Updating my ATV3 to 6.0 -> Error 1611

Sorry, I missed that in your earlier comment. Have you tried calling Apple support? Have your serial number ready when you call.

Have you tried the restore process more than once? Some people reported having to do that.

Others reported success after resetting it with their remote. With the silver remote, hold down Menu and Down Arrow together until you see rapid blinking (yes even faster than the blinking you saw when this whole mess started 🙂 ), then let go. That'll reboot it.

Someone reported trying a differnet micro USB cable was the only solution, so it appears it's possible that the compatible cable is not only for making sure the ATV can be seen by iTunes, but that the restore can't even complete successfully without that compatible cable.

EDIT: So I guess there could be 3 types of micro USB cables: Those that don't connect the ATV to iTunes at all, those that connect to iTunes but stop completion of the Restore (erro 1611?), and those that are able to achieve both needs.

This is exactly what I had to do. I had one here at home that did not work, so I borrowed one from my neighbor and that worked. No rhyme or reason that I can see, except that I guess there are diferent cables (maybe a power issue?). Dunno - I don't know jack about micro USB cables 🙂

OK good luck. Any neighbors, family friends to borrow a cable from?

Tried to update my ATV3 to 6.0 just a couple of minutes ago, and after it "updated", it told me connect to iTunes which I found weird, specially 'cause I needed a cable the product didn't bring, but anywho, I had one, and did so. After I plugged it in, I clicked on "Restore Apple TV..." which told me it would download and install the new version update. I went for it, but then it got stucked at "Preparing Apple TV for restore..." and after a couple of minutes I got this "unknown error (1611)Help Me

You might want to try a different cable. I had to do that:

Someone reported trying a differnet micro USB cable was the only solution, so it appears it's possible that the compatible cable is not only for making sure the ATV can be seen by iTunes, but that the restore can't even complete successfully without that compatible cable.

EDIT: So I guess there could be 3 types of micro USB cables: Those that don't connect the ATV to iTunes at all, those that connect to iTunes but stop completion of the Restore (erro 1611?), and those that are able to achieve both needs.

My problem is solved. I had a micro USB cable and was unable to get it restored. I took it in the apple store and they were able to restore it. They believe it was my cable. So if it is a old cable which mine was that might be your problem.