Hello!

I'm new here. I got a ATV from eBay that won't boot. Orange LED just blinking orange and i don't get any picture on my samsung lcd TV. I tried HDMI & Component.

I pulled out the HDD and connected to my iMac. HDD seems to work fine. Tried an other HDD from here "smallatv.dmg". Still no video.

Maybe a problem with the boot EFI?

I hear the HDD spinnig up when plugged in ATV, thats all.

Any tips for me?

try pressing and holding Menu and + or Menu and - for a couple of seconds

If you have a Mac and a new drive you can use AtvDrive
see AtvDrive - AwkwardTV

Originally Posted by ral67

If you have a Mac and a new drive you can use AtvDrive
see AtvDrive - AwkwardTV

Thank you, but this didnt solve my problem. Still blinking orange without video or sound.

Pressing and holding Menu and + or Menu and - doesent show any effect on ATV.

Is it possible to boot from USB without internal HDD?

Have you tried a patchstick?

That will at least indicate if you can boot from USB without using internal drive.

Originally Posted by schurikde

Thank you, but this didnt solve my problem. Still blinking orange without video or sound.

Pressing and holding Menu and + or Menu and - doesent show any effect on ATV.

Is it possible to boot from USB without internal HDD?

Yes. And why is your mb outside the ATV. You know that the CPU/GPU will overheat and shutdown without being heat sinked ?

Originally Posted by davilla

Yes. And why is your mb outside the ATV. You know that the CPU/GPU will overheat and shutdown without being heat sinked ?

Yes i know that. Its not a problem for a few minutes. I only want to see the boot-screen. Then i will put it back in the ATV case.

I tried a patchstick. The LED on the USB stick blinks one time and nothing happens.

I think i need a efi.dmg or the SST "bios" chip on the logicboard is bad. I think this chip says the ATV from where to boot...

Can someone help me with efi.dmg? Or any other ideas?



... i made a efi.dmg from my hdd with atvcloner. anyone who can try it out for me? how can i upload it here?

*sigh* appletv abuse That's an easy way to cook the CPU/GPU as you are relying on the thermal shutdown to save the CPU/GPU from damage.

"I tried a patchstick. The LED on the USB stick blinks one time and nothing happens." That means EFI firmware "looked" at the drive and did not find what it expected, which means a) did not make the patchstick correctly or b) the USB flash is the wrong type.

The fact that EFI firmware looked at the disk says EFI is working (note, the AppleTV uses EFI and not BIOS). Remake a patchstick using a different USB flash drive and try again.

Originally Posted by davilla

*sigh* appletv abuse That's an easy way to cook the CPU/GPU as you are relying on the thermal shutdown to save the CPU/GPU from damage.

"I tried a patchstick. The LED on the USB stick blinks one time and nothing happens." That means EFI firmware "looked" at the drive and did not find what it expected, which means a) did not make the patchstick correctly or b) the USB flash is the wrong type.

The fact that EFI firmware looked at the disk says EFI is working (note, the AppleTV uses EFI and not BIOS). Remake a patchstick using a different USB flash drive and try again.

Hi. I made the patchstick and bootloader with "atvusb-creator-1.0.b10".
Do you know better software? I have a cheap 2GB USB stick. If you can tell me what i need, i will get a new one. Can i use an external HDD to do this?

What does that mean "EFI Firmware locked"? How did this happen and how to "unlock" it?

And how about the SST Chip on the Board? This is the EEPROM, right? How to check if it's ok?

Originally Posted by schurikde

Hi. I made the patchstick and bootloader with "atvusb-creator-1.0.b10".
Do you know better software? I have a cheap 2GB USB stick. If you can tell me what i need, i will get a new one. Can i use an external HDD to do this?

What does that mean "EFI Firmware locked"? How did this happen and how to "unlock" it?

And how about the SST Chip on the Board? This is the EEPROM, right? How to check if it's ok?

The current version is atvusb-creator-1.0.b13.zip.

Not all USB sticks will work, it depends on the guts and since the guts change depending on who makes it, it is futile to recommend a specific model number.

Where do you see "EFI Firmware locked" ?

Checking if the EEPROM is ok ? Good luck. You would have to desolder it and verify that all bits can read/write and then guess if the contents are good as the EEPROM contents would be different depending on age of contents.