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awsdog's avatar
awsdog
Reel Rookie
3 years ago

HBOMax not loading, error code -4

I just got my Roku TV less than a week ago and have only had it set up for 2~ days. The one streaming service I use most is HBOMax, so naturally I opened that first to log in, but all it would do was buffer and load; in fact it did that until the screen saver popped up. This issue continued until it instead gave me an application error, saying it lost connection to the server and it gave me error code -4. I tried the obvious (uninstalling then reinstalling, turning the TV on and off) but it didn't resolve the issue. When I looked up error code -4 I couldn't find a single thing. This is not an issue with every application, YouTube, Netflix, Disney+ and Hulu all work fine and I can stream as much as I want, just HBOMax doesn't seem to work. Can anyone help me? Or am I screwed?

4 Replies

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  • RokuKarla's avatar
    RokuKarla
    Retired Moderator
    3 years ago

    Hello awsdog

    Thanks for reaching out here in the Community!

    Did you restart your Roku device before re-installing the channel? That step is crucial when performing troubleshooting. If you haven't tried the suggested order (remove > restart > re-install), we would recommend giving it a shot once again. We also suggest doing the restart from the Settings menu by navigating to Settings > System > Power (If you do not see a Power submenu, skip to the next step.) > System restart.

    For detailed instructions, refer to this Support link: How do I resolve channel playback issues?

    Let us know how it goes!



    Regards,
    Karla

    • awsdog's avatar
      awsdog
      Reel Rookie
      3 years ago

      Thank you, but this didn't work. It opened without the error message, but buffered for a few minutes and didn't do anything else. I closed and reopened the channel and the error message came back.

      • Anonymous's avatar
        Anonymous
        3 years ago

        Hi  awsdog

        Thanks for keeping in touch!

        Many channels on Roku are maintained by the channel provider themselves. Since the error only occurs on the HBO Max channel, that's an indication that there's likely an issue within that specific channel that needs to be addressed with an update from them. We indeed recommend contacting HBO Max Support to report the issue and get help.

        Thank you for your understanding.


        Warm Regards,
        Lianna

  • ArchitectU's avatar
    ArchitectU
    Reel Rookie
    3 years ago

    You may have the same error I did years ago. The issue is the app not Roku. The app sends an improperly formatted response which causes some network gear to drop it causing the error. My fix was a firewall rule that ignored the specific formatting issue for the hbo response domain hbomax*.youidomain2.com. 

    For a detailed explanation see this earlier community response. Do not count on the Community Moderators to know any more than normal customer service, they are not engineers, despite them meaning well and wanting to help they cannot.

    https://community.roku.com/t5/Channels-viewing/HBO-Max-Network-Error-on-a-New-Roku-Ultra-4800R/m-p/737431#M95858