Q: Apple TV Crashing / Resetting Itself

Darn. I am already using an Airport Extreme. Which model are you using? Thanks.

I'm running 7.6.1... Is your firmware updated on the extreme?

If cable runs are not possible, why not try the powerline solution I used?

E.g. http://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Powerline-TL-PA211-STARTER-KIT/dp/B0055XKBW4/ref=s r_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1338457986&sr=8-2

should do the trick. (You'll need three units if you have to ATVs). I use a Comtrend equivalent.

I agree it is frustrating that this issue with wifi connected ATVs has not been resolved.

Yup. My firmware is up to date.

Maybe what I'll do is try the wired method first. Even if it's goofy looking, if it stops resetting, that's a positive and then I can give the powerline solution a try.

If it starts resetting even with a wired solution, I'll know the power line solution most likely won't work either. Thanks.

Well crap. That didn't work. Here's the breakdown.

Wired ethernet cable from Airport extreme (firmware 7.6.1) to Apple TV (Firmware 5.01)

I double checked to make sure it was using the wired connection (go to wireless and it says can't use until you unplug the ethernet cable, so it was using the right connection.)

Watching netflix, not 15 minutes into watching the same movie we tried watching the night before, it drops and restarts again. Gah! Apple, what the heck guys?

Since the wired ethernet cable didn't work, I'll assume neither will the powerline.

I think that's the last idea to try, right? Anything else?

Time to take it in to the apple store. Hopefully they will swap it out for you. I assume you don't have any other issues with your Internet on other devices...

Nope, no other issues. Stream to PS3, stream to Xbox 360, works. We even have a cheap little chinese television device for the mother-in-law that's basically Apple TV for Chinese people but it actually works 100% of the time (italkbb tv). lol.

I thought there was a chance those devices could be interfering somehow, but, alas, the last couple crashes were when everything else was shut down. Even if they were interfering, I'd expect choppy playback, not a crash/reset.

What all do I need to bring something to an Apple store? I've never had an issue with an Apple product like this before, so I'm a bit green on proceedure.

As much as you can. If you have the receipt, original packaging ect it will help your case.

Airport Extreme update might solve the problem for 30%. rest of problem upto the apple tv unit itself. sometimes the RESTART/RSET option will work.sometimes the software update will also solve the issues

you are right. apple need to fix the new generation apple tv released in 2011. Apple seems pushing their customers to purchase the 2012 release apple tv instead of fixing the 2010-2011 releases apple tv. come on apple TECH crew, fix it

Same problem for me.  Waking up household in the middle of the night.  Yeah I could turn the stereo down, but then playing music is SOOO hard. I might strain my thumb. Please Apple, code us up a solution. 

Everyday, no update has helped.

Come on Apple, fix this.

Very annoying

I Have been having the same problem and found out that my Apple tv had somehow gone into Demo mode stopping me changing my network settings and stopping me changing other settings. After a bit of research i found out how to kick it out of Demo mode

To get out of demo mode you need to go to settings scroll down to legal don't click on it just highlight it then on your remote press Right, Right ,Left then center your Apple tv should then reset itself and come out of demo mode This worked for me i had been pulling my hair out trying to make anything play for longer than 5 mins

hope this helps someone

Good luck

So, I discovered something over Christmas. I was experimenting with a wireless packet analyzer (wireshark) and discovered that my router was dropping out about every ten minutes or so. It would come back immediately, though. None of my other equipment seemed to care or even register that there was a problem, but my Apple TV would crash each time it happened while I was streaming a movie. In short, it looks like this is something that is common enough that every other vendor has learned to just recover from it (including my iPhone) but the Apple TV doesn't.  It doesn't seem to matter that the Apple TV had more than enough buffered content to keep playing until the router came back.  This is why people that connect using wired Ethernet don't have the problem. This is also why many other access points don't have the problem.

In short, I swapped out my NetGear router for a Linksys and haven't seen a reboot once since. It kind of stinks, though, because the Linksys was a far better device, except for the occasional dropouts. I suppose the next step would be to see if the problem was reproducible by resetting the router mid way through streaming some content. Now that everything works, I a, less interested in figuring it out though. :-/