Roku 3 will not work
I recently purchased 2 Roku 3's. I have had them 2 months since I purchased one of them for a gift after my granddaughter's recent surgery. When trying to set up the Roku that I kept, I never got any type of setup screen. I tried 2 different HDMI cables as well as 2 different ethernet cables, trying to use it wireless or wired. I moved the Roku to 4 different television sets in the house. So far no response from the Roku at all. The reset button did nothing. My son (father of the granddaughter that one of these was purchased for) tried all of the same with me and nothing worked. He is an engineer and very good with electronics so I don't think he should have much trouble setting up a simple Roku. Any suggestions?? I think I may have a faulty unit. I have not contacted Best Buy yet. I did not realize the return period was only 14 days. I hope they will resolve this satisfactorily if it is a faulty unit. Right now, I don't know what to try next.
You ask a difficult question. There are many possible reasons why the Roku's may not work, so it is difficult to easily identify which cause(s) is the one that prevents you from a fully functional roku. That said, I'll share my experiences on what you might do to figure it out based on many (probably over 50 Roku installs over these last 5 years).
If the power adapter really working? You can tell if it is by simply powering up the Roku and with an HDMI connection to the TV, see the boot up screen (a spinning/dancing Roku logo). If you have a black picture or no flashing white LED on the Roku unit when you hit the remote, you will have to determine if you really have a working power adapter. You could use a volt meter to measure the output voltage on the power adapter plug to verify you've got the required voltage. Another test is to swap power adapter with the one from the second Roku (chances that they're both bad is minimal).
Assuming power is good but still no dancing Roku logo, try factory resetting the Roku per the instructions (I think hold button down for 20 seconds). When you first start up the Roku, it asks you to connect to the network. If you don't get that far, I'd contact Roku tech support as they suggest in their manual - you'd get a replacement from them if it's bad.
If you somehow think it's still good. They verify that your Roku is getting an IP address by looking at the router's assignment of IP addresses. You should see the MAC ID of the Roku in the list. You should then be able to ping the Roku and tell if it's on the network and reachable.
If you see the TV complain that there isn't a signal on thet HDMI input that you think the Roku is connected to, try using the TV's input/source button and most TVs will highlight the inputs that have valid HDMI sources. Perhaps your Roku is actually plug somewhere other than you think.
If you're remote doesn't seem to control the Roku, you may have to pair it up again. There are pairing buttons shown in the instructions manual.
There are bad HDMI cables out there, so if both cables were the same and purchased from the same place, I'd look for another 'different' HDMI cable to make sure you really don't have two bad, new cables.
Again, the place of last resort are two:
1. Go back to Roku through their tech support phone or website. Or..
2. Some states give consumers 30 days to replace faulty equipment under the consumer protection laws. Use that to argue your case to exchange the Roku rather than buyer's remorse.
Good luck...m
8 years, 5 months ago
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Posted by:
mfjv4
from
Katonah, NY