BT Router Flashing Purple (No Nonsense Guide)

ByGraeme Internet

If you have BT router flashing purple or orange and pink lights then we think we can help! This article has been written as a quick guide that acts as a useful troubleshooting and helpful resource to help cure your purple light issues on BT.

If you are seeing a blinking purple, pink or orange light on your BT Home Hub, then that means that the hub is trying to find an internet connection.

The general cause of a purple light on BT Hub devices is a disconnected cable, a faulty line, or a faulty port on your BT Hub. If you are not seeing any lights then check your power cable is connected, as there should be a power light on at least.

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A BT hub flashing purple
A BT router flashing purple

Your BT Home Hub also has a red light, which indicates a general fault, so when you see this in addition to your BT router flashing pink, then you have a problem with your line or BT hub.

Great, so how do we fix the pink/orange/purple flashing lights and restore an internet connection then?

The first, and most basic technique is the Roy method from IT Crowd: “Have you tried turning it off and on again?”

Resetting your router will generally solve basic problems like a frozen hub or a line synchronization issue. After a few minutes, and if everything is well, then your router should return to normal with a blue light once it has finished restarting.

Make sure the broadband cable (gray end) and filter are properly plugged in if you have a pink (or purple) light.

You should connect via an Ethernet cable to your desktop computer or laptop if you’re still not seeing an orange light. Next, try to get connected by opening a new web browser window and entering your hub’s default IP address.

Quick Colour Guide

If your router is acting up and your smart hub flashing is pointing towards an internet problem, it means you can’t browse the web, stream content, or connect to your smart home appliances. Below are some common light states and colours that can tell you a bit more about what is going on with your router.

Look for these colours on a Hub 4 and Hub 5

Blue: Your Hub is connected to the internet and everything is working

Red: The broadband connection is down

Orange: Something appears to be wrong with the broadband connection.

Green: The Hub will start up shortly – please wait

Look for these colours on your Smart Hub

Smart Hub Flashing

If you have a flashing error light, and you aren’t sure what the flashes indicate, then take a look at our below information.

Hub Flashing Purple

Flashing Purple: Hub flashing purple means that it is working fine.

Hub Flashing Orange

Flashing orange: Hub flashing orange means that broadband is connecting, please wait

Flashing Orange Light

Flashing orange: Hub flashing orange means that broadband is connecting, please wait. This means that a flashing orange light just means that your router is busy and needs a minute to finish whatever its doing.

Purple Flashing Light

Flashing Purple: A flashing purple light means that the hub is working fine.

Flashing Purple Light

Flashing Purple: A purple flashing light means that the hub is working fine.

Other Lights

Blue: Your Hub is connected to the internet and everything is working.

Green: The Hub will start up shortly – please wait.

Solid orange: A steady orange light means that you should plug in with an Ethernet cable diagnose from an internet browser.

Flashing pink: The hub is working fine, but you can’t connect to the internet.

Red: Something else is wrong – try rebooting your Hub.

Check the cables connected to your router, especially the one that connects it to your phone socket, if restarting your Hub doesn’t help. Be sure that the ends of the cable are firmly inserted and that the cable isn’t faulty.

My BT Home Hub shows a red light only. What should I do?

The red light on the hub may indicate a problem somewhere in the system which is not easy to diagnose without running through a few checks.

Again, we will need to restart the router and wait for it to power cycle. After around 3 minutes we should see that it completes its start up, and with a bit of luck, we should have a blue light.

bt hub flashing pink

Find a paperclip or a pin and then locate the factory reset button on the back of the device. You will see a very small hole, and inside that hole is a small push button. After the hub has completely rebooted into the default factory settings, it should work as normal within about five minutes. 

Keep in mind that this will set your modem back to its original state, so if you set up any WiFi passwords or if you have changed your login settings then you will need to have that information at hand before you undertake the factory reset.

Getting started: fixing BT broadband flashing pink errors Smart Home Appliances

Below are some quick and easy fixes for you to try before getting on the phone with BT. Hopefully you can get yourself back up and running quickly, which is a win in our book.

Let’s try reboot your BT Hub

A BT hub flashing is not fun, and sometimes means that your device needs a reboot. The simplest trick is often the most effective, and in this case a reboot is just that. Simply press the power button on your Hub, or unplug the power from the back and wait for a few seconds. 

Then switch the router back on or plug it back in and wait to see what happens, and if anything changes. If nothing changes then it might be time to check in with BT and find out if there are any problems in your area, or if you have a fault on your line.

Verify the status of BT Broadband in your area

In the event the LED does not show a connection, you should check whether your area has a problem.

It’s not easy to find out if BT is down in your area without an internet connection, but if you do have a smartphone, turn the WiFi off and check with mobile data.

Check out this link to the BT site for the current status in your area.

Try an Ethernet cable

Something to note is that many people report that their BT Hub is actually showing a blue light, but they are still unable to connect to the internet. If this is the case, then you might actually be dealing with a bad WiFi or DHCP configuration.

It’s also worth checking if you have a WiFi booster or other wireless equipment in your home. If so, then try disconnecting those units and restart your BT Hub again. If something was causing an error then this should clear it, and with some luck, you should be able to connect to the WiFi now.

If not, then you will need to connect an Ethernet cable to your BT Hub and then connect with a laptop or desktop. Once this is done, you need to login to the Hub admin page. There will be a sticker on the underside of the Hub displaying this log in information.

Press ENTER in your web browser’s address bar after typing in 192.168.1.254. Provided that the factory settings of your BT Hub haven’t been changed, this should get you to the management page where you can either click on ‘Advanced’ (Smart Hub) or “Settings” for Hubs 3, 4 and 5.

Ensure your 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi settings are enabled. In most cases, the two networks are merged together, so you can see only one name.

Have you tested the BT socket?

At this stage after ruling out all of the other factors in your home internet setup, it might be your BT wall socket causing the issue. This is highly unlikely though, and it is far more likely to be a phone extension cord if you are using one. If you can, try to get your hub close to that socket and plug it in directly to the wall socket.

Your router must be plugged into the master phone socket and not an extension to figure out whether it’s a socket issue or an extension cable problem. A filter is required if you just have one socket (if there’s only one, it’ll be shared between both the BT router and your landline phone).

Hub Factory Reset

A hub factory reset is usually a last resort solution to general problems such as a bad configuration, lost password, or a setting that you can’t change back. Simply locate the factory reset button on the back of the router and use a small object such as a paper clip to press it in for a a few seconds. This will reset your hub, and will take a few minutes to boot up again.

You must make sure that you have all of your WiFi passwords and account login details before you restore the factory settings of your hub. If you reset the hub and you don’t have any of these details then you will struggle to reconnect to it to perform configuration changes and setup steps.

Conclusion

If you’ve checked all of the easy fixes and your router is still flashing pink, then it might be worth checking with BT to see if there are any problems in your area. We hope that you have found this information helpful, and that your issue has been resolved.

Graeme is a CompTIA and Microsoft Certified IT professional with an interest in computers, cybersecurity, internet technologies, WiFi routers, and Internet Service Providers. He is highly knowledgeable and has over 20 years of experience working in the industry and has written for places such as CBT Nuggets, InfoSec, and Engineering.com.