Troubleshooting

Find what you’re seeing, then try the fix. Each entry ends with why it happens, in case the fix doesn’t take.

The app can’t find my panel

Check that your phone is on the same Wi-Fi network as the panel. Then add the panel by address: tap the add button in the app and enter the panel’s name, like gameday-2f6a70.local, or its IP address. If you don’t have either, hold the button on the controller for about 1.5 seconds and the panel shows both for 20 seconds.

A panel that isn’t set up yet shows SETUP. The app finds that one over Bluetooth, so keep Bluetooth on and the phone near the panel.

Why: the app finds a new panel over Bluetooth and a panel that’s already set up over your Wi-Fi. A guest network, or a phone on mobile data, can keep the phone and the panel apart. Some phones won’t open .local names, and the IP address works there.

The panel won’t join my Wi-Fi

• Pick the 2.4 GHz network. If your router has separate names for 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, the panel can only use the 2.4 GHz one.
• Check the password.
• Use your main network, not a guest network.

While it joins, the panel shows JOINING and the name of the network it was given, so a wrong pick shows up there.

Why: the panel’s Wi-Fi only works on 2.4 GHz. A guest network can let the panel join but keep your phone from reaching it afterwards.

Coming in the next release

If the panel says Wi-Fi needs sign-in, use home or a hotspot, the network wants a sign-in on a web page, like many bar, hotel and dorm networks. The panel can’t sign in to those pages. Set it up on a home network or a phone hotspot instead.

The panel says Wi-Fi lost

If your router restarted or the internet dropped, wait. The panel rejoins by itself when the network comes back and the score returns.

If you changed your router or your Wi-Fi password, open the Game Day app and give the panel the new network or password, the same way as the first time. Without the app, join the panel’s Game Day hotspot once it comes up, within a few minutes. See New router or Wi-Fi password.

Why: the panel says so when it has been off its network for more than about 10 seconds. It turns Bluetooth back on so the app can reach it, and restarts itself once, a minute into the outage.

The panel says Can’t reach ESPN

Check that other devices on the same network can get online. The panel keeps trying by itself and waits a little longer after each failed try. Once the internet is back, tap Refresh scores on the device page to try right away.

Why: the panel is on your Wi-Fi but can’t get an answer from ESPN, where the scores come from. That’s usually the internet connection, and sometimes ESPN itself.

The panel says Getting ready for a long time

Try another network, like your home Wi-Fi or a phone hotspot.

Why: the panel needs the time before it can read any scores, and it gets the time from the internet. Some guest, office and school networks block that.

Coming in the next release

On a network that blocks time servers, the panel sets its clock from ESPN a few seconds after joining and shows today’s games instead of Getting ready.

Half the board is blank, or the picture shows twice

Open the device page and find Matrix in the Setup card. Click the picture that matches your panel:

Your panel	Pick
The 128x64 panel from the Game Day Scoreboard, or two 64x64 panels side by side	One 128x64 panel
A single 64x64 panel	One 64x64 panel

The panel restarts with the new layout.

Why: the panel’s layout setting doesn’t match the panel, so it draws the board for a different size. A 128x64 panel set to One 64x64 panel, for one, draws the picture twice side by side. See Panel sizes.

Lines on the panel, or the wrong colors

1. Unplug the panel’s power for 10 seconds and plug it back in. Reboot on the device page or in the app doesn’t cut the power, so it won’t clear this.
2. If the lines or colors come back, unplug the power and reseat the connection between the controller and the panel’s input: the ribbon cable, or the controller itself where it plugs onto the panel. Push it in firmly and straight, then plug the power back in.
3. If they still come back, email support.

Why: this is almost always the connection between the controller and the panel, not the firmware. A HUB75 panel gets its top half and its bottom half over separate data lines. When a problem starts or stops exactly at the middle row, it follows that split. Colors tell you which line: text that should be white but shows purple is missing its green, since purple is red and blue without the green.

The panel keeps losing Wi-Fi

Look at Signal in the Device card on the device page. It’s in dBm, and the closer the number is to zero, the stronger the signal. If it’s weak, move the panel closer to the router, or the router closer to the panel.

Coming in the next release

The Diagnostics section of the Device card counts the panel’s Wi-Fi drops and shows the cause of the last one, with a graph of the signal over the last day. Below -75 dBm the page says Weak signal.

I need to reset Wi-Fi

Use Reset Wi-Fi in the Device card on the device page, or the button on the controller if you can’t reach the page:

1. Hold the button. At about 1.5 seconds the panel shows its address.
2. At 5 seconds it says Keep holding to reset Wi-Fi and a bar fills.
3. At 10 seconds it says Wi-Fi reset, restarting and resets.

Let go before 10 seconds and nothing resets.

Why: a Wi-Fi reset makes the panel forget its saved networks and restart into setup, so you can put it on a new network from the Game Day app or its hotspot. Your team, favorites and other settings stay as they were. See Buttons and resets.

Coming in the next release

Nothing resets while you hold the button. Letting go does what the screen says:

Hold for	The panel says	Let go and
1.5 seconds	Its address	Nothing resets
5 seconds	Keep holding, Wi-Fi reset in and a countdown	Nothing resets
10 seconds	Release to reset Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi resets
20 seconds	Release to erase all	Factory reset
30 seconds	Release to cancel	Nothing resets

After a Wi-Fi reset the panel keeps its saved networks and stays in setup for 15 minutes. Unplug it and plug it back in, or wait out the 15 minutes, and it rejoins the Wi-Fi it already knows. Holding the button on a panel that’s switched off turns it on, so you can see the countdown.

Start over from scratch

Use Factory reset in the Device card on the device page. It erases everything: Wi-Fi, team, favorites and settings. The panel restarts into setup the way it came out of the box. Do this before you sell or give the panel away.

A USB install erases everything too.

Coming in the next release

No app and no device page? Hold the button on the controller. At 20 seconds the panel says Release to erase all. Let go then for a factory reset. Changed your mind? Keep holding to 30 seconds, until it says Release to cancel, and let go.

The panel won’t start

If it stays dark or keeps restarting, check that it’s on the power supply that came with it. If that doesn’t help, reinstall the firmware over USB from a desktop browser such as Chrome or Edge. See Install or reinstall the firmware. That erases its settings, so set it up again afterwards.

Why: a USB install replaces everything on the controller, so it brings back a panel that can’t start the firmware it has.

The panel is dim, or shows a thermometer or plug in the corner

Coming in the next release

A small icon pulsing slowly in the top right corner means the panel is holding its brightness down to protect itself. Every two minutes the bottom line says why.

A thermometer, and Too warm, dimming: the panel is running hot. Keep it out of direct sun and give it some air behind it. It goes back to your brightness by itself as it cools.

A plug, and Check power supply: the panel restarted twice in a row because its power dipped, so it keeps its brightness low to stay on. Use the power supply that came with it, not a phone charger or a USB port. Then press Clear on the device page. The icon stays until you do.

Why: above a 75 C reading from the controller’s chip, the panel steps its brightness down, a step every two minutes while it stays hot, as far as a quarter of your setting. Once the chip reads under 70 C, it comes back a step at a time. A power supply too weak for the panel makes it restart when it lights up, and a lower brightness draws less power. The device page shows the same message, and the chip temperature under Diagnostics.

The device page says an update didn’t take

Nothing needs doing. The panel is running the version it had before, and it works as it did.

If you want to try the update again, press Install on the device page. A later release installs as normal.

Why: when a new version crashes as it starts, the panel goes back to the firmware it had. It remembers that version and doesn’t install it on its own again, so it doesn’t restart into the same bad update every night. See Updates.

Coming in the next release

The device page says The update to the new version didn’t take and the panel went back to the version it’s running, with Install tries it again under it.