I am completely stymied trying to jailbreak my Apple TV.

[Fausto]

Bought one over the weekend. iOS 4.2.1. Downloaded greenpois0n, scrounged a microusb cable, etc, etc, etc (untethered in Win7, just for the record).

I can get it to start the jailbreak process, but then it just hangs up. The "finished!" buttton never lights up no matter how long I sit there. I also tried a manual downgrade of the iOS and that keeps getting slapped down by Apple once it goes to the "verify" stage of the manual restore. Tried monkeying with my hosts file to work around this but no dice.

It's a neat little gizmo as is, but I really want XBMC on this thing. Suggestions? :'(

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Use TinyUmbrella to save all your SHSHs. Check the iPhone Dev Team blog because I think the latest version of Apple TV software is already jailbroken.

 

[Fausto]

Use TinyUmbrella to save all your SHSHs. Check the iPhone Dev Team blog because I think the latest version of Apple TV software is already jailbroken.

Links and details? Is this an untethered jailbreak?

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Links and details? Is this an untethered jailbreak?

http://blog.iphone-dev.org/

Looks like redsn0w will work (ie you can update through iTunes and then run redsn0w to do an untethered jailbreak).

Before doing all this, you should check on xbmc to see if xbmc has lost features or lost functionality because of these incremental updates.

Most importantly, always save your SHSHs so you always have the option of downgrading.

 

[ponyo]

Have you tried jailbreaking it with sn0wbreeze? http://www.appletvhacks.net/2011/04/12/how-to-jailbreak-apple-tv-2-on-ios-4-3-with-sn0wbreeze-untethered/#more-1071

I think I read sn0wbreeze jailbreak has less problems with XBMC than Greenpois0n for the newest firmware. I believe you have to use XBMC nightly if you're on iOS 4.3 (Apple TV 4.2.1). I'm still on the stable Apple TV 4.1.1 firmware with no plans to update.

If you do succeed in jailbreaking the Apple TV, be sure to install IceFilms and Navi-X add-ons for XBMC. Those two add-ons are a must.

 

[Fausto]

Have you tried jailbreaking it with sn0wbreeze? http://www.appletvhacks.net/2011/04/12/how-to-jailbreak-apple-tv-2-on-ios-4-3-with-sn0wbreeze-untethered/#more-1071

I think I read sn0wbreeze jailbreak has less problems with XBMC than Greenpois0n for the newest firmware. I believe you have to use XBMC nightly if you're on iOS 4.3 (Apple TV 4.2.1). I'm still on the stable Apple TV 4.1.1 firmware with no plans to update.

If you do succeed in jailbreaking the Apple TV, be sure to install IceFilms and Navi-X add-ons for XBMC. Those two add-ons are a must.

I'll give that a try tonight, thanks.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

If you do succeed in jailbreaking the Apple TV, be sure to install IceFilms and Navi-X add-ons for XBMC. Those two add-ons are a must.

What do those do?

 

[Lotheron]

Not to advertise my own website, but funny enough I was just working on an updated Jailbreak procedure that I just used last night to jailbreak an updated AppleTV to version 4.2.2. This article was a work in progress, but I published it so you could see it. I don't get enough traffic to update posts drastically yet, just forwarning. I was going to wait until tonight to publish so I could get some images added, but I'll add them later.

This is still valid for iOS for Apple TV version 4.2.2 (The Current One) Let me know if the guide is too confusing.

http://www.lotheron.com/2011/05/24/how-to-install-xbmc-on-an-apple-tv-2-running-ios/

 

[Fausto]

Not to advertise my own website, but funny enough I was just working on an updated Jailbreak procedure that I just used last night to jailbreak an updated AppleTV to version 4.2.2. This article was a work in progress, but I published it so you could see it. I don't get enough traffic to update posts drastically yet, just forwarning. I was going to wait until tonight to publish so I could get some images added, but I'll add them later.

This is still valid for iOS for Apple TV version 4.2.2 (The Current One) Let me know if the guide is too confusing.

http://www.lotheron.com/2011/05/24/how-to-install-xbmc-on-an-apple-tv-2-running-ios/

The last thing I tried last night (around 1:30am...I am one of those people that SIMPLY MUST FINISH THIS THING, I KNOW IT WILL WORK THIS TIME) was the seas0pass protocol. All seemed to be going swimmingly until iTunes threw an error at me. Ideas?

edit- it occurs to me I might not be running the most current iTunes. I'll have to check once I get home.

 

[Fausto]

BTW- your guide looks great. Perfectly clear to me now that I am mostly familiar with the tools needed to jailbreak iOS. Thanks for taking the time to put that up for us.

 

[Patranus]

I would use one of the daily builds of XBMC with 4.2.2 as the release build has some issues.

ssh rood@IP-Address
Password: alpine

wget http://hadm.net/~keith/xbmc_atv2/latest_atv2.deb
dpkg -i latest_atv2.deb
rm latest_atv2.deb

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=97246

The nightly build has issues of its owns (like music playback) but has much better video performance with 4.2.2

 

[Lotheron]

The last thing I tried last night (around 1:30am...I am one of those people that SIMPLY MUST FINISH THIS THING, I KNOW IT WILL WORK THIS TIME) was the seas0pass protocol. All seemed to be going swimmingly until iTunes threw an error at me. Ideas?

edit- it occurs to me I might not be running the most current iTunes. I'll have to check once I get home.

I got error 1600 last night, so if that's the error you got. There's a part in the guide for that that got me through.

 

[Lotheron]

I would use one of the daily builds of XBMC with 4.2.2 as the release build has some issues.

ssh rood@IP-Address
Password: alpine

wget http://hadm.net/~keith/xbmc_atv2/latest_atv2.deb
dpkg -i latest_atv2.deb
rm latest_atv2.deb

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=97246

The nightly build has issues of its owns (like music playback) but has much better video performance with 4.2.2

I agree and touch on that in my guide. In fact, if you're AppleTV is version 4.2.2 (latest), you have to be running an updated nightly.

 

[Fausto]

I got error 1600 last night, so if that's the error you got. There's a part in the guide for that that got me though.

It was not the 1600 error, it was 3196 or something like that.

 

[Lotheron]

It was not the 1600 error, it was 3196 or something like that.

It might have been 3194 and that probably means that Apple isn't signing the version of iOS you're trying to put on your Apple TV. I believe iTunes calls home as part of the last steps of the restore process. Did you let Seas0nPass download it's own file? This should be the newest version of the Firmware, so that should mean that Apple will sign it and it did mine. Apple only generally signs the latest version of the firmware to prevent downgraders. This is why it was said to save your SHSH blobs so that you can downgrade.

It doesn't really matter right now because the newest firmware is able to be jailbroken and works with xbmc. If this was not the case, you would want to be able to downgrade to re-jailbreak.

Sometimes putting 74.208.105.171 gs.apple.com in your hosts file fixes this as I believe that's a third party firmware "signer".

 

[Fausto]

It might have been 3194 and that probably means that Apple isn't signing the version of iOS you're trying to put on your Apple TV. I believe iTunes calls home as part of the last steps of the restore process. Did you let Seas0nPass download it's own file? This should be the newest version of the Firmeware, so that should mean that Apple will sign it and it did mine. Apple only generally signs the latest version of the firmware to prevent downgraders. This is why it was said to save your SHSH blobs so that you can downgrade.

It doesn't really matter right now because the newest firmware is able to be jailbroken and works with xbmc. If this was not the case, you would want to be able to downgrade to re-jailbreak.

Sometimes putting 74.208.105.171 gs.apple.com in your hosts file fixes this as I believe that's a third party firmware "signer".

Pretty sure you're correct on all counts here. At this point I will probably just make sure all my hardware is "current" and start fresh with your protocol.

 

[Lotheron]

Just to add, last night I let Apple update my AppleTV with the newest version before starting as I had an older version that was jailbroken already (4.1.1). I updated because the newer version of iOS has better support for h.264 which is supported in the newest xbmc nightlies.

 

[ponyo]

What do those do?

IceFilms
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_jP9cDeqII

Navi-X
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FMKKNOz3AM

Between Netflix, IceFilms, and Navi-X, you'll never run out of streaming content.

 

[Fausto]

Okay, WTF. I updated iTunes, tried to update the ATV and I get a 3194 error at the end when Apple is validating the update? This isn't even the jailbreak, just a legit update to 4.2.2

 

[Lotheron]

Okay, WTF. I updated iTunes, tried to update the ATV and I get a 3194 error at the end when Apple is validating the update? This isn't even the jailbreak, just a legit update to 4.2.2

Gotta love apple. Did you try putting that line in your hosts file? Also try downloading the legit 4.2.2 directly as a file instead of letting iTunes download it. Maybe something is getting messed up in the download.

 

[Fausto]

FINALLY!

Got everything sorted last night after much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Here's what I did.

1. Had Apple update the ATV software to 4.2.2 and installed latest iTunes.

2. Used the most recent sn0wbreeze to do the jailbreak (I spent about an hour trying different versions that were "supposed" to work with 422 and I kept getting "not a valid ipsw")

3. Once the jailbreak was complete, I used Putty and Lotheron's excellent writeup to install XBMC and NitoTV.

One quick note tho- you have a typo in 2.A. of "installing XBMC". It says "mirros" instead of "mirrors". Otherwise, you are brilliant and I owe you a beer for your help. :thumbsup:

 

[Fausto]

Now I just have to figure out how to get all my lovely info and art back for my movies and whatnot.

 

[Lotheron]

FINALLY!

Got everything sorted last night after much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Here's what I did.

1. Had Apple update the ATV software to 4.2.2 and installed latest iTunes.

2. Used the most recent sn0wbreeze to do the jailbreak (I spent about an hour trying different versions that were "supposed" to work with 422 and I kept getting "not a valid ipsw")

3. Once the jailbreak was complete, I used Putty and Lotheron's excellent writeup to install XBMC and NitoTV.

One quick note tho- you have a typo in 2.A. of "installing XBMC". It says "mirros" instead of "mirrors". Otherwise, you are brilliant and I owe you a beer for your help. :thumbsup:

WOOOOOOOT!!! Awesome!! I thought it sounded like it was trying to use an ipsw that Apple didn't like which is usually why they wont sign it, but I'm glad you finally got it!!

I'll fix the typo, I wrote that article pretty quick and mostly from memory

Edit: Seas0nPass didn't work for you? I'm surprised...

Now I just have to figure out how to get all my lovely info and art back for my movies and whatnot.

Use Ember Media Manager (Revisited). It's the best thing since sliced bread for Movies and TV shows. I have mostly TV shows, so it downloads TV show art, season posters, episodes art, Episode synopses. It's pretty intuitive and it makes managing media art easy compared to doing it manual.

 

[Fausto]

Yeah, seas0npass was a bust. Not only that, it was OMG SLOW. I tried it a few times and got sick of it taking so long. The interwebs don't seem to be as big a fan of sn0wbreeze, but I was willing to try almost anything after spending the better part of two days on this stupid thing.

The only other issue I had was horrible static instead of sound when trying to play any media stored on my NAS. Flipped the sound option in ATV to "16 bit" and that fixed the problem. Looking forward to Game of Thrones in 720p tonight.

I will check out EMM tonight. Again, thanks for all your help.

 

[Lotheron]

Yeah, seas0npass was a bust. Not only that, it was OMG SLOW. I tried it a few times and got sick of it taking so long. The interwebs don't seem to be as big a fan of sn0wbreeze, but I was willing to try almost anything after spending the better part of two days on this stupid thing.

The only other issue I had was horrible static instead of sound when trying to play any media stored on my NAS. Flipped the sound option in ATV to "16 bit" and that fixed the problem. Looking forward to Game of Thrones in 720p tonight.

I will check out EMM tonight. Again, thanks for all your help.

It's slow because it's actually downloading a fresh firmware file from Apple. It then extracts it and adds the jailbreaking info. This is so when you restore the file using itunes, you're actually restoring a pre-jailbroken firmware. The other ones just jailbreak what's already on there which is why they are tons faster.

Previous to 4.2.2 I was using greenp0ison RC 6.1 but it doesn't seem to work with the new ATV firmware.