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spheremonk
Channel Surfer

Re: HBO Max black screen after returning from pause

I SOLVED THE PROBLEM!!!

I've been having the same problem as everyone else on this chain, but I solved it. I bought a Fire TV and a Chromecast and threw my two Rokus in the garbage. Everything is working as it's supposed to. HBO Max does not go to black ever. Problem solved!

Added bonus: from what I can tell from the internet boards, customer service for both other products are actually responsive and helpful and solve customers' problems for them. 

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jerm7777
Reel Rookie

Re: HBO Max black screen after returning from pause

I've been having a similar problem when tv shows are paused.  Generally after screen saver kicks in and I unpause, it skips ahead in the episode or skips to the next episode.  I've tried all the normal fixes offered by Roku, and I've read at least 3 times in this thread that there is a new power saver feature.  Also thinking of dumping my Rokus as other apps also have issues.

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RokuDanny-R
Retired Moderator

Re: HBO Max black screen after returning from pause

@jerm7777

Thanks for the post.

Is the issue you are experiencing only on the HBO Max channel? What specifically is occurring on other channels? Do you have the power saver feature enabled or disabled on your Roku device?

With more detailed information, we will be able to assist you further.


Thanks,
Danny

Danny R.
Roku Community Moderator
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spheremonk
Channel Surfer

Re: HBO Max black screen after returning from pause

Danny,

If you read the posts above, many people have had the same issue and all of your questions have been asked to all of them already. When you pause HBO Max ONLY on the Roku ONLY the screen goes to black eventually and you have to go all the way back to the Roku main menu and start over. This doesn't happen on any other streaming device so it is specifically a Roku problem. For months, no one has offered a solution.

Can you solve the problem or is this simply going to be the same series of questions and non-answers we're seen from Roku support in the previous five pages? I suggest you scroll up and review before answering. 

Thanks?

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Portalogem
Roku Guru

Did I just solve this? Re: HBO Max black screen after returning from pause

I couldn't get my original variant of this to post for it kept being marked as spam, so I changed it and reposted. Oh, it happened again when creating a new post. I found that it was because I hit the back button by mistake, and the only way to repost is then change some words. So here is a repost that I hope is able to solve this issue once and for all:

I just realized that this issue was resolved with my Roku Ultra, which means it's finally problem free, at least until the next OS/channel update. 🙂

So for everyone in this thread, this post lets you know that hopefully, you too can now pause your HBOmax channel again without having this issue. I'm literally testing this right now by having a movie paused in HBOmax while I write this post. And after an hour and a half of my Roku being on screensaver, my HBOmax channel didn't freeze. (After such a length of time, these three dots were swirling around, but the movie still resumed when pressing play.) 

My screensaver now goes to raining Rokus while pausing a movie, even though I have a different screensaver set up. Regardless, if this is what it's supposed to do or not, I'm just happy that it finally works no matter which screensaver appears.

If after a week @spheremonk and/or anyone else is still having this issue, I had found a solution that fixes the OS 11 In Channel Screensaver Glitch of 2022, which I'm guessing also has resolved this HBOmax screensaver issue of 2021 for me, so hopefully, this benefits everyone. But hopefully, by now, everyone is able to pause their HBOmax content, and it goes to screensaver without freezing their Roku TVs and devices.

I posted a link below that goes to a different thread in this forum that should help solve this issue for you if this hasn't already been automatically solved through a prior update. Before posting this info, I was able to fix my parents' Roku Ultra (2019) as well as my Roku Ultra (2018) and Roku 3 device, and this fixed at least one other member of the Roku community's Roku device.

I found that the finicky devices that still had this issue, even after Roku had recently rolled out a patch (that isn't shown on any update screen), are Roku TV's and the Roku devices that take Micro-SD cards. I don't have a Roku TV, but I believe this fix works (just skip the SD Card part), so you don't have to go to the extreme of hard resetting your device to fix this (which will now work even though it didn't before). I'm guessing that when a user turns off their Roku TV, this just turns off the screen and not the Roku within the TV, which, after months of it being plugged in, can cause cache issues after channel updates happen. Since I've read about issues in which a Roku doesn't boot after unplugging it (which has never happened to me since the beginning of Roku), probably the best way to unplug a Roku is to take it off of screensaver to avoid potential update issues and make certain it's on the home screen first. And if you're going to unplug the Roku often, it's probably a good idea to get a powerstrip, so you can turn the switch off to avoid potential unplugging surges. 

I may soon move my original post to its own thread since this was such a major issue for so many in so many different ways, but this link will still go to that link when I get a chance to do that. One person in the community recommended that I should do that since I guess the OP of the original thread I had posted on had it automatically resolved and may not have needed my help, while another on the same thread gave me a kudo for helping that user solve this.

If you have trouble with the link below, this is basically what I did since it ended up being a screensaver cache issue:

This will clear your theme settings, so remember your wallpaper screen, sound settings, and screen saver. This won't hard reset the Roku. 

Go to Settings/Theme/Restore Default Theme/Restore (make sure to remove the SD Card first if present)

You may want to mix this in with the other steps in this thread if that added step alone doesn't work, which I also covered in my original post (found in the link below) regarding updating the Roku and clearing the overall cache that ends up restarting the Roku. Some threads mentioned unplugging their Roku TV's as a possible solution if this alone doesn't work (I'll add that to my original post at a later time when I include Roku TVs with it).

So, here's the link to my original post if the above in bold isn't enough to help you solve this (such as if you do have a Micro-SD card in your Roku which will need to be reformatted to fully resolve this):

How to Fix The Screensaver OS 11 Glitch -- 2022 (h... - Roku Community

(https://community.roku.com/t5/Roku-Device-Features-Settings-Updates/11-0-0-screen-saver-crashing-mul...)

I hope this post (and/or my original post in the link above) was able to finally resolve this rather complex issue. 

And I apologize if this post appears more than one time in this thread or if you all received multiple emails while I was trying to repost this due to the original post being marked as spam because I hit the back button by mistake after posting.

After I re-read this post, because it was all over the place since I was tired when writing it, I've since edited it for clarity. 

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