Features, settings & updates

[Maverick59]

Since 11.0.0 the built in screen saver, Roku authored ones, are crashing several apps and causing all kinds of problems including at times a bad flashing screen. So far it’s crashing my BritBox and Xfinity Stream beta app for sure on my Roku Ultra 4670X!!!  

any idea’s???

[DBDukes]

@Maverick59 

Does it happen on all Roku screen savers?

You said "default" but my default was a clock. I don't have a 4670, so I don't know what your default is. Which one are you using? And if you use another, does the issue remain?

[Maverick59]

I’ve tried several including the basic logo one, the space themed one and the fish tank and all are messing up in certain apps. YouTube seems okay so far.  It’s as if it’s trying to load and fails to some degree but that leads to control issues in the affected apps. 

[RokuDanny-R]

@Maverick59

Thanks for the post.

We would be more than happy to look into this issue for you. Can you please provide us the following information:
-Roku device model, serial number, device ID, and software OS/version (these can all be found in Settings > System > About)
-does this issue occur on a specific screensaver? if so, what screensaver and what version/build is the channel (this can be found be selecting the channel on the Home screen and pressing the * button)
-tracker ID when this issue occurs (when you see this issue occur, press the Home button 5 times, followed by the Back button 5 times)
-steps to reproduce the issue you are seeing 
-screenshot of the issue happening

Once we have this information, we will be able to pass it along to the appropriate Roku team to investigate further.

Thanks,
Danny

[plugh]

Model: 4210X - Roku 2

Serial number: 5F464E075074

Software version: 11.0.0 build 4193-04

Timestamp: 2022-06-03T12:52:24Z

Issue ID 74-221-092

Display - a 1080p Insignia "dumb" TV, connected via an 18 inch cable.

This topic is also relevant:

https://community.roku.com/t5/Playback-Issues-Audio-Video-Power/Glitchy-flickering-screensaver/m-p/7...

Specific example and way to reproduce:

Go into Settings -> Theme -> select Default Theme Pack

Note: This will choose Movie Magic screensaver, but I've also reproduced it using "Logo Rain" and "Roku Digital Clock" (which is what I normally use).

You may also want to drop Theme -> Screensaver start time to "1 minute"

ALSO, For my specific example:

System -> Advanced system settings -> Control by mobile apps -> Network access -> "Disabled".

This is a workaround for the following TuneIn app, uh, feature?

https://community.roku.com/t5/Channel-Issues-Questions/TuneIn-Low-Pitched-quot-OK-quot-Sound-Every-2...

(fwiw, it seems TuneIn app uses the remote control IP port to inhibit the screensaver. Disabling it both gets rid of the sound and allows the system screensaver to kick in while streaming audio)

Now start TuneIn app, select a stream, start playing it. When screen saver kicks in, the display randomly bounces between TuneIn and the SS, sometimes showing portions of BOTH. Note that while this is occurring, the RokuOS considers the SS active - it takes a key press to deactivate the SS (even when the TuneIn app is visible) and THEN TuneIn will receive the next key press.

[plugh]

PS

I've been using the above setup for several years with no issues. Recently started having the glitched display (with the Digital Clock I'd get a flash every second). I noted under "System -> Software update" a "Last updated" of May 13 8:24 pm. Hmm, he says...

Checked the forum found two similar recent reports. Hmm, he says...

FYI - there are other circumstances where things also "aren't right". For example, enter the Roku Channel app, wait on it's menu until the screensaver kicks in, then hit a key to wake it back up, and you get...

Another - Start streaming something in the Roku Channel app (I chose an Outer Limits episode). Hit Pause. The "Logo Rain" SS kicks in, but periodically you get a flash of some portion of the paused video.

Another - found this post

https://community.roku.com/t5/Roku-Device-Features-Settings-Updates/Roku-Media-Player-Screensaver-no...

queued up a nice long mp3, and hey, what do you know, glitching, flashing screensaver...

[Portalogem]

I just figured this out myself and was able to fix my parents’ Roku Ultra 2019, my Roku Ultra 2018, and my Roku 3. Hopefully, this fix works for you.

Update 8/5/22:

My Roku Ultra again stopped working with the in-channel screensaver. I found I could fix this quickly without having to format my Micro-SD card. If these quick steps don't work, then follow the full instructions below.

Quick steps:

1) Test for the glitch to see if you still have it by going to:
Settings/Theme/Screensaver Start Time -- set this to one minute; then go into the Roku Channel and wait a minute -- if either the user selected screensaver or the default one with the raining Rokus comes on, then you're fine. If the Roku device glitches and shows a frozen screen without the screensaver or you see a flickering screensaver, then continue to the next step.

2) (Skip this step if you don't have a micro-SD card in your Roku, but make certain that you don’t have one.)

With the Roku on***, remove the HDMI cord and then remove the micro-SD card. Upon re-attaching the HDMI cord, the Roku will tell you, "Your micro SD card was removed. Any channels stored on your card will need to be reloaded the next time you use them."

***If you have an issue with removing the HDMI cord while the Roku is plugged in, see my notes under 2) below in the "original instructions" on how to properly unplug your Roku.

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

*This step will absolutely not work if you have a micro-SD card in your Roku device, so be sure it's removed.

Go to Settings/Theme/Restore Default Theme/Restore

4) Test the in-channel screen saver (not Netflix or Hulu):
Go into a Roku channel and wait a minute -- the screen saver should now work.

5) Re-insert the SD card.

Because I again removed and re-inserted the SD card after initially inserting the SD card when the Roku was on, my Roku didn't read the SD card, but upon restarting the Roku, the Roku read the SD Card just fine. Again if you feel more comfortable with unplugging your Roku before doing this step, then see my "original instructions" below on how to properly unplug the Roku.

6) Go into the theme settings and apply your wallpaper screen, sound, and screensaver settings as they were. Then re-test to make sure the screensaver comes on.

7) Once you are satisfied that this issue is resolved, change the screen saver settings* back to the number of minutes you had it on before, so the screensaver doesn't keep coming on after one minute.

*Settings/Theme/Screensaver Start Time

==========================================

Original instructions here in the event the quick instructions don't work:

1) Test for the glitch to see if you still have it by going to:
Settings/Theme/Screensaver Start Time -- set this to one minute; then go into the Roku Channel and wait a minute -- if either the user selected screensaver or the default one with the raining Rokus comes on, then you're fine. If the Roku device glitches and shows a frozen screen without the screensaver or you see a flickering screensaver, then continue to the next step.

2) (Skip this step if you don't have a micro-SD card in your Roku, but make certain that you don’t have one.)

With the Roku on***, remove the HDMI cord and then remove the micro-SD card. (Remember how the SD card goes into the Roku – most go in label side down.) Upon re-attaching the HDMI cord, the Roku will tell you, "Your micro SD card was removed. Any channels stored on your card will need to be reloaded the next time you use them."

***Hot unplugging/plugging the HDMI cord into your Roku shouldn't damage your device since HDMI is low wattage, unlike SCSI cords, but if you're concerned, you can unplug your Roku before removing the cord and the micro-SD card, and after booting you should still see that message. I haven't tried doing it that way. I'll update this post if I find that there's no difference when unplugging my Roku first. But since it's faster to hot unplug/plug in the HDMI cord in order to insert/remove the SD card, I'll probably keep doing it that way. 

Update: I read a thread on this forum that some couldn't restart their Roku after unplugging them, perhaps due to creating a short. I've never had this problem, but when I unplug my Roku (which is often since I use a battery backup that I don't keep on when I'm away in the event of a power outage), I always make sure that my Roku is not on the screensaver and that it's on the home screen and not in a channel. I also use a power strip with a switch, so I can turn off the switch to prevent a potential surge from happening when removing the plug directly from the outlet.

**3) Clear the cache* -- this won't hard reset the Roku and won't clear your passwords.

On the remote: Press the Home button 5 times, Up button 1 time, Rewind button "<<" 2 times, and Fast-forward button ">>" 2 times.

The Roku will flip the menu up three times, freeze and then restart.

**I don't know if clearing the cache is what fixes this issue since I didn't do this the first time I tried to fix this, and after a restart, the fix didn't hold on my Roku devices, but the second time around, I did this, and it worked. However, I didn't do this on my parents' Roku Ultra 2019, and the fix held. If you want to experiment, see if you can fix this issue without clearing the cache, and if you can, let me know in the comments, and then I'll place this step below as an extra thing to do if the fix doesn't hold. But it's a waste of time for everyone to clear the cache if it's unnecessary. 

**4) Update the Roku:
Settings/System/Software Update/Check now

** Again, I don't know if this step is necessary. I didn't update my Roku devices the first time I tried to fix them, and the fix didn't hold after a couple restarts. Then the second time, I performed both a system update and a channel update (see below), and it worked. My theory is that when you restart/unplug the Roku device, when it boots up, Roku automatically updates your device, meaning further updates aren't necessary, but then again, Roku may not update your device if you had already updated it before removing the SD card. So if you want to experiment -- update your Roku before removing the SD card (this will keep Roku from auto-updating when applying this fix), and then don't update the Roku while applying the fix and see if the fix holds after restarting the Roku a couple of times. Let me know in the comments, and if updating really isn't necessary, then I'll place this step below as something extra to do if these steps don't fix the Roku. But this step could be a waste of time if you have tons of channels that need updating and you have an older model that's slow to update each channel. 

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

*This step will absolutely not work if you have a micro-SD card in your Roku device, so be sure it's removed.

Go to Settings/Theme/Restore Default Theme/Restore

6) Test the in-channel screen saver (not Netflix or Hulu):
Go into a Roku channel and wait a minute -- the screen saver should now work.

7) Restart* the Roku and retest the in-channel screen saver (not Netflix or Hulu), restart again, and retest. It might help to test this on multiple Roku channels. At this point, my parents' Roku Ultra 2019 had been fixed as the glitch did not return. However, on my Roku 3 and my Roku Ultra 2018, the glitch did return after testing the screensaver on multiple channels and then restarting. 

*To restart the Roku:
Settings/System/System Restart/Restart

😎 If the glitch returns and the in-channel screensaver again fails to function, repeat the above steps, beginning with step five, and the glitch will again be resolved (be sure that your micro-SD card is removed from the Roku else this won't work). Once I repeated this one time, I found that the glitch did not return. If it does return, repeat these steps again and hope for the best. I've listed other steps you can try below*** if the glitch continues to return or the glitch isn't resolved. (I've since re-added two** of these steps in the event that's what fixed my Roku glitch).

Once you are satisfied that your Roku in-channel screensaver now works as it should:

9) Go into the theme settings and apply your wallpaper screen, sound, and screensaver settings as they were.

If you're using a micro-SD card with your Roku, continue to follow these steps and keep the screensaver start time at one minute. If you aren't using a micro-SD card, then skip to step 14:

10) Format the micro-SD card (which was in the Roku) in a computer/tablet:
Place the SD card into the computer/tablet (you may need a sleeve that converts the micro-SD card into one that fits into the computer, or you can use a USB micro-SD card drive to plug it into the computer).

Click "Format Disk" when the format screen pops up. (If you have to go into the system drives to format the SD card, make sure not to format the wrong SD card or your Hard Drive by mistake.)

On the computer, quick Format the micro-SD card with "Fat 32" selected. You probably should format the SD card after every Roku OS update, or if you find your Roku slows down or doesn't restart, has slow restarts, enters a restart loop, or there are flickering issues. I found this to happen more with my Roku 3, which sped up after I formatted its SD card. Because of the flickering issues, I was able to figure out that this was (for my Roku devices) a micro-SD card cache issue.

11) Insert the micro-SD card into the Roku. The Roku needs to be on***.

***Again, if you're hesitant about hot-plugging the HDMI cord into your Roku, you can unplug the Roku first, but I never had any issues doing this.

12) The Roku will ask you to format the SD card* -- it will format, and once you tap "ok," the channels will be updated. Since the screensaver is set for one minute -- the screensaver will come on. Just tap a button on the remote to continue to see the formatting and channels updating.

**If the Roku doesn't ask to format the SD card or shows an error, restart* the Roku, and then the Roku should allow you to format the SD card.

***If you inserted the SD Card while the Roku was unplugged (due to HDMI hot-plugging hesitancy), when the Roku asks you to format the SD card upon boot-up, wait a minute before doing this since the Roku device may be finishing its boot/update cycle (even though the format screen is showing). Formatting an SD card on an older Roku while the Roku is doing its startup/update processes, as well as having the screen saver come on, can cause the screensaver to glitch (this happened to plugh -- "the screen was glitching like *CRAZY* during this step!"), but it didn't crash the Roku or prevent the fix. When my screensaver came on, I quickly turned my screen saver off to watch the format, so perhaps it just glitches if you let the screensaver stay on while it formats the SD card (I'll further experiment with this in the future to see if my screensaver glitches when I leave it on during both a hot HDMI plugin and then after I cold boot my Roku (remove the plug)). 

13) Test to make sure that while you're in a Roku channel (not Netflix or Hulu) that the screen saver starts, restart* the Roku, and test this again. Restart and test a third time. If the glitch comes back (it shouldn't), then repeat from step 5 – also, the additional step below*** may help to resolve this.

*To restart the Roku:
Settings/System/System Restart/Restart

14) Once you are satisfied that this issue is resolved, change the screen saver settings* back to the number of minutes you had it on before, so the screensaver doesn't keep coming on after one minute.

*Settings/Theme/Screensaver Start Time

-----------------

***Other things you can try if the glitch isn't fixed or keeps coming back:

With the micro-SD card removed from the Roku:

a) Update the channels:
Select "The Roku Channel" (or any channel) but don't enter into it, press the star "*" button on the remote, select "Check for updates" in the menu

b) Repeat from step 5, and hopefully, this additional step will help fix your Roku device. Since I panicked because my Roku Ultra failed to fix the glitch the first time around, I used this extra step and the issue was resolved, so I’m not certain if this extra step may be needed on Roku devices that are older than 2018 or if one just needs to repeat the above step without having to resort to this extra step. Let me know in the comments, and I'll fix this to include this additional step if it's required.

-----------------

I hope this helps you to fix your Roku device,

-- Portalogem

P.S. If this works for you, then send links to this post to other threads/forums if it's relevant. I'll send a link to this forum you mentioned plugh:

https://community.roku.com/t5/Playback-Issues-Audio-Video-Power/Glitchy-flickering-screensaver/m-p/7...

and here it is:

Re: Glitchy flickering screensaver? - Roku Community

(https://community.roku.com/t5/Playback-Issues-Audio-Video-Power/Glitchy-flickering-screensaver/m-p/8...)

I also posted my link here since the link you posted plugh went to your post above instead of to this post.

Re: Roku Media Player Screensaver not working - Roku Community

(https://community.roku.com/t5/Roku-Device-Features-Settings-Updates/Roku-Media-Player-Screensaver-no...) 

And I found an older thread, but it still seemed relevant:

Re: In-app screensavers causing major problems - Roku Community

(https://community.roku.com/t5/Channel-Issues-Questions/In-app-screensavers-causing-major-problems/m-...)

[plugh]

You seem to have hit on the issue(s).

I read your post carefully, multiple times, and did the following:

With power on (gulp), removed the HDMI cable and SD card, reattached HDMI cable.

Did a 'Reset to default theme'.

Did the 'soft reset / clear cache' (Home*5 Up*1 RW*2 FF*2)

After the reboot, I removed power, 'Quick format' the SD card in Windows, reinserted it, applied power.

After the cold boot, the Roku prompted to Format the SD card. (I should note that the screen was glitching like *CRAZY* during this step!).

Upon completion, I did a Settings /System /Restart.

So far so good. All the SS functionality seems to have been restored. I also *think* I'm seeing an extra/new screen repaint when coming out of the SS.

Perhaps as a side benefit, the Netflix app, which had been getting slower and slower since the OS 11 upgrade (including randomly dropping subtitles during playback) is also back to normal (yeah!).

PS - FWIW, I think there are actually multiple issues here, two which relate to the SDcard and one which relates to some sort of changed video buffer handling in OS 11.

[Portalogem]

Since you have a Roku 2 plugh, that may be why your Roku was extra finicky when formatting the SD card. But removing the HDMI while the Roku is powered on shouldn't harm the Roku -- much like it doesn't harm a computer or a TV because it's low voltage. An HDMI cable is unlike a SCSI cable in which you have to have the device powered off when removing and adding it since that's a higher voltage. Although, I saw when Googling that if you have a PS4 that you should turn that off first, but hot plugging a Roku should be fine. I haven't seen anything that said it's a problem, and I've been doing it without issue. I guess I could add in the instructions that one could un-plug their Roku before removing the HDMI and SD card, but I'm unsure if it's okay to remove the SD card when the Roku is off (kind of a catch-22). It might be okay -- I just haven't tried it.

The issue you may have run into was having to format your SD card after turning the Roku on (applying power). I know that after turning on my Roku devices (plugging them in), it takes them up to an extra minute for them to fully power up. Sometimes nothing works until the Roku is fully booted even though I see the home screen, so your Roku may have been working really hard to power up and also format the SD card. It could also have just updated as they do sometimes when booting up -- so then you would have had three forces working against you -- the boot, the update being applied, and the format, which caused your Roku screen to act funky. Another reason it could have done that is that Roku was finally able to apply the screensaver patch that it couldn't before due to the SD card conflict, and that may have been the issue.

Perhaps by keeping the Roku on while inserting the SD card to format it would have prevented that issue (but then you would have to hot plug the HDMI in while the device is on), or perhaps updating the Roku before turning it off would have prevented the screen glitches. I'm not saying you have to do this, at least not right now, but if you want, you can test my theory when your SD card begins to slow your Roku again by reformatting it in the Roku after formatting the SD card in a computer, but this time have the Roku on and see if it does the glitchy screen -- I don't think it will. But then, when reformatting the SD card again -- at a later time, turn off the Roku as you had and then insert the SD card and turn on the Roku and see if you re-experience the glitchy screen. Then again, try turning your Roku off before removing the HDMI and the SD card and see if that matters because it may be safer to not hot-plug an older model (I dunno). You might not have this issue at all if it was due to Roku applying the update that fixed the OS 11 issues, as now the screen shouldn't glitch no matter what (at least not until the SD card starts acting up again after an OS update or a channel update). Then again, perhaps your Roku 2 is just finicky because it's an old model. My Roku 3 was much more finicky than my Ultra when it comes to the SD card issues.

I'm thinking now that my Roku models may not have been fixed the first time around just because they didn't update before I restarted it, so I'll change the instruction to include updating since your model appears to be working after doing this one time. It's kind of an extra step because most Rokus will update when restarted. And perhaps I'll also include clearing the cache as that may have been what fixed the issue as well since I didn’t do that the first time either as you did.

I had noticed that Netflix would show the subtitles after the person spoke, so I'll see if that fixed this as well the next time I watch Netflix.

I'm not sure what you mean when you see "an extra/new screen repaint when coming out of the ss." Do you mean when you're on the home screen, or when you're in the channel, or when you're watching a movie/show, or all the above? The Roku 2 might be slow in certain ways, unlike newer Roku devices, when leaving the screensaver and it may take a moment for the screen to readjust, or perhaps since you had the SD card in there for so long without reformatting it, it was causing color fading issues which may now be resolved. My Roku 3's colors were faded compared to my Ultra, which may have been due to an SD card issue (I didn't even think of that). This would mean there's really no reason to upgrade if you're happy with your Roku 2 as long as you keep up with SD card maintenance.

Roku should really provide us with instructions on SD card maintenance (reformatting the SD card after every OS/channel update if problems occur), which would fix a lot of issues people have, but instead, Roku just abandoned the SD card slot altogether in their newer models. Perhaps this was because it was causing so many issues, and worse, no one would think of it being the SD card since many models don't come with the micro-SD card slot, and the SD card is easy to forget once it's inserted.

Just remember that anytime your Roku begins to glitch that it's all likely to be the SD card, which needs to be reformatted. You shouldn't have to upgrade your Roku until it starts behaving like my Roku 1 (SE), in which certain channels are no longer compatible with it -- like the Amazon Prime Video channel, and it's so slow since that model didn't come with a micro-SD card slot, but the Roku 2 sounds much like the Roku 3. So why upgrade if it continues to work? My Roku 1 is slowly becoming a brick, much like my ancient models, but the Roku 2 and up seems to be fine, and hopefully, we can continue to use our older models for another ten or more years. Or at least until history repeats when Roku radically changes their home screen one day, meaning all older models may become bricks like what happened to the ancient models I have when Roku last did this.

I think that regardless if there is a glitch or not, every time the Roku OS updates in the future, I'll just repeat all these steps if it means my Roku will be more efficient as there popped up so many issues that I wasn't even aware of -- like the Netflix subtitle glitch (which could have been screensaver related even though Netflix (and Hulu) patched their screensaver). I do know that this screensaver glitch had affected all Roku models (unsure about the newer ones) up to a point, so reformatting the SD card in the future may not resolve everything the first time around until Roku patches their OS updates when future glitches occur.

I don't know what can be done about the video buffer except what I read one user did, which was to lower the screen resolution to 720p. I'm not having any buffering issues while watching the movie/show. If it's constantly buffering while you're trying to watch a movie/show, then that's another issue. If it takes longer for the Roku to buffer the movie/show before it comes on, I'm willing to wait those extra few seconds rather than lowering my screen resolution or upgrading my Roku. As it could be that your Roku 2 is slow because it's old, and it may take a little longer to start the movie/show at the beginning and after the screensaver goes off. Unfortunately, with each OS update, your older model may become slower and slower when waiting for the device to reload and then when loading channels, movies, and shows.

I'm glad I was able to help,

--Portalogem

[plugh]

I believe my 4210x is exactly the same hardware as your 'Roku 3' (4200x), except an infared remote.

https://developer.roku.com/docs/specs/hardware.md

Don't know about any patch. My OS is still shows 11.0.0 4193-04.

re: Netflix, It is something that had gotten progressively worse since OS 11. Lately, it could take 5+ seconds to get a response to a key press in the menu. That's about when I noticed random subs go missing during playback; hitting the replay button they would usually show 2nd time through. Altogether, my reaction was "something is sucking cpu cycles". Now it's responsive again, and no missing subs.

re: extra repaint - I'm sure you observed it, you just didn't think about it. Example: before, when SS kicked in while at, say, the Roku Channel app, and you hit a keypress, the screen would 'freeze' (movie magic ss) or go to black (digital clock). However, the SS had actually been terminated - the next keypress would get delivered to the app even though the app wasn't visible. Now, when the SS is terminated, I get a brief black screen, and then the underlying app screen gets redrawn. Note that I am making a distinction. Before OS 11, the box *behaved* as if the video buffer was switched, the SS painted it's screen, and when the SS was terminated, the buffer was switched back (fast switch). I suspect that's also why things were screwy like seeing parts of both buffers, when the underlying app was doing refreshes / updates of IT'S frame buffer at the same time the SS was. Now it's as though the SS is getting it's own viewport, and the app is sent an 'expose' event when SS is terminated. But all of the above is conjecture, based upon what I'm seeing and my personal software and OS background.

re: Boot time glitches I observed during reformat: I don't know anything about the Roku kernel, but to have SDcard IO during the format have ANY impact on the hardware based screen updates implies some horrendous interrupt handling or perhaps some uncoordinated polling loops. All I know is it was really ugly.

Anyway, thanks for your post. The sequence I distilled from it for my unit seems to have things working (though I'll have to wait to see if Netflix starts gradually degrading again). I can now play audio streams (Tune-in, etc) and have the screen saver kick in (Clock) without all kinds of glitches / flashes, and terminating a SS in other apps doesn't leave the box it some weird video state...