Getting ROKU Box to Connect to Local Network

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Level 1

6 points

Getting ROKU Box to Connect to Local Network

Greetings,

OK, so I know this is about a 3rd party device, but 1st, I'm a networking novice and, 2nd, ROKU support was ZERO help. (suggested I call Apple!)

If anyone is successfully using a ROKU streaming box through an Airport Extreme connection, I could use some help.

My airport extreme is setup with a WPA2 Personal password. During the ROKU setup, I entered the airport network name, along with my password (13 digit). ROKU box successfully connected to my wireless network (so it says) but fails to connect to my "local network".

ROKU support says this is because I'm using WPA2 rather than WEP password. I was under the impression that the WPA2 password is more robust, and also it's required when using my work laptop to get into WVPN at the office.

I'm concerned that if I change the WPA2 setup, the computers in the house (3) will no longer have access through the airport.

Hope that makes sense - the ROKU site does say the airport extreme base station is a supported device.

*If I use the "MAC Address Access Control: Local" feature under the access tab in the Airport utility, and add the ROKU MAC address, will I have to also add all the other computers MAC addresses as well? *

Any help appreciated!

JL

iMac 24", 3.06 Ghz, 4GB SDRAM, Mac OS X (10.5.5), Maxtor 300GB external drive, iPhone 3G

Posted on Dec 22, 2009 5:07 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Tesserax

Level 10

148,673 points

Dec 22, 2009 6:40 PM in response to jleibold

ROKU support says this is because I'm using WPA2 rather than WEP password. I was under the impression that the WPA2 password is more robust, and also it's required when using my work laptop to get into WVPN at the office.

Not sure where ROKU support has come up with that as all three of the latest ROKU models support WEP, WPA, & WPA2. If you (temporarily) disable encryption, does the ROKU still have problems connecting?

*If I use the "MAC Address Access Control: Local" feature under the access tab in the Airport utility, and add the ROKU MAC address, will I have to also add all the other computers MAC addresses as well? *

No, it won't be necessary to add additional clients as the first item listed is the default setting for all devices that do not have their MAC addresses entered.

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Answer 2

jleibold Author

Level 1

6 points

Dec 22, 2009 9:49 PM in response to Tesserax

OK, changing to no wireless security worked, the ROKU box was able access the internet, download a SW update and restart. Once I activated the box, I was able to stream movies from my Netflix account.

Now to turn the wireless security back on and see what happens....:-)

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Answer 3

jleibold Author

Level 1

6 points

Dec 23, 2009 9:29 AM in response to jleibold

OK, update.

Reset my WPA2/WPA2 Personal password, restarted the ROKU box, went back through the setup process again, and we have success!.

Not sure what the problem was, but it works now.

ROKU support was wrong, as mentioned, the box works with WPA.

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Answer 4

Jan 2, 2010 12:05 PM in response to jleibold

I'm using a Airport Extreme internal card in a 2005/6 iMac with internet sharing turned on. Roku recognizes the wirleless network like the original poster but will then not proceed to recognize the local network. None of the suggestions in the thread work for me. My Airport utility doesn't have any choices about MAC addressing or anything else. The utility seems to be set up for using Airport to connect to the internet not broadcast the internet signal that is coming in via ethernet. I don't have a router and would like to not have to buyone

Is there any reason I can't use the airport card to broadcast my signal to the roku player?

I can't find anything at Roku, as most help seems to be regarding Airport Base stations.

Is there a big difference between an Airport Base station and and Airport Card, the one in my iMac.

Thanks

Message was edited by: Joshua Nelson2

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Answer 5

Duane

Level 10

124,267 points

Jan 3, 2010 2:38 PM in response to Joshua Nelson2

Unfortunately Internet Sharing does not provide any options or as many features as a real router.

You might get this to work if you disable the firewall on your iMac.

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Answer 6

Jan 3, 2010 3:02 PM in response to Duane

Duane wrote:
Unfortunately Internet Sharing does not provide any options or as many features as a real router.

You might get this to work if you disable the firewall on your iMac.

Yes, I would have to agree with you. I had been broadcasting my internet connection to my iPhone with Internet Sharing and firewall turned off, which did not work with Roku. My understanding is that the AP Extreme card cannot assign individual IP addresses to the clients on the network.

I bought a router, connected Roku by wire and created a wireless network for my computer and all is now well: $40.

Thanks Duane

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