Fire TV Stick Has Sound But No Picture

Have you ever powered up your Fire TV Stick, ready to get into a good show, just to find the screen stays black despite sound? If so, I’m here to help.

Fire TV Sticks often have sound but no picture because the HDMI port isn’t working correctly, the resolution on the TV is set wrong, or the app you’re trying to use is outdated or has bugs.

Today, I’ll discuss the reasons your Fire TV Stick has sound but no picture and what you can do to solve the problem. Let’s dive in.

Why Your Fire TV Stick Is Showing a Black Screen

Girl sitting on sofa turning on TV with remote

Fire TV Sticks can be relatively fragile, and sometimes it seems like everything needs to be just right for it to work correctly. But isn’t this the case with all electronics?

If you’re reading this article, you’re probably wondering why your Fire TV Stick is showing a black screen instead of the movie you were hoping to enjoy. Fire TV Sticks usually stop showing a picture because of a bad connection. This is the most common problem, and we’ll dive a little deeper into that in just a moment.

Occasionally, it has to do with the TV resolution, but in this situation, you might expect it to switch between a black screen and a partial screen, depending on the resolution.

Sometimes apps on the TV just get outdated as well, which can cause issues.

So let’s talk about each of these problems a little more, and then we’ll get into how you can fix them.

A Bad Connection to the TV

Most of the time, if your Fire TV Stick is showing a black screen but still playing sound, it indicates an issue with the connection to the TV. Most often, this is because of an HDMI issue.

Over time, HDMI ports lose their connection strength. The port becomes loose with multiple uses, and the devices can no longer connect securely with the television.

Unfortunately, there’s no real way to fix this other than purchasing a new TV.

If you think it’s an issue with the HDMI port, you can try plugging your Fire TV Stick into a different HDMI port and see if this helps the problem. Sometimes it will, but it may be an issue with the Fire TV Stick itself rather than the port.

If the HDMI connection on the Fire TV Stick itself has become damaged, then it can cause the same issues. In either case, the problem is that the Fire TV Stick isn’t making the connection to the television.

In most cases, when the HDMI is going bad on either end, it will make a partial connection but nothing complete. This is the reason you may experience sound with no picture. If this is the case, you may also hear distorted sound with whatever sound is coming through.

The Resolution Isn’t Set Correctly

If everything seems secure and snug, you may also be dealing with a resolution issue with your television. Usually, a TV needs to be set to either 1080 pixels or 720 pixels, depending on the screen size.

If you notice that the picture is a partial picture on specific resolutions, then this is a key indicator that the resolution is the problem. If it’s completely black still, the best way to test this is to cycle through various resolutions and see if you come across one that works.

Gizmo Geek Guide posted this on October 14, 2022 as the original owner of this article.

You can cycle through all your TV’s resolutions by pressing the Up and Rewind buttons on your Fire TV remote simultaneously. Usually, you’ll need to hold the buttons for about five seconds to start the process.

The system will cycle through each resolution one by one, staying on each one for about ten seconds. If you find the correct resolution in the process, then simply select Use Current Resolution.

The App Has a Problem

In some situations, the problem has nothing to do with the connection point or the resolution. It has to do with a bad app. Over time, apps can develop bugs and become faulty.

The best way to check whether this is the problem is just to switch to another app. If the picture is showing up on that app, then chances are high that’s the only issue for you.

Sometimes the Fire TV Stick just needs a restart, as well. It can stop connecting with multiple apps at once, which may not have anything to do with the app being bad. If multiple apps aren’t showing the picture but playing some sound, then you can try resetting the Fire TV Stick and see if this helps.

Gizmo Geek Guide uploaded this as an original article on October 14, 2022.

How To Fix Your Fire TV Stick Not Showing a Picture

Family of four sitting on sofa watching TV

The good news is that fixing your Fire TV Stick isn’t too tricky most of the time. Below we’ll talk about some things you can try to get your Fire TV Stick working perfectly again.

Reset Your Fire TV Stick

This should always be your first action when your Fire TV Stick isn’t working correctly. This is because it’s almost always the most efficient solution to the problem.

So, how do you reset your Fire TV Stick?

Go to your Fire TV Stick settings and select My Fire TV Stick.
Select restart at the bottom of the menu.
Approve the confirmation to restart the Fire TV Stick.

You can also simply unplug the device and plug it back in.

Close the Apps and Clear the Cache

Another thing you can try is clearing out an app altogether. When you navigate away from an app, it is often running in the background. The app won’t work correctly until it’s completely cleared out.

Clearing out an app is really easy!

Open your Fire TV Stick settings.
Open the tab that says Manage Installed Applications.
Select the app that isn’t working.
Command the program to Force Stop.
Click Clear Cache

Check the HDMI Connection

Checking the HDMI connection is simple, and I talk about it in quite a few articles. It’s a prevalent problem and a straightforward solution.

To test the HDMI connection, simply plug your Fire TV Stick into a different port or a completely different television and see if it fixes the problems with not seeing a picture.

In most cases, if the connection is loose, this will fix your problem!