The Toshiba Fire TV Edition, powered by Amazon Fire OS, is one of the best smart TVs with a lot of great features and unlimited applications, but the experience can be gloomy when it keeps freezing or crashing, doesn’t it?
It’s quite normal for Toshiba Fire TV to have issues such as constant freezing or crashing of applications while streaming content, just as it is with every other streaming device.
I have a Toshiba FireTV myself and so far, I’ve enjoyed it a lot if I exclude the minor glitches it occasionally faces. Thankfully, all of these issues can be solved at home easily by following some simple steps.
In short, if you are encountering the constant freezing of your Toshiba Fire TV or if the applications keep crashing and returning to the home screen, do not worry, this issue is quite common and there are many people who have encountered it.
As soon as I faced this issue with my Toshiba Fire TV, I made a couple of changes after looking through various forums and discussing it with official support.
In this guide, I’ll provide the methods that fix the problem and prevent your Toshiba Fire TV from freezing or crashing in the future.
When researching Fire TVs and other smart TVs that have both android and Fire OS, I found out that they have pretty balanced performance because they have limited RAM, app storage, and cache storage, among other performance-related components.
It is similar to the early days of Android smartphones when they had limited RAM, ROM, and Cache units and started crashing whenever we loaded multiple apps on them. These smart TVs that are budget-friendly are going through similar scenarios and need extra care.
There’s no need to worry if you tweak a couple of settings, they’ll work just fine. In this guide, I’ll show you how to optimize them for better performance as well.
Why Does My Toshiba Fire TV Keep Freezing, Crashing?
There are certain reasons why your Toshiba Fire TV keeps freezing or returning to the home screen after crashing an application (like glitched settings), less storage, weak wifi connectivity, etc.
Despite the fact that there are other factors like outdated applications or TV firmware, the above mentioned are the most common reasons why the system keeps freezing or crashing.
Having said that, you should first get a grasp of how the Fire TV works in order to be able to visualize what’s going on with your TV and why it occasionally faces issues.
Toshiba Fire TV has limited storage as well as RAM, which are key components that impact performance. When you open certain apps like Youtube, Netflix, Disney Hotstar, Hulu, etc, the app starts storing the data as temporary cache data.
Smooth data transfers and updates are also dependent on your internet wifi.
If any part of this process encounters a problem, the Toshiba Fire TV becomes laggy, slows down, and crashes by taking you back to the home screen.
That’s how your Toshiba Fire TV crashes or freezes.
In other words, when your Toshiba Fire TV keeps returning to its home or starts buffering, you know it is trying to do more than it should and is either overloaded by multiple applications, has a weak internet connection, or has a glitchy application or software update.
Now that you know what causes your Toshiba Fire TV to crash or freeze, let’s see how you can handle it and what you need to do.
How To Stop My Toshiba Fire TV from Freezing and Crashing?
If your Toshiba Fire TV crashes, freezes, or lags, you can determine if it’s due to a weak or unstable wifi connection, a glitch in the TV software or app, or a lack of storage space. So you can figure out how to prevent it.
According to various users and my experience, you should remove unwanted applications, update remaining apps manually, optimize your wifi router, and if necessary, hard reset your Fire TV to prevent it from crashing.
As a result of these actions, you indirectly extend the life of your TV as they optimize it and reduce any extra load it carries.
In my experience, whenever we get a smart tv, we start putting several applications on it and don’t end up removing them afterward, which takes up extra storage, and loads the system by checking for updates and sending notifications.
In order to fix any crashing and freezing issues on your Toshiba Fire TV, I have provided the below methods that not only resolve the problem but will also bring your TV back to an optimized state for a more smooth and more stable experience.
So here are the things which you can do in order to prevent your Toshiba Fire TV from crashing, freezing, or constant buffering:
Optimize Your Wifi And Internet Connection
Video content that keeps buffering or freezing while you are able to navigate Fire TV’s interface is most likely caused by a bad internet connection.
Checking how strong the internet and WiFi are on your Toshiba Fire TV is as simple as this:
- Go to the Settings tab, choose Network, and then press the Pause/Play button on the remote.
- Ensure both checkmarks read “Connected to Wi-Fi” and “Connected to the Internet.” Additionally, ensure the Signal Strength value reads “Very Good.”
- If the Connection Status page displays an error message or the network signal strength is labeled as “Weak” or “Poor,” your Fire TV may buffer content while streaming.
This can be resolved by restarting your router and connecting your Fire TV to the network. If you still experience problems, you may also want to adjust your router’s antenna, disconnect other devices from the Wi-Fi network, use a Wi-Fi extender, or increase the 2.4 GHz bandwidth of your wireless router.
Then the Fire TV will have some more bandwidth, allowing it to stop freezing or buffering.
Remove Unwanted Apps And Clear Cache Data
Perhaps you are unaware, but there may still be a bunch of unwanted apps in your Toshiba Fire TV and you will need to remove them in order to clear up excess storage and improve its performance.
Additionally, the more you use an app, the more temporary files it creates and stores on your Fire TV. Although cache files help applications load faster, overaccumulation of cache data leads to slowness and other problems over time.
If you are experiencing issues with some apps like Netflix, Prime Video, Disney Hotstar, Hulu, etc, be sure to clear the App cache and other stored data on them by going to installed applications in the Toshiba Fire TV settings.
Here’s how you can clean up the installed application’s stored data inside your TV:
- Go to the Settings tab and click Applications.
- Then, select Manage Installed Applications.
- Choose the app that is freezing your Fire TV.
- Choose Force stop.
- Now, By selecting Clear cache, you will be able to delete temporary files from the app.
Open the app again after a few minutes. In case the app keeps freezing your Fire TV, it’s probably outdated or has bugs. To fix this, you might need to update the app. Find out how to update Fire TV apps in the next section.
Update Installed Apps And Update Firmware
Fire TV users have the option to install apps directly from the Amazon Appstore or sideload them from external sources. No matter where your Fire TV apps come from, it’s crucial to keep them up-to-date.
You can update Amazon Appstore apps by going to Settings > Applications > Appstore and selecting “Automatic Updates” on your Fire TV remote.
Sideloaded apps can be updated by visiting the app developer’s website, downloading the latest version, and sideloading the setup again on your Fire TV.
Moreover, It’s likely that your Fire TV will lag if its operating system is outdated or infected with bugs.
To install the latest FireOS, follow these steps:
- Select the My Fire TV option under the Settings tab of your Fire TV
- Then select About, followed by Check for Updates.
The Fire TV will automatically download the new Fire OS version from Amazon’s servers if there is a new version available. On the other hand, you will see a message that says “Your Fire TV is up-to-date.”.
Perform Power Cycle
Whenever your Fire TV freezes or otherwise malfunctions out of nowhere, rebooting it might help.
Soft Reboot
The term “soft-reboot” refers to rebooting your Fire TV via the remote. On your Fire TV remote, press and hold the Select and Pause/Play buttons simultaneously.
Approximately 5 seconds later, you should see a notification on your TV that says, “Your Fire TV is turning off.”.
You should see the Fire TV turn on automatically after 5-10 seconds. Try opening some apps, playing a Netflix movie, accessing your favorite TV channels, and see if your Fire TV now works.
Hard Reboot
In the case that a soft restart doesn’t resolve the problem, unplug the Fire TV from its power source and plug it back in after a few seconds. This is called a “Hard Reboot.” You should wait about 30 seconds before reconnecting the device to its power source.
Additionally, make sure your TV’s HDMI port is compatible with the Fire TV’s HDMI port. Change the Fire TV to a different HDMI port if your TV has more than one HDMI port to see if it stabilizes.
Restore To Factory Default
By resetting your Fire TV device to factory default, you will remove all third-party apps, remove your downloaded content, and unregister your Amazon account. Regardless, factory resetting your Fire TV will probably solve the issue.
It is recommended that you reset your Fire TV only if all other troubleshooting steps did not work.
- Navigate to the Settings tab, select My Fire TV, and click Reset to Factory Defaults.
- To proceed, select Reset on the confirmation prompt.
- You can also hold the Back/Return and Right direction buttons together for about 5 seconds to bring up the factory reset screen.
- To continue, select OK. Before the countdown expires, if you do not choose an action, your Fire TV will automatically reset itself.
Normally, it takes between 10-15 minutes to restore a Fire TV to factory defaults. During the process of restoring the device, it may restart several times. The Fire TV should not be disconnected from its power source or turned off. This will interrupt the streaming process and could damage the device.
Conclusion
When watching your favorite episode on your Toshiba Fire TV you may experience slow streaming, constant freezing, or crashing and returning to Home Screen. Fortunately, you can fix these issues by optimizing your TV and tweaking a few settings.
In the past, I’ve encountered this problem and after optimizing my wifi router and Toshiba Fire TV, it now runs quite smoothly and without any hassle.
As an overview, here is what you should do when you face such an issue with your Toshiba Fire TV:
- Optimize Wifi Router and Internet Connection
- Remove Unwanted Apps and Clear app cache and other stored data
- Update the applications and TV firmware
- Power Cycle
- Hard Reset of TV
