My television doesn’t have AirPlay, so I bought a used Apple TV. And I really shouldn’t have done that.
I bought a second-hand Apple TV
So I have an HD TV that doesn’t support AirPlay. I do have a Chromecast, but if I want to watch Apple TV+ on my TV, I can only do so via my MacBook. With a cheap second-hand Apple TV via Marktplaats, I could now also do this via my iPhone.
It became a simple second-hand Apple TV HD of the third generation (A1469). The problem was indeed solved, but it was not easy. In this article I will tell you what problems I encountered and how I solved them.
Connection to WiFi
The first problem I encountered was that I couldn’t connect to WiFi. Something that is of course quite essential. The strange thing is that I received the message that the password is incorrect, even though I had not yet entered a password. The seller of the second-hand Apple TV had also neatly reset the device to the factory settings.
The first thing I did was connect an ethernet cable. That in itself worked. This way I could at least update the software in the hope that this would solve the problem. Unfortunately that was not the case. An internet search taught me that it could be related to the modem’s security settings.
That turned out to be true. The modem’s security was set to WPA2/WPA3. I changed the setting to wpa2 and performed a reset on my second-hand Apple TV. Only then was I able to choose my wireless network and enter a password for the first time. Since then, WiFi has been working perfectly!
Everything works except AirPlay
For a moment I thought that everything was now in order with my second-hand Apple TV, but I had cheered too early. I was able to use the apps on the Apple TV: signing in with my Apple ID to the Apple TV+ app worked perfectly. However, the Apple TV was still not found as an AirPlay device. Not on my iPhone, not on my MacBook. And that was exactly what I bought it for.
Restarting all devices one by one had no effect. Performing a new reset was also in vain. While checking the settings of my second-hand Apple TV, I suddenly saw: Activation: Failed. That turned out to be the problem.
Apple Configurator is the solution
Another search on the internet taught me that I could connect my second-hand Apple TV to a laptop via USB and that I could still arrange activation via software. The Apple TV still has a micro USB connection and after a while of searching I actually found a cable with micro USB to USB A. In any case, it fits a Windows laptop that I had lying around.
The free software 3utools should work, but unfortunately not for me. My used Apple TV was recognized as an Apple device, but not as an Apple TV. So I didn’t get any further with that. I then decided to arrange an adapter from USB A to USB C.
Thanks to such an adapter, I could now connect my second-hand Apple TV to my MacBook Air M1. The software I needed here was Apple Configurator. This indeed succeeded Activate Apple TV. Since then everything has worked exactly as it should. AirPlay is visible and usable from my iPhone and my MacBook. In the end I am very happy with it!
Buy a new Apple TV
A second-hand Apple TV is the cheapest way to add AirPlay to a TV that doesn’t have it yet. So it’s not as easy as you might think, but it does work in the end.
If you don’t want to deal with this hassle, you can simply buy a new Apple TV and the installation will be a lot easier. Check out the best deal below!
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