Apple TV Update and blinking light

Thank you so much!!! That "menu button + volume down" button was a godsend! My update got stuck and pressing this on the remote got the Apple logo to appear and the update resumed itself.

Luckily for me (unfortunately for you), I didn't have to restore my device or connect it to iTunes.

I really appreciate the help and taking the time to write this comment!

Hello every one ! Apple Tv 4K is Cherry on top of the Icing on the cake. ATV has the same problem for long time , now New 2017 ATV 4K has NO - C or uUSB cable port under the HDMI port.

now we dont have option to connect the C or uUSB cable to connect and restore. Because ATV 4K has no options my luck the hdmi cable and the TV doesn't recognize the ATV4k it doesn't have any DISPLY.

I am struck with it i gave to take it to apple store !!! this is intresting im in a country where their is no APPLE service center.

any help on new ATV4k update and blinging issue is a great help.

cheers

prabi

It means the update failed and they want you to connect your Apple TV to iTunes on your computer via a USB micro cable which was not included with the thing. Same thing happened to me. These cables are common for people who use Android phones ot possibly some cameras. you can look at the other posts here once you get your hands on such a cable if you don't have one. They shouldn't be hard to come by, probably Best Buy or any phone store that sells Android phones, maybe borrow one from a friend. Still a major pain in the butt. Good luck.

Scan the posts from last night. Make sure the uUSB cable has all wires (i.e. not a dumb charging cable). Most Android phone cables seem to be working.

Do not be surprised if the itunes restore fails the first time.

Imagine if they had bricked so many of the iphones or ipods! Second time an update caused problems. If ATV was just an aside for apl, they should chrg hbby prces for content.

Also, many of us gave them to our grandparents. There are many folks who are not going to be able to get back online by themselves!

I got the flashing death light on my ATV without any obvious interruption to the update process (no loss of power, no use of any remote). Here is what I encountered on the process to bring it back to life.

Initially it was accompanied by a picture on screen that showed a cable running from my ATV to a USB plug and an icon for iTunes. There were no words to accompany this. It was only after the screen image went haywire that I managed to figure out that there was a problem. Still had no idea if the picture on screen was trying to tell me something and if so what it might be asking. Nice work Apple. Guess what, not everyone speaks in pictures.

A quick web search brought me here and the discovery of what that picture means. Fortunately, I have a micro USB cable from my Harmony Remote. (My micro USB would not plug in at the same time as my HDMI cable because the cable ends were too large. So I unplugged the HDMI cable and proceeded).

First thing I saw after selecting the restore my Apple TV option in iTunes was:

“Are you sure you want to restore the Apple TV “Apple TV” to its factory settings? All of your media and other data will be erased, and the newest version of the Apple TV software will be installed.”

I could not see any other option, so I proceeded. The restore took about 6 minutes. iTunes said it had been successful.

When I plugged the HDMI back into the ATV, I got the flashing death light again. This time, pressing the menu button along with the down arrow simultaneously for a few seconds got the flashing light to stop and the apple logo appeared on screen.

Now I had the privilege of setting up the ATV again - selecting my network, entering password, setting up home sharing and entering my Apple ID and password – all this with the stupid and frustrating onscreen keyboard.. Halfway through I remembered I could use my iPhone remote for this tedious data entry. Not so. Apparently you must have home sharing all set up before the remote app will communicate with the ATV (sort of makes sense).

In the end it worked, but left a frustrated Apple user. I wonder why Apple could not have a process for the ATV to go into a re-download automatically when there is a fail and only revert to forcing a connection to iTunes after a second or third fail. And maybe find a way of clearly communicating the fact that there is a problem and what is required to solve it.

This problem just happened to me and I must say your post has possibly been the most useful post I have ever read. Thanks

A bit of advice to anyone updating their AppleTV. Restart the device first before updating. Restarting/rebooting any computing device clears any garbage that may have accumulated in caches, etc. I have lived by this rule for a long time and have never experienced a 'failed' update on my AppleTV. Just a personal bit of advice to try.

I had the same thing happen to me, and no matter what I did, the light just kept blinking.

I did come across this article, and by following the directions, I was able to get my AppleTV working again.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4367

My best guess as to what caused the issue was just a corrupted software update. Using the steps in the article listed above, I was up and running again in less than 30 mnutes.

Hope this helps!

-Rochelle

I'm terribly frustrated with the same issue. I had three appletvs (gen 3) and one of them started acting up. I had recently bought one: dec 2013. I don't honestly know which was which, but I took the problem atv to bestbuy with a receipt and they were kind to replace it on warranty. Okay, i'm getting to the problem. Now I have a brand new atv. Put it on, go to all the work of getting my stuff into it (homeshare first, so I could use iPhone, of course). We watched 1 movie and turned off the tv. It is on the bedroom tv, so when I woke up in the night I saw a light going nuts on my atv. Next day I found this link: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4367. Although annoying, no real harm done. I was able to get it back up and running. I left it plugged into the computer for a while so it went back to acting funny, but the article prepared me for this. I unplugged it fully and then plugged it back in later, no problem. All of this had taken time out of my life and was annoying (and strange since I didn't know what the picture meant that was telling me to plug it into the computer). We used it again the next evening (two nights ago). It is back to the blinking light of death.

I'm going to reset it, but is anyone else having an on-going problem? I don't want to do this process everytime I used the da*# thing...

-Scott

Thanks so very much for your post. I had the same problem, applied your suggestion, and now all works fine. I did not even notice the plug below the HDMI plug on the Apple TV. Thanks again.

THANK-you, THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! Everybody kept saying restore and the menu and down button worked!!!!! You Rock!