Solving playback issues

[Meggyhook]

I bought a roku ultra a few years ago. It has worked fine for a while. Then suddenly it wouldn't connect to HDMI. I kept trying fixes, eventually I just decided to hard reset it. It now doesn't even turn on. I went through the return thing, hoping that maybe I could either talk to somebody to get it repaired or at least looked at, no dice because I don't know the serial number. Does anybody know why it has stopped working and why it started not recognizing my hdmi cable? I tried multiple cables, I tried different tvs, there was no overheating, nothing that I could see was wrong. Everything looked just fine. Help please!

[atc98092 · Accepted solution]

There's no repair on devices like this. When they fail you just replace them. A repair would likely cost more than a new unit. It's an unfortunate fact of consumer electronic devices. The warranty is good for one year, but it sounds like you're past that. Do you see the bouncing Roku logo when it is powered on, or is it completely dead?

You've tried different cables and different TVs. There really isn't any other tests you can try. The only other thing might be the power module has failed, but the Ultra requires a specific module. You can't just use a USB power cable or a module from another Roku. 

In general, Rokus are not failure prone. I have the very first Roku I bought almost ten years ago, and while it still works it's worthless for actual usage. It's too low on power and memory for today's channels. I have three Ultra models, one being the first version (4640) made, released in Oct 2016. It still works fine.

[Meggyhook]

See, that’s the problem. I only bought it in 2020. I’d assume that it shouldn’t just stop working. 😕

but it makes sense. I’ll just buy another one. Thank you for your reply! 

[CeeStyleDj · Accepted solution]

My current Roku Express + 3710x is not working with HDMI-CEC which allows the Roku and TV to control the HDMI input with things such as power off. My unit updated today. You may be having a problem because of this new update. Your device may have updated to the latest version 11. Roku needs to be aware that version 11 is causing HDMI issues.

[Meggyhook]

This also makes a lot of sense. I didn't know that this update was a thing. I wish Roku would be more open about the issues they're having, especially it's from something like this. 

[atc98092 · Accepted solution]

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@CeeStyleDj wrote:

 Roku needs to be aware that version 11 is causing HDMI issues.

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No, there have been HDMI/HDCP issues well before OS 11 was released. CEC is a completely different function, and the only similarity is that the CEC signal travels over the HDMI cable. I have OS 11 an all of my devices, and I haven't encountered any HDMI issues. I have one player that has an occasional HDCP hiccup, but that dates back long before OS 11 was released.