Re: Roku Express not detecting wifi

TxReilly -- I even Twittered you to get the fix that worked for you! What's the fix, man?

@lcancillieri wrote:
Thanks for a reply Dan. I don't know what I'm talking about: I have the original hand held remote (enhanced) that has the pairing button inside. I've been using this remote continually for years, worked fine. Today I went to go on Roku. All it says on tv screen is "Roku." Can't get any further. Remote won't do anything. It attempts to go from "Roku" screen to blue screen, but jumps back to "Roku" screen. Can you tell me in laymen's terms what's happening. Would like to keep my original remote. THANKS! (Batteries okay, pulled out plug, pressed remote button, etc.)

I'm not saying you don't know what you're talking about. But I do need further details to see if I can be of any help. What model Roku do you have? If's an Express, the remote is an Infrared model. It doesn't require pairing to work. It does need a clear line of sight between the remote and the Roku.

If you have something other than the Express, you might have a WiFi Direct remote. Those do require pairing to the device, and it's possible the pairing has been lost. If it is a WF-D remote, there will be a small button under the battery cover that can initiate the pairing process. I believe the Roku has to be within a couple of minutes of a fresh boot be re-establish the link.

Please confirm your Roku model, and if the remote has a button under the battery cover. If the button isn't obvious, then it's not there and it's an IR remote.

Dan

Roku Community Streaming Expert

Help others find this answer and click "Accept as Solution."
If you appreciate my answer, maybe give me a Kudo.

I am not a Roku employee, just another user.

I am not sure if I am doing this correctly but here goes.

I currently have a Roku Express connected to my wifi. I also have had two Roku Premiere units malfunction on the same network. I bought a third Roku Express + and am having the same problem. Neither Premiere unit or the new Express + unit will list my home WIFI while I do have a Roku Express connected in another room. What the heck is going on and why can I not see the network in the other three units? All units have been upgraded. This is getting way too time consuming and frustrating.

Thanks for any help!

I have not. Above my comfort zone. Not my router. Hooked up the old Roku and it works. Hoped I can send the 3 new ones back until Roku can solve the issue. Still frustrated that they manage to manufacture, ship, manage inventory so they can profit by selling these puppies, but they don’t provide adequate customer support. Believe me, I’ve been on the phone with Apple support several times since Covid spread. It’s a reflection on the company’s ethics vs profits. I’m sure that there are technical customer support staff who would love to be employed.

Have the same problem both of mine no longer work. They won’t see any networks at all. This is very frustrating and a waste of my money.

Sorry,

I didn’t see this. I don’t have a fix. I’m still wondering if it has anything to do with the “Roku - official remote” for iPhone that I downloaded. It’s the Rokus that were linked to that failed ... or it’s a very weird coincidence. May be returning devices. Very frustrating.

It also happened to me. I have a Roku Express+ and after an upgrade it not longer sees any wifi network. I tested using the smartphone as a hotspot and it detects it but with very low intensity even though the smartphone is located about 5 inches from the Roku.

I tried all the suggestions like rebooting the router, performing a factory reset to the Express and nothing worked.

The Express was working fine before the update and I don't see a way to roll back to the previous firmware version. Right now it is useless so I will need to buy a new device. Probably I will go with a Chromecast instead. It is very frustrating.

My Roku Express was working fine then one day it just stopped. It can see all the WLANs in the neighborhood but the SSID in my home, where the signal is strongest. I've done all the reset, unplugs & nothing...Every other device that I have connects w/o issue. This includes phones, tablets, printers, laptops, etc. It can even see the new WLAN printer I installed yesterday

I put on my Network Admin hat and started troubleshooting. Nothing has worked! I tested different router settings, evrn though nothing changed before the loss of connection. 1) signal strength up and down 2) signal gain 3) B, G &/or Mixed 4) Changed the broadcast channel 5) adjusted the the broadcast channel width, narrow to wide band 5) moved the roku device.

There is no logical reason that I can find for the devices behavior. Unless the auto-update ran and that broke it. After resetting to factory default it connects to my phone wifi and let me re-activate and set it up. ... but it still will not see my home wifi.

If I didn't know better I'd say my Local WLAN has been blocked/blacklisted by the device.

I am with you. I also did all the stuff that you mentioned. I believe this issue is hardware related. In my case, when I used the phone´s wifi I needed to put the phone a few inches from the device, yet it sees the hotspot with a very low intensity.

I read somewhere that these units run so hot that the internal wifi chip could be damaged in the long term. Mine runs between 158F to 185F (info from hidden menu) and it was always plugged into the outled since I bought it (3 years ago). But the strange thing is that it was working fine before the firmware update. Could be a coincidence. For the record, mine is a Roku Express+, the one that has rca A/V plugs

For Me this is now fixed. After everything I did, including doing some trash talking about Roku I looked at my routers firmware. It was almost 3 years old, from Dec of 2017, DD-WRT v3.0-r34311. I looked up the latest version, on https://forum.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2. For my Linksys WRT1900AC v2, it is v3.0-r40559. I downloaded & graded my WRT1900AC. It restarted to the upgraded FW, no runs, no drips & no errors.

I turned on the Roku, it booted and there was my WLAN. Moral of the story, for me, anyways ... Do your homework and cover all the options, including the ones where it your own fault too. I did not check to see which previous versions of DD-WRT worked, the latest does and I'm happy. Had I kept my router updated more, would this still have happened? IDK, but it you have any open source router I'd suggest upgrading to the latest stable version.

Have a Great Thanksgiving everyone!!

Roku Community

Wi-Fi & connectivity