Good discussion.

I think Netflix is unique in two ways:

It is the most used, so the most likely to be in use when a reboot occurs,

-and-

It uses a unique buffering mechanism: It seems it immediately plays a low bandwidth stream while it's buffering a second and maybe third higher band stream. I notice it starts playing almost immediately and then the image "solidifies" into HD after 10 or 20 seconds. It may also downgrade (saw this a lot during the Netflix/Comcast wars) implying that while it's playing one stream, another is being buffered in the background "just in case." This behavior must use gobs of memory other channels don't. A memory leak is more likely to become critical when viewing Netflix.

I take it the aux SD memory can't be any benefit to the actively viewed channel; it is not working storage (just a swag, but the properties of flash memory would render it too slow for anything but non-volatile storage). So I won't be plunking an SD card in. And RokuShawn, of course you can comment on current issues. You can qualify your comments so we don't hold you to them in a court of law. Something like: "engineering recognizes a problem and is still analyzing. Will advise when there is a potential fix. If anyone would like to beta test the fix, please be sure to sign up." I don't wish to sign up as an elite guinea pig in order to get meaningful updates. If you keep us in the dark, we'll defect to other products. Roku is no longer the only netflix box on the block.

My tolerance is waning, Roku. This would be a high-level problem on any other platform (not critical as the work-around is to tolerate frequent reboots).

Like a lot of other Roku 2XS owners, I have been putting up with the instability of the product when playing 1080p video streams in the Netflix app since December. (I have not experienced the problem when watching 1080p content in Vudu's app.) I don't know if this is Roku's fault or Netflix's, but the bottom line is that the device isn't working for the primary reason I bought it.

Today I decided to replace my Roku 2XS with a streaming device from another manufacturer. When friends ask me about streaming devices I will steer them away from Roku.

Update:

Continued multiple reboots on every main app e.g. Vudu, Netflix, Amazon etc.

Regardless of the app, I have NEVER gotten through a single streaming video without multiple reboots interrupting the viewing -- for months now.

Hope that helps.

I'm glad to see this thread continued on, since the last thread was locked due to folks getting mildly belligerent. I've been watching the forums for awhile now, and was active in numerous threads, looking for a resolution (to keep the wife happy.) We are still having reboots on a daily basis (probably once every 3-4 hours of usage.) I have reduced my channels down to 14 or less, which seemed to have made a tremendous difference. This seems to lend itself to thinking that there is a memory leak in at least one of the channels. The question is, which one? Shawn, are there some debugging tools that would allow the tech-savvy consumer to try and further troubleshoot, or a debug log to review after reboots? Thanks!

Having pared my 2xs down to two channels, Amazon and Netflix, it helps, but I still experience reboots. The frequency seems to depend on how much HD content is viewed.

I've had pretty much exclusive use of the box since removing the extra channels and power cycling. Since then about 200 minutes of DVD 16:9 quality streaming from Netflix (no reboots) and 150 minutes of HD Amazon streaming. At about 90 minutes into the Amazon stream it started behaving poorly. Pauses and plays took several seconds to action on the box. Unpaused viewing froze twice for about a second. About 5 minutes later it rebooted on its own, after which performance was fine for the remaining 60 minutes.

Steve244 wrote:

Having pared my 2xs down to two channels, Amazon and Netflix, it helps, but I still experience reboots. The frequency seems to depend on how much HD content is viewed.

I've had pretty much exclusive use of the box since removing the extra channels and power cycling. Since then about 200 minutes of DVD 16:9 quality streaming from Netflix (no reboots) and 150 minutes of HD Amazon streaming. At about 90 minutes into the Amazon stream it started behaving poorly. Pauses and plays took several seconds to action on the box. Unpaused viewing froze twice for about a second. About 5 minutes later it rebooted on its own, after which performance was fine for the remaining 60 minutes.

Guys:

Don't waste your time trying to find out if it is a particular channel that is causing the reboots. If you read all related threads since December you will notice that we have tried just about everything we can think of to try to fix the problem ourselves without the support of Roku. Everything we've done has failed. The issue, which seams to be a memory leak is stemming within the firmware. Not to any particular channel. Yes, some channels are more "memory hoggers" than others but no matter what channel you watch, you will get a reboot.

Yesterday I was watching NWA wrestling off NowhereTV channel and rebooted.
This morning I was watching a YouTube video off MVB (That Metal Show) and rebooted.
Before this it crashed using PLEX

Most are having reboots on main channels (NF, Hulu, Amazon, Vudu, etc.) since they are more widely used and others have reported crashes and the "other" independent/alternative channels.

Sadly, only Roku can address and fix this issue if they choose to.

Is this reboot tied to how long you are watching a particular channel or streaming content? The following may not be of benefit but will post it anyhow.

I've got two Roku 2XS's and neither one appear to have this reboot problem. Lately when I have seen a reboot it was when I had a corrupted MP4 file and attempted to open that file with the Roku Media Player channel (and access the video file stored on a DNLA server). The Roku became unresponsive, then after a minute or two rebooted and worked fine until I tried to access the corrupted video file again with the Roku Media Player channel.

I watch content from Netflix and to a lesser extent Amazon daily. Usually in half hour or hour long blocks a few times a day, once in while I watch a movie or show lasting more than an hour, and have never had a reboot in the last year on either channel. I do however power off my Roku's at night when I no longer am using them. Wonder if that has anything to do with it. Both Roku's also have cheap SanDisk 4GB cards in them even though I have just 26 channels including just one game (Angry Birds) installed. Roughly 7% (0.2/3.9 GB) used on the MicroSD card. Both Roku's are connected to a Wireless N network accessing the internet through an ATT Uverse 3MB line. Both are model 3100X and are using software version 5.4 build 3358.

It would seem there should be a common thread with those who are having consistent rebooting, if there isn't it will be very difficult for Roku to narrow down the cause and if possible provide a fix.

bennor3814 wrote:

Is this reboot tied to how long you are watching a particular channel or streaming content? The following may not be of benefit but will post it anyhow.

I've got two Roku 2XS's and neither one appear to have this reboot problem. Lately when I have seen a reboot it was when I had a corrupted MP4 file and attempted to open that file with the Roku Media Player channel (and access the video file stored on a DNLA server). The Roku became unresponsive, then after a minute or two rebooted and worked fine until I tried to access the corrupted video file again with the Roku Media Player channel.

I watch content from Netflix and to a lesser extent Amazon daily. Usually in half hour or hour long blocks a few times a day, once in while I watch a movie or show lasting more than an hour, and have never had a reboot in the last year on either channel. I do however power off my Roku's at night when I no longer am using them. Wonder if that has anything to do with it. Both Roku's also have cheap SanDisk 4GB cards in them even though I have just 26 channels including just one game (Angry Birds) installed. Roughly 7% (0.2/3.9 GB) used on the MicroSD card. Both Roku's are connected to a Wireless N network accessing the internet through an ATT Uverse 3MB line. Both are model 3100X and are using software version 5.4 build 3358.

It would seem there should be a common thread with those who are having consistent rebooting, if there isn't it will be very difficult for Roku to narrow down the cause and if possible provide a fix.

Correct, there are some of us that have never (or rarely) had the reboot issue as it is defined. Our input might help if there was changes in design or board level, and determined by our serial numbers (mine is 13A18M127335). My 2XS is connected to a 1080p display, audio in "surround" mode, has Angry Birds and Netflix loaded (and a handful of channels otherwise), stock PSU, I (thankfully) cannot reproduce a reboot through any sequence here.

Hi IBMMuseum,

are you using the BT remote regularly or an IR ? also do you have the screen saver enabled and if so which one?

posts like yours should help narrow things down a bit

Hi:

Count yourself as part of a lucky few. But there are a lot of us with reboot issues so it is very unlikely that we all have power issues (bad PSU or powerline issues), network issues, etc. We've already tackled all the local troubleshooting we can muster. I have 2 2XS models here with problems. One with MicroSD and my son's without. Both are properly ventilated, etc. All issues started happening 2 firmware versions ago when Roku added the new interface and MGO and the last firmware push that supposedly "had the fix to the known problem" actually made things worse. It reboots now more than with the previous build.

If I was the only one with this issue or maybe even a handful of users then maybe it is our hardware and/or environment but TOO many 2XS users are reporting sudden reboot issues so it is more widespread than what you make it seem since I guess you are lucky to not have this issue. At this point we are at Roku's mercy to come up with a true fix.

knuckle wrote:

Hi IBMMuseum,

are you using the BT remote regularly or an IR ? also do you have the screen saver enabled and if so which one?

posts like yours should help narrow things down a bit

Hi knuckle:

We've already tested the BT remote theory. I have used both the smartphone app, the IR remote from my Roku 1 and also my universal RCA remote which also uses IR. Disabling the screen saver and rebooting prior to use only extends your time between reboots. I am grateful for all the suggestions for local troubleshooting. Trust me, I have tried them all (factory reset, delete all but few channels, disable ping, use Ethernet, IR remotes, changing power supplies, etc.) as well as others affected whom have reported back their findings on this thread with only marginal improvements at best. Again, thanks for trying to help.

knuckle wrote:

Hi IBMMuseum,

are you using the BT remote regularly or an IR ? also do you have the screen saver enabled and if so which one?

posts like yours should help narrow things down a bit

I have used the BT remote since the beginning, and now also have a Harmony system sending IR control to the unit as well. The third-party (Time, Date, and Weather) screensaver is set to run after five minutes of inactivity, comes up a multitude of times daily, and on the weekends would be a 60+ hour active time, with no issues (of course any "reboots" would return to home screen anyway while I would be away, but I have no evidence it is doing that). Any issues with channels (live-streaming IT ProTV every weekday morning, which usually buffers quite a bit for me) and Fishi (virtual aquarium with occasional ads, which seems to run better on 1st gen Rokus) I can place as the channels themselves. I can watch a few (HD) movies in a row on Netflix, however my 2XS is in my office now (not necessarily to say 'NSFW', but my ability to troubleshoot there is slightly constrained). MP4s (although usually in 720p or 480p) have no issues in the Roku Media Player.

Ironically, my 2XS unit was factory-refurbished, bought about a year ago (coming with 5.3 loaded), with it and the remotes (2xBT) looking brand-new...

bennor3814 wrote:

Is this reboot tied to how long you are watching a particular channel or streaming content? The following may not be of benefit but will post it anyhow.

I've got two Roku 2XS's and neither one appear to have this reboot problem. Lately when I have seen a reboot it was when I had a corrupted MP4 file and attempted to open that file with the Roku Media Player channel (and access the video file stored on a DNLA server). The Roku became unresponsive, then after a minute or two rebooted and worked fine until I tried to access the corrupted video file again with the Roku Media Player channel.

I watch content from Netflix and to a lesser extent Amazon daily. Usually in half hour or hour long blocks a few times a day, once in while I watch a movie or show lasting more than an hour, and have never had a reboot in the last year on either channel. I do however power off my Roku's at night when I no longer am using them. Wonder if that has anything to do with it. Both Roku's also have cheap SanDisk 4GB cards in them even though I have just 26 channels including just one game (Angry Birds) installed. Roughly 7% (0.2/3.9 GB) used on the MicroSD card. Both Roku's are connected to a Wireless N network accessing the internet through an ATT Uverse 3MB line. Both are model 3100X and are using software version 5.4 build 3358.

It would seem there should be a common thread with those who are having consistent rebooting, if there isn't it will be very difficult for Roku to narrow down the cause and if possible provide a fix.

powering them off each night is a reboot. I go more than one day without the machine rebooting itself. This is one way to avoid the problem, but then you don't have "instant on" when you next use it.

I've jinxed myself - Listening to Pandora just now, mid-song (no changing video stream) my 2XS [spontaneously] rebooted for the first time I have ever observed. Once it restarted, I got back in, hopefully I won't see any repeats of the behavior.

Steve244 wrote:

bennor3814 wrote:

snip

I do however power off my Roku's at night when I no longer am using them. Wonder if that has anything to do with it.

snip

powering them off each night is a reboot. I go more than one day without the machine rebooting itself. This is one way to avoid the problem, but then you don't have "instant on" when you next use it.

While my powering off my Roku's at night is "rebooting" them, it is not the spontaneous rebooting some are posting about while they are watching content. I leave one Roku on continuously from roughly 6am in the morning till 8pm at night every day and in the last year it has not spontaneously rebooted while streaming content from Netflix or Amazon or other online sites. On that Roku I watch roughly three to four hours (sometimes five hours) of content during the day and or evening. No spontaneous rebooting happens.

Using the stock original Roku game remote. Using the default screen saver. Use the default background setting. Both Roku's are connected to their respective TV's via HDMI. Both Roku's are set to 720p for display. Rarely if ever use the Roku app on my phone or tablet, use the Roku remote almost exclusively. The power supply for both Roku's is FA-0521500SUA and were the original power supplies that shipped with these Roku's when I received them a few years ago. Power supply specs - Input: 100-240VAC 50/60H 0.25A Output: 5.0V 1.5A Efficiency Level: V.

The more data points presented perhaps the more information that will be useful for the Roku tech support folks to figure out why some Roku 2XS's are spontaneously rebooting and hopefully provide a fix or at least an explanation of why it happens to some and not others.