Level 1

32 points

Apple TV 4K - Ethernet constantly connects/disconnects while in sleep mode

I have been running down an issue where my Apple TV 4K, when connected via ethernet, does NOT maintain a connection link UP status while in sleep mode; it cycles up and down several times per minute. If the ATV4K is awake and playing content, this behavior does not happen and all is well. Most people probably wouldn't know or care about this, but I do since it causes unnecessary network chatter and is generally disruptive network behavior. I also have a 4th Gen Apple TV that is on the same ethernet switch and does NOT exhibit this behavior while sleeping, so I'm quite confident that this is isolated to the ATV4K only. I called Apple Support to report the issue, but they had no knowledge of the behavior.

Can anyone else confirm this behavior with their Apple TV 4K? I'm wondering if I have a defective unit and if I need to request an RMA, or if this is a problem with the ethernet controller or driver. That's what I'm hoping someone else in the Apple Community can confirm/deny.

Data points from troubleshooting

- Ethernet connection constantly disconnects / reconnects in sleep mode ONLY

- When the link status cycles, the ethernet connection negotiates alternately from 100Mbps to 1Gbps (could be part of the problem and suggests software/driver issue to me)

- WiFi connection does NOT exhibit the same disconnect/reconnect behavior in sleep mode

- Apple TV 4th Gen does NOT exhibit this behavior on ethernet (connected to same switch/router)

- Problem persists after bypassing the installed ethernet cabling and switch and connect directly to the router (several different ports)

- iOS 11.1 update had no effect

- DHCP lease renewals are not the root cause, but a symptom of the link status going down/up

- Hard-coding IP address only eliminates DHCP leasing, not the problem itself

And before anyone suggests it, I am NOT willing to leave the ATV4K on all the time to prevent this, and I am not switching to WiFi when I have a perfectly good ethernet connection. I am interested in prompting Apple into either replacing a defective unit or resolving the underlying issue because this is undesirable behavior from a network engineering perspective.

Thanks,

Andy

Apple TV 4K, iOS 11.1

Posted on Nov 7, 2017 9:20 AM

26 replies

Jan 15, 2018 9:09 PM in response to Andypeppa

Same here, got a new Apple TV 4K yesterday and woke up to 200+ e-mails from my monitoring system due to port flapping. Seems the port is going up&down every few seconds.

Doesn't this also affect AirPlay availability?

Very short excerpt from my switch log:

Jan 16 05:58:57 192.168.***.*** ("US8,f09fc2c6****,v3.9.19.8123") switch: TRAPMGR: Link Down: 0/6

Jan 16 05:58:57 192.168.***.*** ("US8,f09fc2c6****,v3.9.19.8123") switch: DOT1S: Port (6) inst(0) role changing from ROLE_DESIGNATED to ROLE_DISABLED

Jan 16 05:59:00 192.168.***.*** ("US8,f09fc2c6****,v3.9.19.8123") switch: TRAPMGR: Link Up: 0/6

Jan 16 05:59:00 192.168.***.*** ("US8,f09fc2c6****,v3.9.19.8123") switch: DOT1S: Port (6) inst(0) role changing from ROLE_DISABLED to ROLE_DESIGNATED

Jan 16 05:59:26 192.168.***.*** ("US8,f09fc2c6****,v3.9.19.8123") switch: DOT1S: Port (6) inst(0) role changing from ROLE_DESIGNATED to ROLE_DISABLED

Jan 16 05:59:26 192.168.***.*** ("US8,f09fc2c6****,v3.9.19.8123") switch: TRAPMGR: Link Down: 0/6

Jan 16 05:59:27 192.168.***.*** ("US8,f09fc2c6****,v3.9.19.8123") switch: TRAPMGR: Link Up: 0/6

Jan 16 05:59:27 192.168.***.*** ("US8,f09fc2c6****,v3.9.19.8123") switch: DOT1S: Port (6) inst(0) role changing from ROLE_DISABLED to ROLE_DESIGNATED

Jan 16 06:00:07 192.168.***.*** ("US8,f09fc2c6****,v3.9.19.8123") switch: DOT1S: Port (6) inst(0) role changing from ROLE_DESIGNATED to ROLE_DISABLED

Jan 16 06:00:07 192.168.***.*** ("US8,f09fc2c6****,v3.9.19.8123") switch: TRAPMGR: Link Down: 0/6

Jan 16 06:00:10 192.168.***.*** ("US8,f09fc2c6****,v3.9.19.8123") switch: TRAPMGR: Link Up: 0/6

Jan 16 06:00:10 192.168.***.*** ("US8,f09fc2c6****,v3.9.19.8123") switch: DOT1S: Port (6) inst(0) role changing from ROLE_DISABLED to ROLE_DESIGNATE

Mar 7, 2018 5:08 AM in response to staengfoenster

I wish I had better to report...AppleCare Enterprise wanted me to give the latest tvOS 11.3 beta 15L5198d a whirl saying that things may have improved. I attempted it and all seemed to work well on a single test unit here for one day. I then extended the test out to our intermediate school and left for a night. It was still flapping in the wind. Checked back on my single test unit and now it's doing the same. Back to the drawing board. This case seems to be moving at a glacial pace so others please escalate as well. The good news is, the rep seemed to reproduce the issue and is also working on it from his end.

By the way, I don't post on here very frequently and when I wrote this, I realized I logged in with a different Apple ID. I'm 'blackholemac'

May 30, 2018 10:06 PM in response to Andypeppa

I can confirm that I have this issue as well. The link status for my Apple TV 4K connected to a Ubiquiti Edgeswitch constantly renegotiates from 100mbps to 1Gbps as well as disconnects/reconnects when sleeping.

This also affects AirPlay. Many times I'll go to AirPlay something to the Apple TV and it wont appear in the list, because the link is down and/or flapping.

Apple - this isn't just something you can just say "deal with it," to, because it is affecting performance.

Nov 7, 2017 9:47 AM in response to Andypeppa

Hi. To get this message to Apple, you need to post at this link: Feedback - Apple TV - Apple. But I warn you, there's a length limit.

iV3K

Level 1

11 points

Mar 14, 2018 7:05 AM in response to GpaJake

Same problem here with ATV 4K latest TvOS 11.2.6 connected to D-Link gigabit ethernet switch... Hope Apple will find fix for this issue..

May 2, 2018 5:55 AM in response to Clive Yip

Did you call Apple support and complain about the issue? We need as many people as possible calling them on this.

Andypeppa Author

Level 1

32 points

Nov 7, 2017 9:54 AM in response to Diana.McCall

Hi Diana,

I have already opened a case with Apple on this issue. This post is to ask the community at large to help validate this behavior and report if there are more instances of this problem out in the world. Apple could then add that information as a reproducible data point to investigate if this is a more pervasive issue with the ethernet controller / driver implemented in the Apple TV 4K.

nickguy

Level 1

4 points

Jan 31, 2018 6:20 PM in response to nickguy

More logs

02/01/2018 02:06:18.61 <Info:vlan.msgs.portLinkStateUp> Port 4 link UP at speed 100 Mbps and full-duplex

02/01/2018 02:06:16.42 <Info:vlan.msgs.portLinkStateDown> Port 4 link down

02/01/2018 02:05:30.27 <Info:vlan.msgs.portLinkStateUp> Port 4 link UP at speed 100 Mbps and full-duplex

02/01/2018 02:05:28.41 <Info:vlan.msgs.portLinkStateDown> Port 4 link down

02/01/2018 02:05:03.13 <Info:vlan.msgs.portLinkStateUp> Port 4 link UP at speed 100 Mbps and full-duplex

02/01/2018 02:05:00.92 <Info:vlan.msgs.portLinkStateDown> Port 4 link down

02/01/2018 02:04:18.90 <Info:vlan.msgs.portLinkStateUp> Port 4 link UP at speed 100 Mbps and full-duplex

02/01/2018 02:04:17.05 <Info:vlan.msgs.portLinkStateDown> Port 4 link down

02/01/2018 02:03:52.21 <Info:vlan.msgs.portLinkStateUp> Port 4 link UP at speed 100 Mbps and full-duplex

02/01/2018 02:03:50.01 <Info:vlan.msgs.portLinkStateDown> Port 4 link down

02/01/2018 02:03:03.78 <Info:vlan.msgs.portLinkStateUp> Port 4 link UP at speed 100 Mbps and full-duplex

02/01/2018 02:03:01.94 <Info:vlan.msgs.portLinkStateDown> Port 4 link down

02/01/2018 02:02:36.94 <Info:vlan.msgs.portLinkStateUp> Port 4 link UP at speed 100 Mbps and full-duplex

02/01/2018 02:02:34.74 <Info:vlan.msgs.portLinkStateDown> Port 4 link down

02/01/2018 02:01:48.58 <Info:vlan.msgs.portLinkStateUp> Port 4 link UP at speed 100 Mbps and full-duplex

02/01/2018 02:01:46.74 <Info:vlan.msgs.portLinkStateDown> Port 4 link down

02/01/2018 02:01:22.16 <Info:vlan.msgs.portLinkStateUp> Port 4 link UP at speed 100 Mbps and full-duplex

02/01/2018 02:01:19.95 <Info:vlan.msgs.portLinkStateDown> Port 4 link down

02/01/2018 02:00:33.71 <Info:vlan.msgs.portLinkStateUp> Port 4 link UP at speed 100 Mbps and full-duplex

02/01/2018 02:00:31.86 <Info:vlan.msgs.portLinkStateDown> Port 4 link down

02/01/2018 02:00:07.41 <Info:vlan.msgs.portLinkStateUp> Port 4 link UP at speed 100 Mbps and full-duplex

02/01/2018 02:00:05.15 <Info:vlan.msgs.portLinkStateDown> Port 4 link down

02/01/2018 01:59:43.59 <Info:vlan.msgs.portLinkStateUp> Port 4 link UP at speed 100 Mbps and full-duplex

02/01/2018 01:59:41.75 <Info:vlan.msgs.portLinkStateDown> Port 4 link down

02/01/2018 01:59:16.65 <Info:vlan.msgs.portLinkStateUp> Port 4 link UP at speed 100 Mbps and full-duplex

02/01/2018 01:59:14.44 <Info:vlan.msgs.portLinkStateDown> Port 4 link down

robmille

Level 1

19 points

Mar 7, 2018 12:06 PM in response to Andypeppa

Unrelated Q. Anyone know why the "helpful" button on replies would be greyed out for me? I'm not sure if I don't have enough forums posts/history or if it shows up like that for everyone? I tried disabling pop up blocker as well. I'm using Chrome on a Mac. Maybe just no reputation wise, yet?

May 2, 2018 5:23 AM in response to Andypeppa

I have same problem with ATV 4K connected to a Netgear router GE port. Hope Apple will fix this issue.

nomad.dk

Level 1

8 points

Apr 10, 2018 11:31 PM in response to Andypeppa

I have this issue as well, with the AppleTV 4K connected to a Cisco 3750 1G switch. Bad behavior.

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Apple TV 4K - Ethernet constantly connects/disconnects while in sleep mode