MacSparky mentioned trouble with ATV volume on remote. I don’t remember where I found this but it is worth a try. It has worked for me in the past.
1-Hold down the Home and Volume down buttons simultaneously for a few
seconds. Popup will show “Connection Lost”.
2- Press any button for the remote to connect. Volume controls on remote should begin working.
Yes, that is how you can restart your remote, which I need to do every few months to be able to control my TV’s volume again.
FYI, this is most likely to happen a lot if you are using the AppleTV remote to control volume via infrared (IR) on an AV Receiver or other device.
It happens rarely if the AppleTV remote is using Bluetooth to control the volume, such as when the AppleTV itself is controlling volume via HDMI/CEC controls.
TMI, but since IR control is a one-way communication (no feedback or status), it is not possible for the sending device (the AppleTV remote, or any other remote) to know they are not working and reset itself.
This seems to be a problem with the AppleTV remote because of some obscure bug and Apple, not really wanting to support legacy TV/control systems, has never made the IR control as programmable or robust as it should or could be.
Unfortunately, the “go to” solution for a affordable better universal remote, the Logitech Harmony series, has long been discontinued (but still in use).
Most of my clients would rather have this Apple remote reset code written down for reference than switch to the overpriced fancy touch-screen universal remotes ($1000+ retail), or the flaky, poorly designed cheaper ones from relatively unknown offshore manufacturers.