AirPlay no longer working MacBook Pro to Apple TV - requests code but will not work

SOLVED!

Finally...

Short version:

Removing the keychain fixed it!

Go to 'User' > Library

(With finder open, head to the 'Go' in the top menu, hold down the alt/option key so that 'Library' is displayed, click on that to open the Library folder).

And then find the 'Keychains' folder. Rather than deleting it in case you need to retrieve something later just move the folder to the desktop or similar.

And I think I then did a reboot but can't quite remember. Probably. Rebooting every now and then is good.

Obviously I had to re-enter information and passwords in numerous places which is a pain but it cleared out whatever bug was causing the problems between the MacBook and the Apple TV and now I can Airplay just as I could before.

So still not sure what the route cause was but clearing and rebuilding the Keychains folder has fixed it.

Longer moan:

Apple Support really did poorly on this one. From November until Christmas I was getting 'We've got our engineers looking at the log file.'

"I'm personally taking on this investigation and will personally get back to you"... nothing heard.

"I'm personally taking on this investigation and will personally get back to you"... nothing heard...

"I'm personally taking on this investigation and will personally get back to you"... nothing heard...

I had appointment times where they were supposed to call me, and nothing.

I had to call them several times until I finally got someone who went through the engineers response and told me to try the possible fix above, which took all of five minutes. No idea why the several people I'd spoken to before couldn't have done that.

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Anyway, hope that helps others with the same problem!

Thank you for the response but I am still unable to get it to work.

All 1-6 already tried, and tried different ghz ranges on the router

In case it was the router having problems I set up a temporary network using a personal hotspot and linked the MacBook to the Apple TV with that, exactly the same problem.

As stated, I can airplay from iPhone > Apple TV without difficulty (although it still asks for code).

I am at the stage of wanting to do a factory reset on the Apple TV, but frustrated this seems necessary. I'll see if I can contact Apple around work times to check what they suggest.

Thanks for letting me know about avoiding the reset! 🙂

I spent the other night on the phone to Apple for an hour an a half. Mostly actually talking with people and not on hold, but their hold music was the Bare Naked Ladies so I didn't mind when I was put on hold for a bit.

The level 1 genius went through similar stuff we've all already tried, and then passed me onto a level 2 genius.

Short version - still not sorted, but some idea where the problem may lie.

Longer version...

We went through creating a fresh user account on the MacBook, not signing into icloud or anything and that did allow me to airplay indicating it's something associated with my user profile causing the problems. I could migrate everything over, but that doesn't help find the cause and it may just end up coming up again so...

We went through malware detection, installed Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and deleted a few things that came up (not sure if they were genuine malware or not).

Turned off antivirus... and then deleted it, and all fragments of it, and all preferences - yeah, it didn't help but now I need to spend time reinstalling that.

Went through Login Items, and Activity Monitor to try and find anything causing the problem. We shut down everything menu bar related I had running which included...

-Kaspersky (then deleted)

-1Password

-Dropbox

-DayOne

-TextExpander

-f.Lux

-Adobe creative cloud

Many reboots, restarts, power down, safe mode (or whatever the Mac one is called) etc and still no joy.

It was left with me creating a system log file capturing the events to send to the next level help, the grand wizards who live on an isolated mountain top far off in the mists smoking the weed of the shire and they will use their dark arts to commune with the dread powers of the vortex and see what mysteries of the universe they can unveil. Or something.

5-7 days and I should hear back to see if the log file gives any enlightenment to the mystic powers.

I'll let you all know as and when I hear back. In the meantime creating a new clean user profile does mean you might be able to airplay from there until we find out what's causing the problems.

Right. Apple have not been excelling at Customer Service on this issue. Long weary moan ahead. The short version is it's still not fixed, and still awaiting updates form Apple.

So I sent the capture files to the senior advisor on the same day I'd spoken to him, the 24th November, and patiently waited for an update which never came.

My patience ran out and I called them on Tuesday 6th December, nearly two weeks since their 'we'll get back to you in 5-7 days.'

I spoke to a new advisor. I wasn't actually in front of my Apple TV at the time as I was just trying to get an update, but he basically said there was no update. I had to resend the capture files to him using a different method, and do a factory restore on the device, and we scheduled a callback for Thursday night when I'd hopefully have an update and be in front of the Apple TV. I got an e-mail from him saying 'actually, Thursday doesn't work for me can we do Friday instead.' I replied yes...and Friday evening came without a call.

Due at 1730, by 1815 I'd got fed up of waiting and called. Couldn't get through to him. So I spoke to Senior Support Person number 3. This one was very keen and apologetic of his colleagues lapses at getting back to me. He went over the details and confirmed they have the capture file, but nothing has been done on it. So he sent it up to the engineers as he was on the phone to me and has arranged a callback from his colleagues next week (as he is away), and a call from him on the 19th December to make sure the others have been in touch in the meantime.

We'll wait and see. The rate things are going I am not really expecting this problem to be sorted out this year.