So I figured out how to stop the Roku from going back to the home screen no matter what app I'm using and no matter what settings I change in Settings. I wanted to pass this information onto a technician however I can't find out how to get an email address to send it to someone. So I'm posting it here in case someone can pass this onto R&D.
My name is Dave, I'm a Level III robotics system integrator and I do a lot of troubleshooting on systems I design for Industrial automation systems. After reading for hours of posts from years ago, I found no answer to why the Roku periodically and abruptly exits an app and goes to the home screen. I purchased 2 devices, thinking that the first one was defective, only to see it happen on the 2nd device as well.
After opening the Roku case and monitoring temperatures of ICs, and a lot of trial and error, I was able to narrow the problem down to the Remote. I am now able to stop the problem and recreate it.
It appears that the remote is either sending a signal to the base unit, or the base unit is requesting something from the remote. In any case the coding has an error that is causing the problem.
After loading an app, if the batteries are removed from the remote, the problem goes away. If the batteries are put back into the remote the problem comes right back.
I hope someone from R&D will read this and come up with an update to solve this issue.
