Apple TV (4th gen.) won't turn off; light stays on

As of a couple days ago I noticed that when I go to put the ATV to sleep, the TV will turn off but the light on the unit flashes as if it's going off and then turns itself back on. If I turn on the TV manually, I can see that it appears as though the unit is asleep, however, the light is still on. It is solid and not blinking rapidly as if I were restarting it.

The only way it seems to get the ATV to remain off is if I hold down the Home button, press Sleep, and then immediately cover the IR sensor or point it away from the device once the TV and ATV. If I leave it pointed at both devices, the light turns off for about a second and then comes back up. It's as if the remote is sending a signal after it shuts down the units to turn only the ATV back on; like I was just pressing Play.

I have manually restarted the device by pressing Menu & Play/Pause several times. I have also unplugged the device completely for 10 seconds and plugged it back in. This is the original remote that controls the device and I don't believe any other BT devices are connected. Since ATV 4 auto-updates, I assume it has the latest build.

It seems that the 10.2 release was a few days ago. I assume this because the Apple support post was updated 5 days ago with information on 10.2. Has anybody else experienced this issue? Is there something I'm missing with the light staying on?

Apple TV

Posted on Apr 3, 2017 10:40 AM

Top-ranking reply

nickrhorn1

Level 1

9 points

Posted on Jan 29, 2018 4:55 PM

Thank you all! My issue started when I upgraded to a Samsung 4K QLED TV. (Both devices power off/sleep but then about a second later Apple TV light comes on but doesn’t display an image.) Disabled the Samsung “smart” remote for the Apple TV and all is well. HDMI-CEC is still enabled on both devices and the Apple TV remote successfully turns off the TV. Not sure if this is a Samsung issue with the remote or an Apple TV issue but I sure hope it gets fixed!

To disable the function on the remote, on the Samsung TV go to home, source, universal remote. Then select Apple TV and press Delete. Note: this will rename the input to Unknown. Simply go back to sources and under that input hit edit, change the name to Apple TV. Now all is back to the way it was except the universal remote is disabled for the Apple TV and the Apple TV sleeps normally!

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77 replies

Jan 29, 2018 6:02 PM in response to nickrhorn1

nickhorn1, tried that and got nothing but more problems. Am now wiping everything and starting over. Even had to power cycle the ATV. The power/activity light blinked when either remote was used, but the ATV would not respond.

Apr 6, 2017 4:24 AM in response to andrey1302

Unfortunately, this does not affect all Apple TV 4s. There must be something in your environments that's causing this. It might be a computer, some mobile device, or who knows? Users with this problem should report it to Apple at this link: https://www.apple.com/feedback/appletv.html. Try to give all relevant details, so they can maybe identify a pattern.

Apr 6, 2017 8:54 AM in response to inz_

Hello inz_. This is just a user forum, so Apple will not hear you. Please report your problems to Apple at this link: https://www.apple.com/feedback/appletv.html. As I've said already in this thread, tvOS 10.2 seems to be responding incorrectly to a UPnP request on port 5000. So any program that searches for UPnP devices now wakes up Apple TV.

tvOS 10.1.1 is still being signed, so a downgrade is technically feasible. But you'll need to figure it out yourself, since Apple cannot help you.

Apr 7, 2017 3:09 AM in response to justinbmiller

Hi justinbmiller. You should definitely report these observations to Apple at this link: https://www.apple.com/feedback/appletv.html. It does sound like there's something going on between TV and Apple TV. There's another thread on new problems with HDMI-CEC, which may be related. The one thing I'm not clear on is your description of aiming the remote and covering the IR sensor (transmitter?). The Siri remote controls Apple TV over Bluetooth radio, so it works without aiming. It only transmits IR for the optional volume control. Are you using a different remote, or IR repeater system?

Apr 15, 2017 6:03 AM in response to havinabubble

Hi havinabubble. Unfortunately, that is correct. The minimum security level for AirPlay is now First Time Passcode (formerly Require Device Verification). Some 3rd-party clients don't support this protocol. The Device Requirements message you see just means that an invalid connection was attempted. See this link: Apple killed 3rd party Airplay streaming apps with tvOS 10.2. By the way, the app that wakes up Apple TV may be the same one that fails to AirPlay.

May 20, 2017 7:13 AM in response to timultuoustimes

Hi timultuoustimes. Have you tried looking for the clients I already posted in this link: Re: Apple TV (4th gen.) won't turn off; light stays on? Some of these issues may have been fixed by tvOS 10.2.1. Note that the Device Requirements message just means that something on the network has tried to open an AirPlay connection using an outdated protocol.

bbolin

Level 3

524 points

Dec 6, 2017 5:14 PM in response to PBJohnny

ZOMG this was driving me nuts, thank you, this works.

Jules728

Level 1

4 points

Jan 10, 2018 7:13 AM in response to Ocene

Thanks for this! It worked to disconnect and reconnect the ATV. Now I can use my Samsung remote again!

Jan 12, 2018 12:25 AM in response to PBJohnny

THANK YOU!!

Jan 12, 2018 2:09 PM in response to justinbmiller

I have the sleep set the minimum time and it still stays on long after that time. Even after 8 hours it still stays on. And that is a bright little light in the dark.

tomcatuk

Level 1

8 points

Jan 19, 2018 12:58 AM in response to Dnathan07

Samsung series 8 here and did the same as you and now the ATV sleeps again thanks for info was driving me nuts...

steve

Jan 22, 2018 3:59 AM in response to Dnathan07

This worked for me on my Q7F, thanks.

Apr 6, 2017 9:35 PM in response to andrey1302

This is the second time I've heard this in the thread and is very useful. I was able to replicate what you experienced. So this is what I've come to find out:

Disconnect the HDMI, hold down Home, press touch pad as if you were selecting Sleep (you can't see this option since the HDMI is disconnected). This turns OFF the TV and the ATV remains OFF.
Aim the remote at the units, press touch pad, select Sleep, immediately cover or move the IR sensor away from the ATV. This leaves the TV ON but turns OFF the ATV and it remains OFF.

You can deduce what you want from this. From my original post I had suspicions that the IR sensor was causing some sort of problem. The bug that andrey1302 described sort of works against my theory, but I still think we're making progress. Maybe it's a signal that the TV is sending back to the ATV via HDMI. Perhaps, after the 10.2 update, the ATV is now sensitive to a specific response or ping back from the TV once it's turned off.

inz_

Level 1

9 points

Apr 4, 2017 11:52 AM in response to justinbmiller

Hi Justin,

You have described perfectly my situation. The only thing I have to add is that the Apple TV (4gen) doesn't turn off the TV where it's connected. Funny thing is that this was working before.

Is there any way to raise this up to update code overlords?

Apr 4, 2017 3:11 PM in response to inz_

I was able to check my current version and it is in fact 10.2. The time this bug popped up was about the same time as the release of the update. I'm not sure when my ATV auto-updated but I noticed the issue started on the evening of April 1. Looking forward to 10.2.1.

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Apple TV (4th gen.) won't turn off; light stays on