SC Tiger Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 I'm having a strange issue at my house with the TV and soundbar. The setup is an LG 60" TV, LG Soundbar with wireless subwoofer, and a Roku Premier+ streaming player. I have cable internet with a 2.4 GHz and 5GHz band. The Roku uses the 5Ghz. Anyway - when watching something using the Roku, the subwoofer cuts in and out. There is a steady green light that means it's connected. When it cuts out it starts blinking like it is losing signal. Then it comes back. The odd part is it only does this when watching something on the Roku. If I'm watching something on the TV's native "smart apps" it won't have any issue. Sound is good. My first guess is that it is an issue with the Wifi signal getting tied up with the wireless signal between the sound bar and the sub. But would that only happen while the Roku is in use? Seems like it would be a constant issue. If I draw a straight line from the modem to the Roku, and another from the soundbar to the sub, they would cross. It seems kinda goofy but could that cause a problem? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Historian Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 Could very well be a bad wire. As I sit here i have a lovely 25 year old Sony receiver that produces excellent sound. However, i lose connection once in a while from the PC...and it's a connection issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwalchmai Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 How do you update the Roku firmware? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SC Tiger Posted September 12, 2019 Author Share Posted September 12, 2019 5 minutes ago, Historian said: Could very well be a bad wire. As I sit here i have a lovely 25 year old Sony receiver that produces excellent sound. However, i lose connection once in a while from the PC...and it's a connection issue. Could be. I'll try swapping it and the DirecTV HDMI and see if it follows the wire or stays on the Roku. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SC Tiger Posted September 12, 2019 Author Share Posted September 12, 2019 Just now, gwalchmai said: How do you update the Roku firmware? It's in settings. It just updated a week ago. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janice6 Posted September 12, 2019 Share Posted September 12, 2019 7 minutes ago, Historian said: Could very well be a bad wire. As I sit here i have a lovely 25 year old Sony receiver that produces excellent sound. However, i lose connection once in a while from the PC...and it's a connection issue. Some years ago I attended a conference out East, hosted by The Telephone companies. The point of the conference was to request an effort to improve the reliability of telephone communications across the country and replace the whole system with Fiber Optics. We were told that the phone companies had a massive physical wire connection problem that accounted for almost 80 to 90 percent of their overhead costs. The problem was due to the wire to wire physical connections. The reliability was crap and they needed something better. They wanted us (the research industry) to develop a cheap optical interconnect from the line to the home. They said that because of the massive costs of the every day wire to wire connections, they had no problem with whatever the cost of the distribution system was to be with Fiber Optics. They said that the cost was not an issue because it's amortized over an almost infinite customer base. The problem was that the cost of the line to the home was what was holding them back from a massive conversion to all optical interconnects and distribution. The cost to the home had to be cheap re the conversion wasn't viable. The cost to the home is borne by the customer and he didn't have deep pockets. The point of my post is the wire to wire connections have, and are, plaguing every phase of the electronics technology. It's the first place to look for trouble! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SC Tiger Posted September 12, 2019 Author Share Posted September 12, 2019 Thinking on it - I can also swap it with the Firestick in the back and see if the problem persists. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Historian Posted September 13, 2019 Share Posted September 13, 2019 (edited) 7 hours ago, SC Tiger said: Thinking on it - I can also swap it with the Firestick in the back and see if the problem persists. Try moving the fire stick to another source and see if the problem follows. Wires are crap. Ask anyone who moves data or is a ham radio operator. Either way. Start small and work up. Is it turned on? Is it plugged in? Has saved me a lot of time over the years. Edited September 13, 2019 by Historian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janice6 Posted September 13, 2019 Share Posted September 13, 2019 (edited) 27 minutes ago, Historian said: Try moving the fire stick to another source and see if the problem follows. Wires are crap. Ask anyone who moves data or is a ham radio operator. Either way. Start small and work up. Is it turned on? Is it plugged in? Has saved me a lot of time over the years. Yes. Generally, the harder the problem is to find, the more obvious the cause. The more you know about the technology you are troubleshooting, the more apt you are to ignore the basics and assume it must be something complex. As Historian said above. Always start with the very basics, and trouble shoot each and every simple possibility before moving on to the next possibility. Don't assume anything. Never, never, assume anything. Every single thing must be considered and not ignored. Experience taught us this over many years. I have been very successful in trouble shooting very complex systems, and one guy asked me one day what my secret was. I told him, I remember the things you forgot. Edited September 13, 2019 by janice6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SC Tiger Posted September 13, 2019 Author Share Posted September 13, 2019 So far I tried moving the sub where it has a straight shot to the soundbar. I also moved the Roku over so that it isn't between the two. Sounds kinda stupid but last night it worked fine - even on the show that was having the issue last night (a Netflix series on F1). Of course, in the process the Roku was unplugged and plugged back in. So if it was simply a loose plug, that may have done it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janice6 Posted September 13, 2019 Share Posted September 13, 2019 Electrical connectors put you between a rock and a hard place. If the connection is tight, to eliminate intermittent contacts with time and vibration, then the connections wears, and if there is any high conductive plating on the connections, it soon wears off and with a rough surface, you begin to experience erratic connections over time. If the contact pressure is very light, to minimize the wear on the conductive plating of the connections, soon it is too light due to repeated insertions and vibration and intermittent connections occur due to the spring tension relaxing and the conductive plating wearing. Many connections would benefit from connecting and disconnecting periodically. However, even those skilled in the electronic arts do not like to take the time away from other things to simply "make and break" connections to try to ensure reliability. The more complex the installation, the more connections to cause problems. Good luck on your endeavor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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