No device is completely infallible. This article explains ten of the well-nigh common issues related to Fire TV software and hardware, and shows y'all how to solve every one of them.

Burn Telly devices, such equally the Burn TV Stick, Burn Television receiver Stick 4K, and Burn Boob tube Cube, are extremely simple, spartan even, when viewed from the exterior. They're devoid of moving parts; the Burn down Tv Stick and Fire TV Stick 4K accept but a unmarried port for the power supply and the Fire TV Cube has just a few ports in the dorsum. But don't let that Zen-inducing outer beat fool you — within every Fire TV device is a complex and sophisticated array of electronics.

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The proficient news is that these intricate innards enable Fire Tv set to perform its streaming magic. The bad news is that, when it comes to electronic devices, "complex and sophisticated" nearly always leads to some kind of trouble. That's just a fact of modern life, although it doesn't guarantee that your Burn TV device will one day bite the digital grit. In fact, that'south very unlikely because Fire Telly devices are known to be remarkably robust and nigh error-free.

Did you notice that hedge-word near in that last judgement? Alas, yes, sometimes fifty-fifty Fire Television set devices bear strangely.

Troubleshooting general problems

Before getting to the specific problems and their solutions, I want to take you through a few very basic troubleshooting steps. Many problems, particularly problems related to your Burn TV device, tin exist solved by doing the post-obit three things (each of which I explain in more item in the sections that follow):
  • Restart your Fire TV device.
  • Update your Burn TV device's organisation software.
  • Reset your Fire TV device to its mill default settings.
Try restarting your Fire TV device to see if it solves your problem. If non, motility on to updating the software and come across if that helps. If at that place's still no joy, but then should y'all try resetting your Fire Television receiver device to its manufacturing plant default settings.

Restarting your Fire Telly device

If your Burn TV is having trouble playing media, connecting to Wi-Fi, pairing with a Bluetooth device, or doing whatever of its normal duties, by far the nigh common solution is to shut downwards the device then restart it. By rebooting the device, you reload the system, which is frequently enough to solve many problems.

There are 3 ways to restart either a TV that has a Burn TV device attached or a Burn down Telly Edition Smart Idiot box:

  • If you withal have admission to the Fire TV interface, cull Settings, choose either My Fire TV (for Fire TV Stick or Burn TV Cube) or Device & Software (for Burn down Telly Edition), and and so choose Restart.
  • On the Fire Tv remote, press and hold both the Select push button and the Play button for about v seconds until Fire Television set restarts.
  • For a Fire TV device or a Burn TV Edition Smart Boob tube, unplug the device'southward power cord, and then plug it back in.

You may exist tempted to just plug the Burn Goggle box device back in over again correct abroad, only hold on a 2nd. The Burn Tv device has internal electronic components that take some fourth dimension to completely discharge. To ensure y'all go a proper restart, wait at least three seconds before reconnecting your Fire TV'south power supply.

Checking your Fire Television receiver device for software updates

Your Burn Telly device uses internal software — called Fire Bone (Bone is short for operating system) — to perform all sorts of tasks, including connecting to your Wi-Fi network, treatment media playback, and saving your settings. If your Fire TV is acting weird, and restarting the device doesn't help, you can often united nations-weird the device past updating Burn OS. Sometimes installing a new version of the operating system is all you need to make your problem become away. In other cases, updating the system may fix a software glitch that was causing your problem.

Here are the steps to follow to bank check for and install Fire Os updates:

  1. Choose Settings.
  2. Choose either My Fire Television receiver (for Fire TV Stick or Burn TV Cube) or Device & Software (for Fire Television set Edition).
  3. Choose About.
  4. Choose Check for Updates. When you lot highlight the Cheque for Updates command, the right side of the screen shows the current version of Burn Bone, as well every bit the concluding date Fire Tv set checked for updates. Fire TV checks to see if an updated version of Fire Os is available. If an update is waiting, Fire Television receiver downloads the update and so displays the Install Update command. Fire Tv set installs this update automatically the next time it determines that you're not using your TV.
  5. If y'all'd rather install the update right away, choose Install Update. Fire Television set installs the update. During this process, exit your device on and don't press any buttons on the remote.

Resetting your Fire TV device

If your problem is particularly ornery, restarting or updating the device won't solve it. In that case, y'all need to accept the relatively desperate step of resetting your Fire Television receiver device. I describe this pace as "drastic" because it means you lot have to go through the setup process all over again, then only head down this road if restarting and updating your device don't solve the problem.

How you perform the reset depends on your device:

  • Fire TV Stick or Fire Television receiver Cube: Choose Settings→My Fire Boob tube→Reset to Factory Defaults.
  • Fire Idiot box Edition: Choose Settings→Device & Software→Reset to Factory Defaults.

You lot can't connect to your Wi-Fi network

Wireless networking adds a whole new fix of potential snags to your troubleshooting chores because of issues such as interference and device ranges. Hither's a listing of a few troubleshooting items that you should check to solve any wireless connectivity problems you're having with your Fire TV device:
  • Restart your devices. Reset your hardware by performing the post-obit tasks, in social club:
    1. Turn off your modem.
    2. Turn off your Wi-Fi router.
    3. Afterward a few seconds, plough the modem dorsum on and expect until the modem reconnects to the Net, which may accept a few minutes.
    4. Turn on your Wi-Fi router.

      Many Wi-Fi devices these days are all-in-one gadgets that combine both a Wi-Fi router and a modem for Internet access. If that's what you take, instead of performing steps 1 through four, you can but plough off the Wi-Fi device, wait a bit, turn the device dorsum on, and and so await for the device to connect to your Cyberspace service provider (ISP).

    5. Restart Fire TV.
  • Await for interference. Devices such as baby monitors and cordless phones that use the 2.four GHz radio frequency (RF) ring can wreak havoc with wireless signals. Try either moving or turning off such devices if they're near your Fire TV device or Wi-Fi device.

Keep your Burn Television receiver device and Wi-Fi router well away from microwave ovens, which tin can jam wireless signals.

Many wireless routers enable you to ready upward a separate Wi-Fi network on the 5 GHz RF ring, which isn't used by most household gadgets, so it has less interference. Check your router manual to see if it supports 5 GHz networks.

  • Cheque your password. Make sure you lot're using the correct password to access your Wi-Fi network.
  • Check your range. Your Fire TV device may exist too far abroad from the Wi-Fi router. You ordinarily can't go much farther than nearly 230 anxiety away from nigh modern Wi-Fi devices earlier the betoken begins to degrade (that range drops to near 115 feet for older Wi-Fi devices). Either move the Burn Idiot box device closer to the Wi-Fi router or, if it has one, turn on the router's range booster. You could likewise install a wireless range extender.
  • Update the wireless router firmware. The wireless router firmware is the internal program that the router uses to perform its diverse chores. Wireless router manufacturers frequently update their firmware to set up bugs, so yous should see if an updated version of the firmware is bachelor. Run into your device documentation to find out how this works.
  • Update and optionally reset your Fire Goggle box device. Brand sure your Burn down Tv device is up to appointment and, if you still can't connect to Wi-Fi, reset your Fire Telly device.
  • Reset the Wi-Fi device. As a last resort, reset the Wi-Fi router to its default factory settings (see the device documentation to find out how to practice this). Notation that if you lot do this, you need to ready your network once more from scratch.

You're having trouble streaming media

Streaming media on Fire TV works well about of the time, but issues can arise, specially the following:
  • The media never starts.
  • The media takes a long time to beginning.
  • The media plays intermittently.
  • The media stops playing and never resumes.
It'southward maddening, for sure, merely almost of the time you can set the problem. I say "nearly of the time" because there are a couple of situations where media streaming merely doesn't work well:
  • When you have a slow internet connection speed: Media files are usually quite big, then for these files to play properly you demand a reasonably fast Net connection. Amazon recommends at to the lowest degree a half a megabit per second (0.5 Mbps), but realistically you should probably accept a connectedness that offers at least eight Mbps download speeds for Hd content.
  • When you accept an intermittent internet connectedness: If yous alive in an surface area with spotty internet service, that at present-you-see-information technology-at present-y'all-don't Internet connection makes streaming media impossible.
What if you accept a zippy internet connection and strong service all the fourth dimension? First, congratulations! Second, in that location are a few things you tin can try to get media streaming to piece of work better (or at all). Try these troubleshooting ideas in the post-obit order:
  • Restart your Wi-Fi router and Fire TV device using the steps I outline in the preceding section.
  • If you have other devices accessing your Wi-Fi network, shut down whatever devices you're not using.
  • Motion your Fire Boob tube device closer to your Wi-Fi router. Your Burn Telly device must be inside 230 feet of the router (115 feet for older routers), but the closer the two devices, the stronger the Wi-Fi signal.
  • Make sure your Wi-Fi router isn't situated near devices that can cause interference, such as microwave ovens and baby monitors.
  • Brand sure your Fire TV device isn't close to a wall or a metal object.
  • If your Fire TV device is sitting on a low shelf or even on the floor, move information technology to a higher location.
  • If your Burn Telly device is inside a cabinet or like enclosure, take it out.
  • If you're having streaming problems with a item app, run through the following steps to clear the app's awarding data:

An app's data includes your app business relationship info and any settings you've configured for the app. If you articulate the app's data, it means yous take to enter your login info all over again and reconfigure your settings, then be sure y'all want to perform this operation before proceeding.

  1. On your Burn TV device, cull Settings→Applications→Manage Installed Applications.
  2. Choose the app yous're having trouble with.
  3. Close down the app by choosing the Strength Stop control.
  4. Articulate the app'south data past choosing Clear Information→Clear Information control.

The Fire TV mobile app can't pair with your Burn Boob tube device

Afterwards you have your Fire TV device fix, the Burn down TV mobile app will automatically locate and pair with the device. This enables you lot to use the app as a remote command for the Burn down TV device (and, if you have Fire TV Recast, it also enables yous to utilize the app to scout and record over-the-air TV programs).

It's all very convenient, but that convenience goes out the window if the Fire Telly mobile app can't locate or pair with your Fire Tv device. If that happens, optionally expletive your rotten luck and and then attempt these troubleshooting techniques:

  • Make sure your Fire TV device and the device that'due south running the Fire TV mobile app are connected to the aforementioned network.
  • Cheque to see if another device on your network is currently mirroring the display of your Burn down Tv set device. If your Fire Tv device is currently existence mirrored, the Fire TV mobile app won't be able to pair with the Fire TV device, then you demand to first stop the mirroring.
  • Restart Burn Television receiver.
  • Restart the device on which the Fire TV mobile app is installed.
  • Disconnect a Bluetooth device or Fire Boob tube remote (including any device running the Burn down Television receiver mobile app) from your Fire TV device. Burn Goggle box supports upward to vii continued devices, so if you're already at that limit, your Fire TV mobile app won't exist able to pair with the Fire Telly device.
  • (Advanced) Log in to your wireless router and search the advanced settings for Multicast support. If you see an choice for toggling Multicast, make sure that setting is On. (Encounter your wireless router transmission to learn how to log in and access the router'southward settings.)
  • (Advanced) Log in to your wireless router and check to see if a static IP address has been assigned to your Fire Telly device. If and so, configure the router to assign an address to the Fire Idiot box device automatically. (Again, see your router manual to learn how to piece of work with IP addresses.)

Your Fire Goggle box screen is bare

If your Fire TV Edition Smart TV or the TV to which you've connected your Fire TV device shows a blank screen, hither are a few things to bank check out:
  • Brand sure the TV is plugged in and turned on.
  • Make certain the Goggle box is set to the correct input:
    • For a Tv set with a Burn Television set device attached, switch to whatsoever input the Burn TV device is connected to.
    • For a Fire Television receiver Edition Smart TV, make sure the Tv is using the Fire Television receiver input (printing the Domicile push on the Burn down TV remote to brandish the Fire Television receiver Home screen).
  • For a Fire Television device connected to the TV via HDMI, disconnect and then reconnect the device.
  • If your Fire TV device is connected to your Tv set with an HDMI cable or HDMI hub, try replacing the cable and/or the hub.
  • On the Fire Television receiver remote, press and concur both the Up button on the navigation ring and the Rewind button for well-nigh x seconds. Fire Television set begins running through the available resolutions for the TV and displays each resolution for ten seconds. If you see the text for a particular resolution, choose Utilise Electric current Resolution.
  • If you accept a 2nd-generation Burn TV Cube (which supports 4K), make sure you're using a high-speed HDMI cablevision.

You don't hear audio during playback

If the video portion of a stream appears just fine, but you don't hear the audio portion, then some troubleshooting is in order. Here are a few techniques to run through:
  1. Check that the Tv audio isn't either muted or set extremely low.
  2. If your TV is connected to a receiver or like audio output device, make sure the device is turned on and correctly connected to your Goggle box.
  3. If y'all're playing sound through your Tv'southward speaker, brand certain the speakers are turned on in the Tv set's settings. For a Burn TV Edition Smart Idiot box, choose Settings→Display & Sounds→Audio Settings, and so set the Goggle box Speakers setting to On.
  4. For a Fire Tv device connected to the Telly via HDMI, disconnect and then reconnect the device.
  5. If your Burn down Tv device is connected to your Television set with an HDMI cablevision or HDMI hub, endeavor replacing the cable and/or the hub.
  6. For a Fire TV Stick or Cube, try turning off Dolby Digital Plus Output. Choose Settings→Display & Sounds→Audio→Dolby Digital Output, and and so cull Dolby Digital Plus Off.

You lot're having problem connecting a Bluetooth device

Fire Television set devices support a wireless technology chosen Bluetooth, which enables you to make wireless connections to other Bluetooth-friendly devices, such as headsets, speakers, and smartphones. This section provides you with a few common Bluetooth troubleshooting techniques.

You don't encounter a Bluetooth device

Not surprisingly, you can't make a Bluetooth connection if you can't see the device on the Fire TV device's Add Bluetooth Devices screen (which you brandish by choosing Settings→Remotes & Bluetooth Devices→Other Bluetooth Devices→Add Bluetooth Devices).

If you don't see a Bluetooth device, endeavour the following:

  • Make sure the device is turned on and fully charged.
  • Make sure the device is discoverable. Well-nigh Bluetooth devices have a switch you tin can turn on or a button you can press to make them discoverable.
  • Make sure the Bluetooth device is well within 33 feet of your Burn down Telly device, because that's the maximum range for virtually Bluetooth devices. (Some so-called Form 1 Bluetooth devices have a maximum range x times every bit long.)
  • If possible, reboot the Bluetooth device. If you can't reboot the device, or the reboot doesn't solve the problem, restart your Fire Idiot box device.
  • Check with the Bluetooth device manufacturer to ensure the device is capable of being paired with Fire TV devices. Specifically, you need to find out whether the device supports either of the following Bluetooth profiles:
    • Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP)
    • Audio/Video Remote Control Contour (AVRCP)

You tin't pair with a Bluetooth device

As a security precaution, many Bluetooth devices demand to be paired with some other device before the connection is established. You initiate the pairing by tapping the device on the Fire Goggle box device's Add Bluetooth Devices screen (cull Settings→Remotes & Bluetooth Devices→Other Bluetooth Devices→Add Bluetooth Devices).

In some cases, the pairing is accomplished past entering a multidigit passkey — sometimes called a Pivot — that you must enter. Fire Goggle box devices don't support Bluetooth PINs, so if your device requires a Pin, you're out of luck.

Otherwise, you may find that fifty-fifty though the device shows up fine on the Add Bluetooth Devices screen, y'all tin't pair it with your Fire TV device.

First, attempt the solutions in the previous section. If none of those steps does the task, cheque to see if the Bluetooth device is already paired with another device. Bluetooth stuff can just pair with ane device at a time, and then before you lot can pair the device with Fire TV, you demand to disconnect the device from its current pairing.

If you still can't become the pairing to work, tell Burn Boob tube to start over by forgetting what information technology knows about the device:

  1. On your Fire TV device, choose Settings→Remotes & Bluetooth Devices→Other Bluetooth Devices .
  2. Highlight the Bluetooth device name.
  3. Press the Menu push button. Fire TV asks yous to confirm the unpairing.
  4. Press Select. Fire Goggle box removes the device from the Other Bluetooth Devices screen.
  5. Choose Add Bluetooth Devices.
  6. Printing the switch or button that makes the device discoverable.
  7. When the device reappears on the Add Bluetooth Devices screen, highlight the device and then press Select to pair with information technology again.

Your Fire TV device is unresponsive

Perhaps the about teeth-gnashingly frustrating problem you lot can encounter in engineering science is when a device — particularly one you paid skilful money for — merely stops working. The device appears to be on, simply tapping it, shoving it, gesticulating at information technology, and yelling at it are all ineffective at making the device respond.

If that happens to your Burn down TV device, try the post-obit troubleshooting steps, in order:

  1. Expect a few minutes. Sometimes devices just freeze upwards temporarily and then right themselves after a short break.
  2. Cheque your Wi-Fi network to brand sure it's working properly and that your device is connected.
  3. Restart the device.
  4. Check to see if your device is using the almost up-to-date system software.
  5. Reset your device.

You changed your Wi-Fi network password

Your Fire TV device needs access to your Cyberspace-connected Wi-Fi network to do its thing. When you first set up your Fire Telly device, getting the device on your network past entering your network countersign is ane of the starting time chores. That usually works flawlessly, merely what happens if downwards the road you modify your network countersign? In that case, you need to reconnect to your network past post-obit these steps:
  1. Cull Settings→Network. You see a list of bachelor networks, with your network at the summit of the list.
  2. Highlight your network.
  3. On the Burn down TV remote, press Menu to run the Forget This Network command. Burn down Goggle box asks you to confirm that you want to forget the network.
  4. Printing the Select button on the remote. The Fire TV device disconnects from the network and returns you to the list of available networks.
  5. Choose your network.
  6. Enter your new network password and then choose Connect. Fire TV reconnects you to your network.

A Burn down TV app doesn't work properly

If a Fire TV app won't beginning, freezes, or runs erratically, here are some troubleshooting suggestions you can try to resolve the trouble:
  • Restart Fire TV.
  • Strength the app to quit by choosing Settings→Applications→Manage Installed Applications→Strength Stop.
  • Articulate the app's cache (an area of retentiveness that the app uses to store ofttimes-used data) by choosing Settings→Applications→Manage Installed Applications→Articulate Cache.
  • Articulate the app'south data by choosing Settings→Applications→Manage Installed Applications→Clear Data.
  • Uninstall the app past choosing Settings→Applications→Manage Installed Applications→Uninstall, and and then reinstall the app.

Near This Article

This article is from the volume:

  • Amazon Fire TV For Dummies ,

About the book author:

Paul McFedries is a truthful renaissance geek. He has been a programmer, consultant, database developer, and website builder. He's as well the author of more than 90 books, including top sellers covering Windows, Role, and macOS.

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