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Apple TV wont update or Reset! Store Demo Unit

B

billymac1

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 13, 2008
9
0
Boston
I purchased at a great price an Apple TV Store Demonstration Unit, a major National chain was about to close its doors with only shelving and a few odds and ends left in the store, nobody touched this Apple TV display unit, Its an actual fully functional unit. It has operating system 1.0, its a 40 gig model, but this unit wont allow me to change the following features
1) HD resolution wont adjust
2) It wont reset using the command
3) It wont update online, just does nothing.

It seems the Retail Store Apple TV Demo units have a modified OS shutting off these commands, what can I do, do I need an Image of a Retail unit or can I pull the drive and edit using Terminal ? I want Take 2 but have the Original shipping system 1.0

thanks billymac
 
Check to see if the bottom pad has been removed. That might be a clue that something is amiss. You will probably need to pull the drive and inspect its partition map. If something's missing, you're likely screwed. You'd need to find someone who'd be willing to let you clone their ATV hard drive to reinstall onto yours.
 
If this was a demo unit supplied to them by Apple you are SOL. We shipped this to several stores and I have had some hands on with them myself. It was a modified set of software put on it. I know in at least the CompUSA stores that had them this was the case. Also in most cases these werent suppose to be sold as the stores didn't own them as they were Apple property which is why that software was installed the way it was. I remember in one of the stores one was stolen. We laughed because we knew it was virtually worthless as nothing could be done to it. Just one possibility of what could be going on with yours.

Kevin :apple:
 
On a side note if this is the case maybe you might try calling Apple Customer Service on it and plead your case to get a new one.

Kevin :apple:
 
I also bought one of these store display units. I wanted to insure that I got a unit with 1.0 software installed because I wanted to hack the unit. I had the same problems that you did when I got the unit home. What I had to do was do a hard reset and restore. Do this by holding down the "Menu" and "-" buttons on the remote until the unit restarts. It will enter a 'system recovery mode'. Just select "Factory Restore". It cleaned the units software and I was able to use the AppleTv as it was intended. Hacking was a breeze too. Currently at software 1.1 and loving it. I really hope this helps.
 
Success, Demo Unit is a fully functional unit !!

Success !! I bit the bullet as IClamp suggested, I thought about this first but I wanted to Image the drive first saving the Demo Unit software for Historical purposes, IClamp got me going on the reset, it worked, Im running Take II now, a fully functional Apple Tv courtesy of Comp USA, how did Wild Bill know that? LOL. I paid $ 60.00 for the Demo unit and a bunch of Griffin Ipod stuff as well.

Apple's :apple:TV Demo units are preprogrammed with a special OS with disabled features and are loaded with a special In store retail movie that plays all the time, doing a Factory Reset brought it back to a full retail unit, the restore partition was the generic retail OS, update worked, running Take 2 now!

So go out there and get yourself the Display units if you can, they are fully functional after a Factory Reset !

Billymac,

thanks IClamp for pushing me to make the decision !
 
Thanks, i too got a demo unit ($130 at sams, not as good as $60, but still $100.00 off) but when i saw i couldnt update, i was about to get pissed since i got it for the rentals.

Doing the factory restore now, appears all is going well.

edit: it worked completely! thanks so much!
 
iClamp said:
I had the same problems that you did when I got the unit home. What I had to do was do a hard reset and restore. Do this by holding down the "Menu" and "-" buttons on the remote until the unit restarts. It will enter a 'system recovery mode'. Just select "Factory Restore". It cleaned the units software and I was able to use the AppleTv as it was intended.
Click to expand...
Hi all!!

I'm having the same problems with a 2nd hand one bought in a Spanish forum. I'm explaining everything here. It's there any difference between making the "restore to factory" from the settings menu and doing this like you've explained (holding down the "Menu"+"-" buttons)??? Maybe I've to try as you suggest...

Thanks!!!!!!
 
I read your post on the Apple forum. It does sound odd. It could be a network issue, but I can't say for certain. I would do a factory restore, and update the device to the latest firmware version. Hold "menu" and "-" to get the factory restore option. I hope this helps.
 
Cachi said:
Hi all!!

I'm having the same problems with a 2nd hand one bought in a Spanish forum. I'm explaining everything here. It's there any difference between making the "restore to factory" from the settings menu and doing this like you've explained (holding down the "Menu"+"-" buttons)??? Maybe I've to try as you suggest...

Thanks!!!!!!
Click to expand...

Hi Cachi,

switch the Language of the :apple:TV to english and try the update again. Had the same problem while the language was set to german. After switching to english I was able to update. After the update switch the language back to spanish!!!

Hope that helped
 
Sounds like you need to pull the drive, if you have a Mac.

1. Download the Apple TV 2.0.2 updater onto your Mac.

2. Pull the drive and connect it to your Mac (e.g., USB enclosure or the such).

3. Use Disk Utility to erase the OSBoot and Media partitions. Note, DO NOT erase the drive, only these two partitions.

4. Use Disk Utility's Restore function to install the updater image you downloaded in step 1 to the OSBoot partition of the ATV's drive.

5. Reassemble your ATV.

6. Go to church and say prayer.

7. Turn on ATV.
 
Cave Man said:
Sounds like you need to pull the drive, if you have a Mac.

1. Download the Apple TV 2.0.2 updater onto your Mac.

2. Pull the drive and connect it to your Mac (e.g., USB enclosure or the such).

3. Use Disk Utility to erase the OSBoot and Media partitions. Note, DO NOT erase the drive, only these two partitions.

4. Use Disk Utility's Restore function to install the updater image you downloaded in step 1 to the OSBoot partition of the ATV's drive.

5. Reassemble your ATV.

6. Go to church and say prayer.

7. Turn on ATV.
Click to expand...

And what about 2.0.2 firm to do future hacks???? What firmware it's better to hack the :apple:TV?? What lets hack it easier???
 
Hey, just maybe is your remote working properly, are both buttons working, try it on a Mac and verify.
 
Cave Man

Cave Man,

I have a Store Demo Display Unit Apple TV that someone has Hacked into. I have the Question Mark Flashing. Can't get into anything! I read your Post. My question is, Do I erase what's in OSBoot and Media partitions, or Delete the entire Folders ? Also, Does this Updater process you mention really work ? I'm in the process of buying an IDE cable so I can hook the Hard to my Mac Mini. I have no idea what Folders there will be but if your Method works, I will be a Happy Camper! :) I realize this is an old Post. Hopefully you will see it & reply. Thanks in advance!

Dino1956

btw, below is the Post I am replying to:

"Sounds like you need to pull the drive, if you have a Mac.

1. Download the Apple TV 2.0.2 updater onto your Mac.

2. Pull the drive and connect it to your Mac (e.g., USB enclosure or the such).

3. Use Disk Utility to erase the OSBoot and Media partitions. Note, DO NOT erase the drive, only these two partitions.

4. Use Disk Utility's Restore function to install the updater image you downloaded in step 1 to the OSBoot partition of the ATV's drive.

5. Reassemble your ATV.

6. Go to church and say prayer.

7. Turn on ATV."
 
First, see if the drive's partition scheme is still valid by doing as I recommend and installing an ATV OSBoot from here. If all is good, all you should need to do is mount the ATV's hard drive on your mac and use Disk Utility to do a Restore to the OSBoot partition from the latest image available at iClarified. It is essential that you restore to the OSBoot partition of the ATV drive - DO NOT modify any of the other partitions. After the restoration and while still in Disk Utility, click on the Media partition of the ATV drive and initialize it. DO NOT initialize the drive, only the Media partition.

If it does not work, then you need to reinitialize the drive and get it properly formatted and partition according to the thread that talks about getting a 250 gb drive in the ATV. I've never done that method (I have iPartition for my ATV hacking), but others have used it with success.

Good luck!
 
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