Apple TV - There was a problem connecting to your network (-3906)

There have been reports of ATV failing to connect after waking from sleep, but it affects only some users.

When it occurs, can you enter the ATV network settings and select your WiFi network? Or does it fail to see any networks?

Can you restart it and make it work?

Based on reports, some ATVs, while sleeping, experience some event that causes them to shut down their WiFi. They do not turn it on when awakened, so only rebooting the software causes them to return to normal.

Does your router turn off the WiFi overnight?

You say another ATV works at this location. What is its version and software?

Since you say it works with ethernet, that may be your workaround until there is a solution.

You need to report this at http://www.apple.com/feedback/appletv.html

OK. Since you can see the network in settings, you should be able to select it and get back on the air. This is awkward, but workable. I assume there's a sleep delay time that you can set relatively long, so it doesn't sleep too often.

Although restarting doesn't eliminate the problem, I assume it does put you back on the air. That's all I expected it to do.

Even though the router does not turn off, it may have a setting to turn the WiFi radios off on a schedule.

It is very interesting that the other ATV is identical, and works at the location. Since it's hard to imagine that your device is physically broken in such a way that only produces this failure (lost WiFi after sleep), it must be a software issue of some kind. The other ATV with the same software version works, so your software may be corrupted. You can restore the software to get a clean copy, see Restore your Apple TV through iTunes - Apple Support . Note that this is a fairly large download, so it may take a while.

Your proposed ChromeCast will not support AirPlay.

OK. So you can see the network, but not connect to it. Have you made any changes to your network recently, particularly wireless router settings? Is there anything that might cause the router to reject ATV as a foreign invader?

Is there any chance that you are trying to use a static IP address for this ATV, and this address has now been taken by another device? In the ATV network WiFi settings, you should generally always leave IP address and DNS set to automatic. Did you add a new device to your network at about the time that ATV began to fail? Can you visit the router settings and see what is connected, using which IP addresses?

I may have misunderstood the nature of your problem. You mean that you can no longer connect to WiFi with this ATV, no matter what. Not just that it loses the net when awakened, but finds it again after some coaxing.

A different ATV of similar model works OK at the same location, so it should not be WiFi interference.

If you search the web for this problem by number, you find that it may be caused by a powered HDMI splitter near the ATV. You should check for other interference sources, like cordless phones.

You might find this http://9to5mac.com/2013/04/15/apple-says-small-number-of-apple-tvs-have-wifi-iss ues-opens-replacement-program/

interesting. Your device may be under recall... I found this in a forum for the Australian Whirlpool ISP. Fair dinkum.

Just an afterthought for anyone using MAC address filtering in their router. Remember that the MAC address is not a property of the device. Every NIC has a different MAC address. Thus, ATV has two MAC addresses, one for WiFi and one for ethernet. So, if you allow the ethernet address, that won't be enough for WiFi; you must repeat the permission protocol for WiFi.

Hi. Just after your post, I posted a link listing serial numbers of ATVs with a known problem. Could you see if yours is on the list?

Your other option would be to try restoring the software, as described in the link I posted.

Despite your expert information from the "Apple bloke" at a hifi store, I find it difficult to believe that the internal antennas are somehow broken. These ATVs are pretty tightly packaged, so little chance for things to break. Thus, a software restore is worth trying, if only to eliminate the possibility that it's a software problem.

Did you check the link I posted, to see if your serial number falls in the range reported?

Alternatively, you could use ethernet. You said you cannot use AirPlay with ATV on ethernet. If you have actually tested this, you can replace the router with a newer model that handles AirPlay correctly.

Apple do not generally intervene in these forums; they are strictly user-to-user.

Sorry to bother you, but your router should be OK. You may need to enable multicast routing on it to allow WiFi devices to see the ethernet connection. If possible, that would give you a workable configuration.

Is it at all possible that the problem started with the new router? Is there some router setting that is preventing the ATV from connecting to WiFi? Is MAC address filtering enabled on the router? You might review the steps here Recommended settings for Wi-Fi routers and access points - Apple Support