Features, settings & updates

[josta3]

Hi Dan, I looked at the underside of the unit, and you're right it's a 4210X1, so will take your advise and upgrade it.  But are you saying because the microSD card is too large it won't work, at least reliably?  I couldn't find a smaller one at Walmart but can certainly try to find one online.

John

[atc98092]

Yeah, you should be able to find smaller cards online. Probably even somewhere like BestBuy, or even Target for that matter. 😄

[Quiller99]

OK, so riddle me this: I've had a 16 gigabyte sd card in my Roku 3 for several years without a problem. It's only in the last month or so that I've had the problem with the device freezing. Aside from the fact that the Roku can't use that much memory (thanks for telling us Roku people) why did the problem just start happening. Was there a software upgrade that caused it?

[atc98092]

---

@Quiller99 wrote:

OK, so riddle me this: I've had a 16 gigabyte sd card in my Roku 3 for several years without a problem. It's only in the last month or so that I've had the problem with the device freezing. Aside from the fact that the Roku can't use that much memory (thanks for telling us Roku people) why did the problem just start happening. Was there a software upgrade that caused it?

---

SD cards have a finite live (max number of read/writes), so that might be one possible cause. Depending on the version of Roku 3 you have, it might be close to 8 years old and it too might be failing. And yes, it's possible an OS update might be the cause as well. I'm less inclined to believe it's an OS update though. That would cause problems with all players with SD cards, and I haven't seen that sort of issue appear here. 

[Quiller99]

Thanks Dan, but I thought the problem might be the sd card so I bought a new one, but had the same issue. I guess it just didn't occur to that the Roku itself might be failing. Is there any way to tell more definitively? As for the software update issue, don't we have a whole page of people here with a similar problem?

Thanks again

[atc98092]

Any way to tell if it's failing? No, not really. The SD card not working correctly might be considered a symptom. Even the newest version of the Roku 3 is over 5 1/2 years old. It won't work with many of the latest channels, it doesn't support 4K, etc.

The current version of the Premiere has double the operating memory and channel storage compared to your 3, and has a far, far faster processor. If you must have the Ethernet jack, your only option is the Ultra. I don't recommend the Express at all. It's only $6 less than the Premiere and far less capable. The Stick is also a good choice. If Dolby Vision is something you'd like now or with a future TV upgrade, the Ultra is again the only choice. 

Yes, there have been quite a number of people that have had issues with SD cards on older players. I might be wrong, but I believe most of them were resolved with a new SD card. 

[AChanceFind]

A month ago my Roku 3 (Angry Birds Space special edition) updated to the latest OS and rebooted after about 70 days between the last reboot and I discovered it asking to reformat the SD card, a 16gb that was in use for about 7 years, but I just rebooted, it asked again so I took the card out put it back in and after that it was never recognizable again, not even in a computer slot. A new 16gb card worked just fine right out of the package for me (PNY brand). 

I suspect the update just "agitated" the already old card for some reason and it failed due to the RW limits being reached.

You can buy a 2gb card directly on roku.com for just $5 . I would recommend anyone to try that first as I too have heard for a while it only uses up to 2gb anyway.

Since the update appears to also have broken the only thing that made my Roku 3 special, the Angry Birds Space game which I still played as I'm old school like that, I have bought a Ultra LT to replace it and the old one will go to a lesser used TV until it becomes so glitchy it becomes unbearable or it suddenly just "dies" as any of these devices are all prone to do when they get very old like this.  I plan on using the 2gb card I got directly from Roku on the the Ultra LT.

[JPell72]

I got a San Disk micro SDHC-UHS-1 32 gig  micro sd card. When I first put it in my Rouku would not recognize it under system it said micro sd card not installed. Tried a couple more times restarting the Roku same result. I took the card out and blew out the micro sd slot with canned air, plugged in the power cord only, then inserted the card, and plugged in the HDMI. It worked! I got a message box format sd card. After that went to system it said sd card installed. Hope this helps some people.

[DocRoot]

---

@Doodle_Hill wrote:

@gcdog 

I have a Sandisk 64GB Micro SD Card that I inserted into my Roku Premier+. The Roku gave me an error in formatting the card. I searched Google and found the below fix of re-naming the Drive Letter, after changing the Drive Letter ....

---

Hhhmm... I don't see how changing the drive letter on the PC has anything to do with being able to format the SD card on the Roku device?!

[ChiTownPack]

I have a 64 GB micro SD card I am trying to use with my Roku 3.  I do understand that 64 GB is "severe overkill", but it's what I have laying around.  Some people probably have the same situation where 'it's what they have' and telling them they need to go find a 8GB micro SD card or "it's time to update your Roku" usually isn't helpful.

If Roku 3s are not compatible with 32 GB or 64 GB micro SD cards, that would be a helpful answer.  Or just saying "I don't know" is helpful.  People know they have the option to upgrade their equipment or to try to buy a smaller card.  Some of us just enjoy the pain of trying  to make what we have work.  🙂

Anyway, I don't know if Roku 3s are compatible with 32 GB or 64 GB cards, but I did read where they are not compatible with exFAT.  So if your card is formatted exFAT, your Roku probably will not recognize it.  Maybe try NTFS or FAT32 and see if that works.  otherwise, "I don't know".