Cutrrently my AppleTV is at version 6.0.2 (6646.81.1) connected to my network via ethernet. When I attempt to update my AppleTV, It downloads the update, begins step 1 of 2, preparing update, then it fails with the message "The update was not successful."
AppleTV 2, iOS 6.0.2
wait a while and try again
when one downloads something over the Internet the bits can get corrupted and in the process making the update broken the system detects that and will not try to update with the broken update
when people download things over the Internet the isp (internet service provider) they use cache the data for a while so if another one of their users or the same user download it again right away they will get the cached data from the isp rather having to transfer the data all the way from the original site this saves time and money in most cases
but it also mean if the data gets corrupted you have to wait a bit for their cache to flush before you try again
the process of isp's detecting if all of the data in their caches was valid would mean a lot of processing on their behalf making your isp bill higher so waiting a bit every now and then is pref'd in the eyes of most
AppleTV fails updating, reports "The update was not successful."
