For those of you who have been with Xfinity for a while, you will know that they are hard to beat when it comes to offering great value for money on entertainment. Since arriving on the market, they have always tried to offer a great variety of packages to suit the needs of every imaginable customer.
And, as a marketing scheme, it definitely works. In recent years, Xfinity have pretty much become a household name all throughout the US. There is also an emphasis on convenience. You can combine your internet, phone, and TV subscriptions into one neat bill, saving a lot of hassle while you are doing so.
However, this is not to suggest that the service is absolutely perfect all of the time. Having trawled the net to see what kind of tech issues Xfinity customers are facing, one issue seemed to have cropped up a lot more frequently than others.
Of course, we are talking about the issue wherein the Xfinity box simply says “boot”. However, the good news is that this is unlikely to be a serious issue, and is one that you can most likely remedy from the comfort of your home.
Why Xfinity Box Says “Boot”?…
For those of you who have read our articles before, you will know that we like to kick things off by explaining the problem and what causes it. By doing this, our hope is that you understand exactly what is happening and will be able to fix it much quicker the next time it happens.
Most of the time, the “boot” sign is nothing to worry about in the slightest, and only means that the box is booting up. Really, how much you need to be concerned about the problem depends on how long you have been seeing this message.
For example, your box can reasonably take anywhere from 10 seconds to 2 minutes to boot up. Seeing as it is a pretty complicated and advanced device, we can allow for that amount of time.
However, if your Xfinity Box is taking far longer than that to do anything, you may have a problem on your hands. In all likelihood, the box may have just frozen and can be easily fixed. However, if issues like this are occurring on a regular basis, there may be some more serious factors at play.
Whatever the case is, we have put together this little troubleshooting guide to help you get to the bottom of it as quickly as possible. After all, if you are paying for a service, you may as well actually be able to use it!
How to Troubleshoot the Problem
The whole purpose of the Xfinity box is that it is supposed to connect your TV to the cable service. So, for this to be allowed to happen, it will need to convert the analog signals that it is receiving via the coaxial cables into digital data that your TV can use to stream the channels you are paying for.
But, if the box keeps getting stuck at the booting phase, none of this is permitted to happen. Instead, all you are likely to be getting is a blank screen. So, if this describes the issues you ae having, here is what you need to do to get it back working again.
- Check your Connectors and Cables
Quite often, these types of issue can be caused by the simplest of factors. More often than not, the whole thing can be the fault of a loose or damaged connection. So, to check this out, we would recommend unplugging and plugging back in all of the connectors, making sure that they are all in as tightly as possible.
While you are here, we would also recommend checking for any signs of damage along the lengths of the cables themselves. Loose connectors and damaged wires will be nowhere near as good as they should be for transmitting data.
If you notice any frayed cables or any obvious signs of damage, we would suggest replacing that cable straight way. After you have done all of this, simply restart the box. For quite a few of you reading this, that will have been enough to fix the problem. For the rest of you, it is time to move onto the next step.
2) Try Restarting the Box
Though this may sound far too simple to ever be effective, you would be surprised at how often it turns out to be the perfect fix. In general, restarts are excellent at clearing out any bugs that may have accumulated on any device. Naturally, the Xfinity Box is no different in this regard.
So, considering that your box is most likely frozen in the middle of the rebooting process, this will do no harm and give it a little extra push to get it over the line. To restart the box, all you need to do is take out the power cable from the back of the box and then leave it out for a minute.
After you have plugged it back in again, the box will more than likely reboot again without any trouble. At this point, you should be able to enjoy your cable connection again. If not, it is time to up the ante a little in the next step.
3) Try Resetting the Box
Though a little more aggressive than restarting, a reset can often bring the sort of results you would have wanted from the restart. Really, there is no real risk to doing so, but there is a trade-off you need to be aware of before you go for it.
When you reset the box, you are essentially restoring it to the same settings it left the factory with. This means that any and all changes that you have made will have been wiped. For example, if you have anything paused to watch later, they will be gone.
However, if it works the trade-off is definitely worth it. As soon as you have reset the box, you will notice that it will take a lot longer to boot than normal. Don’t worry. This is totally normal, with wait times of up to 15 minutes being the standard.
4) Get in Touch with Xfinity
Unfortunately, if none of the above suggestions has succeeded in doing anything, the problem must be a little more serious than we had anticipated.
At this point, the only logical conclusion to come to is that the box itself may need repairs, or even replacing. In either case, we cannot recommend any other course of action other than taking the box for repairs at a local Xfinity outlet.