# My Roku Turns Itself On **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 21, 2025, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-roku-turns-itself-on/1015905 "2025-03-21T11:39:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-roku-turns-itself-on/1015905/1 "2025-03-21T11:39:50Z")
For the last month or so, I’ve been arriving home after school and finding my Roku TV turned on and in screen saver mode. At first, I thought maybe that, in my half comatose waking state, I didn’t notice that I had left it on when I went to bed and left with it still on in the morning. Nope. I’m absolutely sure I am turning it off when I go to bed and finding it still off in the morning. However, some time between 5:45 am and 3:30 pm, it is turning itself on. I googled the problem and was surprised to find that this is NOT an uncommon trait with smart TVs, and that I am not alone with this problem. I did some checking. I have no timers of any kind set on my TV. My TV checks for updates every day. The last one it found and loaded was on 1/25/25. So, my question is, what is making my TV turn on every day? It is a waste of electricity and unneeded wear and tear on my TV. I’m hoping there is a definitive answer to this question. ---
**Author:** ![Eric1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3bc359/32.png) [@Eric1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eric1)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-roku-turns-itself-on/1015905/2 "2025-03-21T12:27:34Z")
I wonder what it would do if you disabled the screensaver. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-roku-turns-itself-on/1015905/3 "2025-03-21T12:28:53Z")
Well, there’s an easy way to find out. I’ll disable it this evening. ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-roku-turns-itself-on/1015905/4 "2025-03-21T13:27:33Z")
A TCL television that I have does that after every power failure or glitch. I had to unplug it to stop that. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-roku-turns-itself-on/1015905/5 "2025-03-21T13:49:37Z")
Just once, or do you have to unplug it at night so it doesn’t come on the next day? ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-roku-turns-itself-on/1015905/6 "2025-03-21T14:07:34Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > It is a waste of electricity and unneeded wear and tear on my TV. I am not sure about this. The old CRT’s used a lot of electricity. I don’t believe plasma flatscreens do. I also don’t think they are vulnerable to phosphor burn in either. ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-roku-turns-itself-on/1015905/7 "2025-03-21T14:08:50Z")
Always after a power interruption of some sort. The TV is in a Guest Bedroom and is seldom used so unplugging it (semi permanently) is not a problem. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-roku-turns-itself-on/1015905/8 "2025-03-21T14:34:00Z")
Check the power saver settings on the TV. It may have a quick start and power saver mode. Try changing it to the other mode and see if that helps. Do you have any HDMI devices hooked up to the TV? There is a HDMI protocol which allows an eternal device to turn on the TV. For example, if you turn on your Blu-Ray player, it will automatically turn on the TV. An external device may be malfunctioning and turning on the TV. It could be that remote sensor on the TV is being mistakenly activated by something else. If it’s an infrared sensor, maybe something in the room is emitting just the right kind of IR light. If it’s a radio sensor, then maybe a poorly shielded electronic device is emitting a radio wave that’s confusing the TV. If the TV is always showing “Ghost Hunter” episodes, then you have a ghost who knows how to operate the remote. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-roku-turns-itself-on/1015905/9 "2025-03-21T14:35:21Z")
I get the same thing sometimes with the Spectrum app on the Apple TV 4K device. Occasionally after using the remote to turn them both off, the Apple TV powers back up and automatically turns on the TV. Happened on three separate TVs, with three different Apple TV 4Ks, it’s the app doing it and the fix is to close the app. Perhaps there is a similar thing on the Roku where a certain app is making the box turn back on? ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-roku-turns-itself-on/1015905/10 "2025-03-21T14:36:07Z")
My Alexa is in the living room. That’s pretty much it except for my laptop. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-roku-turns-itself-on/1015905/11 "2025-03-21T14:37:44Z")
I have Direct TV Streaming, and I use my Direct TV remote to turn both on and off. I’ll try turning the TV off with my Roku remote. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-roku-turns-itself-on/1015905/12 "2025-03-21T14:40:30Z")
Is your DirectTV streaming done through an external box or through the DTV streaming app on the Roku? If it’s an external box, the box may be waking up the TV through the HDMI connection. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-roku-turns-itself-on/1015905/13 "2025-03-21T14:41:55Z")
I have a large dongle plugged into HDMI 1, and that is the input for Direct TV. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-roku-turns-itself-on/1015905/14 "2025-03-21T14:52:50Z")
What may be happening is that the DTV box is doing updates or something at that time and it’s waking up the TV. External devices can wake up the TV over HDMI. That’s what’s happening when you use the DTV remote to turn on the TV. The request goes to to DTV box, and the DTV box tells the TV to wake up. If the box is doing updates or whatever, it may be inadvertently turning on the TV as part of that process. To test if that’s the case, you can try unplugging the HDMI cable from the DTV box and see if the TV still comes on by itself. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-roku-turns-itself-on/1015905/15 "2025-03-21T14:54:33Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > To test if that’s the case, you can try unplugging the HDMI cable from the DTV box and see if the TV still comes on by itself. I sure can, and I sure will! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-roku-turns-itself-on/1015905/16 "2025-03-21T18:46:40Z")
This was happening to me some months back (TCL tv) but it went away after I replaced the batteries in the remote. I don’t know for sure if that fixed it or a software update did. It was not associated with any power failures or new devices plugged in. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-roku-turns-itself-on/1015905/17 "2025-03-21T19:26:27Z")
I usually only sign in at work, but I think I’m going to have to sign in at home so I can review and try the several things suggested here! LOL Thanks, all. I’ll work on it over the weekend. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2025, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-roku-turns-itself-on/1015905/18 "2025-03-21T21:36:19Z")
Do you have a cat? Newer Rokus turn on when the remote moves. If an animal bumps into the remote, the device will power up. If you have your tv hooked up to it properly, the tv will also turn on. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2025, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-roku-turns-itself-on/1015905/19 "2025-03-22T00:28:28Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > If the box is doing updates or whatever, it may be inadvertently turning on the TV as part of that process. To test if that’s the case, you can try unplugging the HDMI cable from the DTV box and see if the TV still comes on by itself. I just remembered that an alternative to unplugging the HDMI cord is to turn off the setting instead. Go to Settings-\>System-\>Control Other Devices (CEC) and deselect the options. You’ll have to use the Roku remote to turn on the TV instead of the DTV remote. The DTV box won’t be able to wake up the TV if the CEC settings are disabled. But disabling the CEC settings may be more convenient than messing with the HDMI cable. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2025, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-roku-turns-itself-on/1015905/20 "2025-03-22T00:47:25Z")
See this thread: > [@TV switches on by itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-switches-on-by-itself/1014213): > > This afternoon, I was at my desk working. Suddenly sound from the other room. Then Trump’s and Musk’s voices. It was the unwelcome live broadcast from the Oval Office that is elsewhere a topic of discussion tonight. That TV had not been switched on in weeks. The remote had not been touched in weeks. The TV has sat there for over a decade and has never once before switched on by itself. What can explain this strange occurrence at such a time? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-roku-turns-itself-on/1015905.md?page=2)