What just happened to my Apple TV?

[Axegrinder]

Today my Apple TV switched itself on and displayed nothing but an Apple logo in the middle of the screen. I switched it off by holding down the play button on the remote for about 6 seconds and the light on the front went out but the logo was still on the display!! Switching it back on made no difference except the light came on again.

In the end, I unplugged it from the mains and left it a while. When I plugged back in, the Apple logo was still there, so I rushed upstairs to my iMac and was about to post a question like "Is my Apple TV dead?" when I heard some music. I went back to the Apple TV and it was fine, displaying all the usual menus, etc!? The sound I heard must have been the start up routine or something?

Anybody have a clue what that was all about?

 

[MikieMikie]

The technical term for such an Apple TV hiccup is: reboot.

Now, why it rebooted is another question.

Are you connected to your TV via an HDMI cable?

 

[bigbigbob]

Me Too!

Same problem last night and I am connected to my receiver with a hdmi cable. Any thoughts?

 

[MikieMikie]

There have been a few posts in other threads, and the essence of what was concluded was that HDMI invokes a "handshake" between the two devices -- TV and Apple TV.

In some cases, this causes a reset. In my case, it causes the screen to go black for a few seconds and then the screensaver shows. Others have had differing experiences.

I believe that in all cases this was cleared up by switching to component cables.

 

[Axegrinder]

Yes, I'm connected by a HDMI cable.

So, if it keeps happening I should try component cables?

I wonder if Apple are aware of this?

 

[MikieMikie]

I am certain they are aware of it.

There are many issues with software version 2 that I believe Apple will address as long as they have sold sufficient Apple TVs to justify the manpower investment.

Component cables should solve your problem. (I put the should in italics because I would hate for you to go out and purchase them only to find it did not work for you. I am warning that I cannot confirm that this is a one-cable-fits-all solution.)