Lois Critch

Q: Apple TV just blinks, it will not turn on.

A1469 model Apple TV , won't turn on.  light blinks. I have unplugged it. I have held down the remote. Nothing happens. ?

Apple TV

Posted on Mar 14, 2015 4:22 PM

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Q: Apple TV just blinks, it will not turn on.

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  • by carreradt,

    carreradt carreradt Mar 18, 2015 12:52 PM in response to richardfrommantua
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 18, 2015 12:52 PM in response to richardfrommantua

    Same here.  Blinks with only the apple logo on the screen.  None of the fixes work.  And there is no source for apple tv on the itunes page.  This happened at the end of the weekend. 

  • by Owen Daly1,

    Owen Daly1 Owen Daly1 Mar 18, 2015 3:49 PM in response to carreradt
    Level 1 (24 points)
    Notebooks
    Mar 18, 2015 3:49 PM in response to carreradt

    Ok, here the story, ending in success.

    I did a restore-factory-settings and it worked, with some minor hairpulling. A few heads-ups.

    If you have an older computer, like our Snow Leopard iMac, the restore doesn't know of the existence of AppleTV and will think it is restoring an iPhone. I figure bad idea, so I used the MacBookPro (late 2011) running Mavericks. Updated iTunes, BAH. then connected.

    Micro usb cables: after a rage thinking I needed to buy one, found one connecting the battery charger to my Nikon Camera.

     

    Hooked it to the MacBook with iTunes running, and it came right up, and downloaded the software. Took on a fast-ish Comcast account, about 20 minutes.

    Note that once the software is downloaded you once again see a button for "Restore Apple TV." Go ahead and click it, because this won't loop through the software download a second time, but will commence installation. Takes a bit of time, but not really much more than maybe 5 minutes or so.

     

    Then unplugged the USB cable, plugged in the HDMI to the TV, and got a weird picture of a usb cable plugging into the itunes logo. Ignored it

     

    THEN: did the holding menu and down-button to get quick blinks and unplugged and replugged power, and then got a proper Apple-logo log-in.

     

    The bad news is that I was obliged to re-enter the password to my wireless LAN network, and then go through the whole log-in to Netflix all over again.

     

    But this DID resolve the problem for me.

  • by Lil_lady7,

    Lil_lady7 Lil_lady7 Mar 23, 2015 4:49 PM in response to Owen Daly1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 23, 2015 4:49 PM in response to Owen Daly1

    I woke up this morning to a blinking device even though I had just used it last night. Anyway, this post helped me. I connected my device to my Macbook Pro and restored it. Connected it to my HMDI cable, held down the menu button and 'voila' !  Logged back into my wifi and everything it exactly how I left it. Only thing is I have to log back into each of my apps,which is no biggie.Thanks everyone.

  • by i-Assist,

    i-Assist i-Assist Mar 23, 2015 5:37 PM in response to Lois Critch
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 23, 2015 5:37 PM in response to Lois Critch

    are you shire you are in the right one like for example hdmi2 or hdmi1

  • by drjmch,

    drjmch drjmch May 8, 2015 12:43 PM in response to Lois Critch
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 8, 2015 12:43 PM in response to Lois Critch

    Wow, I also have this same problem and Apple wants to charge me for this service. I have a second generation Apple Tv that was working perfectly until last week. It shows a white blinking light and the Apple logo on the center of the TV screen. It's just unresponsive to the remote and does nothing else. It is very frustrating, I'm sure it was a software update that messed up our devices.

  • by PapaFreud,

    PapaFreud PapaFreud May 8, 2015 2:08 PM in response to dionjason
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 8, 2015 2:08 PM in response to dionjason

    My Apple TV did not show up either. After having the Apple TV unplugged for a week and - probably more to the point - getting another USB cable, it did show up, and I am downloading the update now.

  • by mmcdermott1,

    mmcdermott1 mmcdermott1 Jun 18, 2015 4:12 PM in response to PapaFreud
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 18, 2015 4:12 PM in response to PapaFreud

    Hold down the menu button and left arrow at same time for about 7 seconds. You should see an image of a remote come on screen. After it goes away do the same thing but this time with the menu button and right arrow.. the remote should now work.

     

     

    If you cant get it to power on (white light just blinks), unplug the appletv and plug back in. Once booted do the above.

     

     

    Somehow your remote and Apple TV have become unpaired. The above will fix it.

  • by wefredi,

    wefredi wefredi Jun 23, 2015 5:48 PM in response to drjmch
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 23, 2015 5:48 PM in response to drjmch

    I Was experiencing the same issue and almost tossed the Apple TV into the garbage can. I tried several micro USB cables all to no avail - iTunes showed nothing. In desperation I used the micro USB that came with my BB Q10 and the restore screen appeared in iTunes. Who knew that was the fix!

  • by SolarMoxie,

    SolarMoxie SolarMoxie Jul 20, 2015 8:52 PM in response to mmcdermott1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Jul 20, 2015 8:52 PM in response to mmcdermott1

    This worked for me - thank you!

  • by Daniel767,

    Daniel767 Daniel767 Nov 3, 2015 11:08 AM in response to Lois Critch
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 3, 2015 11:08 AM in response to Lois Critch

    This happened to me, I called apple and they told me since my Apple TV is old that there wasn't anything they could do. I saw on the troubleshooting page that maybe it was the cable, so I ordered one from them ...... the cable was like 11 bucks and the shipping 14 .. so it was like 30 bucks.   In conclusion, it wasn't the cable, I wasted my money, and it still won't turn on.     The Apple TV has been in the same spot for 2 year or so, maybe less, and its never moved, never falls, its never even touched, unless its being dusted.    So the fact that it magically stops working and that Apple doesn't even say anything, definitely doesn't encourage me to buy the new Apple TV as i previously wanted.

     

    Anyone found a solution for this ...

  • by marzipan35,

    marzipan35 marzipan35 Apr 11, 2016 1:30 PM in response to Lois Critch
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apr 11, 2016 1:30 PM in response to Lois Critch

    For anyone who has a 3rd generation Apple TV,  this is what I did and was able to get my Apple TV to work (after trying everything else others have suggested on these threads).

     

    Per the instructions I found on another thread,  (restore to factory settings).

    - remove ALL cables from the apple tv

    - connect a micro USB cable to the apple tv and your computer. (If you don't have one, buy it. They are really inexpensive.)

    - reconnect power cable to apple tv

    - open iTunes. If you can not find the apple tv listed under "Devices" as I did, wait a few minutes and it will appear on the icon bar after all the other icons. Then you will see the apple tv page on your iTunes and it will display the Restore option.

    - click restore.

     

    Once it is done restoring, if you still see that screen on your tv with the cable leading to your iTunes, press down both the menu button and down button on your apple tv remote at the same time. When the blinking light starts to blink more rapidly, let go of the buttons. At this point, my screen went black and the apple logo appeared. After this, I just had to follow the instructions on the screen to reconnect the internet and was good to go.

     

    I hope this helps.

  • by BurningMan,

    BurningMan BurningMan May 18, 2016 5:23 AM in response to carreradt
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Apple TV
    May 18, 2016 5:23 AM in response to carreradt

    I think we have reached the end of the line with this stuff.  Once a month without fail it fails.  The only thing you can rely on is that it will stop working.  You will then spend your precious free time scouring endless forums following dead ends until you hit on a solution and it works again.  Before long the clever people at Apple will decide to send some code in the middle of the night while you are sleeping and voila, its dead as a door nail again.

     

    If it was any good when it works I would have more patience.  We are in Hong Kong.  We can view Netflix and all is well.  Try looking at a movie from Apple TV and get ready for a disappointing and frustrating evening.  Be sure to have an alternative plan for the evening's entertainment as the Apple TV may simply fail completely to download anything.  You sit watching a loading message until you get bored.

     

    Steve Jobs RIP, inevitably your company will sink slowly to the bottom of the pile.  No more new ideas and the existing line up gets tangled up by incompetent managers and developers.  Sell the shares, I'd give it ten years tops and Apple will be history.

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