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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

77 replies

Apr 6, 2017 8:15 AM in response to Diana.McCall

can def say on my parents LAN, not possible (as they have no other kit)

The Apple TV is not fully awake... its just light on (there is no image to screen when this is occurring)

So its not a true 'alive' in the sense.

When I select SLEEP it turns the TV and ATV off,

but the ATV immediately goes white LED back on but no picture

(IF you turn the TV back on 😉)

If you then touch the remote, the Apple TV goes straight to the home page from this white light state (as though it where temp sleeping). Its not going through the usual startup sequence from a shutdown/sleep request (Apple Logo/black/home)

all of this nonsense has occurred since the update (and not a change to either of our LANs)

Apr 6, 2017 8:21 AM in response to NEMC

Hi NEMC. The response to UPnP polls is new with tvOS 10.2. We'd have heard about it a long time ago if not. Waking up in response to AirPlay scans from Plex is old news. The Device Requirements error is new, because 10.2 has changed AirPlay and Plex hasn't caught up.

Apr 6, 2017 8:26 AM in response to havinabubble

Hi havinabubble. I agree with all you say, except that Apple TV is not fully awake. It is awake, but doesn't send video because it doesn't have an HDCP connection. When you touch the remote, it wakes the TV (if necessary) and makes the connection.

inz_

Level 1

9 points

Apr 6, 2017 8:28 AM in response to justinbmiller

Looks like the TvOS developers at Apple would no hear us?

Honestly I don't believe that the "devices scanning for airplay" are the ones creating this issue.

It is clear that the problem is 10.2 -Is there any way to downgrade?-

I am sitting at my living room now with the TV off, and after a night, the light on the AppleTV is on.

Another symptom I found is that there is no more CEC connection with the TV, in my case a samsung (Anynet+). Before 10.2 when turning off the TV = AppleTV goto sleep. When putting the AppleTV to sleep = TV off. Now, nothing of that.

Please hear us Apple!

Apr 7, 2017 7:20 AM in response to Diana.McCall

I'll put together a report. And I'm using the original Siri remote. We have a waist high wall separating our rooms. Once I press the touch pad to choose Sleep I'll immediately lower the remote behind the wall. This shouldn't affect the BT signal but whatever I'm doing leaves the TV on and the ATV turns off as it normally did before.

Apr 7, 2017 7:55 AM in response to Diana.McCall

You're right about the Siri remote controlling ATV through BT radio. But wouldn't the remote be communicating with the TV to "turn off" through IR as well as adjust the volume? The ATV must also accept IR signals since you can associate a third-party remotes for controlling the menu.

It's still my thought that the Siri remote sends out an IR signal to turn off the TV. When that IR signal is blocked, the TV doesn't turn off and the second signal sent out (BT) turns off the ATV. Maybe it sends those signals out simultaneously and the IR signal immediately wakes the ATV back up even after the BT signal shut it off.

Apr 7, 2017 8:19 AM in response to justinbmiller

I always understood that the control of the TV was via HDMI-CEC, when enabled on both TV and Apple TV. After all, you never trained the Siri remote to know the TV power command, which differs for all makes and even between models of the same make. So, I think the only IR commands sent by the Siri remote are the volume commands, when enabled. My Siri remote controls both TV and Apple TV on and off with no IR possibility. However, I definitely agree that Apple TV 4 does respond to IR commands, apparently using the same codes as the silver remotes.

Apr 7, 2017 10:23 AM in response to Diana.McCall

I've submitted the report to the ATV feedback page. Hopefully this all makes enough noise for them to look into it and apply a fix soon. I also looked into HDMI-CEC. Very interesting technology. I always assumed the remote sent a specific "power off" packet based on what codes it saved for the volume. CEC makes more sense. Thanks for your help!

Apr 7, 2017 3:41 PM in response to justinbmiller

CEC doesn't work that well in my experience. Well… I should say it depends on the implementation. On my LG OLED, it's terrible. I've tried numerous things, but the command works very sporadically. Sometimes the TV turns off, sometimes it doesn't. No pattern whatsoever. Funny enough, it works without fail on my old LG LCD.

I'd submit a ticket but it's LG, so I'm not gonna hold my breath.

NEMC

Level 1

4 points

Apr 8, 2017 6:09 PM in response to Diana.McCall

Problem Solved.

Based on your information, I checked a WD NAS Device on our network. It was running iTunes and Media Server protocols. Disabled both of them and the ATVs are behaving normally again.

Thanks!

Apr 11, 2017 8:07 AM in response to NEMC

I believe you mentioned that yours was randomly turning on after being put to sleep. That's not the same issue that I had originally posted about but good to hear that it was resolved. We don't have any NAS or other network devices. Nothing new, either.

What I did find to be another band-aid fix is putting both devices to sleep with the Home button. Once the TV is out and the ATV blinks and remains on, I just press and hold down the Home button twice to wake up the ATV and then select the Sleep option. When I put the ATV to sleep for the second time, it stays off. Definitely leads me to believe there is some issue with my LG's CEC signal.

j-braun

Level 1

9 points

Apr 12, 2017 10:33 AM in response to Diana.McCall

This is not my experience. I am also having to aim the siri remote at my LG TV to turn it off. If I cover the IR it will not turn off the TV. In regards to this exact issue with the ATV light staying on, the only way I can make it work is to cover the IR sensor on the siri remote to turn off the ATV and then manually turn off the TV. It's a pain and was not an issue prior to 10.2.

Juan1205

Level 1

8 points

Apr 14, 2017 7:18 AM in response to justinbmiller

I am having the same problem.

If I use the Apple remote app to put my ATV to sleep, the light stays off. But this method does not switch of my LG TV.

It must be related to the Siri remote.

HHopefully the next software upgrade will correct this issue.

Apr 14, 2017 12:30 PM in response to Juan1205

It's great that you've figured that out. I don't know the exact technical sequence of events when you select "Sleep", but there's some combination of a signal that the Siri remote outputs and then the ATV's reply that causes this bug. If you cover the remote or remove the HDMI cable, the ATV goes to sleep properly. I'm also hoping for a quick fix. Not sure how often they put out ATV updates.

Apr 15, 2017 11:18 AM in response to Diana.McCall

I thought we already established that it's not a 3rd party connection that's causing the issue since people who don't have a 3rd party link are also experiencing the issue…

Further, we don't know whether the device is actually being woken or whether the light is simply just on while the device remains asleep. The evidence thus far is pointing to the latter.

If a 3rd party device was waking it, the current symptoms would be different in that you would see a visual UI on the screen.

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