Toshiba Fire TV Screen Flickering: How To Fix [2023]

written by

Doug Stevenson

updated August 03, 2023

Toshiba Fire TVs are notorious for their screen defects. Most often, these issues arise from hardware troubles rather than software issues.

In this article, I will explain how to fix a flickering Toshiba Fire TV screen.

If your Toshiba Fire TV screen is flickering, check the power supply and cables for damage, and power cycle the TV. Reconfigure the backlight settings and picture mode on Toshiba Fire TV. If the issue persists, check if the firmware is up to date. If none of these work, factory reset the device and check for hardware issues.

Check Power Supply and Cables

The first check you have to do is the power supply to the Fire TV.

Any faults in the delivery of power to the Fire TV can cause issues with the display, like the black screen issues on Toshiba Fire TV.

The most common reason for screen issues is problems with a power cable. Make sure you look for any signs of wear or corrosion and replace any damaged cables promptly.

Check all your cables for chaffs, cuts, or lack of proper contact.

In the case of HDMI cables, try different HDMI inputs in your Toshiba Fire TV and try replacing the HDMI cable and power cord altogether.

Issues with the HDMI cable and selecting the wrong input can trigger transmission issues like Toshiba Fire TV not finding cable channels.

If you have a 4K Ultra HD TV, then you should make sure that you are using a High-Speed HDMI cable instead of the normal one.

If you are experiencing this issue while setting up your 4K Ultra HD Toshiba Fire TV, it is most likely that you are not using the high-speed HDMI cable.

A few attributes you should look out for when you are shopping for a cable are the indications of CEC, HDPC, and the type or version like HDMI 2.0 and above cable.

Consumer Electronics Control(CEC) allows the universal control of a TV and the device connected via HDMI using a single remote control.

HDCP is a content regulation protocol that regulates the flow of content across various mediums.

Additionally, you need to check if you have enabled energy-saving mode on your Fire TV. If you have, try disabling this setting.

To change the energy-saving mode on your Toshiba Fire TV, follow the instructions below:

Access the Toshiba Fire TV 'Settings'.
Navigate to the 'Picture' menu. Some settings in this menu cannot be changed.
Depending on the mode selected in the 'Picture' menu, energy consumption differs.

Power Cycle Toshiba TV

After you have completed a check of your cables and power supply, move on to power cycling your Toshiba Fire TV.

Operating the Toshiba Fire TV for a while can lead to its components heating up. Refreshing your device is a good step before troubleshooting further.

If there are any accumulated charges on your Fire TV circuits, a power cycle test, one of the best fixes for issues on Toshiba Fire TV, will relieve the components of this residual charge.

Doing so could also come to your advantage in times of issues like when Toshiba Fire TV turns off by itself.

You can restart your device in either of the following ways:

Unplug the Toshiba Fire TV power cable.
Wait for at least 30 seconds.
Plug the power cable of the Fire TV back into the socket.
Let the Fire TV sit idle for a few minutes once it initializes.

Alternatively, you can also restart the Toshiba Fire TV through the system interface. Here's how to do so:

From the 'Home Screen', open 'Settings'.
Select 'System/Device & Software'.
Click on 'Restart' and confirm the prompt that comes up.
After the restart is complete, check if the issue persists.

Reconfigure Backlight Settings on Toshiba Fire TV

Another aspect of your Toshiba Fire TV that you can try to optimize is the backlight settings and picture mode.

Reconfiguring these settings might temporarily fix the problem.

And so, when your Fire TV is flickering or acting up, check the backlight of your Fire TV.

To do this, you can look at the back of the Fire TV from above. You should be able to see the backlight through the air vents on top.

Does the backlight simultaneously flash on and off along with the picture on the screen?

If so, you can try making the following adjustments. Even if it does not flicker, try the suggestion that follows anyway:

Access the TV 'Menu'.
Navigate to 'Settings' and then 'Picture'.
Here, you can scroll down to 'Backlight' and turn down this setting to 70 or 50.

Changing this setting to a lower value will lead to the backlight LEDs not getting heated up. This can result in better operating conditions for your Toshiba Fire TV.

Update the Toshiba Fire TV Firmware

When was the last time you updated your Toshiba Fire TV firmware? If you are running older firmware on your Fire TV, it can lead to screen issues.

Outdated firmware can cause bugs and errors that can be fixed up by a simple firmware update.

This is an iterative process that needs to be periodically done to tackle bugs that take root in the system.

Keeping your TV up to date will also foil issues such as the Toshiba TV critically low on storage message from popping up.

To update your Fire TV, follow the steps below:

From the Home Screen, access the 'Settings' menu.
Select the 'My Fire TV/Device' option.
Click on 'About'.
Click on 'Check for System Update' which will scan for available updates against the current version.
Once the update is complete, check if the issue has been resolved.

Factory Reset Toshiba Fire TV

If you have reached here, it might be time to contemplate factory resetting the Toshiba Fire TV.

Keep in mind that all personalized settings will revert to the original default settings. All downloaded and added content will be erased and wiped from the Fire TV.

Gone, too, are the many bugs and errors that may be causing the flickering as well as other screen errors such as green screen issues on your Toshiba Fire TV.

To reset your Toshiba Fire TV, follow the steps given below:

Access the Home Screen and open the 'Settings' tab.
Click on the 'Device & Software' option.
Select 'Reset to factory defaults'.
A prompt will ask you to confirm your choice to factory reset the device. Click on 'Reset' to proceed.
Let the device be idle till the process is complete. You will have to reconfigure your Fire TV once it powers back up.

You could also trigger a factory reset on your Toshiba Fire TV using the Power button.

While the power cable is unplugged, press and hold the power button and then connect the power cable while holding the button. Continue to hold until the Fire TV logo appears on the screen.

Follow the onscreen prompts to trigger a hard reset.

Factory resetting is a time-consuming process, and once completed, check if your issue has been resolved.

Check for Hardware Issues

Screen issues could be due to hardware problems that are impairing the power supply to the video board.

To check if your screen issue is due to hardware issues, you can simply unplug your HDMI and try accessing the TV menu or settings.

If you find the issue to be hardware related, your options to fix the issue are limited but not impossible.

Check the T-CON Board

A T-CON board is a component on your TV that is responsible for generating horizontal and vertical timing panel signals and providing panel bias, basically, it controls the picture output.

The design of certain TV components makes it easy to troubleshoot your screen.

However, this troubleshooting solution would be easier to do if you have experience with electronics.

If you are having a display issue and you are sure that it is a hardware issue, then your T-CON board is involved.

Using only tape, you can try the trial-and-error method to temporarily fix the screen of your Toshiba Fire TV. The only cost you will incur is about 5-8 hours of your time.

Opening the back panel of your TV, you should be able to see the T-CON board. It is connected to the TV via two ribbon cables. Unplug the right ribbon cable and turn on your Fire TV.

Observe how the picture is on the screen. Now, repeat the process with the left ribbon cable. This should show you which side of the TV is facing issues.

Make sure that you are unplugging the TV before you remove the ribbon cables.

Once you have figured out on which side the components are problematic, you can remove the T-CON board by unscrewing 8 screws with a screwdriver.

Keep in mind which side of the TV the issues arise from. Now, notice on the T-CON board that there are 8 clock signals indicated by CL1 to CL8 or CLK1 to CLK8 on either side beside the ribbon cables.

There are 8 of these on both sides of the T-CON board. The idea of using tape is to block off one clock signal at a time and check the screen for the ideal case.

A short circuit or overloading on one clock signal pin can lead to chaos on your screen. Instead, you can block off this one clock signal using a tape and let the others flow free.

This is where trial and error comes in, along with your perseverance. The next step is to block 8 pins on the ribbon cable that does not produce a good video output.

Now, you have to cut out one pin at a time and check the video output. This process is tedious and time-consuming but is feasible and can save you a lot of money.

In the end, you would be blocking one pin or a combination of pins for ideal video output. Check out this YouTube video from FrugalRepair for detailed steps on how to execute this method.

The most frustrating part of this troubleshooting method is that your issue might not pop up immediately when you block a pin during trial and error.

It might come up after watching your TV for 30 mins or even longer.

Final Thoughts

If you do not want to go through a tedious trial and error process, you can directly replace your ribbon cables and T-CON board.

It probably will set you back a few dollars but if it is a hardware issue, replacing your T-CON board and ribbon cables will most likely fix the Fire TV.

Similarly, loose cable connections or damaged cables can also trigger various other issues such as Toshiba Fire TV stuck on the loading screen. To avoid such mishaps, replace the worn out cables with fresh ones.

You can also contact Amazon Customer Support for real-time assistance.

However, they will most likely ask you to do a bunch of the troubleshooting methods mentioned in this article, so keep a note of all the checks you have done already.

Hope the solutions mentioned in this article have helped you restore the functionality of your Toshiba Fire TV.

Have a good day!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Can HDMI Cause Flickering?

The length of the HDMI cable used can make a difference in the signal quality. The maximum signal output is 4K at 30 FPS. When the cable is too long, issues like low signal quality, erratic display, screen flickering, or identification failure, may arise.

Why Is My LCD Screen Flickering?

Some of the reasons why your LCD display could be flashing are due to shielding coil, signal interference, hardware, refresh frequency setting, monitor time being too long, and high frequency.

What Are the Best Picture Settings for Toshiba Fire TV?

The recommended setting is as follows:

Contrast to 75
Brightness to 0
Color to 0
Tint to 0
Sharpness to 0.

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