Wi-Fi & connectivity

[angry_kreyon]

as I start to write this I got this error code "code rlp-1002 - network unavailable". get this a lot many times a day,

it is impossible to watch these devices anymore, they are 4k streaming sticks that look worse that VGA and cannot stream anything no matter what router or network speed I have. I have been using roku for years and all of a sudden last year all my wifi streamers (all bought within last 3 years) cannot watch a full 10 min of tv without failing.

I have tried all fixes and new routers, even brand new streaming devices and while nothing else in my house connects at less than 100GB the roku maybe on a good day will get 11mb and then stat to fail in less than 10 min. I have gigabit ethernet and wifi 6 available routers, and nothing works to stop the buffering, I have added more nodes to my network and the node is less than 5 feet from the device and still the same. the ones that have the ability to be wired work fine, but I have friends with the wifi models and all are having similar issues.

this is a shame as Roku was great for a while, but an update last year has caused issues that have not been resolved and from what I can see here, they don't care and don't plan to resolve them, they want us to spend hundreds more to buy new devices that will fail soon enough too,

I do not trust Roku anymore and I am getting rid of my current 10 roku devices and moving to Xumo Boxes. they connect to my routers just fine with good signal and do not buffer! unlike a roku that connected and used to show 50mb service and now all of a sudden only shows 2mb speed. this is ridiculous! 

so tell me Roku, what is the resolution for my devices that were fine till an update came and now are crippled? how do I backout or Factory reset a roku? if they went back to original store bought they would work again I Am sure. 

the only reason I use Roku was because they are one of the few devices that can run my Spectrum TV app, it is not available on Firesticks which worked great for me too. so as I can get this app on Xumo I no longer need to rely on Roku, so if I don't get a fix fast I will ditch these and move on to better things. 

[Strega2]

code rlp-1002 is a Spectrum app error message.  Is it happening on other apps as well?

Being that Xumo is a joint venture between Charter/Spectrum and Comcast, it wouldn't surprise me too much if the Roku app they wrote seemed to behave worse when their own streaming product came out.  😃

[JWS9518]

Nah, Spectrum's service isn't the greatest at times, but that doesn't matter if it is a Roku, Xumo or any other device.  There are a number of complaints about Xumo, so I would not be so enthusiastic about switching. 

I would have Spectrum check your signal and see if they need to send a tech out to adjust it.  I have had circumstances where a dirty signal from Spectrum's node affected certain devices. 

You say you have routers (plural) and multiple nodes.  There is such a thing as too much when it comes to having routers, extenders, etc...and over saturating the network, which can cause problems as well as the devices sometimes get confused on what device to connect to or switches frequently.

For your router, check to see if you have a crowded network channel with a wireless analyzer and maybe change channels if it is crowded.  Also, I don't know how many devices you have, but if your router is capable, set up a temporary guest network with 2.4 ghz and WPA2 and connect those Roku's and see if that helps.

Lastly, make sure you have firmware updated on your router.

[RokuRhea-V · Accepted solution]

Hey @angry_kreyon,

Welcome to the Roku Community!  

Thank you for your efforts to resolve this issue. To help us investigate further, please let us know if you have encountered the same problem with other apps. If not, we recommend further troubleshooting steps:  

• Uninstall the Spectrum app on Roku, press Home, highlight the app, press Star, select Remove app, and confirm.
• To reset your network, go to Settings > System > Advance system settings > Network connection Reset to reset your network.

For more details, visit your Roku device's support article on issues such as playing shows and movies.

Please keep us updated on the results; we will continue assisting you from there.
Thanks,

The Roku Community Team

[angry_kreyon]

this happens on the Roku unit itself and not app dependant, in other words it is all apps as the unit only connects at 1mbs

[angry_kreyon]

this has been happening for a couple of years, I started with 1 router and have been trying different things to try and get it better, but with no luck. my current network gear is all less than 1 year old, has mesh and wifi 6,  all other devices on my network are good and get gig speeds, the roku's are the only units that connect at 1mbs on a wifi6 capable network.

  as for too much? I have a mesh network, they all look like 1 unit and there is no bottleneck anywhere for any devices. I can stream the same content on my PC, and it is 4k, I can even cast it to my TV's and it is fine( have smart Tv's that have no issues with connections, but use the roku on the same TV, and it all of a sudden looks worse than old fashion TV's, if my TV's could get the spectrum App I would not use the Roku's, as I have firesticks and other streaming devices, but none have the spectrum app on them, that is the only reason for the roku's everything else is available on my other devices. 

I am an IT engineer and know a lot about networking and Computer networks, I do this kind of stuff for a living for more than 30 years, my network is not the issue, the way the roku connects to it is. 

and why does the roku unit have to disconnect and reconnect in order to test it's network connection? I Set up a connection and it says it is connected and then I test that connection and to run the test it drops the connection and starts over again?  I have ESP32's that don't do that!! 

[angry_kreyon]

ok, first off I can't get this said enough, it is not the app that has the issue, it is the Roku units that do not connect to the network at more than 1mbs on a strong signal wifi 6 compatible network where all other devices connect at GIG speeds. tis is a UNIT issue not a APP issue! I have 3 different Roku models and all do the same. the best connection I can get is about 11mbbs for a few minutes, but then it goes to **bleep**. the access points are a reasonable distance, not too close or too far, the signal is 100% at the unit, yet it fails.

I have reset all the network settings, gone into the secret screens and see the network status and all that stuff, I have reset, made every change possible, tested all manner of things I can find reset them till the Cows came home and Still I cannot get through a 30 min show without a buffering screen it cloudy pixelated image, I am not getting 4k like the device is supposed to. 

I am really looking for an honest fix for the issue, I have spent a bunch of money upgrading the network only for the roku's to be the same.  

[angry_kreyon]

and I also want to add , that when I originally purchased the first units, they connected at higher speeds and worked flawlessly for a year or 2 and then a Roku update came down one day and then the issues started, as each unit updated it went to **bleep**. I tried not to update the new ones, but then other apps don't work. tried to find downgrade to roku units to get back to old firmware, but not able to find it. super frustrating to have 4k TVs and not be able to see 4k images on them, at this point vga would be better resolution than what these are.  

have done chip reset, driver reset,

as of this writing. 

RSSI ant1 = -16 RSSI ant2 = 0 cn1 RSSI -17 dbm noise -92 dbm SNR 75db

RX Frames 31492 drop=0 rate 11-MBPS (current) GPF1.09 util 49

Driver v5.7.3_38093.20241210 reg US

chip 8188fu wake Unset.

error0 prior 0

[JWS9518]

@angry_kreyon 

Most of us are users just like you trying to help others like you.  We don't know your 
"expertise" nor do we know exactly how your setup is in your home, without actually sitting there in the room.   We are just trying to help provide some guidance and ideas outside of the standard stuff provided. 

I can definitely say in the years of dealing with electronics and networks that nothing can be quite ruled out even if everything tests ok.  I went round and round with Spectrum for 2 years because I had similar issues to what you described with certain devices (not Roku) and Spectrum swore up and down that there was no issue, even a tech manager came on site after 4 techs couldn't find a thing.  Months later, it was discovered they had a broken pin on one of their nodes that someone had just stuck back in place, causing me and who know how many else, issues.  

The point I am trying to make is that it isn't always obvious even with expertise.

With that being said, what versions of the OS are on the sticks?  If they are all running the latest OS, then I would think it is unlikely it is an OS problem unless it is an odd quirk with your devices.  Otherwise, everyone who is running that OS would be encountering similar issues.   Which means that there is some quirk in your setup causing an issue.

As someone in IT, you are well aware that new or newer networks with the latest and greatest bells and whistles don't necessarily mean trouble-free.  It sometimes takes several firmware updates to fix issues (sometimes very specific issues with specific devices) before it is ultimately stable.  I have seen this with NG, Linksys and most of the others.  I am sure you have checked, but make sure that all your network hardware is up to date with its firmware.

One thing I have noticed with Rokus is that they can be channel sensitive and/or wireless sensitive, or even device sensitive (meaning if there are lots of devices in the home or in the area) depending on the model and the age of the devices.  They may not like mesh type networks that combine 5 and 2.4 ghz networks and WPA3/WPA2 together.  That can also mean that even if they worked like that before, there may be a change in the newer network or firmware that caused a quirk that it doesn't like.  I would try setting up a guest network or IOT type network on your router that only uses 2.4 GHZ and WPA2 solely for those devices and test that for a while and see if that helps.

I would also as a last resort try factory resetting your router and the Rokus and see if a clean factory setup would fix it.  I have seen firmware updates sometimes cause issues (especially with routers) with the configuration.

I am not saying it can't be a Roku device as by no means defending them as I have had Roku devices do things that get me irritated as well.  That is the nature of electronics these days.

I am sure others will help chime in with suggestions if you just give an opportunity to do so.

[angry_kreyon]

I appreciate the ideas, as I have mentioned, this was not how things started out, they were great till one day an update came along and then I lost them all as they updated, I had no choice in the update, turned it on and it forced the issue. I have tried guest network, and I am only using WPA2 currently, none of this helps, even the numbers I showed in another reply were short lived and after 5 min of reasonable picture, it went bad again and has been buffering. the Glitch rate is always high when I am having issues, when it's ok it is less than 200 when acting up, it hits up to 1500ish, that is with a -52 db signal. if the rate shows anything besides MCS1 or MCS2 it generally shows 1mbps, today I see it trying to run at 11mbps, but it keeps losing it. 

joins:5 tries:6 reconn:4 aps:5 sec:WPA2

for whatever reason, only 1 of the 2 antenna's works,

ant1 shows good signal at -50db

ant2 shows 0

and I think this is the main issue, all of my Roku's show this now, they used to show both connected, then the update came and now they only show 1 connected. why bother having 2 antenna's if we don't use them? 

and please, understand I know you are trying to help, I appreciate it for sure, it is just so frustrating to keep hearing the same things that I have already done be suggested over and over, I generally buy the newest things, and even though brand new will check for updates as the first thing I do, it is engrained in my brain, so they are up to date, and that is where the problem started, when they were updated with an OTA update and firmware. 

software version 14.1.4 build 7709 is the current one on the device I am testing and working on right now. ran update and this is the newest. 

 I have reset the networking on the devices, I have tried many different channels on my router, and currently on channel 1, Signal strength is excellent, but speed only at 8mbps (currently) .  I have turned off all APs and connected to the main router directly, I have tried 3 different manufacturer New routers, I have a wired house, but there is no ethernet port on this device for me to wire it, I tried a firestick network addon that plugs into the USB port, but the Roku does not recognize it being there. I have a roku TV, when it is wired it works excellent, if I remove the wire and go wireless it buffers like the rest. and if I have 1 tv with firestick watching Netflix and a roku unit watchin the same show on netflix, the roku will buffer and the firestick will not.  this is the issue, and again I think the dead antenna's have something to do with it. 

I will try and Factory reset and see if the firmware goes back to the original, but I kind of doubt it, but for giggles I will try that again tonight.  if it lasted a week before it OTA updates and gets messed up again, I would do it, even if I have to do it weekly I would do it!