Channels & viewing

[Tim109]

The roku express box on the whole seems to work fine. However of late when we try and access the BBC Iplayer app or the youtube app it says it's reloading. Don't know what's going on. I notice that Roku seems to have stopped sending updates to our roku express device from last Christmas. Has this got anything to do with it?

[Portalogem]

Sorry about the long post, but there is a lot to unpack with what may be happening with this (and all other) Roku Express device(s), which is what may be causing your Roku update issues. 

I have a 3910 Roku Express Plus which continues to update, although, I had this "Error 004" issue with it when trying to update the OS which I have since resolved. After a Google search, I saw that your older model should still be supported by Roku. The version of your OS should be 14.5.4b5937-51 and I just realized that my Roku Ultra hasn't yet updated to this as that's still on 14.1.4b7709-46, so Roku may be working on this before blasting it out to more devices -- but unfortunately these Express devices weren't so lucky.

Therefore, you may just want to wait to manually update your Roku until this "Error 004" issue is resolved by Roku if you're not on the current OS. This link will take you to the thread on the Issue Tracking Board which should let you know when that happens. You can see what OS you're on by going to Setting/System/About and pressing either "ok" or pressing the right button, but this will only show 14.1 or 14.5 -- which should be adequate for seeing if you're on the current OS. If you want to see more details of what OS you're on, then press the home button 5x and the back button 5x which will pop up the "Issue report tracker screen."

If your channels reload, this may be because your Roku device is old and slow like mine which does that with various channel apps as well at times, but as long as you can still access the channel then you're fine. If it bothers you too much, you could consider purchasing a newer Roku device which has faster processing speeds and shouldn't have this issue. The more concerning issue is this new OS update that is erroring out and causing our Roku Express models to show the purple screen (if your wallpaper is the purple screen). 

The reason yours might not be updating its OS may be because of these same issues since this OS error 004 issue has been going on for a while with the Express (and Plus) models which also had errored out on that prior OS update (and the one before that), but this newest OS update just wouldn't let me update with the Roku Express Plus until I did much finger dancing on the remote. I'm going to show you how to manually update, and if you get the dreaded error 004 which then shows the wallpaper and no menu or channel apps, then this "finger dancing on the Roku remote" workaround I had previously posted should work for you as it did for my device. 

So cross your fingers and hope I am wrong that your Roku won't have that OS update error 004, but if that happens, below is a link from my post from that same Issue Tracking Board thread. 

First, try to manually update your Roku (unless you want to hold off and wait until this issue is resolved):

Go to Settings/System/Software update/Check now
This also gives a greater detailed description of the OS version your Roku has. Don't tap "Check now" unless you're ready to manually update.

If you're not on OS 14.1.4b7709 or 14.5.4b5937 then it should ask you to update the OS. You should still be given the option to not do the OS update. If you aren't on 14.1 and it doesn't ask you to update the OS, perhaps a restart will help fix this by going to Settings/System/System restart/Restart and then trying to manually update the Roku OS. Also out of four Roku Express devices, which were the same models, two of them had remained on for months and they had auto-updated and restarted themselves just fine, so perhaps this happened for your device and you won't run into this 004 error. And even if I'm wrong and your Roku is no longer supported by not giving you any new OS updates, you should still see your channel apps update. 

On my non-supported bricked Roku 1 (SE), even before it stopped receiving OS updates, individual channel apps would still update as they started telling me that they no longer worked on that Roku after I loaded them. So you should still be able to load the channel app. The issue with the Roku 1 is that I can't even move to any channels as all the channel apps freeze while I'm on the home screen, so if this isn't resolved in a few months then it will be time for me to factory reset it and recycle it. 

If your Roku player does update the OS, but you get that dreaded error 004 followed by the blank home screen then go to my post to help you out of that hole, and I reposted again here which also includes steps to manually update which I've already shared with you in this post.

And even if your Roku isn't updating, you can follow the steps to see if 1st -- clearing the cache works and 2nd -- if forcing an update works by going to the secret screen. Although, I would advise against going to the secret screen to perform a forced update if you can't get the Roku's OS to manually update through settings until this issue is resolved with the newest OS update erroring out, unless the manual update through settings has caused this error 004 to occur as doing this was the only way I was able to resolve this issue with my Roku Express Plus. Beware of the "Factory Reset" option in the secret menu as you want to avoid tapping on that. With the Roku Express (non-plus) models, I didn't have to go to the secret screen as clearing the cache was enough to fix this issue, which may also be true with your older model.

I tried to do the same finger dances on my remote control with my Roku 1 and all the forced update did from the secret menu was to re-update to the same old OS, so if your device is no longer supported -- this is what will probably happen to you. I guess my Roku remote got tired of all the finger dancing because it's currently hiding from me. 😞

[Tim109]

Our software is showing as 14.1.

We don't get an error code or anything like that.

Roku hasn't updated the s/w since Christmas last year.

[Portalogem]

You have the same OS version as my Roku Ultra and Roku 3. Everything I've written to you is about the newest OS update which is 14.5. My issue happened when my device asked me to update to the newest OS. To further clarify that your Roku is up to date, I'll compare with you what YouTube App version I have. Use the remote to move to the YouTube channel without entering it and press the star "*" key. My version of YouTube is 2.22b13. 

When the Roku updates your channel apps in the background while either on screensaver or when it restarts, it won't show that it has updated on the update screen as that only changes if you manually update. Like you, I still have the 14.1 OS update on my Roku Ultra device. There is no OS vs 14.2 through 14.4. This updated for me on 12/19/24, which was near last Christmas. This is normal for Roku. The newest update is being delayed because of these update issues that error out and cause the Roku to show the home screen's wallpaper without the channels or menus. If this should happen to you in which the OS update screen comes up, but errors out, then my previous post should be helpful as this helped me get past that error on a similar device. 

When I loaded YouTube on my Express Plus, I first saw the circle, which went away, and this was replaced by another circle that showed a percentage, which loaded until YouTube opened. 

Now if I'm misunderstanding you and your apps aren't loading at all but continuously reloading then follow these steps below:

Go to the home screen, making sure it's not on screensaver, and unplugging the Roku for a few minutes should fix this.

But if you're having the same problem after the Roku restarts, it could be a network issue in which you need to turn off your router and modem and turn them back on.

If it's not a network issue, your Express may be experiencing a power issue. My Roku Express Plus acted all wonky when I had the USB device plugged into the TV. This device needs to be plugged into an outlet. It is possible that either your USB cord or USB plug has gone bad, so if you have a spare USB cord and USB plug, try to see if replacing the cord fixes this, and if not, see if replacing the plug fixes this, or both may need to be replaced. If you don't have a spare USB cord or plug, and you need to shop for this, make sure that you purchase the correct USB plug that fits the Roku device.

If that doesn't work, you can uninstall and reinstall the apps. I recommend that you search for the app before doing this, so that you can easily find it again in the recent search portion to re-install.  

With the remote, select the app without entering it, press the star key, select "Remove App". Repeat these steps with the other app that's giving you issues. Then restart the Roku and then re-install the apps. If this isn't helpful, you can also try clearing the cache which restarts the Roku, which also may fix this. You can also use this if that update pops up and errors out and shows that blank screen as this will restart your Roku and bring you back to the home screen. 

Press the home button to make sure you're at the home screen. Then wait a moment.

Press Home button five times.
Press Up button 1x "^"
Press Rewind 2x "<<"
Press Fast Forward 2x ">>"
Your Roku will cycle the menu 3x and then freeze and won’t respond to the remote.
After a short while (be patient), your Roku will reboot.

Hopefully, one of these solutions fix your issue. If this isn't helpful, and I can think of some other troubleshooting steps you can take, I'll put those in either this post with an "update" or a new post when I'm able to. 

Update

Sorry, I forgot to mention this since I was tired when writing this post.

Check to see if your Roku is on your network (or the right network):

Go to Settings/Network/About

See if your Roku is connected to the Network and if your Internet download speed is Good. It doesn't have to be excellent, but it shouldn't be poor. 

Then go to Settings/Network/Check connection and press OK on the remote and see if that's successful

If it's not successful then go to Settings/Network/Setup connection/Wireless and see if you're on the right wireless network. 

If you're still having issues, you could try to reset your Network connection on your Roku but this erases your wireless network settings, meaning you would have to re-enter your WiFi password:

Settings/System/Advanced system settings/Network connection reset/Reset connection

You'll also notice on this Advanced system settings menu that you can do a factory reset if nothing else works. This will log your Roku out of your account, so you would need to log it back in and then setup your network by entering your WiFi password, readjust all your settings, and reposition your channel apps on your home screen.