Apple TV update 2.2 brings out the "Brick"

So, that was like a really bad, mean, and cruel joke. But it does seem that the recent Apple TV update is bricking some Apple TVs. According to the Apple Discussion board, some users cannot get past the boot video. If the update bricks your Apple TV, it's not the end of the world (well, it is if you cannot do the following steps).

One discussion board reader reports that doing a restore of your Apple TV will help resolve the situation. To restore your Apple TV, try the following steps:

Hold down the Menu and Menu down/scroll (-) buttons on the remote for approximately 3 to 5 seconds, until the LED on Apple TV flashes yellow.
After Apple TV restarts, a screen appears asking you to pick a language. Select the language you wish to use.
After the Apple TV Recovery screen appears, select "Factory Restore"

Please note that restoring the factory settings will completely remove any and all data on the Apple TV. In most cases, your Apple TV software will be reset to version 1.0 (if you bought your ATV prior to the 2.0 update). For more information on the diagnostic tools, read Apple's support note.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

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Source: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1738952&ts…

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Software Update Apple TV

So, that was like a really bad, mean, and cruel joke. But it does seem that the recent Apple TV update is bricking some Apple TVs....

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norton55

I'm glad I found your article. I'm new to Apple TV and I could not figure out what happened to the device after I upgraded. It just kept jumping back to the Apple logo. After reading this I went back and restored the Apple TV to 2.0.1 and now it works great. Thanks so much. Afraid to upgrade now.

October 06 2008 at 10:22 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

james

Mine worked fine. I too have the original Apple TV, not sure if that really matters though.

I am liking the AirTunes option

October 06 2008 at 2:32 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Steve

After the upgrade to 2.2 my ATV was unresponsive. In desperation I unpaired the remote (held down the previous/rewind and the menu button until you see the unpair icon on screen). Voila ATV suddenly responsive again.

October 05 2008 at 2:33 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

MIchael

I'm not sure this is the brick they were talking about....

October 05 2008 at 12:45 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

kastonie

YAY apple makes the software and makes the hardware. The stuff just works!!

/sarcasm....

October 04 2008 at 2:58 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Willie G

I installed the update, and while it did seem to take awhile to reboot, it did so and is working fine. I will say though, that when attempting to pick a movie using the Remote application on my iPhone, I was given a message on my TV that stated that the content I selected required HCP (or something like that) and that my TV's HDMI connection didn't support that, and that I should switch to component in.

Odd... but then I switched to the stock white remote, and everything played just fine

October 04 2008 at 2:50 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Willie G's comment

Richard

Hi, thanks for that, only thing I cannot get the update hack to work? Thios is right : sudo bash-c 'echo "127.0.0.1 mesu.apple.com" >> /etc/hosts"
?

Thanks again

October 04 2008 at 3:46 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Rudan

I had the same "brick" problems following the 2.2 update. Nothing made any difference, until the following worked: I disconnected power and let the AppleTV cool down over a couple of hours. After that it just booted up as normal.
Seems to be a temperature problem. How about somebody developing a big clip on heatsink?

October 04 2008 at 1:05 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

2 replies to Rudan's comment

Richard

I had the ATV creator and 2.1 running sweet but my ATV updated that night to 2.2, now I cannot use the remote to control Boxee or XBMC, any thoughts guys? Want to watch a film tonight :-))

October 04 2008 at 1:34 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

now4real954

well it looks like a couple people need my information about the 2.1 patchstick and fixing the 2.2 update mess up

to make your official restore become 2.1 and not 1.0 and you already have the ssh hack done to your ï£¿TV then you can do this

http://bocaafghans.com/BOCABOI786/Restore%20to%20Apple%20TV%202.0.2%20or%202.1.pdf

and to make your ï£¿TV not auto update and have ssh hack installed then you can do this

http://bocaafghans.com/BOCABOI786/APPLETV_DISABLE_UPDATE.jpg

now4real954@aol.com is my email if you have questions

October 04 2008 at 2:11 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Joshua

My update went just fine. Was a little nervous because I have tons of stuff on my Apple TV, took a little while to reboot, but I think it all went well. No problems so far and all my stuff is there. Sorry for all the people that had problems.

October 04 2008 at 12:19 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Marcos

I had this problem last night - restoring/re-upgrading didn't do anything, Apple posted a note:

"Apple briefly experienced server difficulties resulting in some Apple TV units rebooting continuously. This issue has been resolved and is unrelated to the Apple TV 2.2 software release."

http://discussions.apple.com/ann.jspa?annID=676

Sure enough this morning, the Apple TV 2.2 was working fine. The restore meant I had to resync everything and reset up some settings. If only I had waited to upgrade until Saturday!

October 04 2008 at 12:18 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Gene

Frankly I'd prefer to restore and KEEP my Apple TV at version 1.0. It worked much better, had a much better interface, and didn't get in my way like the 2.0 software.
But there is NO WAY TO TURN OFF UPDATING on the Apple TV. It updates itself without asking and without intervention from the user. Not a fan of this.

October 04 2008 at 11:12 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply