You woke up in the morning and heard loud voices in the room. The reason: your Sony TV automatically turned on and woke you up. While this is something you did not expect at all, this is a common problem across all ranges of smart TVs. There are several issues related to this, and we will deep dive into them and let you know the fixes to avoid this problem in the future.
Read: Vizio TV Turns On by Itself
Sony TV Turns On By Itself
Table of Contents
If your Sony TV turns on by itself, it could be due to the button that got stuck on the remote or your TV isn’t getting a solid power connection. Another major reason for your Sony TV turning on could be that you have left the HDMI-CEC on. Some HDMI devices switch on your TV as you turn them on. You just need to go to Settings => Watching TV => External Inputs => Bravia Link => OFF. And this should fix it.
Turn OFF HDMI-CEC
HDMI Consumer Electronics Control (HDMI-CEC) is a feature in smart TV’s that allows devices connected to your TV through HDMI ports to communicate back and forth with your TV. What it basically does it give other HDMI control devices some partial control on your smart TV which can let them switch on or off your TV.
For example, when you turn on your DVD player, CEC can automatically turn your TV on and switch it to the correct input without you having to grab your other remote.
By default, it makes your life easier by switching on your TV when you turn these devices on. If your Sony TV is turning on by itself you should definitely look into this.
- Press the Gear icon (Settings button) on your remote
- Then go to Watching TV => External Inputs => HDMI CEC Settings => CEC => OFF
Make sure that all the settings under HDMI CEC Settings are set to OFF.
If it does solve the problem there is a high probability that there could be some other reason why your Sony TV is turning on by itself.
Disable Timer Settings
All smart TV’s comes with timer settings that can help you to switch on or switch off your TV. Sony TV is nothing less and that could be the reason for this problem.
All you need to do is to disable the timer setting on your Sony TV.
Steps to disable Timer settings on Sony TV:
- Turn your TV on
- Click on Gear icon (Settings) on your remote
- Select Preferences
- Select SetUp => Clocks/Timers => Sleep Timers
- Turn it OFF
Make sure you disable all other timers such as “Power On” and “Power Off” as well to avoid this problem in the future.
Unplug and Power cycle your Sony TV
This small thing solves most of the issues. While everybody does skip this step, all you need to power cycle your TV. Here’s how.
Simply unplug the Sony TV plug from the socket and wait for full 60 seconds to fully power cycle your TV. Nothing less will work!
While you have unplugged the TV, press the power button on your Sony TV for 30 seconds. Just make sure that you hold the power button of your TV and not your remote. What will it do? Well, it will drain out excess power left in the TV which could be causing your Sony TV to turn on.
Once you plug in the TV after 60 seconds, that should resolve the issue of TV turning on by itself.
Buttons on the Sony TV Remote is Stuck
Quickly check your remote and see if any button especially the power button is stuck. If some buttons do not respond then it is time to buy a new remote.
Alternatively, you can also use your smartphone and download Sony Remote app to quickly turn your phone into a remote. It’s available for free on the App Store and Google Play Store.
Power Connection is Loose
An erratic power supply to your TV could be the reason for turning it on by itself. All you need to do is to disconnect it first and then connect it again. Make sure that it is properly connected.
If you see some problem with the cord or the plug, it is better to go for the replacement before going ahead with other steps. All your power cords and cables need to be in good condition and firmly connected.
Read: Insignia TV Turns On by Itself
Change Batteries in TV Remote
A TV remote working on a low battery could be sending erratic signals to your TV. First of all, make sure you take out both the batteries from your remote and hold down the power button on your remote for full 20 seconds, nothing less.
After 20 seconds, put the batteries back into the remote and turn on the TV. You could also try replacing the batteries to be double sure.
If this fixes the problem temporarily but you again run into the same problem after a few weeks, it means you might need to update the firmware or contact support for a permanent solution.
Disconnect From Wifi
Our smart TV’s connect to numerous other hardware devices like smartphones, Alexa, Google Home at home. Ironically, these devices could be sending signals to turn on your TV by accident.
If your Sony TV has a built-in casting ability, that could be even turning on your TV while you watch a video on Youtube.
A simple for this problem is to disconnect it from Wi-Fi for a few days and then wait for a few days to see if the problem persists. If it doesn’t then get it back to Wifi and keep on disconnecting other hardware apps one by one from Wifi to see which one is causing the TV to turn on by itself.Factory Reset Sony TV
Factory reset is yet another option to get rid of this commonly occurring problem. What factory reset does is it basically restores your TV back in the install mode means restoring to the same settings that you had on the purchased date. This will wipe out all the settings and changes that you have done over the period.
Here is what you need to do:
- Turn your TV on
- Click on Gear icon (Settings) on your remote.
- Select Device Preferences.
- Select Factory Data Reset.
- Select “About”
- Select Factory Data Reset.
This will turn off your TV and then turn it on and will display the initial configuration screen.
Once you are on this screen, it means all the settings, configurations and downloaded apps have been wiped out and you need to do the same things again. Restart your TV and see if the problem goes away.
Note: Do not do a factory reset if you do not want to go through the same process again. Or do it as your last step once you are done with all other steps.
TV Doesn’t Have Latest Firmware
You can potentially run into a lot of problems if your TV software isn’t up-to-date. Check if your Sony TV software is up-to-date. If automatic updates are not on by default, you may need to update it manually.
Here is a great article on Sony TV’s site to update the software.
Do this to check automatic updates:
- Turn your TV on
- Click on Gear icon on your remote.
- Select Preferences.
- Select “About”
- Click “System Update”
Once you update the TV with the latest firmware, the issue should not arise anymore. If it does, then it could be some other problem with your TV.
Sony states:
“Your TV must be connected to the internet to receive and install software updates directly. However, if your TV doesn’t have internet access, you can also download the update file to a computer, extract the update file to a USB flash drive, and use the flash drive to install the update on your TV. Depending on the model, you may also be able to receive the latest software via broadcast.”
Sony TV support and Warranty
If none of these measures work, you should contact Sony’s customer support system. This is your last and the only step to fix your TV from this problem.
Customer support’s phone number is 1-239-245-6354.
Hours of Operation:
Monday – Friday : 9:00 am – 9:00 pm ET
Saturday – Sunday : 10:00 am – 8:00 pm ET
You can call them and troubleshoot the problem online. If that doesn’t help they will assign an engineer and he will visit your home to fix the issue.
The cost of the service again depends on the diagnosis. If some part needs replacement, then the cost is definitely going to be higher.
Before calling the engineer, you need to check if your TV Is under warranty. Unfortunately, Sony offers only a 1-year warranty from the date of purchase on all its TV products line.
Conclusion
There have been a lot of issues going on with the Sony TV’s and this is one of them.
The good thing is that we have a few fixes that you can try to avoid this problem of TV turning on by itself.
Here’s what you can do:
- Turn OFF HDMI-CEC
- Disable Timer Settings
- Unplug and Power Cycle Your Sony TV
- Buttons on TV Remote is Stuck
- Issues With Loose Power Connection
- Change Batteries in Remote
- Disconnect from Wifi
- Factory Reset Sony TV
- Update to Latest firmware
