WD TV Live suddenly rebooting when network cable inserted

I have a problem that just developed a few days ago with my WD TV Live device (Model number WDBAAN0000NBK). It is continually rebooting. No idea why this suddenly started happening.

I tried a number of different tests, including re-setting to factory settings and re-starting, and have discovered that it works fine with my external disk attached, but the moment I attach the network cable it reboots.

I am still on the factory-supplied firmware of 1.06.43_V.

Any ideas what to do?

Hi, try performing a firmware rollback and then updating it manually. You can click on the links below for the instructions.

https://support.wdc.com/knowledgebase/answer.aspx?ID=5800

https://support.wdc.com/knowledgebase/answer.aspx?ID=5343

Very many thanks jpeng for your suggestion. I am just super-confused as to why it should suddenly be behaving the way it is. It has been absolutely fine since I bought it, yet suddenly a few days ago now gives this problem.

I will try your roll-back idea and let you know if that solves it.

I would recommend that you give up cable TV and switch exclusively to streaming. You have a network cable, which means that you have access to the Internet. Then you just need to find a suitable alternative to cable TV at yourmoneygeek.com and switch to it. I did the same three years ago and I never regretted it. During this time, there were no problems, and moreover, I began to pay half as much as for cable TV

I would recommend reading my post from a few months ago.

Alternate solution:

One day, I found that all 4 of my WDTV Live boxes kept re-booting. One day they worked, then they didn’t. These 4 boxes usually have access to 8 NASs .

I read up on a few topics. One suggested to reset the boxes, either by the re-set button, or, if you are lucky enough, to get to the main screen and get into the setup section. I did a full reset on 1 box, but I had to reset all my preferences (layout, background picture, etc.) and re-establish all my network favourites.

Then, I came across an article suggesting to remove the Accuweather app, again, if you can get to the main screen. But my boxes never got that far.

So I decided to try something. I unplugged my RJ45 network cable and then did a re-boot. I got in to the main screen! I went to the setup>system>device reset and selected “Reset All Online Service Accounts”. After I selected that, the box re-booted. During the re-boot, I plugged the RJ45 cable back in. This time, I got in, no problem. AND, most of my settings and parameters were still there except for the AccuWeather app, which was disabled.

I also had to go through all my settings to make sure I’ll connect to my “workgroup” and had to tweak a couple of other parameters, before I tested the box by re-booting.

Not sure why this happened, maybe AccuWeather changed something in their connectivity protocol(s)… whatever. I liked the app, but it’s not necessary to the functioning of the box.

P.S. You can still find the WDTV Live boxes on Amazon. I just bought 2 in 2020. It came with a remote but no cables (so what…I use the HDMI port, and there’s audio on that).

Hope this helps those with a constant re-boot problem.

I had the same rebooting problem which started around 3 weeks ago.

I did a factory reset and it seems fine now. After the factory reset, the weather app is missing, so I suspect you’re correct, it was the weather app causing the initial issue.

I suspect this is a global issue with these boxes - there’s another topic about it here - https://community.wd.com/t/wdtv-live-wont-boot-keeps-restarting/275914

Thanks for this info. It worked for my 2 WDTV Live boxes which were also doing the same thing.