The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.
Nothing beats getting comfy on your couch and binge-watching your favorite TV show. But, nothing’s more stressful than having to see an error on your TV screen. What’s worse is that you don’t know what’s causing this error.
Not to fret because we’re here to share insights into why your smart TV might not be working. Plus, we’ll share easy fixes as well that you can use and avoid calling customer service, waiting to get catered, and getting your issue sorted. So, let’s check these out:
Checking For Wi-Fi Issues
One of the prevailing causes of smart TV malfunctions is your Wi-Fi. Since your smart TV needs constant connectivity, it might not be working because of the following reasons:
Your smart TV isn’t connected to the Wi-Fi
Your smart TV isn’t connecting to the Wi-Fi available
The Wi-Fi your smart TV is connected to isn’t responding
The router firmware is outdated
The router DNS isn’t responding
In any case, you need to troubleshoot your Wi-Fi router. Here, if the issue is with your internet or the internet router, you need to get it checked with your internet provider. If the issue is persistent, then you need to change your provider.
As for the fixes, you can reboot, reset and update your internet router to check if this resolves the issue. In addition, you can also disconnect your smart TV and reconnect it to your Wi-Fi. You also need to see if your TV signal strength is enough.
In some cases, poor signal strength can also cause disconnection. For this, you can use Wi-Fi extenders that will help you strengthen the signal strength and give optimal coverage too.
Checking for Software Updates
As mentioned earlier, your internet device as well as your smart TV might have pending updates. These updates are necessary so that your devices operate effectively. In case you’re facing an issue with your smart TV, there’s likely a pending update.
Depending upon the smart TV brand that you have, you can head to the settings and check for software updates. If available, the option will show that there’s an update available. You can run the update right away or schedule it when you’re not actively using it.
In addition, you can also turn on automatic updates that will make it easier to install upcoming updates without any hassle. Again while doing so, you can turn on scheduling even for auto updates to avoid any such instances occurring mid-way through your watch time.
Checking for the Servers
In case you’ve checked for your Wi-Fi router as well as installed pending updates, you should check whether the servers of your connected streaming services are online or not. Sometimes, the servers of your connected streaming services and applications go down due to immense traffic or some technical issue.
The problem here is that you don’t have a definite timeline for when the servers will start working again. Although streaming giants ensure to have a backup for such cases, still, you can expect to have downtime until the servers begin responding again.
You can check if the issue has been resolved after some time. If you want, you can also contact customer services to see if they can provide you with a timeline for when the issue will be resolved.
Checking for Cache
The cache memory is designed to store frequently used applications and processes. It makes it easier for your device to restore and reload content without taking much time. However, sometimes the cache storage is the reason for your smart TV malfunction.
This happens when the cache gets full or has too much faulty data. As a result, your applications begin to load slowly and sometimes crash as well. Moreover, the cache also uses your internet and storage space to keep the applications ready. Hence, if there’s an internet issue, it might indicate that you need to do something with your cache memory.
A simple fix is to clear your cache now and then. Clearing the cache will free up space as well as remove faulty data that has been stored. Again, depending on the type of TV model you have, you can head to the settings and then manage storage options.
Here, you’ll find the applications that are currently installed as well as the amount of data and space they occupy. You can select individually and then choose clear data. If you want to keep the data, you can choose clear cache, which will remove only the cache. You’ll have to see if this option is available on your TV model or not.
Sometimes, your smart TV might be working but the applications aren’t. You’ll observe that the applications don’t respond, run properly or crash midway. This indicates that your applications aren’t working properly. An easy fix; clear the cache for those applications. If that doesn’t work, then reinstall the applications.
Depending on your TV model, you can head to the settings and find the application that you want to reinstall. First, delete or uninstall the application. You’ll even find some of these grayed, which means these are factory installed and cannot be deleted.
However, you can still reinstall these applications. After deleting the applications, head to your home button and search for the applications again that you want to reinstall.
Closing Thoughts
With this, we hope you’ll be able to fix your smart TV issues and get on binge-watching your favorite shows again. Just keep these handy and you’ll be able to get rid of any problems for sure. In case you don’t, there’s always customer service that you can count on.
