Apple TV seems to be stuck in a loop

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.

The same thing happened to me, since I specifically rebooted my tv just to test this very issue.

I'm guessing part of it is that the tv probably doesn't check the iTunes site very often... Probably on a scheduled basis to refresh its cache. So, once it's had a successful refresh, it probably doesn't reschedule the next check for at least a few hours. Rebooting it, of course, would likely cause it to start the refresh cycle all over again.

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

The official YouTube plug-in was announced by Steve Jobs today, but is not going to be released until mid-June. It will likely come as an tv software update, through the Settings menu.

There is a YouTube hack available already, but it requires manual modification of your tv, which will void your warranty.

If you have any apple store purchased media, it won't work without the default route set up properly. (found this out tonight). Guess ATV doesn't use the library to check authorization...

Oddly, I'm not having this problem... I suspect that the tv may need to check and/or download its authorization keys at initial startup perhaps, and if it's never been able to do this, then I could see that happening.

All of my own purchased content is playing fine, however, regardless of whether the tv has no default route, or even if I have no Internet connectivity at all.

I think that for many of you this is an itunes udpdate problem, just switch itunes off and the looping stops. I would avoid the update if you are an apple tv user.

I had exactly the same problem imediately after the update.



macbook pro Mac OS X (10.4)

Just for everybody's info, I've done some more testing since I have two tv's here, and I can reproduce the problem 100% reliably based only on Internet access....

Basically, it doesn't matter which is which, but whichever tv device is configured with a route to the Internet will reboot itself repeatedly, exhibiting the problems described in this thread. The tv that has a default route of 0.0.0.0 (hence no Internet access) runs reliably.

If I switch the default route to the other tv, then that one starts exhibiting the problem.

With a default route of 0.0.0.0, you won't be able to view any trailers or previews of content (like the top-ten lists), but everything else should work. I'm not entirely sure about the reported problems with playing authorized content, as I have been unable to reproduce this problem (my authorized content plays without any issues from both of my iTunes accounts).

Oddly, I'm not having this problem... I suspect
that the tv may need to check and/or download its
authorization keys at initial startup perhaps, and if
it's never been able to do this, then I could
see that happening.

All of my own purchased content is playing fine,
however, regardless of whether the tv has no default
route, or even if I have no Internet connectivity
at all.

Hmm, thanks for the info... I'll have to check that out - but maybe tomorrow 🙂 don't know if I can deal with any more drama tonight!

I've experienced the same issue... with my Apple TV over Ethernet

1) I've unplugged the internet connection of my Netopia VDSL router first. (It is important that the router stays on; if not, Apple TV will automatically display the wireless network settings and you won't be able to change the Ethernet settings).

2) I've changed the network settings in the Apple TV settings. Basically I've entered the IP addresses manually

3) I've plugged my internet connection again and... it WORKS!

OUF...

I turned my ATV this evening and everything seemed to be going fine as I selected by Macbook as the source for the ATV content. Then 'Poof'!! I get the dreaded 'apple logo/menu loop' and it just goes on and on. Been having same problem like everyone.

Interestingly, if you do a software update on your Mac now, you'll notice that iTunes 7.2 is no longer available for download (you can only get it by going to apple.com/downloads). Maybe Apple have found the problem?



MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Same problem with my ATV. Had the unit for 2 months with absolutley no problems. Updated my itunes to 7.2 tonight and then turrned on my atv. Atv was stuck in a loop as described and seemed to be trying to access the net. Tried to restart several times by switching it off with no joy. Managed to get it to reset to factory settings then had the problem of syncing to my laptop, sync number kept changing. Turned it off for an hour and tried it again. Now seems ok and I'm presently re-syncing. Have not tried turning it off yet though.

Definetley think its something to do with 7.2 or some sort of apple authentication on startup that is not always working.

OK, a followup to my earlier post. So its late at night and I thought I could afford to entirely sever my internet connection for a few minutes. Once I did that - POOOFT: the problem disappeared!

So; this secret background chatter between our ATVs and home is responsible for this problem.

Same pb here too. I followed the static IP way to solve the pb.
Do not use DHCP mode and do not enter gateway and dns IP. Since ATV try to connect to the Internet the messy loop appears.
Hope Apple will give us very soon a fix to this as it's not a hardware issue.

Mac Pro Mac OS X (10.4.9)

First off, I just found out my AppleTV is doing the same thing. I did all the factory restore stuff. I HAVE NOT updated to the new iTunes 7.2 as I do not do any automatic updates with my Mac.

However, everyone says it starts after re-boot. Well guess what? We had thunderstorms here in Dallas this AM and I lost power for about 5 seconds... just long enough for everything to re-boot (the Mac was shutdown and unplugged before the storm) but the AppleTV is plugged into my large Monster power conditioner.

So it sounds like the connection to the Previews and trailers is causing it cause mine is wireless through my Airport Extreme. Will disable it.

I had the same problems with the logo appearing every few seconds, then after the restore, the sync code/logo/new code looping crap. I found that if I stayed active on the remote, I could interrupt the loop long enough to get content to play, but the minute the AppleTV went idle, back to the loop.

GregB

that's only if you're stuck in the loop. If you manually enter your IP settings with no default route, and then try to synch up a library, you'll see that the code just stays there until you're done with it...

I'm having this same problem, I just got my Apple TV today (Refub) and as soon as I hooked it up, it played the intro video, found my network, then when trying to sync it with my itunes library with the code it started to looping and giving me a new password every 2 seconds. I haven't been able to sync it with my Powerbook yet because it keeps cycling. I've been on with a Apple Tech Support for over 1 hour now and he had me restart it, but that didn't work, still looping. I told him others where having this issue today as well, but he didn't seem alarmed about it. Now I'm on hold so that he can find out somemore info about this. He finally transferred me to a Product Specialist who told me to take the unit to an Apple Retail Store. (Which is 1hour and 1/2 away)!

If you read a bit further up in the thread, you'll find that the solution would appear to be to cut your tv off from the Internet.

To get it initially configured, you may need to disconnect your Internet connection entirely. Once you've got it stable, however, you should be able to just enter your network settings manually ( Settings->Network->TCP/IP Settings) and ensure that you enter a default route of 0.0.0.0.

This will prevent the tv from communicating with anything outside of your own home network. The most probable cause of these problems is that the tv is communicating with the iTunes Store and something it's getting back is causing it to get trapped in an endless refresh cycle.

add me to the loop list too. it seems to have started today as well. my atv was a preorder and i've had it for about 2 months with no problem till this loop issue. i have tried all solutions posted with no success. i think it is an OS issue, but no sure. i am going to return mine.
these issues are disheartening. i am a new apple user and i recently purchased a new laptop, atv, extreme base station, etc. i have already exchanged the base station about a month ago and now this issue with the atv???

c

I'm having the same issue just after updating to the latest version of iTunes (7.2 I think, whichever version was sent out today).

I tried removing it from iTunes prefs which doesn't help. I'm not able to do much with the AppleTV itself so it's unplugged until there's an answer.