How to Fix It When Your Roku Screen Is Black

Tim Fisher has more than 30 years' of professional technology experience. He's been writing about tech for more than two decades and serves as the SVP and General Manager of Lifewire.

• Southern New Hampshire University

Lisa Mildon is a Lifewire writer and an IT professional with 30 years of experience. Her writing has appeared in Geekisphere and other publications.

The reason for a Roku black screen could be as tame as a loose cable or wrong input selection, to something more extreme like a lousy TV screen. Below are several troubleshooting steps to help you understand how to get the picture back.

Causes of a Roku Showing a Black Screen

The reason for a black screen on a Roku could be the device itself or your TV. Identifying which one to address will make all the difference in your troubleshooting.

If the TV is working fine otherwise, and only the Roku has a black screen, then it's the Roku in need of troubleshooting, and most of the tips below will be helpful. If you find the black screen while using the streaming device, but the issue lies with the TV, we also have some help for that.

What Do You Do When Your Roku Screen Goes Black?

Follow these troubleshooting steps in order, even if you don't think one or two of them are necessary. The easier-to-complete tips are first in this list and might get your Roku back in working order much quicker than some more detailed steps.

Some of these ideas are only relevant for set-top Rokus, while others are suitable for TVs with Roku built-in.

1. Reboot the Roku. When the Roku has no picture for you to access the menus, the best way to do that is to unplug its power cable (wait several seconds) and then reattach it. For TVs with Roku on the inside, turn off the TV itself and turn it back on.
   

Access the back of the TV and ensure all the cables used by the Roku are connected securely—it should be easy to find if you completed step 1. Press the device firmly into the video port, and ensure the power cable is properly in place. For troubleshooting purposes, it's best to connect the power cable to a wall outlet with the power adapter included with the Roku (i.e., don't use your TV's USB port).

Now is an excellent time to reduce the cabling down to the essentials. Remove anything you can to make a clean connection: HDMI extension cable, adapter, or any other device plugged in between the Roku and TV. It will help eliminate those items as the cause of the screen issue.

Make sure the TV is on the correct input. The Roku attaches to one of the video ports on your TV, so the only way to use it is by directing the TV to the right source via the Input/Source button on your TV remote. Most TVs have a few input options (e.g., HDMI 1 and 2). If necessary, cycle through them, waiting several seconds after choosing each one until the Roku displays on the screen.

• Try a different HDMI port. If there are other available ports on the back of your TV, attach the Roku to one of them, and then repeat step 3. The physical connector on the TV could be bad, but the one next to it might be working fine.
• Try a different HDMI cable. If there's no picture and no sound, the cable could be what's bad.
  

• Reinstall the non-working channel. For example, if Roku won't play YouTube videos, but all other aspects are working fine, delete and then reinstall the YouTube app.
• Troubleshoot for slow internet. A working Roku that won't stream video (or won't do it very well) is most likely due to an overcrowded network. Stopping network activity from your other devices is the most viable solution.
  

If the Roku has sound but no image—maybe you can hear the remote clicking through menu items—there might be an issue with how the device is dealing with resolution settings with your TV. Try changing one of the image settings on your TV (using the TV remote), like turning the overscan on/off or adjusting the zoom level. Some users have had luck reversing the Roku black screen this way. If there's a picture after doing so, change the resolution on the Roku to anything else. For example, first, try Auto detect if that's not already chosen. If that doesn't work, try 720p TV (play around with these options until one of them works).

If you see a green, blue, or purple screen when trying to watch TV with your Roku, first, check the connections on the television and the device to make sure they are secure. Then, reset the Roku. Finally, try using a different HDMI cable, as a faulty cable could also cause a green screen.

If your TV is frozen on the loading screen or won't progress past the bouncing letters, try resetting the Roku using the remote. Press the Home button five times, then the Up arrow once, the Rewind button twice, and the Fast Forward button twice. It may take a moment, but the Roku should restart.