Apple TV: Troubleshooting wireless connections
Summary
If you have an issue with connecting your wireless network to Apple TV, there’s usually a quick and simple solution you can try.
Products Affected
AppleTV
Cannot see your wireless network in the list on Apple TV
- Make sure your wireless network is not hidden.
- Make sure there is nothing resting on top of the Apple TV. This can cause interference with the wireless antennas.
- Make sure your Apple TV and computer are within range of your wireless base station.
- Make sure there are no potential sources of interference.
- If your wireless base station uses Media Access Control (MAC) filtering make sure the Apple TV MAC address is added to the MAC filter list on your base station by using the documentation that came with your base station.
Apple TV will not accept your wireless password
- Make sure your wireless password for Apple TV contains valid characters.
- Make sure your wireless network is not using WPA-Enterprise encryption.
Apple TV cannot be seen in the Devices list but movie trailers can download
- If your computer uses a firewall, make sure your computer's firewall is not blocking port 5353.
Note: For Mac OS X Leopard firewalls, add the application "iTunes" to the "Set access for specific services and applications" list. - Make sure your computer's Bonjour functions are working properly. Can you see other Bonjour functions like Shared music from another computer's iTunes? If you are using Windows try to re-install iTunes.
- Is your computer logged into a VPN connection? VPN connections can interfere with Bonjour.
- Make sure your Apple TV and computer with iTunes is operating on the same subnetwork.
- If you are using Windows, see if there is a System Service or Startup Item that might be causing a conflict. Click here for assistance on troubleshooting System Services and Startup Items.
Apple TV cannot be seen in the Devices list and movie trailers cannot download
- Make sure you have joined your wireless network.
- Make sure your wireless network has Internet access.
- If you use PPPoE to connect to the Internet. Make sure you are not impacted by the PPPoE scenario.
Apple TV is seen in the Devices list but cannot sync or stream
- Make sure your firewall is not configured to block port 3689.
Note: For Mac OS X Leopard firewalls, add the application "iTunes" to the "Set access for specific services and applications" list.
Apple TV cannot play iTunes store purchased items
- Make sure your wireless network is not blocking ports 80 and 443.
- Make sure you are not going through a web proxy server.
If the above solutions do not solve your issue, try restarting your router or base station and Apple TV.
- Restart your base station or router. Sometimes this is done by turning the router off and then on again, but check the documentation provided by the manufacturer.
- To restart your Apple TV, press and hold Menu and Menu down/scroll (-) for about 6 seconds and then choose Restart from the menu.
If the issue continues after restarting, reset your router or base station and Apple TV to factory settings.
- Reset your base station or router. Use the documentation provided by the manufacturer to reset to factory settings.
- To reset your Apple TV perform a factory restore.
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