If my Apple TV (gen 4) has been off for a while (typically 2 days), when I turn it back on it is not connected to my WiFi network. When I go to "Networks" to connect it, the Apple TV cannot detect my network nor any of those close to me. I then have to Restart the Apple TV from the System menu and once restarted, it automatically connects to my network.
Apple TV, tvOS 9.1.1
Hi,
There have already been several threads on this issue. You say you still have tvOS 9.1.1. Is this true, or are you actually on 9.2, like most of us?
There does appear to be some problem in the tvOS software that causes this, but the solution is unreported as yet. And the problem is not universal. It affects a subset of ATV users.
Could there be interference on your network (noisy neighbors) while ATV is sleeping? That might knock it into the state you see.
You should report this at http://www.apple.com/feedback/appletv.html just to add weight to the problem.
This Get help with Wi-Fi networks on your Apple TV - Apple Support reviews the steps to check that your WiFi is working as well as you think.
For what it's worth, I thought it might be that the sleeping ATV was failing to renew its DHCP lease. But I left mine sleeping for 39 hours, much longer than the lease value of 24 hours. And it woke up absolutely smoothly, connected to YouTube, etc. So either it retained the lease, by renewing it periodically, or it woke up and easily obtained a new one. The Netgear genie app and independent NetworkAnalyzer app reported that it was still on-line at the same IP at the end of the sleep interval, which suggests that it stayed on-line.
Have you by any chance configured more than one WiFi network? I suspect it's meant tp work like iOS and connect to whichever network it finds. But that may not be working. If you have configured multiple networks, you could try reducing it to one, and report back, please.
Thanks for the reply and additional information. I am running 9.2. I also agree that it's not a DHCP issue. When the ATV awakes from sleep, not only is the WiFi connection lost, the ATV cannot see any of the nearby SSIDs. It's almost as if the ATV's WiFi radio is turned off. As soon as I reset the ATV, my WiFi connection is reestablished and the ATV can see all of the nearby SSIDs.
This sounds like a legitimate bug, and you're not alone in this experience. You should post it to Apple feedback, as I suggested. The funny thing is that it's not universal, so there must be something in your network or ATV setup that's putting it off. Somehow, while sleeping, ATV makes the explicit decision to drop WiFi, and only a restart brings it back to life.
Are you sleeping it with a lot of apps running? One of them might be misbehaving in the dark. You could try force quitting all apps before sleep, and see if it helps. Most apps retrieve their prior state on restart, so you won't lose anything by quitting them.
Apple TV (Gen 4) not Detecting WiFi Networks Until I Reset the Apple TV
