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Anonymous User
Not applicable

Now tv stick set up problems

I am trying to set up a NOW TV stick and am having problems with it accepting my wireless netwrok. It is suggesting that I filter MAC settings to allow the one for the stick, but I have a BT HomeHub 3 and, as far as I can see, this does not allow for any MAC filtering. Is there any way around this (apart from paying for a more up-to-date BT hub)? 

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
Anonymous User
Not applicable

@schnapps

 

Thanks again for your suggestion. Unfortunately this did not help either! However I did a bit of searching the forums myself and found this suggestion from another poster:

 

"Put now TV box and router together (touching),disable ping and run setup when done u can move TV box wherever u want".

 

Since my TV and router are in different rooms, I gave this a go by moving my TV to the router and, hey presto, it worked! The only problem is that, when I moved the TV back to its normal location, the picture comes on and stays blurry (previously with the Now TV boxes, the picture often used to start off blurry, but after about 10 seconds became fine). I might try various options to correct this later or I might wait for the BT Home Hub 5 that I have ordered to see it this is an issue once that is set up.  

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9 REPLIES 9
schnapps
Legend 5
Legend 5

Hi @Anonymous User 

 

Couple of things you can try.

 

If your BT Router has a WPS button on it try pressing that in first to see if it can discover your stick.

 

Then i would try switching off the BT Hub smart setup feature by following these instructions on the link below.

 

http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/44328/~/switching-smart-setup-on-and-off-on-the-bt-home-hub-4-or-hub-5

 

If still no luck maybe try using your smartphone has a wifi hotspot and if the stick connects to your mobile, let the stick go down its software download until it's ready to use, then swap back to your BT Hub Router wifi network.

 

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Many thanks for your suggestions.

 

I have tried pressing the WPS button, but it makes no difference, unfortunately. As for switching off the BT Hub smart setup feature, there are no instructions in your link for Home Hub 3 (which I have), so I could not do this, and I'm not even sure that it has such a feature!

 

Re your last suggestion, being a bit of an old fuddy-duddy, I don't have a smartphone (just a very basic mobile phone) and so can't try that either!

 

So, all I am getting when trying to set up the NOW stick is that it recognises the wireless network, but fails when trying to recognise the local network. It then gives the message re MAC filtering, which, it would appear, I cannot overcome.

 

It's really annoying as I never encountered any problems in setting up the white or the black NOW TV boxes. I guess that I'll have to send the NOW stick back for a refund and live with what I've currently got. 

schnapps
Legend 5
Legend 5

Hi @Anonymous User 

 

To be honest my PC and Networking skills are limited to the bare bones, so i don't think i will be much help apart from suggesting the following.

 

Perhaps factory reset the NowTV stick by holding the small reset button on the stick for about 20 secs whilst the stick and television is both switched on.

 

Then go through the setup process again and if you do see your WiFi home network and asked to type in the password from your Router just make sure and double check it's correct and identical to whats on your Router label.

 

I believe you can also possibly use a PC or Tablet has a WiFi Hotspot, if you haven't got a smartphone suitable, where maybe search the information on Google on how to do it.

 

I am not familiar with the BT Home Hub Router 3 on how to overcome it's Mac filtering blocking feature sorry.

 

Hopefully somebody on here with more IT / PC knowledge will offer you some help.

 

Hope you get it sorted, rather than sending the stick back.

Anonymous User
Not applicable

Thanks again for your suggestions, schnapps, but unfortunately resetting the stick didn't work and nor did using my laptop.

 

Therefore unless anyone else can come up with a solution, it looks like the stick will have to go back. That's not a big deal, but it would have been nice if it had worked!

schnapps
Legend 5
Legend 5

Hi @Anonymous User 

 

i am just throwing something out there to see it something sticks, then i would try a factory reset on your BT Hub Router.

 

Instructions here.

 

https://factory-reset.com/wiki/BT_Home_Hub

 

If that doesn't work, then maybe if you live close to a friend or family member try the stick on their Home Wifi network and setup the stick, then retry the stick again to see if it connects to your BT Router.

 

Other than that, see if live chat can offer any assistance, where i am guessing they will ask you to undertake the basic stuff and if any new ideas they suggest doesn't work then ask them to escalate your problem to theIr next level technical dept.

 

To reach live chat, open the link below and select the most relevant or nearest help topic, then once you are on the final stage of the process scroll towards the bottom of the screen page and click the drop down arrow below Get in Touch to reveal the live chat button.

 

https://help.nowtv.com/get-in-touch/

 

 

Obviously the above involves a lot of time and hassle on your part and maybe stick with your older black NowTV Box that appears to work fine with your Router 😡.

 

 

schnapps
Legend 5
Legend 5

Hi @Anonymous User 

 

Another thing you could try is see if you can access the stick secret menu by pressing these buttons quickly on the stick remote.

 

Home Button Five times.

FF
Play
RR
Play
FF

 

Then if secret menu opens, select System Operations Menu, then select Disable network pings.

 

Then press the System Reboot option on the same screen page has Disable Network Pings, then after the stick has rebooted try re connecting to your BT Router once again.

 

Not sure you can reach the secret menu and if you can if the Disable Network Pings will work, but it might be worth a go.

Anonymous User
Not applicable

@schnapps 

 

I really appreciate your very kind efforts to resolve my issue with setting up the NOW TV stick and was able to access the secret menu and follow your instructions. Unfortuately disablling the Network Pings hasn't resolved the issue.

 

I have today, however, found a new Home Hub 5 for a very good price from a reputable buyer on Ebay and once that is received and installed, hopefully this issue will go away!

 

If it doesn't, then at least I'll have a newer Home Hub which I've been thinking of getting for a while now!!

 

Thanks again for your help on this.

 

 

 

schnapps
Legend 5
Legend 5
Hi @Anonymous User

I just stumbled across this post by another forum member going back ages ago where they was having difficulty connecting their old nowtv box on their BT Hub 3 Router.

Here's a copy of what they said how they fixed it which I have pasted below.

Might be worth a try whilst waiting for your new Router if you can access the Hub 3 advanced settings.

My Now TV box wouldn't connect to my bt home hub 3 router, got error code 014. Tried disable network pings, didn't work for me. Had to go into my advanced settings, you need port forwarding option,find your device and click apply. Worked a treat...
Anonymous User
Not applicable

@schnapps

 

Thanks again for your suggestion. Unfortunately this did not help either! However I did a bit of searching the forums myself and found this suggestion from another poster:

 

"Put now TV box and router together (touching),disable ping and run setup when done u can move TV box wherever u want".

 

Since my TV and router are in different rooms, I gave this a go by moving my TV to the router and, hey presto, it worked! The only problem is that, when I moved the TV back to its normal location, the picture comes on and stays blurry (previously with the Now TV boxes, the picture often used to start off blurry, but after about 10 seconds became fine). I might try various options to correct this later or I might wait for the BT Home Hub 5 that I have ordered to see it this is an issue once that is set up.