My AirTV 2 was working great until I decided to test some other hard drives with it. After unplugging my original drive, it refused to recognize any drives, including the original one. It just said “No hard drive connected”, even though it was.
I tried reformatting the drive in various ways, but that didn’t help. After spending hours trying to get the unit to work, I found this solution which does the trick!
How to Make Your AirTV Recognize Drives
I used the Sling iPhone app to do this procedure.
First, click your account icon in the upper right corner of the app.
Next, click “Local Channels”.
Click “Connected Devices”.
Click “My AirTV”.
Scroll to the bottom and click “Remove AirTV”. This is the key step of the whole process! I wasn’t able to get the unit to recognize the drive without doing this:
Do a factory reset on your AirTV by pushing a paperclip in the RESET hole in the back of the unit (keeping the unit powered on).
When the unit resets, go through the setup process again, then plug in the drive.
You may need to wait a few minutes for the app to recognize your drive, so don’t panic if it doesn’t work immediately.
That should do it!
How to Avoid this Problem in the Future
To avoid this problem, it might help to eject your drive before disconnecting it (something I definitely didn’t know to do). To eject a drive, follow these steps:
- Click “DVR” in the bottom menu.
- Click “AIRTV DVR STORAGE” in the top menu.
- Click “EJECT HARE DRIVE”
Conclusion
Did this solve the problem for you? Any questions? Please leave a comment below! – Brian
Thanks for the tutorial. I’ve been working on mine on and off for about 3 days now since my hdd went bad, and it finally seems to be working with the new hdd. I had done everything you said to do already, including the factory reset and removing and adding the AirTV2 back again, but not sure I did everything in the exact order you had. Biggest issue I had besides the hdd not picking up was the Sling app freezing up after scanning the channels. Tried a tablet and phone (both Androids). Had to unplug the box and plug back in to unfreeze it. Finally got it to take, just hope it stays that way. They have some kind of issue going on, either with firmware, the Sling app or both. I haven’t looked my hdd up to see if it was one of the supported models, but I don’t think the model of hdd had anything to do with it because I had a Seagate ext drive SRD00F1 that has worked on this AirTV2 ever since I got it over a year ago, and I replaced it with an identical drive. I was about to the point of going to find my old original AirTV that I still have and seeing if I could get it to work again.
Hi Tony,
Thanks for sharing your experience and the tips. Sorry it was such a hassle. Yeah, they really need to fix this.
Brian
Brian can you tell us what the latest firmware version is on your Airtv 2?
I tried your suggestion 5 times and it still will not work. If I unplug the drive it pops up and says it needs to be formatted, I plug it back in and click on format and it just sits there not doing anything. I leave it for an hour and it still says formatting hard drive. I have tried multiple hard drives and still will not work.
I was not looking to use a hard drive, just to hook up my airtv. I had tried everything but your advice that made the difference was the removing of airtv and the reset. Boom. works after hours trying on my own.
Hi Roxana,
Glad it worked for you! Thanks for sharing.
Best,
Brian
Spoke too soon. Got it to work but only for 30 seconds and it started buffering and then went offline. But I was happy for 30 seconds. I have tried off and on for a couple of years. Even thought my first one was bad and bought another one. But thank you, you still gave good advice but my house does not like airtv I guess.
Thank you again.
Hmmm.. maybe it’s a signal strength issue?
So why would the hard drive be seen on my cell that I set it up with but not on other devices. I can pause and rewind on mobile device that set up dvr but get 16-453 error code. Bit no other devices even see the dvr?
HI Patrick,
Check out this thread on Reddit on that error code. There’s some things to try in there, including calling Sling’s customer service number, which I didn’t know until now:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AirTV/comments/14ghjvs/error_code_16453_update/
Best,
Brian
Brian, Thank you very much! Followed your fix and I’m back able to record on my AirTV.
I have been trying to get it record again after almost 2 months. With no solution from Sling!
Hi Alex,
So glad this fix worked for yout! Thanks for sharing!
Best,
Brian
Got the hard drive configured. Programmed an OTA show to record. Now shows won’t show in Recordings. Had to go to “Scheduled “ tab. Attempted to “Watch Now” and got an error.
I’ve been through this twice now. Full reset, reconfigure per this procedures.
Any ideas to resolve?
Hi Roger,
What kind of drive are you using? Is it one of the recommended ones? See this article for list of recommended drives:
https://www.disablemycable.com/blog/airtv2/
I’ve found that AirTV is very finicky about drives. This may or may not be the problem, so make sure you can return the drive if you buy a new one.
Best,
Brian
WD Elements. It’s on their list. Frustrating.
Hmm.. I’m baffled too then. It seems this is a different problem than the one I encountered.
Your article was the gem in the coal pile, Brian. Followed your instructions with my WD Elements drive, and it worked like a charm. You should bill Sling for your fine customer service!
Hi Roger,
Glad it worked for you! Thanks for sharing!
Best,
Brian