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josephabennett

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 22, 2006
7
0
I've had the AppleTV for a couple of years now, and lately I'm getting a strange problem.

After I boot up the AppleTV, the remote works fine. Then, after watching the ATV for a while, and then leaving the room, turning off the TV, later when I come back (sometimes minutes, sometimes longer) and turning on the TV again, the ATV remote no longer works. None of the menu + << combinations do anything.

If I then unplug my ATV, wait a few seconds, plug it back in, and it boots up, the remote works just fine. Then again, after leaving the room and coming back later, the remote is not working again.

I have replaced the remote's batteries. I have unpaired this remote and paired with a different remote, also with fresh batteries.

It just doesn't seem to matter. After some period of time, and anecdotally, it always seems to be after I've turned off the TV (can't confirm this), this seems to happen. If it means anything, the TV is connected via HDMI. Note that if I turn off the TV, wait a few minutes, and turn it back on, it seems to work. It is only after being gone "for a while" that this seems to happen.

It makes the thing, essentially, unusable. It takes too long to boot this up IMO, (so the idea of unplugging and replugging isn't OK), and for somebody like my wife who is tech-phobic, this is unacceptable.

It never used to do this. It only started happening in the last few weeks.

It didn't happen due to a system update. What happened was I hadn't used the ATV for a while, then tried to use it and noticed I couldn't get the machine off its screen saver. I figured it was some kind of overheating issue or whatever - after rebooting, this happened. After rebooting again, and then applying latest updates, this happened.

There have been other posts of the forum similar to this, but it always seems to come down to a battery issue. but since I've paired with 2-3 different remotes over time in trying to diagnose it, I seriously doubt it is the remote that is causing the problem.

It almost appears as if the sensor on the box just stops working after some period of time. I no longer notice an amber light when i press remote buttons once this happens.

Please help!:mad:
 

waw74

macrumors 601
May 27, 2008
4,678
944
it might have to do with IR interference from your TV. I knew Plasma screens sometimes had issues, and was looking for stuff online to post here. I found this article saying that some of the newer LCD with LED backlights can cause IR interference. In this case it was while it was heating up. it also says sometimes the "auto backlight" features of certain TVs can interfere (depending on the make and model turning it on or off fixed the problem) although i'm guessing it mainly depends on the level the backlight is at.

in the article, they say "camcorder" but any digital camera will work (iphone or the built in iSight on your macbook) just point it at the screen of your tv when you are having problems, and see if it's brighter than at other times.

also check out this, have you added new lighting (or other electronics) in the room? or is there a window that's you've had the curtains more open than normal recently?
 

josephabennett

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 22, 2006
7
0
Maybe I wasn't clear

The problem is not the remote... this happens with 3 different Apple remotes. And I find it hard to believe it is the TV, because the remote works the first time the ATV boots, then later stops.
 
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