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paulb104's avatar
paulb104
Channel Surfer
3 months ago
Solved

Hisense Roku TV - Roku Media Player crashes

I've been using flash drives for years with my Roku TV. In the last few weeks it started getting weird. I'd be watching a video from the drive and then all of a sudden the TV loses access to the drive and the TV is behaving like the drive is not plugged in. Then, mysteriously, without ever touching the TV or the remote, the TV accesses the drive as if it was just plugged back in. Sometimes the TV simply will not read the drive, but it could be days before that happens again.

I don't even know where to start to diagnose this issue other than posting here.

The TV is a 55R7+ 55" Hisense, hardware id C206X, software version 14.6.

The only thing I can think of do is to reformat the flash drive. It's a 512gb, and it's almost full and don't have a system big enough to move everything too (not yet, at least).

Anyone know what's going on, or what to do about it?

tv & player discussion
  • RokuRiamie-D's avatar
    RokuRiamie-D
    3 months ago

    Thanks for the info paulb104​

    Let's see if this works for you.

    1. Check the Roku Media Player for updates: highlight the tile > press the start button > click on Check for Update.
    2. Uninstall and reinstall the Roku Media Player on your Hisense Roku TV
    3. If the issue continues, try a system restart—this can also be a workaround for the Smart View issue.


    Let us know how it goes.

    Roku Community Team

12 Replies

  • paulb104's avatar
    paulb104
    Channel Surfer
    3 months ago

    If the issue was flash drive related then the Smart View would not be affected.

    The only other thing I can think of to do is do a full factory reset on the TV.

    • RokuSuzetteL's avatar
      RokuSuzetteL
      Community Moderator
      3 months ago

      Thanks for the update, paulb104!

      Have you tried the steps provided by one of our moderators in this thread? If so, are there any differences it made after doing this? 

      Giving more details would help us explore more steps!

      Roku Community Team 

  • atc98092's avatar
    atc98092
    Community Streaming Expert
    3 months ago

    Unfortunately, I believe the drive does need to be reformatted. They can and do pick up errors when they are constantly connected and removed from devices such as a computer or player. 

    That is a lot of media to trust onto a portable drive. I strongly suggest you consider installed media server software on a computer and leaving your media there. Data corruption is much less likely to happen, you make your media available on any device on your network, and there's no need to be moving the USB drive back and forth.

    You have a couple of options: DLNA or proprietary media server. DLNA is simple to use and set up. If you have a Windows computer, it has a basic DLNA server available (although I think it's almost worthless). There are many free DLNA servers available for download. I support Serviio (disclaimer: I created the Roku profiles included with Serviio), but there are others. Most are free with a paid version with additional features. For proprietary servers, Plex is the most well known and very simple to set up. It too has a free version, although I have paid for a Plex Pass simply to support the developers. There's also Jellyfin and Emby, both available for free. All three I mentioned have dedicated apps for Roku (and other) devices, and all have a nicer user interface than Roku Media Player.

    • paulb104's avatar
      paulb104
      Channel Surfer
      3 months ago

      All that info is great, in regards to USB and DLNA. There is still the issue of the Quick View screen mirroring that gets shut down exactly like the flash drive does.

      • atc98092's avatar
        atc98092
        Community Streaming Expert
        3 months ago

        Smart View and using the USB port are completely different issues. I've screen mirrored very seldom, but never had an issue with it. And it's been a long time since I've done it, so who knows what might have changed in the Roku OS.

        Also, I was looking at your past posts and wanted to point something out. You said you removed RMP, turned your TV off, then installed it again. Unfortunately, just turning the TV off does not perform a complete removal. You have to either use the Settings Menu option to perform a restart (NOT A RESET) or pull the power cord. Simply turning the TV off only turns off the display, and the rest of the OS is still running.

  • RokuRhea-V's avatar
    RokuRhea-V
    Community Moderator
    3 months ago

    Hey paulb104​ 

    It looks like there are some issues with the flash drive connected to the Roku TV. Could you please share more details?

    • Have you tested the flash drive on a different TV to see if the issue persists?
    • When did you first notice this problem?
    • Are you experiencing issues with the Roku apps, or is it solely related to the flash drive connectivity?

    Let us know when you're free!

    Roku Community Team 

  • paulb104's avatar
    paulb104
    Channel Surfer
    3 months ago

    The flash drive is regularly used with a Windows PC and an android phone. 

    The issue started a few weeks ago.

    No other apps have an issue. 

    The flash drive suddenly stops working and the TV goes to the "Connect to a DLNA Server or USB Device " screen. Eventually the drive gets recognized and the "Allow access to external media" screen pops up. This just happened literally a few minutes ago. About two minutes went by with the drive not being read and then it was again.

  • paulb104's avatar
    paulb104
    Channel Surfer
    3 months ago

    I have an update. Earlier today the flash drive was being used and suddenly got 'disconnected'. I switched to using Smart View from my Samsung Galaxy S25+, something else that I've been doing for a long time. All of a sudden the Smart View stopped and the TV returned to the main menu. That's never happened before. So now the usb AND the Smart View are getting cut off. 

    FWIW, my TV is software version 14.6.4, build 9914, and it was last updated on July 1, 2025.

    The only thing that I can think of is that there is some issue with the updated build. Is there any way to install a previous version?

    • RokuRiamie-D's avatar
      RokuRiamie-D
      Community Moderator
      3 months ago

      Thanks for the info paulb104​

      Let's see if this works for you.

      1. Check the Roku Media Player for updates: highlight the tile > press the start button > click on Check for Update.
      2. Uninstall and reinstall the Roku Media Player on your Hisense Roku TV
      3. If the issue continues, try a system restart—this can also be a workaround for the Smart View issue.


      Let us know how it goes.

      Roku Community Team

  • paulb104's avatar
    paulb104
    Channel Surfer
    3 months ago

    I uninstalled the Roku Media Player, turned the TV off, turned the TV back on and then reinstalled Roku Media Player. 

    The Media Player still cuts off randomly.

    • RokuEmmanuel-D's avatar
      RokuEmmanuel-D
      Community Moderator
      3 months ago

      Hey, paulb104​.

      You mentioned that this flash drive is frequently used with a PC and an Android phone; it's possible that this could be a damaged USB. But we'll try to isolate this. 

      If you have other USB flash drives we can try on and see if the issue persists, or other TVs we can connect the flash drive to. This will help us identify the problem.

      Let us know what you find!

      Roku Community Team