[MrHT]

I bought a Roku Premiere last October and it’s been rock solid for the six months I’ve owned it. However, I just encountered a unusual problem today. I was watching for just 30 mins and got the warning message on my screen that my device is overheating. I felt the Roku and it did feel unusually warm. I’ve never had this problem before and there have been times where I’ve watched for hours with no overheating issues.

I’ve done some google searching and it appears many people have had this problem, but am wondering if this is a cause for concern. Is this a sign that the Roku is already dying?

 

[Mike Lang]

In most cases I’ve read, once you see that warning, you’ll always see it. I did read a case where a guy opened it up and replaced the layer of heat sink compound and he said the message went away.

 

[MrHT]

Thanks for the reply. That sucks that I've only had this device for 6 months and already, it seems to be failing. I unplugged the device last night after the message appeared and the unit cooled down rather quickly. I plugged it back in before I went to bed and woke up this morning and it felt really warm again. Not sure if it's always been like that as I've never really monitored this before. But I imagine that once I start watching a 4K movie again, the unit will go from very warm to hot again. So I can forsee the message reappearing, but I'll find out tonight when I watch another movie.

That's crazy that a reputable device like Roku is failing this quickly. 6 months is unacceptable. It's a shame too because this has been a great streaming device. Surprisingly, the device can load and stream movies very quickly over Wi-Fi, which is impressive and I've rarely encountered any sort of glitches. But I guess at $30, I got what I paid for.

Not the biggest deal, I guess, since my TV is a Smart TV and I can always go back to it if the Roku ends up being a dud. But I just really liked the performance on the Roku compared to my Smart TV.

 

[MrBobb]

I would open it and check the fan. On my 4th Gen, there is also a fan setting for normal/quiet.

 

[JGM]

I would open it and check the fan. On my 4th Gen, there is also a fan setting for normal/quiet.

Roku Premiere (indeed all current Roku models) has no fan.

 

[JGM]

That's crazy that a reputable device like Roku is failing this quickly. 6 months is unacceptable. It's a shame too because this has been a great streaming device. Surprisingly, the device can load and stream movies very quickly over Wi-Fi, which is impressive and I've rarely encountered any sort of glitches. But I guess at $30, I got what I paid for.

There have been a couple of threads about this on Roku support forums also. It seems not uncommon but also not a 100% or even widespread issue. (Not that that makes this a better situation for you).

As @Mike Lang mentioned above, some folks have reported they fixed it by replacing / adding thermal grease below the heatsink. This makes me suspect some manufacturing/assembly inconsistency where some units got too little or bad quality grease; interestingly I remember a big sale on refurbished Premieres a year or so back which would also be consistent with the idea that they needed some simple rework. You can get thermal grease delivered to your door tomorrow for under $5 (Amazon.com : thermal grease) so if you are willing to crack your nut open (and why not if it's not working right) it's relatively easy to do and worth a try.

 

[MrHT]

So what do you think is causing the sudden overheating issue? Is the heatsink that's in these Rokus no good?

 

[MrBobb]

If no fan, then yeah, cpu-to-heatsink bondage no good. Do u know how to clean and re-paste?

 

[MrHT]

Apparently, it was just a false alarm. After unplugging it that day and letting it rest for a little bit, the problem hasn't re-occured since. Maybe just a glitch. 🤷‍♂️

 

[MrBobb]

Apparently, it was just a false alarm. After unplugging it that day and letting it rest for a little bit, the problem hasn't re-occured since. Maybe just a glitch. 🤷‍♂️

U maybe have done an equivalent COLD BOOT, something one should always do with electronics.

 

[MrHT]

U maybe have done an equivalent COLD BOOT, something one should always do with electronics.

If I had the option to turn off the Roku every time I finish using it, I would. I hate leaving things on all the time. But the crazy thing is that these Roku devices don't have an off button. They practically force us to keep it on 24/7.