Non Jailbreak ssh solution
I was on the FireCore forum and through a discussion with user badabing, I found a solution that does not require a re-jailbreak to fix this ssh/ftp issue. I was able to do it successfully and have full access again and all my troubles are over (for now).
See the discussion here:
http://forum.firecore.com/topic/8161
Some of the Key elements:
Download openssh_5.8p1-9_iphoneos-arm.deb onto your PC/Mac
Use the NitoTV UI on ATV2 to
- install afc2add
- install vsftpd
Reboot the ATV
connect via USB cable to your PC / MAC
and connect using iFunbox (you must have the power plug in the ATV and THEN connect to your PC/Mac with USB)
Under Connected Devices (in iFunBox) you should see your ATV2
Go to Raw File System (this is the / of your ATV)
Navigate to
/private/var/root/Media/Cydia/AutoInstall
Use CopyFromPC option to upload openssh_5.8p1-9_iphoneos-arm.deb into that directory
What this does is upon next reboot, cydia will attempt to install any deb file that is in AutoInstall directory.
However because you have a newer version, which can't be uninstalled, cydia will not downgrade, hence navigate to
/private/var/stash/libexec/cydia/startup
and use CopyToPC option to copy startup file to your pc/mac
edit the file on your pc/mac
modify the line that has dpkg to this
dpkg --force-downgrade -i "${debs[@]}" 2>/tmp/dpkg.log 1>&2
basically we are adding an option to force downgrading (--force-downgrade)
and then upload it back to ATV using CopyFromPC option.
reboot ATV
check using NitoTV to make sure you have the downgraded version running on ATV.
test to see if you can connect.
if not,
upgrade openssh
reboot
you should be able to connect again.