DJSV wrote: I had done the software update and the very next morning I had the black screen issue.
That's what's confusing about a lot of these problems (green screen, black screen, perma-recovery loop). There definitely are cases where Roku's update caused it (which means Roku isn't testing the updates, or there's too much hardware out there for Roku to adequately test). But, then there's cases where it's just a hardware failure.
And then the solutions are a box of chocolates. Factory reset works for one person, but not another (who finds unplugging fixes their problem; but someone else isn't fixed until they do the so-called "cache clean.").
As amazing as all this is: it's more amazing that Roku doesn't care about this anarchy. Roku has relied on blaming the tv manufacturers. But, there's obviously some kind of breakdown (and mass confusion about how to get to the root cause, and which solution to use when, why there's so many, and the one Roku dismissed as pure superstition actually does fix problems nothing else does). It's really hard to say it's TCL's problem. Roku knows enough about what's going on, and never has ANYTHING to say. In the end, it's the customer taking a loss. (And, the way Roku doesn't let opt out of updates, or go back to a previous one. That's some real customer-facing stuff there.).
If I were you (and hadn't tried these things yet, and was confident it was a untested Roku software update which caused my problem), I'd:
1. Clear the cache (fixes random reboots)
Hit HOME 5 times.
UP once.
REWIND twice.
FAST FORWARD twice. (Clears cache & tv reboots itself. Be patient. It takes 2-3 minutes for the tv to go black, and come back on)
This is the one Roku mocked customers about. It actually fixes problems and is doing something the power-menu "restart" doesn't do. Roku could have explained what that was. But, it sounded more edgy to mock customers (Business Insider article).
Since you can't see the screen, you should see the front light flash after a couple minutes. If you don't, then you got the keystrokes wrong. Try it again.
2. Pinhole reset button (on the back of the tv). Maybe unplug, then hold the power button for a minute (drain electricity out of the boards, capacitors). Wait an hour (this is pure superstition now. But, people say it makes a difference). Then hold the pinhole button while plugging the tv in. Continue holding it 15-20 seconds(?) until the front light flashes & dims(?).
If your screen comes back to life, I would tell the setup that I'll connect to the internet later. This will use a lighter, perhaps older software version. I'd use that for awhile to see if the problem stays away. Watch antenna tv, stream through HDMI, play games through HDMI. Whatever you've got.
Eventually you can go to home>settings>network to create the connection to internet. Then go to settings>system>update to update your tv. It's not clear whether the tv has the latest software when you do this network-less reset/setup. The antenna tv interface looks nothing like 9.4's disaster. I've done this reset and still disconnected from the internet so I can watch antenna tv better (and stream through HDMI using an inexpensive firestick lite). But, this doesn't seem to fix many other problems. So, if it did fix yours, then I'd wonder if connecting to the internet would cause it to receive the update again, and break it again. You could immediately check for an update to test that.
I bet the clear cache will fix it, if you're sure it was an update that broke it.
