Philips TV Won't Connect to Wifi? Try THIS...

So your Philips TV won’t connect to WiFi and you don’t know how to fix it?

Well don’t panic, because this is actually a very common problem with a number of easy steps that you can do on your own.

I am very confident that if you follow each of these steps in turn, it will fix the WiFi on your Philips TV and get it connected to the Internet.

Philips TV Won’t Connect to WiFi

If your Philips TV won’t connect to WiFi, you need to reset your TV by power cycling it. Unplug it, hold the power button down for 15 seconds, then plug your TV back in after waiting a further 2 minutes. You can also try updating your TV’s IP and DNS, and resetting your WiFi network.

If your Philips TV isn’t connecting to WiFi after trying the above, then take a look at the software and hardware fixes below which will help to get it working again.

1. Reset Philips TV WiFi

Although this might seem a basic step, power cycling your TV is often the best way to fix the WiFi on your Philips TV.

Resetting your TV will clear out any issues with non-permanent memory and reset your main board without losing your personal settings.

This is quick and painless and won’t cause you to lose any of your saved settings.

To reset your Philips TV:

Make sure your TV is switched off and unplug it.
Hold down the physical power button on the TV for at least 15 seconds.
Wait for at least 2 minutes for any residual power to drain from the TV’s capacitors (which are capable of storing charge for several minutes).
Plug your TV back in and try switching it on. You should see a red light if you have been successful.

Make sure you do wait for the full 2 minutes before plugging your TV back in – you would be surpised how long the components within your TV can hold charge, and you want to make sure it has fully reset.

Although this seems a very basic step, don’t overlook it because in the vast majority of cases a simple soft reset fixes most issues.

Most people will now have their TV fixed and back up and running, but if your Philips TV stilll has non-working WiFi after resetting, then we’ve got a few more basic fixes to try before getting into the hardware fixes.

2. Philips TV Not Connecting to WiFi Automatically

If your TV WiFi is not connecting automatically, and it is working on other devices, then check for an issue with your TV’s IP and DNS addresses.

In most cases, your TV should be setup to automatically select an IP address from your router, and usually also automatically pulls a DNS address, which is used to resolve IP addresses that your TV connects to, creating the URL that you see in the address bar of your browser.

But it’s possible that IP address lookup might have been set to Manual, and your DNS settings might be conflicting between your TV and WiFi router.

To fix this, press Home on your remote, then go to Settings -> Network & Internet -> [Click on the Connected Network].

If the IP Setting Mode is set to Manual, then change it to DHCP and restart your TV. This will make your TV select an IP address automatically from your router.

If the IP Setting Mode is set to DHCP, then change it to Manual, and change the DNS Server to 8.8.8.8, which is one of Google’s DNS servers that we know definitely works.

Restart your TV and try your apps again.

3. Is Your Router Set for MAC Address Filtering?

MAC address filtering allows you to specify which devices are allowed to connect to the Internet using their unique MAC addresses, which every Internet capable device has.

If you, or someone in your family, has switched this on at the router level, your Philips TV won’t connect to the Internet even if it can connect to your WiFi.

Login to your router by typing the Admin IP address into your phone’s or computer’s browser. This is listed on a label on your router (usually 192.1.1.1 or similar), along with the admin login info.

Go to Advanced or Expert Settings and find MAC Filtering. Make sure this is turned off.

4. Philips TV Keeps Disconnecting From WiFi

If your Philips TV keeps disconnecting from WiFi, then you need to make sure that your router is switched on and working properly, and that there is no interference or blocking of the WiFi signal between your router and TV.

The easiest way to check that your router is working is to use another device, like a phone or iPad. Make sure this is using the same WiFi network as your TV, and check you are fully able to access the Internet.

WiFi interference can be a bit harder to discover, but if you can, try moving your TV as close to your router as possible, ideally within the same room.

If your TV and router are in separate rooms, then try taking another device with WiFi capabilties like your phone up to your TV, and see if you are able to successfully browse the Internet from the same location as your TV, on the same home network.

If your TV won’t connect to the Internet but other devices will from the same location, then you can assume your router’s WiFi signal is good, and the problem most likely lies within your TV.

5. Philips TV WiFi Authentication Problem

If your Philips Smart TV is not connecting to WiFi at all, this could be a sign that the password you are entering is incorrect, or the WPS setup failed.

If you used WPS, where you press a WPS button on your router and your TV automatically discovers the network and login details without any further input than you, then try entering your password manually.

If you entered it manually before, try re-entering your password, but this time make sure the Show password option is selected so that you can confirm this is correct.

6. Run a Network Connection Test

You can check if the TV thinks your WiFi network is connected successfully or not, which will help you narrow down the cause of the problem, by running a Network Connection Test.

Press Home on your remote, then go to Setup and Network Settings and choose the Network Connection Test.

You will get a popup telling you if this has been successful or not, and if not, you can use the error message to help diagnose the problem.

7. Philips TV Firmware Update

Software and firmware issues have been known to cause problems with Philips TV network connections.

As with any product, you should ensure that you have updated your TV’s firmware to the latest version, even if it is new.

Most modern Philips TVs support auto-updating of firmware, but you can’t assume that this is turned on for you.

To manually update firmware on a Philips TV:

Press Settings on your remote.
Select All Settings.
Then Update Software.
And Search for Updates.

Select Internet and then Start the update process.
Your TV will restart and the update process will be complete.

For older Philips TVs, you might have to update via USB:

Go to the Philips website and type in your model of TV (found on a label on the back of your TV).
Scroll down to Software & Drivers and take a look at the firmware version of the software upgrade.

Check the current version of your TV’s software and confirm that it is a lower numbered version than the one on the Philips website. To do this, using your TV remote go to Settings -> Update Software -> Current Software Info.
If the software on the website is a higher numbered version, download it to your computer.
Unzip the download and transfer this to a USB stick.
Switch your Philips TV on and plug the USB stick into your TV’s USB port.
Follow the on-screen instructions to install the upgrade.

8. Philips TV Not Detecting 5GHz WiFi

It’s possible that your Philips TV won’t connect to WiFi because of an issue with your 2.4GHz WiFi channel or 5GHz WiFi channel.

Login to your routers landing page, usually found by typing 192.1.1.1 or 192.1.1.0 into a browser on your phone or computer (the exact IP will be on a label on your router).

Find the login info on your router’s label, and take a look at the overview page to see whether your TV is connecting on 2.4GHz or 5GHz.

If it is connecting on the 5GHz channel, try changing the settings in your TV’s Network page to connect only on 2.4GHz.

You can also update the channel frequencies in the router itself, usually found under Expert Settings or Advanced Settings, changing these values and retesting your TV’s Wifi connection to see if they make any difference.

9. Check Your TV’s Time and Date

Because your router will automatically assign an IP address for a fixed period of time, if your TV’s time and date is wrong, it can cause the IP address to “expire” and prevent connection to the router.

IP addresses set by your router will have a Lease Expiration of several years (and this can be checked within the settings page for your router), so if your TV has a time and date several years away from the current date/time, this can cause the IP lease to expire.

Go into the Settings for your TV and manually update the date and time to today if it is not already showing this.

10. Philips TV Factory Reset

Returning your TV back to its factory settings is a more extreme step, as it will delete any personalization features or connected devices, but it’s always worth a shot when other methods haven’t worked.

The simplest way to factory reset a Philips TV is with the remote, following the steps Settings -> All Settings -> General Settings -> Reinstall TV and confirm you want to factory reset your TV.

To factory reset a Philips TV without the remote, press the Vol + and Vol – buttons on the side of your TV simultaneously to open the on-screen menu, then use the buttons to navigate to the Reinstall TV option as above.

11. Reset Your Router

If you’re still seeing Philips TV poor Internet connection, then you can first try a soft reset of your router – unplugging it for 30 seconds – to see if that fixes your issue.

If not, try a hard reset of your router, pressing a paperclip or similar into the small reset hole usually found on the back of your router.

You will need to hold the paperclip on the reset button for at least ten seconds to be sure your router is fully reset.

This will remove any personalisation settings you have made on your router, such as a changed WiFi password or network name, so be sure you still have the default WiFi logins for the router. These are usually on a sticker on the router body.

12. Use an Ethernet Cable

Finally, if you are still unable to get the WiFi working on your TV, you might have to resort to using an Ethernet cable.

Either your TV or router should have come with one, and this will give you a wired Internet connection which will bypass your WiFi.

If your TV is in a different room from your router and it isn’t practical to use an Ethernet cable, or if your Philips TV keeps dropping the wired Internet connection, then there is still one final hardware fix that will get your WiFi working again.

13. Replace the WiFi Module

If none of the previous steps have worked, then you are most likely suffering from a failed WiFi module which is pretty easy to replace yourself.

Take a look at the video below for a step-by-step guide to do this. You will need to open up your TV which will invalidate it’s warranty, so this is really only a solution for TVs that are over one year old.

Philips TV Support & Warranty

It goes without saying that if your TV is under one year old, then you should contact Philips customer support to get it replaced under warranty.

You can call Philips directly on:

833-978-3323 (Mon – Sat, 10am – 9pm EST,)

Or use their live chat.

Even if Philips won’t fix your TV, they might still offer you a discount off a future model if you pester them hard enough! This is always worth a try in my experience.