Channels & viewing

[GeeTV9]

We have an older Roku Streaming Stick. We have the HBO Max app on it but we cannot use it. It opens, but we cannot navigate to the HBO Max menu to choose anything. After a little bit it dies and takes us back to our Roku menu.

Chat, email, or phone support by Roku would be nice, but that doesn't seem to be available. Hopefully someone on the community has an idea what's wrong.

[atc98092 · Accepted solution]

Which model Roku Stick do you have? HBO claims their channel works on any Roku device with Roku OS 9.3 and later, but I wouldn't be surprised if it has problems with older devices. I just finished watching something on my Ultra 4800 without an issue.

Sometimes channels can get corrupted, and they need to be reinstalled. I just had to do that today on my sister-in-law's Premiere with Plex. It would begin loading, then just go back to the home screen. 

To do this, you need to remove the channel, reboot the Roku, then add the channel back. Do not forget the reboot step, or it was never really removed. To remove the channel, highlight the program tile on the main screen and hit the * button, then select remove channel.

[GeeTV9]

Thanks for the response! I think our stick is 3500 or 5500, I forget which. The operating system is 9.4, so it should be good.

We tried removing the app and downloading it again, but we will try again and make sure to reboot in-between.

[atc98092]

The 3500 (the purple stick) is very old, and doesn't work with the latest channels. This could be one that HBO claims will work but in reality will not. The 3500 was released in March 2014, and Roku no longer offers a replacement remote. It's also down in processing power and memory, so that might be the issue with Max. Best of luck, but you might consider it's time for an upgrade. There are a number of newer channels, such as Disney+, that states flat out the 3500 is not supported.