AppleTV update 5.1.1 stuck at Step 1 of 2 Preparing..

I was having the problem here. I tried seattlematt1976's suggestion and it solved my problem! :-D

Standard Apple customer service failure.

They push updates through the system and dont know how it works in the real world.

original source

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1533476

the following works:

step one is to change your sleep timer to NEVER, then to update

(I was stuck on 1 of 2 about 2/3 way through)I did opposite was on wifi and plugged in Ethernet held menu + play pause buttons at same time for 5sec until light on Apple TV flashes then release Apple TV will reboot and restart I then went to settings general update and re ran the update took 5 min . I tried to update about 1year ago maybe less and had a heck of a time getting it unbricked had to restore like 50 times so I was hesitant to do this update and when it got stuck I thought oh great! By the way I think the Ethernet is a non issue here! Hope this helps someone!

I've been trying to get this update for months on Ethernet and it always got stuck.
I disconnected the Ethernet and ran it off WiFi and it worked on the first try

Today I finally took the time to update. First try like everyone else, stuck in step 1 of preparing for 2-3 hours. Did the reset with the remote as described above, then tried again after turning "sleep" off. Not sure if that actually fixed it, but the device updated in about 30 minutes. Both tries were over wifi.

After 2+ hours of my ATV being hung up at 80% in stage one of an update I did the unthinkable, I unplugged it. Now it starts up but I can't control the cursor. Tried resetting by holding the Menu/Select for 5 seconds as suggested, no matter. Ideas?

Here's my take:

1) Apple doesn't read these forums at all because legally they cannot respond to any of the postings. It is better to open a support ticket, kill their support desk with the tickets.

2) There is a problem - it is quite obvious

3) It isn't related to network issues because the Apple TV is stuck at "Preparing"

What is Preparing update? Simply put it is extracting all the files and getting them ready to move them to the OS partition on the device.

Why does it take too long?

Possibly the CPU in the device can't do the extract in the expected amount of time the Apple TV has allocated to the operation. I have two GEN 3 Apple TV's, one when they first came out and one I just bought a few months ago. The newer one updated quickly, the older one is having the issue.

Why does it work when we try a different network? Possibly cause it has already extracted most of the files and then it timed out.

Suggestion: Plug into a computer using a Mini USB cable and update that way, your personal computer is 5 times faster at extracting and copying files than the Apple TV is.

I was having a heluva time. Finally found the below and turned sleep off and ts finally moving. Why can't they say that online? I couldn't find it

shingo_wiley

Re: AppleTV update 5.1.1 stuck at Step 1 of 2 Preparing..

Apr 4, 2013 2:06 PM (in response to Eddie Strauss)

original source

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1533476

the following works:

step one is to change your sleep timer to NEVER, then to update

Thank you!

FYI for timings, updating the Apple TV via wifi took 35 minutes

Updating the Apple TV via plugged directly into the computer took 5 minutes

I suppose if the sleep mode is interfering with the transfer, that could also cause the issue, however I would have throught that Apple would disable this feature while updating, I guess not :-(

By chance did u update through settings when it worked ,or didn't work? The only way I could update was through settings!

After i shut off the sleep timer i went to update through settings and it finally started the update. Before that it kept saying it would take 22 + hours and i tried restoring, and resetting multiple times. Nothing worked til i shut off the sleep and changed it to NEVER. Took maybe 30 mins after that on wifi. Phew!

Atv 3

Download 3 minutes

Step 1. 20 minutes

Step 2. 10 minutes

On Ethernet and sleep timer set to one hour. Maybe apple was able to adjust something.

Apple is aware of trending problems discussed here but they will never acknowledge the

Issue and they will never come here to tell you there might be a fix. The legal eagles won't let them

i spent an hour trying to get update to work. Shoulda come here first! Thanks to all of you, now it works!