Top 6 Ways to Fix Fire TV Stick Not Showing Picture

Are you unable to watch content on your Fire TV Stick because the device does not display images or visuals when you launch your favorite streaming apps? I bet you would be as perplexed as many others who wonder what is going on. This is why I tried a few tricks and compiled the successful troubleshooting fixes to resolve the problem.

If you can only hear distorted sound / sound when you launch an application on the Fire TV Stick, it may be due to a bad connection between the streaming key and the HDMI port of your TV. The problem may also be due to the fact that the affected applications are buggy or out of date. Other factors prevent the Fire TV Stick from displaying images. In this article, we talk about potential issues and their respective fixes in the section below.

Note: The solutions in this article apply to the Fire TV Stick and the Fire TV Stick 4K.

1. Turn off and on the Fire TV Stick

Whenever your Fire TV Stick stops displaying images or visuals, restarting the device should be the first step to take. It is one of the most effective fixes for these problems. Although I have not experienced this on my Fire TV Stick, users who have encountered the same problem testify to the efficiency of the Fire TV Stick power cycle as a viable solution to this problem.

Follow the steps below to restart your Fire TV Stick.

Step 1: Go to the Fire TV Stick Settings menu and select “My Fire TV Stick”.

2nd step: Scroll down to the bottom of the “My Fire TV Stick” menu and select Restart.

Step 3: Select Restart in the confirmation window to continue.

Pro tip: You can also use the remote shortcut to restart your Fire TV Stick. Simply press and hold the Play / Pause button with the Select button for about 4-5 seconds.

When the Fire TV Stick turns back on, check if you can display the interface with visuals. If the Fire TV Stick still cannot display the images, continue to the following troubleshooting method below.

2. Check the HDMI connection

If your Fire TV Stick is not properly connected to the HDMI port on your TV, you may sometimes experience video or audio playback problems. To repair a Fire TV key that will not display images, make sure the streaming key is properly inserted into the HDMI port on your TV. A faulty HDMI port can also cause this problem. So, if your TV has several HDMI ports, you can insert the Fire TV Stick into another port and check if it now displays images / visuals.

One more thing – it is recommended not to connect the Fire TV Stick directly to the HDMI port of your TV. You must use the HDMI adapter / extension cable supplied with the broadcast key. The HDMI adapter prevents the device from overheating by extending the distance between the Fire TV Stick and your TV. You must use this adapter to avoid overheating of the diffusion key and potential malfunction.

3. Close the application and clear the cache

If the Fire TV Stick does not display images when using a particular application, close that application and clear its cache. This could help restore normalcy. Follow the steps below to find out how to close the application on a Fire TV Stick and clear its cache.

Step 1: Launch the Fire TV Stick Settings menu and select Applications.

2nd step: Select “Manage installed applications”.

Step 3: Select the application that does not display images.

Step 4: Select Force stop and then clear the cache.

Relaunch the app to see if it now displays images. Repeat the same process for the other apps if they work too.

4. Update applications

If forcibly stopping and clearing an application’s cache does not allow images to be displayed, you should make sure that you are running the latest version of the application. If a bug is responsible for the problem, updating the application could help resolve the problem.

On the Fire TV Stick, the direct way to update the applications individually is quite long. It is best that you ask the streaming stick to automatically update your applications as soon as there are new versions available on the App Store. This means that you must activate automatic application updates in the settings of your Fire TV Stick. Here’s how you can activate them.

Step 1: Go to the Fire TV Stick Settings menu and select Applications.

2nd step: Select Appstore.

Step 3: If automatic updates are turned off, tap the option to turn it on.

If you don’t want to turn on automatic updates – perhaps because you are concerned that this will increase data usage on your Fire TV Stick – you can check the Notifications section of the device to see which applications have updates pending. If the affected application (that is, the application that does not display images) is in the list, tap it to install the update.

5. Update the Fire TV key

Another thing you want to check is the Fire OS version of your Fire TV Stick. Make sure the device is running the latest firmware version. This would help resolve any bugs that cause certain features of the Fire TV Stick to malfunction. Likewise, it could also help restore images to your TV screen. To check for Fire OS updates, go to Settings> My Fire TV> About> Check for updates.

Your streaming key will check for any available updates and download them accordingly. Once downloaded, you should see an Install Update option.

Select it to install the operating system update downloaded to your Fire TV Stick. The installation process usually takes around 1 to 5 minutes and your Fire TV Stick will be restarted at least once during the process.

After installing the update, check if your Fire TV Stick now displays images. If your streaming key is up to date, you should see a prompt in the lower right corner of the page.

6. Reset the Fire TV key

You should only consider resetting your Fire TV Stick to factory settings if you have tried all of the above troubleshooting methods and none of them have solved the problem. Note that if you reset your Fire TV Stick, you will lose all the apps, accounts, settings and files you have on the device. The Fire TV Stick will return to the state it was in when you bought it recently. Refer to our detailed guide on resetting your Fire TV Stick.