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my apple tv kills my netgear router.

I am streaming a movie from my pc via my apple tv and after 2 minutes, my router goes dead. all the lights go out, even the power lights.I have to push the power button on the router off and then on again for the lights to come back on and the router to reboot. Everything goes back to normal, I go back to watching my movie and the process repeats itself. I have tried restarting itunes, rebooting my PC, my router and the apple TV but no luck. I even tried changing my security settings from AES to TKIP but also not luck.

Posted on Nov 7, 2015 12:05 PM

23 replies

Richgrad Author

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Nov 7, 2015 2:35 PM in response to Winston Churchill

No. That I haven't tried yet. Will do so. Thanks. If this doesn't work, then I'm hoping it's an intermittent problem that will just go away! 😮

Nov 7, 2015 3:03 PM in response to Richgrad

Check the NetGear web site to see if there are any firmware updates for your model router. This sounds like it could be a a bug in their firmware to me - like it can't handle a large, constant stream of data (if it is a NetGear problem, a google search to see if other people are complaining about this specific router might be revealing). And if it's an older model (WiFi "b" or "g") it simply might not be up to the task of streaming hi-def TV (you could try turning down the video resolution on the Apple TV to compensate, but a new router would be the better solution in this case)

You could try temporarily using an ethernet cable to your Apple TV to see if that eliminates the problem. If it still happens when hard-wired, you can entirely rule out wifi interference as a cause.

And iStumbler will only show you networks that broadcast the network name. Some people turn that off, so it's possible you have "hidden" networks that are causing interference - but changing the channel a couple of times should result in improvement, because it's highly unlikely that you have hidden interference on 3 different channels.

Nov 7, 2015 3:58 PM in response to Joseph Delaney

Check the NetGear web site to see if there are any firmware updates for your model router. This sounds like it could be a a bug in their firmware to me

Surely if it was a bug, it would need something to have changed (either an Apple TV update or a nether update or similar) in order for it to now not be working when previously it was.

Nov 8, 2015 12:53 PM in response to Winston Churchill

True - I had been reading so many "just plugged in my new ATV4 and...." posts that I assumed that was the case for this one too.

On the other hand, WiFi interference should not cause the router to crash. Stuttering video, slow speeds, temporary network disconnections, sure - but for the lights on the router to actually go out, and require a reboot? That shouldn't happen. For that kind of problem, I think checking for a firmware update is still a good idea. Obviously it wouldn't solve the interference problem, but it could stop the crashing.

I used to have a router (provided by Verizon) that would work well for weeks on end, then just go nuts. It didn't crash, but all my airplay services would stop working until I unplugged and rebooted. A bit of research, and it turned out there was a known bug in the router firmware, it affected other things beside airplay. And nothing was changing to trigger the bug - it would just reoccur over time.

Richgrad Author

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Nov 8, 2015 1:16 PM in response to Joseph Delaney

OK guys thanks. Issue RESOLVED! 🙂 ✅

My ATV was positioned directly under my flatscreen television and right next to my HDMI splitter. I first moved the ATV and the splitter away from each other and the issue seemed to improve somewhat - during WIFI streaming, my router shut down after about 3 minutes instead of 15 seconds. Then I pulled the ATV away from under the television and the problem went away - the router now seems to be stable. My ATV has always been in this position with no problems so I believe that my television set is probably deteriorating more and more over time and releasing more interference as a result that has directly affected the ATV. Very interesting!

Nov 9, 2015 2:32 AM in response to Richgrad

I did ask you about other electrical equipment and you said it wasn't near any. 😉😎

Nov 9, 2015 3:19 AM in response to Richgrad

I have my Netgear router my TV my apple TV & my cordless telephone .

All at the side of main TV & i never have any problems .

Cheers

Brian

Nov 9, 2015 3:27 AM in response to Briansyddall

Just consider yourself lucky then Brian. Also consider that you might get even better performance if you didn't.

my apple tv kills my netgear router.