiFi system, so why can't Apple?

ThoricCLA wrote:

I switched to DLNA technology, which partners well with my Sony products and my Windows PC, and I have had no network problems whatsoever. I actually changed my router recently (it was a TP-Link and now it's a CISCO) and I still have no issues with DLNA, yet the Apple TV2 still drops out.

Many other manufacturers can successfully implement streaming of one form or another that works perfectly well on a simple home WiFi system, so why can't Apple?

I'd hold on that praise of Sony. I've a PS3 and have tried many DLNA implementations, and have yet to find one that will successfully stream video from my Mac server to the PS3. The reason? The lousy small 4MB buffer Sony implemented in the PS3, has known about for YEARS (this has been an ongoing problem since the first PS3 came out), and has done NOTHING about. Ever. And not even acknowledged it, in spite of 3rd party engineers researching and discovering it and writing about it. You want to talk about silence?

Audio plays just fine. Pictures appear just fine. Video? Stutters, stalls, and gives the dreaded "Media is corrupt" error. And this is over a wired GigE net.

My AppleTV 3 has played flawlessly over the same network, from the same server.

Oh, and the reason you've probably not heard from Apple on this thread? Apple doesn't reply to the forums. They watch them, but I challenge you to find me a single original "Authorized Apple reply" to any bug report on any of these boards. They just don't do it. I suppose they'd rather spend their time working on the bugs and new features than responding to every claim that someone's found another flaw.

Alphaman. wrote:

I'd hold on that praise of Sony. I've a PS3 and have tried many DLNA implementations, and have yet to find one that will successfully stream video from my Mac server to the PS3. The reason? The lousy small 4MB buffer Sony implemented in the PS3, has known about for YEARS (this has been an ongoing problem since the first PS3 came out), and has done NOTHING about. Ever. And not even acknowledged it, in spite of 3rd party engineers researching and discovering it and writing about it. You want to talk about silence?

I'm sorry to hear about the PS2, that is a pity, I don't own games consoles so I wasn't aware of this issue. A 4Mb buffer is surprisingly small, so I guess no company is perfect - Sony included. But that's not to say DLNA is flawed. I use DLNA sharing to/from my Windows PC, a Sony tablet, a Sony BluRay player and my iPhone (through 3rd party apps) and in all cases there have never been any issues. Or perhaps one issue, that seemed to solve itself randomly one day, so I can't recall the details off hand. But nothing so catastrophic as what I get with the ATV2.

The Apple streaming technology appears to be suffering from a problem, and is a closed strategy that prevents other developers from contributing. I can appreciate this makes it secure, but when problems occur like this there is no opportunity for developers to assist or improve it, it's all down to Apple.

The fact Apple haven't, and don't, reply to their own forum pages is abominable. I don't expect them to spend major bucks handholding every crackpot or ignoramus who creates a new thread on here declaring their unique problem, but it doesn't take long to review this multi-page thread and place a single message on here stating that they're listening and working on the issues we're all encountering. At the very least perhaps some guidance as to why we are struggling. If it is the routers, then I would hope they've tested a large number of available products and have some idea which ones work seamlessly with the streaming technology, and which ones don't. If they shared that kind of information we could all make the choice whether to replace our routers with one that is declared fit, rather than take another pot luck chance of picking a random one.

I'm a regular contributor to another forum hosted by a Fortune 100 company and they regularly contribute to assist people who post questions and problems regarding their products. All at their own cost. Apple is one of the biggest companies in existence, so surely they can afford at least to post an acknowledgement?