My Apple TV states in general menu "Activation: failed". What does that mean and how can I solve the problem?

Hello MichaMuc,

I found some steps to help resolve the "Activation: failed" error messsage you are getting on your Apple TV:

1. Restart your base station or router. Sometimes this is done by turning the router off for a few seconds, and then on again, but check the documentation provided by the manufacturer.
2. To restart your Apple TV, press and hold Menu and Menu down/scroll ( - ) for about 6 seconds and then choose Restart from the menu.

If the issue continues after restarting, reset your router or base station and Apple TV to factory settings

1. Reset your base station or router. Use the documentation provided by the manufacturer to reset to factory settings.
2. To reset your Apple TV perform a factory restore.

You can find the full article here:

Apple TV: Troubleshooting wireless connections

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1595

Thank you for posting in the Apple Support Communities.

Best,

Sheila M.

pleas i need help i have Apple TV 3rd generation i have a problem in activating and sitting date and time the Apple TV stay in this station for long time without any new step what can i do abut this

Its not properly connected to the network

Make sure DNS is set to auto (settings - general - network)

If on wifi try Ethernet

Ensure red router has port 123 open (refer to manual if unsure)

My Apple TV (3rd generation) doesn't connect to the internet any more because it doesn't succeed in getting the network time from my router.

I tried restarting, updating, resetting both – the Apple TV and my WLAN router (TP-Link ), I double checked the network time in my router, tried out an alternative firmware (DD-WRT), put down all security settings (no password), tried direct connection per cable (LAN) on Apple TV – but nothing worked:

I always get the screen that Apple TV tries to fetch the network time (I'm in Iraq) – the manual selection of Berlin as time zone doesn't help.

It all worked a few weeks ago – after an update of the Apple TV Software it all went away ... my Apple TV got useless because it needs the correct time settings to connect to the internet.

Does anyone have an idea what I can do?

Test on a different network