There are many reasons why your Vizio Smart TV’s remote controller may stop working or get dysfunctional. In this article, we’d be revealing some of these reasons and how you can fix your faulty remote control on your own.
Vizio Smart TV Remote Not Working: Causes & Fixes
1. Dead Batteries
Oftentimes, a user forgets that though they are smart TV remotes, they still run on batteries. And these batteries need to be changed.
So when you find that your remote isn’t working:
- Unplug the TV
- Remove the old batteries
- Replace batteries with a new set
- Switch on TV and try the remote again
2. Dust
How often do you clean your remote? Like any other device, it can gather dust which could cause it to malfunction.
So here’s what to do:
- Switch off the TV/unplug it from the socket
- Remove the batteries
- Clean the touch controls/buttons
- Place the batteries back in place
- Leave it for a minute or so before using it again
3. Stuck Buttons
If it takes a second or two for your TV to respond to your remote control or the buttons on your remote are stuck, then you must do the following:
- Switch off TV and unplug from the socket
- Remove the batteries
- Hold the power button for about a minute or less
- Then press all the buttons on the remote control several times (just the way kids do when they want to ignorantly damage something)
- Put the batteries in and plug the TV back to the socket to try it out again
4. Physical Damage
A remote control or smartphone can easily slip off your hands and hit the floor. For some devices, this only needs to happen once or twice to cause damage to the device.
If you shake your remote and hear sounds like tiny bits of stones are inside of it, or your remote has been split open on one side and would not work just fine; just slap the device against the palm of your hands a couple of times to get it functional again. This exercise should work except when the internal damage is significant.
Features on the Vizio Universal Smartcast TV Remote Control
We know a lot of things about remotes – their functions, features, and the color code on the physical UI as well as its shapes. Many users also know about remotes that can be downloaded as apps on their smartphones. This all depends on what TV model you’re using.
Although Vizio has a remote app that can be accessed from almost any smartphone, they also have a unique Universal Smartcast TV remote that works on all Vizio smart TVs.
This remote has regular button features like channel code numbers, home button, back/return button, volume navigation buttons, channel navigation buttons, and of course the “Enter OK” button that’s surrounded by directional arrow keys among others. But unlike other remotes and smart remotes, the Vizio Universal Smartcast TV remote comes with five dedicated keys.
These keys are linked to specific channels which include VUDU, Netflix, HNews, and Hulu. The ‘watch free’ key allows a user to watch unlimited TV channels from more than 150 streaming channels in different categories.
Conclusion
Although fixing a remote control when it has a problem can be an issue, the Vizio Universal Smartcast TV remote isn’t one to develop a fault easily; and if it does, the simple tricks outlined in this article should get it good and working again.
