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Connecting Roku to Home Network

post #1 of 48
9/20/10 at 1:48pm
Thread Starter 
I recently purchased a Roku HD-XR and tried hooking it up to my home theater yesterday. I connected the Roku using HDMI to my pre-pro and I am getting a video signal on my screen. That is the good part. The not-so-good part is that I am not able to connect the Roku to my home network, either through a hard-wired connection (my preference) or through my home wireless network. I am using a secure wireless router, but even though the Roku unit can see my wireless network, it will not connect to it even if I enter the security password. I am using a Belkin N+ wireless router (Model F5D8235-4). Do I need to play with the MAC codes on the router in order to link the Roku unit to it? If so, is there a way to do this without messing up the wireless connection to all the other computers/equipment in the house.

Your help will be much appreciated. I was so looking forward to seeing a Netfix movie yesterday and it was a big disappointment when I could not hook up the Roku to my home network. Thanks.

Cal68
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post #2 of 48
9/20/10 at 2:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cal68 View Post

I recently purchased a Roku HD-XR and tried hooking it up to my home theater yesterday. I connected the Roku using HDMI to my pre-pro and I am getting a video signal on my screen. That is the good part. The not-so-good part is that I am not able to connect the Roku to my home network, either through a hard-wired connection (my preference) or through my home wireless network. I am using a secure wireless router, but even though the Roku unit can see my wireless network, it will not connect to it even if I enter the security password. I am using a Belkin N+ wireless router (Model F5D8235-4). Do I need to play with the MAC codes on the router in order to link the Roku unit to it? If so, is there a way to do this without messing up the wireless connection to all the other computers/equipment in the house.

Your help will be much appreciated. I was so looking forward to seeing a Netfix movie yesterday and it was a big disappointment when I could not hook up the Roku to my home network. Thanks.

Cal68

Boy, it stinks when you can't get things to work and I sure know that feeling though I've never had a problem with the three units I have. I'm not a techno person so check here:
http://www.roku.com/support/wifi.aspx
It is a list of wireless routers and wireless access points that have been tested to work with the Roku player. If you still can't get things up and running go here:
http://forums.roku.com/viewforum.php...42ceea6aa933b0
that is the roku forum page and you can check for an answer there. Hope things get going so you can enjoy that little box and all the great new channels they are putting on it. I love mine.
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post #3 of 48
9/20/10 at 2:44pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the quick response. Yes, it was a bummer yesterday when we could not watch any movies. I wish we would get to a time when equipment would work seamlessly together!

I checked the Roku forums that you listed and it does appear that someone is using the same Belkin router that I am using. I will check the version number when I get home this evening to see if I have the correct firmware on it.

Thanks again for all your help.

Cal68
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post #4 of 48
9/20/10 at 3:29pm
Setting up a wireless N network can be tricky:
1. The HD-XR only supports the 2.4GHz narrow band, if you have a dual or wide band(2.4/5) router then only use 2.4GHz narrow.
2. Even though the HD-XR supports N some people have to set their router to G or Mixed to get it to work.
3. Many people have problems with Belkin and D-Link N routers(for whatever reason), Netgear and Linksys(what I use) N routers work better.

http://forums.roku.com/viewtopic.php...19d7130251ac29
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post #5 of 48
9/20/10 at 7:41pm
do you have MAC filtering on? If so, you need to add the MAC address from the Roku box.
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post #6 of 48
9/21/10 at 6:17am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by moviegeek View Post

Setting up a wireless N network can be tricky:
1. The HD-XR only supports the 2.4GHz narrow band, if you have a dual or wide band(2.4/5) router then only use 2.4GHz narrow.
2. Even though the HD-XR supports N some people have to set their router to G or Mixed to get it to work.
3. Many people have problems with Belkin and D-Link N routers(for whatever reason), Netgear and Linksys(what I use) N routers work better.

http://forums.roku.com/viewtopic.php...19d7130251ac29

Thanks moviegeek. Since I am having trouble connecting the Roku to my network using both wired and wireless systems, could I conclude that the problem is not with the band in which the wireless signals are being sent from the router? I'm not much of a computer person, so I am sorry for asking such a basic question. The Roku is able to see my home network, but it is not able to connect to it. This also suggests that the wireless signal is reaching the Roku and it can read it.

I checked out the two Roku threads sent by subavision212 and there appears to be someone who is successfully using the exact same Belkin wireless router that I have. Again this suggests that the router should work. I need to check the MAC filtering setting as dlcrouch has suggested.

Thanks again for your help.

Cal68
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post #7 of 48
9/21/10 at 6:21am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by dlcrouch View Post

do you have MAC filtering on? If so, you need to add the MAC address from the Roku box.

I am not much of a computer savvy guy, so I am not sure of the answer to your question. I do not know if MAC filtering is set up on my router or not. I know that I did not knowingly set it up when I set up the router, but maybe it was set up by default when I set the security system on my router. Is this possible?

I will check the Belkin website to see if they have any information on how to change the MAC filtering setting. The fact that someone in the Roku forum was able to use the router I have suggests that there is definitely a way to get the two units to work together.

Wouldn't it be great if everything worked seamlessly together!

Thanks for your help.

Cal68
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post #8 of 48
9/21/10 at 7:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cal68 View Post

Thanks moviegeek. Since I am having trouble connecting the Roku to my network using both wired and wireless systems, could I conclude that the problem is not with the band in which the wireless signals are being sent from the router?


Yeah you have other problems, I've never heard of a Roku not working when wired directly.

Cycle the power and try again, if that doesn't help go to settings and try a factory reset.
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post #9 of 48
9/21/10 at 11:18am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by moviegeek View Post

Yeah you have other problems, I've never heard of a Roku not working when wired directly.

Cycle the power and try again, if that doesn't help go to settings and try a factory reset.

I've tried recycling the power a couple of times over the past two days and the Roku will still not recognize my home network through either the wired or wireless modes. How do I do a factory reset on the unit? Is there one of those buttons in the back that I need to depress using a paper clip?

Thanks for your help.

Cal68
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post #10 of 48
9/21/10 at 12:05pm
Your network is vanilla if you have not done anything to configure it. If you don't know what MAC filtering is then that's not enabled because you would have had to enter the MAC addresses of your other devices to get them to work with your network.

It sounds like your Roku might be faulty. Yes there is a reset button on the back, or you can do it through the menu bar (Settings --> Factory Reset)
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post #11 of 48
9/21/10 at 12:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cal68 View Post

I've tried recycling the power a couple of times over the past two days and the Roku will still not recognize my home network through either the wired or wireless modes. How do I do a factory reset on the unit? Is there one of those buttons in the back that I need to depress using a paper clip?

Thanks for your help.

Cal68

I recently got an Xbox, and during setup, I connected it up to my router, but it would not access the internet. After online searching, I found that my firewall ZoneAlarm Free, was blocking it, and wouldn't automatically open the correct ports. I followed instructions found on another board to add the Xbox's address to Zone Alarm. Perhaps this might work for you. Open the Roku's system settings and search for the IP address that should be listed (don't have a Roku, so I can't be specific about where under those settings you'll find it).
In the firewall's Zones settings, you would add that address and list it as trusted.
I've had no problems with my Xbox since...
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post #12 of 48
9/21/10 at 5:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Westly-C View Post

I recently got an Xbox, and during setup, I connected it up to my router, but it would not access the internet. After online searching, I found that my firewall ZoneAlarm Free, was blocking it, and wouldn't automatically open the correct ports. I followed instructions found on another board to add the Xbox's address to Zone Alarm. Perhaps this might work for you. Open the Roku's system settings and search for the IP address that should be listed (don't have a Roku, so I can't be specific about where under those settings you'll find it).
In the firewall's Zones settings, you would add that address and list it as trusted.
I've had no problems with my Xbox since...

It's not his firewall. He can't even connect to his local network.
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post #13 of 48
9/21/10 at 8:54pm
^^Yeah, but in my case, the firewall on the pc, connected first in line to the router, had the router blocking the Xbox's access to the internet. Adding the Xbox's address to the firewall, permitted it. I don't actually know why, but it's worked.
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post #14 of 48
9/22/10 at 9:21am
Thread Starter 
Hi All

Ironlight is right in saying that my wi-fi system is plain vanilla because I have not entered the MAC addresses of each component in my house into the wi-fi system. However, one of the things that I tried on Sunday was to enter the specific MAC address of the Roku box. But I still could not get it to connect to my network either through the wired or wireless connections, so I'm not sure that that is the root cause of my problems.

I called Roku last evening and spent 3 hours (yes, 3 hours is not a typo) with one of their techs, trying to get the Roku unit to connect to my home network. We tried just about everything under the sun, but ultimately gave up because we could not get it to link up. One of the things we tried was resetting the unit by pushing down on the reset button, but alas, that got us nowhere either.

Westly-C, I cannot get to the settings page on the Roku because it will not connect to my network. So I am not able to change any settings on the Roku itself. And as I mentioned earlier, adding the Roku's MAC address to the firewall in my router did not help either.

At the end of the 3 hours of frustration, the Roku tech suggested that I should return the unit and get a new one. He and his supervisor felt that maybe there was something wrong with the unit I have. I will send the unit back to Amazon this weekend and get a new one. I will have the Roku unit until Saturday, so if anyone has any more ideas of things that I could try, please let me know and I will give it a shot.

The Roku tech I talked to confessed that he had only been on the job for a week, so he kept going to his supervisor for advice. If I have to call back another time, I am going to request that they assign a more experienced technician to me, even if it means waiting longer for someone to help me out.

I was really bummed out last evening, but I am better today!

Cal68
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post #15 of 48
9/22/10 at 10:34am
Man, it just shouldn't be THAT hard but if you've heard of the achems razor philosophy, the simplest solution is always the right one so after all this, it will most likely (keeping fingers crossed) be a defective unit and in a few days you will join the crowd of happy Roku owners. keep us posted.
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post #16 of 48
9/22/10 at 12:10pm
Cal, have you tried asking in the Roku forums? Despite having no luck on the phone with a tech, you may come across someone there with a solution.

Hey, just curious, did the powerline adpaters work out for you? Or has the issue you're having with the Roku prevented you from determining that?
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post #17 of 48
9/24/10 at 6:35am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vin View Post

Cal, have you tried asking in the Roku forums? Despite having no luck on the phone with a tech, you may come across someone there with a solution.

Hey, just curious, did the powerline adpaters work out for you? Or has the issue you're having with the Roku prevented you from determining that?


Hi Vin

The Powerline adapters are working great. I do not get a very good wi-fi signal in my basement, but according to the laptop I connected to the Powerline adapter in my basement, my wired signal strength down there is 100Mbps. My Panasonic DMP-BD55 also has no trouble picking up the wired signal, so I am sure that signal access was not the problem with the Roku box.

I will be returning the Roku unit to Amazon tomorrow, but it seems as though they will send me another unit even before I return the old one to them (kudos to Amazon if this is true!). When I printed the return documentation on Amazon, the information I saw suggested that they will ship me a replacement right away, and that I have until the end of October to get the "defective" unit to them.

Regarding the Roku site, yes, I will definitely sign up and post a couple of questions on the site. I checked a thread that subavision had recommended to me, and saw that someone has successfully got their Roku player to work with the same Belkin router that I have. So I will send him/her a message and try to find out if he/she used any tricks to get the Roku to mate with my Belkin router.

Thanks to all for your help. I'll post again after I get my replacement Roku.

Cal68
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post #18 of 48
9/24/10 at 10:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cal68 View Post

Hi Vin

The Powerline adapters are working great. I do not get a very good wi-fi signal in my basement, but according to the laptop I connected to the Powerline adapter in my basement, my wired signal strength down there is 100Mbps. My Panasonic DMP-BD55 also has no trouble picking up the wired signal, so I am sure that signal access was not the problem with the Roku box.

I will be returning the Roku unit to Amazon tomorrow, but it seems as though they will send me another unit even before I return the old one to them (kudos to Amazon if this is true!). When I printed the return documentation on Amazon, the information I saw suggested that they will ship me a replacement right away, and that I have until the end of October to get the "defective" unit to them.

Regarding the Roku site, yes, I will definitely sign up and post a couple of questions on the site. I checked a thread that subavision had recommended to me, and saw that someone has successfully got their Roku player to work with the same Belkin router that I have. So I will send him/her a message and try to find out if he/she used any tricks to get the Roku to mate with my Belkin router.

Thanks to all for your help. I'll post again after I get my replacement Roku.

Cal68

Well one nice thing to come out of all this is you can probably get one of the newly re-designed Roku units they just announced two or so days ago. Make sure to check because you can probably get a better unit for the same price. They have descriptions of the new units up on their website. I think the XD/S unit has dual band wireless which may help you. It's only 99.00.
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post #19 of 48
9/25/10 at 8:38am
Looks like the unit you bought is now $79. Unless you need component outs or the USB port then stick with that. Wireless-N is more than enough bandwidth for HD and is probably 5-10x the speed of the feed into your house anyway. Don't bother with dual band unless you have weak signal from your router to where your Roku box will be.
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post #20 of 48
9/25/10 at 12:19pm
Thread Starter 
I got a message from Amazon yesterday saying that they have shipped the replacement unit out to me, but it appears that they have sent me the same Roku HD-XR unit I got before. They are charging me $99 for it which seems $20 more than what the unit should now cost. I will communicate with them to see if I can get the price reduced.

The tech who tried to help me on Tuesday had mentioned to me that the new Roku sets have been designed to avoid some of the common installation problems that users have been encountering in the past. I do not know how much of what he said to believe, because he clearly did not know a whole lot about setting up the unit, but if there is an inkling of truth to his statement, then gettting one of the new units could be well worth it for me. I will spend about 30 min trying to install the Roku unit that is on its way to me. If I cannot get it to connect to my home network, it is going back to Amazon and I'll try one of the newly released units.

I will also post a question on the Roku forum this weekend.

Thanks again for everyone's help. You guys have been terrific.

Cal68
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post #21 of 48
9/27/10 at 10:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cal68 View Post

I will spend about 30 min trying to install the Roku unit that is on its way to me. If I cannot get it to connect to my home network, it is going back to Amazon and I'll try one of the newly released units.

Cal68

Well, if you have to send it back again, maybe a blu-ray player with netflix instead of the Roku might be worth considering....the Insignia NS-WBRDVD3 is the same price as what you paid for the Roku.

Or the Insignia NS-WBRDVD with built in Wi-Fi for a little more.
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post #22 of 48
9/27/10 at 2:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cal68 View Post

I got a message from Amazon yesterday saying that they have shipped the replacement unit out to me, but it appears that they have sent me the same Roku HD-XR unit I got before. They are charging me $99 for it which seems $20 more than what the unit should now cost. I will communicate with them to see if I can get the price reduced.

The tech who tried to help me on Tuesday had mentioned to me that the new Roku sets have been designed to avoid some of the common installation problems that users have been encountering in the past. I do not know how much of what he said to believe, because he clearly did not know a whole lot about setting up the unit, but if there is an inkling of truth to his statement, then gettting one of the new units could be well worth it for me. I will spend about 30 min trying to install the Roku unit that is on its way to me. If I cannot get it to connect to my home network, it is going back to Amazon and I'll try one of the newly released units.

I will also post a question on the Roku forum this weekend.

Thanks again for everyone's help. You guys have been terrific.

Cal68

Really, your experience was atypical... it took me about 3 minutes to physically set my roku up, not counting the time it takes to set up and populate the channels. Plug it in, attach cable from roku to tv, log in to wireless by typing password. That's it. I'm pretty sure if your network is working and you get a new box that's not defective, you wont have any trouble with the unit. You could still return the Amazon box, if you really want the new one, but ... I'm actually thinking of getting one of the older ones because I wanted full size component cable ports. The dual band is less of a selling point for me, but I can see how it might be handy if there's a lot of wireless interference (or if you're running two wireless routers in a small area)
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post #23 of 48
9/28/10 at 10:48am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vin View Post

Well, if you have to send it back again, maybe a blu-ray player with netflix instead of the Roku might be worth considering....the Insignia NS-WBRDVD3 is the same price as what you paid for the Roku.

Or the Insignia NS-WBRDVD with built in Wi-Fi for a little more.

Hi Vin

I'm actually waiting for Oppo to come out with a BluRay player that will have all the widgets that the Insignia player has. Hopefully the Oppo can also be configured to play PAL DVD's (my family has a bunch of them) so that I can get rid of the Oppo DVD player that I have in my rack. Right now space is at a premium in my A/V rack and the Roku box is very small and easy to fit into existing space!

Cal68
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post #24 of 48
9/28/10 at 10:50am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by artwire View Post

Really, your experience was atypical... it took me about 3 minutes to physically set my roku up, not counting the time it takes to set up and populate the channels. Plug it in, attach cable from roku to tv, log in to wireless by typing password. That's it. I'm pretty sure if your network is working and you get a new box that's not defective, you wont have any trouble with the unit. You could still return the Amazon box, if you really want the new one, but ... I'm actually thinking of getting one of the older ones because I wanted full size component cable ports. The dual band is less of a selling point for me, but I can see how it might be handy if there's a lot of wireless interference (or if you're running two wireless routers in a small area)

My replacement Roku unit arrived from Amazon last evening, but I'm going to be tied up on weeknights this week and may not get a chance to try and hook up the new unit until the weekend. I do not know if the fact that I have a Belkin router is the cause for all my angst. But I know that at least one other person has successfully hooked up the Roku unit using the very same Belkin router that I have, so I know that it can be done.

Wish me luck!

Cal68
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post #25 of 48
9/29/10 at 7:27am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cal68 View Post

My replacement Roku unit arrived from Amazon last evening, but I'm going to be tied up on weeknights this week and may not get a chance to try and hook up the new unit until the weekend. I do not know if the fact that I have a Belkin router is the cause for all my angst. But I know that at least one other person has successfully hooked up the Roku unit using the very same Belkin router that I have, so I know that it can be done.

Wish me luck!

Cal68

I'm assuming when you say you tried a hard-wired connection, you mean you connected an ethernet cable from the Roku to the router.

If you run into the same problem with the replacement, try connecting the Roku directly to your modem, totally bypassing the router....not sure if you tried that or not with the one you sent back. Good luck.
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post #26 of 48
9/29/10 at 2:09pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vin View Post

I'm assuming when you say you tried a hard-wired connection, you mean you connected an ethernet cable from the Roku to the router.

If you run into the same problem with the replacement, try connecting the Roku directly to your modem, totally bypassing the router....not sure if you tried that or not with the one you sent back. Good luck.

Hi Vin

My router is in my office in the second floor of my house and my home theater is in the basement. So I am not able to directly connect the Roku unit to my router. It would still be possible if I could run some Cat-5 cabling from my office to the home theater, but that is not in the cards right now.

But I do have the Powerline adapters installed in my house, so I am able to get an internet connection through my regular power lines. I've got a laptop and my BluRay player connected to the Powerline adapter in my basement, and the signal strength is in excess of 100 Mbps. I tried connecting the Roku to my home network both through the Powerline adapter (this is what I mean by hard wired connection) and also using the not so strong wi-fi signal (15 Mbps) in my basement, but neither one worked.

Thanks for all your suggestions.

Cal68
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post #27 of 48
9/29/10 at 2:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cal68 View Post

Hi Vin

My router is in my office in the second floor of my house and my home theater is in the basement. So I am not able to directly connect the Roku unit to my router. It would still be possible if I could run some Cat-5 cabling from my office to the home theater, but that is not in the cards right now.
Cal68


Understandable, but there's an easier way. Just connect the ethernet cable from your modem (that's currently feeding your router) directly to the powerline adapter and see if the Roku can see the internet. If it can, then you'll be certain there's some kind of incompatibility between the Roku and the Belkin router.

Of course, if the new Roku connects without issue, this troubleshooting exercise becomes moot.
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post #28 of 48
9/29/10 at 5:43pm
We are beating a dead horse. I think it's 99% certain at this point that you had a defective unit. Let's pick this up when you get your replacement hooked up. If you have issues then, well, time for some procedural troubleshooting to isolate and identify the problem.
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post #29 of 48
10/5/10 at 2:55pm
Thread Starter 
Hi All

I just wanted to give an update to everyone here who has been helping me. I do not have good news to share with you.

I got the new Roku-HD XR unit last week and tried unsuccessfully to get it to connect to my home network over the weekend. Not only would it not connect through the wired system, this Roku unit did not even pick up my wi-fi signal (the previous one could see my wi-fi signal). I tried all the tricks that the Roku tech support guys had told me to try in response to an E-Mail I sent them. I also got a response from a person on the Roku forum who had managed to successfully hook up the Roku box to his network using a Belkin router that is identical to mine (I need to ask him/her if the Roku unit is the same as mine or a different model), and I tried all the tricks that he/she suggested. But no dice. The unit just would not connect. So after about 90 min of frustration, I packed up the Roku unit and will send it back to Amazon this weekend.

In response to Vin's question, I had the Roku unit connected to the Powerline adapter exactly the way he suggested. But that did not work either.

At this point I am suspecting that there is something that is inhibiting the Roku unit from connecting to my Belkin router. The E-Mail that I got from Roku tech support gives some instructions on specific things to do if one is trying to connect to a Belkin router. I tried everything they suggested, but nothing worked.

At this point in time, I think that maybe I should give Roku one more chance by getting one of their new units (I'm thinking of the Roku XD/S unit) because the tech support guy I spoke to a couple of weeks ago told me that the new units are supposed to have been engineered to fix some of the common complaints that people have had with the old units, including connectivity to home networks. I figure I will get one of those units and see if it works. If not, I'll find another alternative in due course of time.

All in all, this has been a very frustrating experience for me. The Belkin router has been very good so far, so I am reluctant to switch it out for a different make (e.g, Netgear or Linksys).

I have the Roku unit until Saturday when I take it to the post office, so if there are any suggestions of things that I can try, please let me know and I'll give it another shot.

Thanks again for all your help.

Cal68

PS: the guy on the Roku forum told me that he had a lot of trouble getting the box to connect to his home network, but once it did, it has performed flawlessly.
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post #30 of 48
10/6/10 at 7:24am
That is a real bummer. I suppose replacing the router is not something you want to entertain?

At this point you might want to hold your powder as the Boxee Box will be out in a month or two. It's more than twice the price but has features that make it substantially more functional than the Roku. Depending on your intended purpose it might be a better fit.
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