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Apple TV "The Device Cannot Be Found"

Hi there. I had beta software of the latest OS on my Apple TV (Gen 2). It's been a while since I've used it, but now that I am obviously the software has expired. I can't use it on my TV because it just says that I need to restore it. So I plug it into my MacBook, iTunes recognises it, opens in Apple TV Recovery Mode, I click Restore Apple TV, it comes up with the "Contacting the Apple TV Software Update Server" screen then it just says "This device cannot be found". I'm not too sure what to do now. :/


I've tried putting it into DFU mode by pressing Menu and Down on the remote (even though I guess it's already there, just wanted to try).

Posted on Nov 30, 2012 10:46 PM

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11 replies

Dec 1, 2012 8:51 AM in response to jsmith189

I had this problem today as well -- are you using iTunes 11 on OSX? That is what was giving me the issue. I happened to have iTunes 10.7 installed on a Windows 8 virtual machine (Parallels) and when I tried through that the restore worked without any errors. So if you can try something similar to that, I think that is your best bet. Perhaps it's an issues with iTunes 11?

Dec 1, 2012 10:01 AM in response to xgentryx

The same thing happened to me with an Apple TV 2 - trying to update to firmware v5.1.1 on the thing failed [this has happened with previous updates too] but this time it seemed to hang so I eventually I unplugged it from the power and HDMI and connected it with a microUSB cable to my iMac 27 and iTunes 11 recognized it without delay. However, when doing a restore, iTunes 11 returned the error "Device cannot be found."


Moving ahead, I downloaded the v5..1.1 .ipsw file and did an option-restore in iTunes 11. No problems with the restore.


However, it failed to boot up / show up when reconnected to the TV. On one attempt of this sequence of events, it did work properly for about 20 minutes before crashing and I was back to where I was.


Tried to restore on my MBP Retina, still with iTunes 11, same error message, so did an option-restore with the downloaded v5.1.1 .ipsw file. Same result — would not boot up when reconnected to the TV.


I thought the thing had been frizzed when I interrupted what appeared to be a stalled firmware update while connected to the TV and wireless network, but the fix turned out to be precisely what xgentryx surmised — it's iTunes 11.


Booted up Windows 7 in Parallels 7 on the MBP Retina and did a flawless regular restore in iTunes 10; no error messages and the thing is now working perfectly.


I'm tempted to test the obvious problem with iTunes 11 with an Apple TV 3 but I've spent enough time on this already. I imagine we'll be seeing an iTunes 11.01 update soon.


Thanks for the suggestion and I hope my experience is helpful.


Cheers!

Dec 2, 2012 1:01 PM in response to jsmith189

I had the same issue. Ever since the Apple TV 5.1 Update, my ATV 3 has never been able to update the software over WiFi. It's really bad. However, it does allow me to restore using the USB connection. The thing is, this doesn't work with iTunes 11. It only works with iTunes 10. Luckily, I had one machine for which I didn't upgrade to iTunes 11. My machine with iTunes 11 will see the device in the devices list, but when I hit Restore, it says Device not found. iTunes 10, on the other hand, will do the restore process.


The question is, are they going to fix WiFi updates for ATV3 or at least fix it so that iTunes 11 can recognize and perform ATV wired updates? I figure, if I update to iTunes 11 on all machines, I would be completely out of luck to updating my ATV3 device. It's strange that if there's one thing that's actually a hassle to do is update ATV software when prompted. After the last update before 5.1, it seems wireless updates have been hosed.

Dec 23, 2012 9:40 AM in response to jsmith189

@ XGentryX, I can confirm the issue is iTunes 11. I had this exact problem with my ATV2 in iTunes 11, downgraded to iTunes 10.7 in Windows 7 64 and the Apple TV restored flawlessly. Here's the link to downgrade, you'll need to uninstall iTunes and delete your iTunes .ITL library in order for this to install correctly:


http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1577


Between this and iOS 6 it's sad to see that Apple is falling apart.

Apple TV "The Device Cannot Be Found"

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