Apple TV seems to be stuck in a loop

Interesingly, mine all seem to have calmed down again, and have been running without incident for the past 15-20 minutes.

Of course Chappers' solution is much easier (I'm slapping my forehead wondering how I missed that... Probably because I've got mine all configured via DHCP 🙂 ).

If you're still having rebooting problems, however, unplugging your Internet connection at least temporarily should allow you to keep the tv running long enough to reconfigure the network settings and isolate it from the Internet.

As long as you keep your static IP address settings in the same subnet as what your router would hand out (ie, 192.168.0.x or similar), there's no problem with configuring it manually. Blocking it on your router would of course be another option.

As far as the fear that the tv may be sending out information, I've always taken the belief that no company the size of Apple would dare try such a thing, as there are too many hackers out there who would just love to get their 15 minutes of fame by exposing such an issue, which in return would be a P.R. nightmare for the company in question.

The Internet connectivity is likely just a background process to cache the trailer and preview lists to improve performance and response time.

Sorry I must be a spoon but how do I stop appletv from going onto the internet?

I have hardwired it now with ethernet.

What specifically do I need to do which will enable the appleTV to work on the local network but not have access to the internet?

so the geniuses couldn't figure it out. they traded me for a new one just like they did with every dead ipod i've ever brought in under warranty.

Now let's see if i have the same looping problem when i get it home and plug it in. Everybody keep your fingers crossed for me. i hope for my sake that it was just a hardware problem, but i hope for everyone else's sake that it's just an itunes update thing, but then again i really do hope it was just my hardware so i don't have to keep worrying about this looping all day. i have better things to do than re-configure my network. Question: Does anyone out there in the forums have an apple TV that isn't doing this looping thing at this point? or is it happening to everybody?

What specifically do I need to do which will enable the appleTV to work on the local network but not have access to the internet?

On the tv, go into Settings->Network->TCP/IP Settings and first note the IP address that is already assigned to your tv.

Then, choose to manually configure the settings. Set the IP address and subnet mask to the same address that had already been automatically assigned to it (that you noted earlier) to make sure that you're in the proper subnet range, and then leave the "router" address as all zeroes.

If you don't know your specific subnet mask, you're probably safe to just use 255.255.255.0, as that's what most home routers use.

This will give the tv an IP address that allows it to communicate with the computers on your own network (since they're all in the same "subnet" and therefore don't need a router between them), but it won't be able to get to the Internet, as it doesn't have an IP address of a router to communicate with.

Question: Does anyone out there in the forums have an apple TV that isn't doing this looping thing at this point? or is it happening to everybody?

Well, I can't speak for anybody else, but the problem has now gone away for me. My tv's have both been on and running just fine for well over a half-hour now.

Since I've changed nothing on my end, that makes it likely that it was something out on the iTunes Store that has now resolved itself (or been resolved).

see Jesse David's post above. you shouldn't have to do anything to your home network settings, just need to change things with your ATV. I did the same thing as he did about an hour ago and everything's fine --

ps: you're not the only one on their second ATV tonight... just picked the wrong day to purchase/set mine up...

I will be setting this as a matter of course. I am not interested in trailers and did not realise it was phoning home. I am not happy about that.

I hope you are fully happy with all the features you have in version 1.0.0.

I hope you are fully happy with all the features you have in version 1.0.0.

Heh... Good point, since the tv can't update itself without connecting to the Internet.

I can appreciate the fact that it's a matter of personal preference, and not everybody likes their devices communicating out to the Internet "behind their back", but to be fair, most of the communications from the tv are certainly no worse than anything that your Mac or Windows PC does on a regular basis, with the only difference being that you can install software like "Little Snitch" or ZoneAlarm to keep an eye on what your computer is doing....

In terms of the current set of problems, it certainly makes sense, but these problems are an obvious indication of something that Apple needs to address in a firmware update, since there's no way that any issue out on the iTunes Store or Apple's site should be causing these sorts of problems.

I don't understand your post Winston, if its to suggest that updates come from the TV, thats fine, tell me on the internet and I will hook the TV up to the web, better still I will click software update an initiate the connection to the web on my terms.

As it goes I have followed Jesses info and now have a functioning apple TV, so thanks for that.

OK new poster here LOOPING.. 21:40 Essex UK

2 new ATV delivered when I got home from work.

Set one up on Airport extreme n, static IP addy, loopy loop. ****. Back into box.

Open number 2 unpack plug-in, run setup again.

Looping (iTunes and Security Updates had installed themselves today.)

Hi there! Holland here! Having exactly the same problems. In my opinion it has nothing to do with the iTunes update. It's either a power failure or a network connection related problem. Since it would be very strange that everybody gets a power failure problem on may 30th I would rule out that option. So... I would say:

teeeveee, phone home.....

I am sure there will be an explanation on Apple site tomorrow.

i followed those instructions and the looping did stop, GREAT! but i still can't see any of the computers on my local network.

i choose connect to new itunes, and then itunes does not ask for the 5 number code. itunes does nothing.


are we sure there's no special setting on my airport express to enable. access control? WEP? distribute ip addresses vs share an iP for example? i am not a noob i swear. this just is stupid. come on!

you're running static IP, but make sure that your default route is set to 0.0.0.0 - it's the only fix that seems to be working.

The new issue I found is that if the default route is not set, any purchased iStore media does not authenticate... so, there's another reason for the 'phone home'. Looks like ATV does not check authorizations through the library...

Yes that was the point I was making, sorry if it was a bit ambiguous.

Sure you can update by connecting it at will, although you'll have to watch for updates as they won't appear in software update. What I was actually meaning besides not being able to automatically update ,without the internet new features such as the youtube plug in will not be available to you. Although you might not want youtube (goodness knows I don't) there may be other similar features that you do.

this is definitely a phone home problem. i switch back to DHCP and immediately the looping starts back up. i am sad 😟

i guess it's time to dig up the ol' dvi to vga adapter until Apple gets it's act together. why not try and test those updates next time before you release them into the wild. hurry it up! how hard could this be? here's an idea, just disable the **** trailers for a few hours until you figure it out!!!! dude seriously.

I would just throw into the ring that appleTV was working fine until I pulled the plug out to put it in a different socket, i.e. rebooted it. This would appear to be a theme.

Winston where is this youtube pluggin you mention? I am not missing features am I?

My concern is not that the appleTV connects to the internet, its that its not made clear thats what it does. Logically to me anyhow I thought it was gathering all its stuff from the synced iTunes, and yes I am aware that connects to the web, but then I gave it permission to with littlesnitch.

Its the principle of the thing.