Solving playback issues

[Woodfield]

ROKU owes an answer to its customers if it wants to continue to grow its business. The suggestion that a heavy duty power cord fixes the problem only leads to more questions. Was an automatic update installed in my unit that resulted in a higher current requirement? I plugged another Express unit into the same wallwart and power cord and it works OK.

[Titantuff520]

I am having the same issue as others with the "Insufficient Power" issue. I have swapped cables with another Roku device and plugged directly into the wall outlet and still get the error. Anything else that can be done to get the device back up and running?

[Chaslen]

Hi Titantuff520,

Refer to page 6 (close to the bottom of the page) of this community blog where I replied to Hoss on, 07-11-2020. I will today update that reply to Hoss with the statement that I have had no "power" problems recently. I have made no changes to any devices, eg router or tv. I do know Roku has a, Build 4155 - version 9.40 update as of Oct/2020. I will state that the stick remote has never really worked. I use the Roku app downloaded to my iPhone 7. Thanks to a blog post I was made aware of the app. The Roku app works well. Now, with all this being stated, I still see complaints  currently "rolling" in. Roku's "fixes" obviously are not on target. Roku has a great device and we use it every night and would buy a 4th one, but realize Roku teck's, the people are still complaining, so changing ports, power cords, etc is not working. Take each complaint and look for a common thread.

Merry Christmas to everyone and hope the "power" problem will be taken more seriously.

Chaslen

[RPCVaz27]

Looks like I’m joining the club. We got a Roku stick for Christmas in 2018 and it has worked flawlessly for nearly 2 years... then all the sudden this week we started getting the insufficient power notification every day, multiple times a day. Unplugged and replugged and it works again for a bit before doing the same thing all over again. Nothing has changed for our set up, so this indicates a software update issue. Anyone actually have any luck on how to resolve this?

[PaulWilliams]

Have the same issue - and we don;t use a USB port (using as a sign board via Raydiant stick).  Worked just fine for 5 months.  Plugged directly into outlet. 

[benJet]

I have the solution to this low power problem. Throw your Roku in the garbage and purchase a Firestick, a Chromecast, anything. The advice that we received here was to go into your Roku settings and retrieve your serial number but we cannot do that because WE CANNOT GET PAST THE LOWER POWER MESSAGE! This would be funny if it was not so pathetic and sad.

[Titantuff520]

Looking like throwing it away and getting something else is the only fix.

[DavidB65]

This problem has just started happening with my unit as well. Purchased in 2017, has worked fine all that time. Not plugged into TV, using wall adapter that was shipped with the unit. Testing that shows sufficient stable power output, so the issue must be software related. Seems to happen most frequently when changing a channel. Affected unit is Roku Express 3700X ( S/N: YU00RV627141, Device ID: 7G26DR627141, Software 9.4.0 Build 4200-28) We also have a Roku Express+ 3910RW that does not appear to be affected (also plugged into wall adapter, Software 9.4.0 Build 4211-51) A power reset will clear the error, which is random, and the unit will work again for an indefinite time. Have not tried a factory reset/rebuild, since if it is the latest software, the problem will just recur.

Given that Roku does not appear to have any live support for these products (the support site indicates no chat support available, and there is no way to actually contact a real person at Roku) is the only solution to junk it? 

Very frustrating, as is the other planned obsolescence of these units - I've had two others prior to the Express units that I had to replace because they were no longer supported, even though there was no hardware problem with them. It is unfortunate, since they do work well, and are easy for everyone in the house to navigate.

[benJet]

I had to finally give up on Roku and go with the big boy, the Firestick. This was my second Roku and I liked the interface. I got this Roku at the same time that my son got his Firestick. Needless to say the Firestick is still going strong. I'm not angry that the Roku broke after two years. That stuff happens. It's the lack of anything reasonable from the company. They are liars and they do not care. The Roku tells me to use a better power supply or use the one that came with the unit. WHAT DO THEY THINK I AM USING! And then the techsupport guy tells us to send him the serial # that can be found in a Roku menu. WE CAN'T ACCESS THE MENU BECAUSE THE UNIT IS TELLING US THAT WE DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH POWER TO DO ANYTHING! This is just blatant "Get You Off Of The Phone Lies". Working in IT for years I dealt with this kind of stuff all of the time. If this was a joystick that broke after two years of use, I would accept that. I could see that it was broken and that I had used it. If the company said that this is a problem and that they hope to rectify it in the next version. I would accept that and possibly purchase another unit, but this response? Roku has an issue that we cannot see and that they do not want to admit. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THEM... TO ANYONE... EVER... AGAIN.