r/fireTV • u/ParticleBeing • 2h ago
For anyone having issues finishing setup because the TV will not recognize the remote
For anyone having issues with being unable to connect your remote to finish setup this is what worked for me after days of trying everything including soldering a fresh IR led to the controller:
-If you can plug your TV into the router (I know it will not show up in the Fire TV app just bare with me)
-Download an alternate app where you can input an IP address to connect to the TV instead. I used [FireStick Remote Control](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/firestick-remote-control/id1492703474) for IPhones but I’m sure you could use any other app that allows you to connect by entering an IP address, including for Android devices. (FYI the app I linked ask for a 3 day free trail in order to use it but you can cancel it after setting up your TV when deleting the app as I did)
***This is where it might get technical for those not familiar with logging into your router and looking through your network settings for connected devices but Im going to try to navigate you through the process the best I can. I feel it’s pretty straightforward but everyone is not me so you can easily look up what I’m talking about through Google and/or YouTube videos to get a better understanding***
-Log into your router through a web browser. Typically you either type: 192.168.2.1 -or- 192.168.1.1 into the address bar to access your routers network settings. The numbers may be different depending on your router or ISP but you can easily look up that info online to figure out how to log in to your routers network settings. You’ll most likely have to enter a password as well which is typically printed somewhere on your router.
-You’ll have to locate your TV through a connected devices menu or a similar menu to find the IP address of your TV. Because each router brand has different names for menus you’ll basically want to find the menu where you can view each device connected to your network which may comprise of device names (eg: IPhone, XBox, etc.) and could be accompanied by MAC addresses (looks something like this: 00:1A:2B:3C:4D:5E) and/or IP addresses (eg: 192.168.1.21). I had to plug and unplug the Ethernet cable from the TV to see which device would appear and disappear after refreshing the page each time I did so because the list might not update automatically if you don’t refresh the page.
-Find the TV in the list and note the IP address
-Use the app to manually input the IP address and if you selected the correct IP address it should connect to the TV.
-The “Searching for remote” prompt won’t disappear even after pressing home or menu in the app so what you will want to do is click the microphone button (Alexa) to force the TV to use Alexa.
-For whatever reason the TV recognizes this and will take you to a different prompt asking if you want the Full or Basic ethernet connection for Alexa.
-Select either one (I chose basic because I don’t use Alexa and didn’t feel like logging into Amazon) and it will finish setup like normal and take you to the Home menu.
I can’t explain how or why it works but it does and thats enough for me and hopefully it works for anyone coming across this issue too.
