Q: Hulu Plus not working after this week's update

Hi Everyone,

hope this message finds you all in time. The recent Apple TV update 5.1 is terrible. Apple knows it is which is why (thankfully for some relentless user -I have no idea who but I believe it was under threat) they have allowed to sign 5.0.2 again which means you can downgrade your Apple TV 2 and 3 to a 5.0.2 version via iTunes. Who knows how long they will keep the window open but I have downgraded my ATV early this morning. I couldn't post this earlier because I was out all day but I am doing it now.

Here's how to do it:

1) Connect your ATV to your computer via a Mini USB (not included with ATV but included with many other electronic devices) - in order for your ATV to appear in iTunes you must FIRST plug the USB cable to your computer and ATV and only THEN plug the power cable.

2) Download your ipsw restore file from Apple.

5.0.2 (ATV 2): AppleTV2,1_5.0.2_9B830_Restore.ipsw

5.0.2 (ATV 3): AppleTV3,1_5.0.2_9B830_Restore.ipsw

3) In iTunes select yout ATV, hold SHIFT and click on Restore

4) Find and choose the downloaded IPSW file in the Open Dialog Box and hit Next

5) As long as Apple still signs that version the Restore process will begin and will take a few minutes to complete.

Enjoy!

raadore

Hey, downloaded the file but itunes doesn't give me the option of choosing a file to "restore to". it just starts "restoring" and I assume its reinstalling the latest. Any ideas? Having to be on Wifi for hulu+ to work is just nuts...

I just did this today. Like stated above you must plug ATV into computer first then plug in the power or it will not show it as a device.  Also (I am on a PC) when I downloaded the file the PCM tried to Change it to a zip file. I had to manually change the ending to .ipsw. Save it to your desktop or....  Then when you are in iTunes and have clicked on the ATV device, hold down the shift button and click restore at the same time it will then give you the option of selecting the file.

Hope this helps

Make sure you are holding the SHIFT key when you are clicking on the restore button.

Hm. I thought I did. I'll try again tonight. Thank you!

You need to hold down Option, not Shift - at least this is true in Snow Leopard, iTunes 10.7.

Bam. That was it - thank you!

You're welcome! And thank you to the original poster for the instructions! Worked like a charm, and now I don't have to restart my Apple TV every time I want to access Hulu or Netflix... (And the middle button on the remote works again for putting it to sleep - that was something else that got lost with the upgrade.)

So, I've tried all of the steps, but when I plug in my apple TV the light just keeps blinking and blinking. I can't get the computer to recognize the update in itunes-it shows up on my downloads and desktop but not in itunes. Any ideas?

Thanks for the advice. I was hoping I wouldn't have to go this far, and as it turns out I haven't had to. I was prepared to do what you suggest, and then everything seemed to have resolved itself. I don't know whether it's a delayed effect of switching to ethernet and then back to WiFi, or if Apple and/or Hulu did something, but Hulu+ has been workng just fine for about a week now. Fingers crossed!

It's not working for me. I haven't ried switching to Wi-Fi yet, but that's insane. This needs a fix.

Same problem. Wifi fixworked for me.

The downgrade to 5.0.2 worked for me, I found I could also watch Hulu using wifi but my signal is too patchy so decided the downgrade was a better option.

Thanks adam60!

The downgrade back to 5.0.2 is working for me so far.

Before that I had tried unplugging the AC cord, resetting AppleTV, restoring from within AppleTV, rebooting router, etc. <- Nothing worked.

So far I have had no problems with the restore to previous version:

5.0.2 (ATV 3): AppleTV3,1_5.0.2_9B830_Restore.ipsw

Hulu, podcasts, iTunes store, YouTube (everything that was not working after updating to 5.1) is now working as it did before.

I was ready to take it to an Apple Store but now will only do so if it fails again.

The downgrade went off without a hitch, but now I'm getting "Hulu Plus is unavailable".