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George Ledo Magic Café Columnist SF Bay Area 3042 Posts |
Not sure if this is the correct forum, but it's the closest I could find.
I received a Roku unit as a gift a few years ago and plugged it into our fairly new flat screen TV. Worked fine for a while, then we started getting the Error screen. So each time I followed the instructions (basically, unplug everything and plug it back) and got it working again. This happened several times over a period of maybe a couple of months, then suddenly it was working fine. More recently, we plugged it into a brand-new flat-screen TV. Fine for a few months, then the error screen started again. So I went back to the plug/unplug drill, but over the past few weeks the error screen has come up three to four times over a period of maybe an hour and a half. Sometimes, if I just give it a couple of minutes, it goes back to showing the program. I've looked for solutions online and on the Roku web site, but they basically just say to do what I've been doing all along. Could it be a defective unit, or do these things just crap out after a few years so you go out and buy a new one, or is there a "real" solution to this? Thank you.
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tommy Eternal Order Devil's Island 16544 Posts |
If you have the standard Roku it does not say it is great for 4K & HDR TVs whereas the Roku Premiere and the Roku Streaming Stick®+ do. Also in the settings in smart TVs one can normally get software updates. I think the more expensive omes have more memory which is something to do buffering the stream.
If there is a single truth about Magic, it is that nothing on earth so efficiently evades it.
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George Ledo Magic Café Columnist SF Bay Area 3042 Posts |
Thanks, tommy. I have the Premiere model.
I was so fed up last night that I tried an experiment. When the error page came up, and after cussing at it, I hit Home on the remote. Didn't unplug anything. A moment later the home screen came up, I clicked my way back to my program, and it came right up. I even went for a short walk, which turned out longer than I expected, and the program was still on when I returned. I'm starting to think there's a bug (accidental or intentional) in the software.
That's our departed buddy Burt, aka The Great Burtini, doing his famous Cups and Mice routine
www.georgefledo.net Latest column: "Sorry about the photos in my posts here" |
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tommy Eternal Order Devil's Island 16544 Posts |
Good. My son who has one said certain apps/channels can mess it up but you can troubleshoot the apps and remove the problem ones.
If there is a single truth about Magic, it is that nothing on earth so efficiently evades it.
Tommy |
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slowkneenuh Regular user After 5,278+ posts, only credited with 133 Posts |
I haven't had any issues with mine. Is it possible the problem is with your neywork/router/modem? Next time you have a problem you could reboot your modem to see if that's the issue. Sometimes intermittent problems are caused by the network and not Roku.
John
"A poor workman always blames his tools" |
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Dave Scribner Assistant Manager Lake Hopatcong, NJ 4849 Posts |
George, you didn't say what the error screen said. I'm new to ROKU as of a few months ago and found that if you go to ROKU.com there is a chat function. They are usually pretty helpful if you can explain exactly what you see.
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George Ledo Magic Café Columnist SF Bay Area 3042 Posts |
Thanks, John and Dave. I rebooted my router per instructions I found somewhere on line some time ago, but the problem continued. I also tried the chat function, but all they told me was to unplug and replug.
The error screen was the one about HDCP and not being compatible.
That's our departed buddy Burt, aka The Great Burtini, doing his famous Cups and Mice routine
www.georgefledo.net Latest column: "Sorry about the photos in my posts here" |
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Dave Scribner Assistant Manager Lake Hopatcong, NJ 4849 Posts |
I'm not very tech savvy but I have read some about HDCP. I've heard you can buy an HDMI splitter for around $20 and connect the ROKU to it and then to the TV but I'm not sure about that. When you talked to ROKU customer service, did you tell them you were getting the HDCP error? When I was having a problem, I found I had to specifically ask for tech support.
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George Ledo Magic Café Columnist SF Bay Area 3042 Posts |
Thanks, Dave. I just looked up HDMI splitters, and they're just like cube taps -- those little electric plugs that have two or more outlets -- so you can get two or more feeds out of one cable. They don't do anything to the signal.
I was very specific when I tried tech support, but I'll try calling them again. I'll post it here.
That's our departed buddy Burt, aka The Great Burtini, doing his famous Cups and Mice routine
www.georgefledo.net Latest column: "Sorry about the photos in my posts here" |
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slowkneenuh Regular user After 5,278+ posts, only credited with 133 Posts |
John
"A poor workman always blames his tools" |
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landmark Inner circle within a triangle 5194 Posts |
I'm predicting a bad cable. 99% of unusual tech problems turn out to be bad cables.
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George Ledo Magic Café Columnist SF Bay Area 3042 Posts |
Thanks, John and landmark, unplugging and re-plugging is what I've been doing all along, but I'll try a different HDMI cable.
That's our departed buddy Burt, aka The Great Burtini, doing his famous Cups and Mice routine
www.georgefledo.net Latest column: "Sorry about the photos in my posts here" |
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Dave Scribner Assistant Manager Lake Hopatcong, NJ 4849 Posts |
George, according to the link that John provided, make sure you unplug the HDMI cable on both ends as well as just unplugging and replugging the units. Also, I just mentioned your problem to my wife and as soon as I said HDCP, before even explaining your problem, she said "bad HDMI" She apparently was having the same problem and after changing the cable, the problem went away.
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George Ledo Magic Café Columnist SF Bay Area 3042 Posts |
Well this is getting interesting now. When the problem started about five or six weeks ago, I was unplugging and re-plugging everything according to the Roku instructions and some stuff I found online. It worked for a while then crashed again. More recently I decided to see what would happen if I just unplugged the cables at the Roku unit itself, and the results were the same: it worked for a while and then crashed.
A couple of nights ago, when I picked up the Roku unit to unplug, the program came back on before I unplugged anything. It crashed again after a while, so I just picked it up again and it came back on. This went on twice more. Then I found out that if I just jiggled the HDMI cable on the unit a bit, it came back on. So it appears that it's just a loose connection of the HDMI cable at the Roku unit -- which had been corrected all along by unplugging and replugging. And now I'm thinking that, because the unit is on top of a bookcase, the weight of the cable dangling down behind the bookcase might be enough to loosen the connection. The cable is secured, but it might still be pulling a bit. I'm stubborn and cynical enough that I'm going to try using a rubber band to secure the cable to the unit and see what happens before I go and buy a new cable. Thanks, Dave. You gave me some ideas to think about.
That's our departed buddy Burt, aka The Great Burtini, doing his famous Cups and Mice routine
www.georgefledo.net Latest column: "Sorry about the photos in my posts here" |
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karnak Special user Connecticut 747 Posts |
I recall years ago finding HDMI cables and jacks/sockets extremely loose. I had devices from which the cable would just fall right off, if you so much as slightly moved the device.
Things seem to have improved in recent years, as newer devices I have don’t seem to have this problem; cables seem fairly snug. So it may indeed be a matter of more securely strengthening the HDMI cable’s connection to your Roku box. Rubber bands, wire ties, gaff tape, or some combination thereof might help stabilize it.
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Dave Scribner Assistant Manager Lake Hopatcong, NJ 4849 Posts |
George, that very well could be the problem. My wife's ROKU is several years old and is a small box. She has it on the tV stand right next to the TV so there's no cable weight to worry about. I have a new one that is just a small unit almost like a stick. I have it taped to the TV with tape that came with the unit so I don't have any cable weight to worry about either.
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George Ledo Magic Café Columnist SF Bay Area 3042 Posts |
The tape came with the unit? Wow.
That's our departed buddy Burt, aka The Great Burtini, doing his famous Cups and Mice routine
www.georgefledo.net Latest column: "Sorry about the photos in my posts here" |
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Dave Scribner Assistant Manager Lake Hopatcong, NJ 4849 Posts |
Yeah, it was just a short 3" strip of strong double sided tape the length and width of the unit. The ROKU is 3 1/2" x 1 1/2" x 1"
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George Ledo Magic Café Columnist SF Bay Area 3042 Posts |
I guess they know something...
That's our departed buddy Burt, aka The Great Burtini, doing his famous Cups and Mice routine
www.georgefledo.net Latest column: "Sorry about the photos in my posts here" |
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karnak Special user Connecticut 747 Posts |
I think that the included small strip of double-sided tape is just for securely affixing the Roku unit itself to a handy stable surface. The unit is very small, and so light that the weight of a connected cable can cause it to move or rotate (and you want the Roku's front surface fully facing you, straight on, for when you're aiming the unit's remote control at it).
For a supernatural chiller mixing magic (prestidigitation, legerdemain) with Magic (occultism, mysticism), check out my novel MAGIC: AN OCCULT THRILLER at http://www.amazon.com/Magic-Occult-Thriller-Reed-Hall/dp/1453874836
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