No signal from Apple TV 4k unless I unplug power

For those of you needing to pull the plug and then plug it back in to have your TV see a signal, note that you can hold both the Menu button and the Home (TV) button on your atv4k Remote for about 6 seconds and it will cause your atv4k to cycle power off and bak on. This will only save you a trip to your physical plug to get the signal.

On the other hand, even though I am convinced that in future Apple will find a software fix for this issue, I actually exchanged my apt4k at the nearest Apple Store because I was within the return period. When I connected the new atv4k to my TV i have seen no sign of the problem.

One has to realize that the Customer has no way to actually totally Restore an atv4k. In other words, you cannot actually reload the Operating System or Clear the atv4k completely and start from scratch. You can only Reset the atv4k which is not the same. Consequently if this issue is truly a software issue where some corruption or other flaw occurred in manufacturing you can't really do anything to resolve or mitigate this. On the other hand if this is a Hardware issue, which it probably is not, you can't do anything about that either. I have no idea if the Apple Store or an Authorized Apple Service Provider has the capability currently to totally Restore the atv4k in the field as yet.

My feeling is that if your connected atv4k is showing a great picture when the signal is viewable on your TV, your HDR appears to be working correctly, and your sound is correct then the wakeup signal issue is probably not your cable or your Settings on either Device (i.e., the atv4k or your tv).

I still have this problem as well. It only happens after everything is shut down and then later or the next day the you turn everything back on. I think it has to do with the ATV turning when it detects the TV turning on. I was going to get a harmony remote that can control a smart outlet and have it just turn the power to the ATV off when everything else gets turned off but from reading about it, that you cannot put this smart outlet in the harmony activity that is used to turn on the various components to watch tv

1. turn on TV and set to HMDI2
2. turn on receiver and set to AV2 (using optical cable from ATV to receiver as receiver HDMI pass throughs do not support 4K)
3. Turn on ATV (or really wake it but I think it just wakes up when the TV comes on)

I wanted to just have step 3 be turn on smart outlet that the ATV is connected to an that would solve it. Not ideal, but it would work if the smart outlet could be added to the activities of the harmony.

Maybe I could make a custom signal that emulate the rebooting (two top buttons pressed) and put that in the activity as the last step after a 5 second pause or something.

Hi. I think Apple TV stops sending video when it loses the HDCP connection. So, when you switch the TV input back to Apple TV, it doesn't automatically reconnect. Have you tried tapping the Home button on the remote (upper right, with TV icon)? That works for me on Apple TV 4.

I have only used mine about four times and two of those times there was no signal being received by my TV. The only thing that worked for me thus far is unplugging the power cord on the Apple TV and plugging it back in. Hope I find a solution.

Had the exact same issue. Thanks for the tip of holding the menu and home button!

I resolved this by changing the port hdmi2 to hdmi1 on my tv, restarting the Apple TV, and going into settings -video settings reset .

Had to reenable Dolby Vision after and click on the “test my cable” as well. Everything worked for now... report more tomorrow... cheers

I also have this issue on an AppleTV 4K that just arrived to me direct from Apple last week.

Had to power the power to get it to register again, now cutting that step thanks to WiseJD's info on: hold both the Menu button and the Home (TV) button to restart the AppleTV.

I tried resetting video settings as mentioned in a follow-up, not sure if that will help yet.

If not I'm probably going to try to exchange mine.

Hi. Have you tried just clicking the Home button on the remote, after selecting the TV set to the correct input? I do believe it's just related to losing the HDCP connection, and not realizing that it's been restored.

Yes, that was the first thing I tried the 1st-3rd time this happened,

Then tried unplugging HDMI cable and reseating at both ends.

Video never restored until I unplugged power on AppleTV, or use: hold Home+TV button to power cycle it.

My AppleTV was approaching the 30 day mark and my wake issue was getting worse (instead of every other day, to once a day, it was becoming multiple times a day; and it no longer was able to reliably output Chroma 4.2.2 to my TV that supports it).

Due to the issue getting worse I decided I was no longer waiting for 11.2.

I've now exchanged my AppleTV 4K for a new one, and while it's only been a few days I have not had any wake issues. Where as my last AppleTV 4K with issues started on day 1.

Both of them running the same TV OS 11.1

I'm having a similar issue, but mine will flicker between seeing the home screen and no signal. Unplug and plug back in and all is well. I thought it was initially my cheap amazon cable, but I swapped it for the Belkin cable that Apple sells and the problem persists. I'm going to contact Apple support to see if they'll replace it.

Video of the issue in action:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/PCMgMaRsiBgWiTYM2

I've been having a similar issue since day 1 of having my 4K Apple TV and it's beyond annoying. What I see is the Apple 4K TV not turn on at all sometimes when pressing any buttons on the remote, the power light on the Apple TV does not turn on - I have to unplug and plug the Apple TV back in to get it to work. It always seems to happen after it's been off for a while, almost always on the first startup of the day. I have 2 other 4th gen Apple TVs that have never once had this happen. I'm beginning to think this is purely a hardware problem and am about to take it back. Has anyone filed a ticket with Apple about this or is getting an exchange the only solution?

Thanks for the reply, unfortunately I've been updated to the latest tvOS since it released and am still seeing the same issue. I wonder sometimes if it's a bluetooth problem with either the apple 4k TV and/or when having other bluetooth devices (like airpods) nearby - but holding down menu + tv buttons works as a workaround so I'm not sure it's a problem with the bluetooth signal. I think the 4k apple TV has bluetooth v 5.x whereas the apple TV 4th gen has bluetooth v 4.x so I do wonder if there is some problem specific to the apple 4k TV ... my 4th gen apple TVs are still working flawlessly and have never had this problem.

Sorry to hear that. Only else i can think of is, erase the apple tv and do a new installation of tv os. Maybe that fix it.

Maybe there is some problem with the remote.

But you should try to get it exchanged. Call the support or take it to an Apple store.

Griswald34 wrote:

I've been having a similar issue since day 1 of having my 4K Apple TV and it's beyond annoying. What I see is the Apple 4K TV not turn on at all sometimes when pressing any buttons on the remote, the power light on the Apple TV does not turn on ... is getting an exchange the only solution?

It certainly sounds like a hardware problem. It could be the remote or the ATV. An exchange would be the simplest solution.

Purchased a 4K Apple TV for use with LG Oled tv.

After half an hour to an hour, randomly loses signal and TV says no input detected. Remote on Apple TV cannotnwake the Apple TV up.

The only way to fix is to unplug Apple TV and restart the device.

What a joke. Happens every day. Returning this garbage