[SOLVED] Sony TV Turns On By Itself?

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I know what it’s like when your Sony Bravia TV turns on by itself in the middle of the night and you can’t figure out why.

Because there can be quite a few different causes if your Sony TV keeps turning on by itself, I can’t give a one size fits all fix, but I have compiled this list applicable to Sony Android, Google and Bravia models that contains every known working fix for every Sony TV.

So if your Sony TV turns itself on, just follow the steps in this guide one-by-one and I’m confident that at least one of these fixes will get your TV back up and running again.

Sony TV Turns On By Itself

You can stop your Sony TV from turning on by itself by switching off BRAVIA Sync in Settings -> Watching TV -> External Inputs, turning off the Auto TV On mode and by disabling the On Timer.

The steps below will help you to stop your Sony TV from turning on by itself, with the fixes themselves arranged from simplest to most complex.

Follow them in order to give yourself the best chance of sorting out your TV.

1. Power Cycle Your Sony TV

Before rushing into power cycling, you should first confirm that your Sony TV isn’t running a software update via WiFi or Ethernet.

If you’re seeing a red light blinking, then that is a potential sign that it is updating.

In this case, simply wait for ten minutes then you can try to power cycle your Sony TV to reset it.

Resetting your TV will clear out any issues with non-permanent memory and reset your main board without losing your personal settings.

This is quick and painless and won’t cause you to lose any of your saved settings.

Make sure your TV is switched off and unplug it.
Hold down the physical power button on the TV for at least 15 seconds.

sony tv power button — The power button is usually beneath the Sony logo or on the side of the TV

Wait for at least 2 minutes for any residual power to drain from the TV’s capacitors (which are capable of storing charge for several minutes).
Plug your TV back in and try switching it on. You should see a red light if you have been successful.

Make sure you do wait for the full 2 minutes before plugging your TV back in – you would be surpised how long the components within your TV can hold charge, and you want to make sure it has fully reset.

Although this seems a very basic step, don’t overlook it because in the vast majority of cases a simple soft reset fixes most issues.

2. Turn Off Auto Power On

Auto power on is a Sony TV feature that allows connected HDMI devices to switch your TV on.

You can either try removing all HDMI devices, or simply switch this setting off.

To switch off Auto Power On for a Sony TV:

Go to Settings.
Watching TV.
External Inputs.
BRAVIA Sync Settings.
And switch off TV auto power on.

3. Turn Off HDMI-CEC

There’s a strong possibility that a set top box or console connected via HDMI is powering on your TV using HDMI-CEC.

This is because a flaw with the HDMI-CEC settings can stop your TV coming on properly if you have other devices, particularly games consoles, plugged into your TV.

HDMI-CEC allows two-way communication between your TV and console, allowing your console to switch your TV on automatically.

The problem is that if you do not switch inputs on your TV away from your console’s input before switching off your TV, then your TV will not “listen” to your remote, and will instead be controlled by the connected device.

To check whether HDMI-CEC is the problem, remove any HDMI and signal cables from the back of your TV, so that only the power cable is attached, and see if it turns itself on.

If this does resolve the problem, then you’ll need to switch off HDMI-CEC.

To switch off HDMI-CEC on a Sony TV:

Go to Settings.
Watching TV.
External Inputs.
BRAVIA Sync Settings.
And switch off BRAVIA Sync/Link, which is Sony’s name for HDMI-CEC.

4. Switch Off Remote Start for Sony Android TVs

Sony Android TVs have an option to let your phone or other devices turn on your TV using its remote start feature.

Alexa devices can turn on some Sony TVs if remote start is on.

To turn off Remote Start on Sony Android TVs:

Press Home on your remote.
Then go to Settings.
You will find Remote Start in either Network & Internet, Network or BRAVIA Settings depending on your TV model.
Turn off Remote Start.

5. Turn Off Any Timers

Sony TVs come with various timers that switch your TV on at specified times for set period.

To switch off any On Timers on Sony Bravia TVs:

Press Home on your remote.
Go to Settings.
Preferences.
Clocks/Timers.
On Timer.

And set this to Off.

To switch off the On Timer on Sony Android and Google TVs:

Go to Settings.
Device Preferences.
Timer.
And turn off the Power On Timer.

6. Check Your Remote

There’s a possibility that your TV remote has a partially stuck power button that is causing it to send the “power on” signal at odd times.

Try removing the batteries, holding down the power button on the remote for 10 seconds to drain any residual power, then forcefully mash every button on the remote, slapping it against your palm a few times.

press the buttons on your sony tv remote

You might have to repeat this several times.

You will also need to put quite a bit of force into pushing the buttons. Don’t be afraid of damaging your remote – as long as you are only hitting it against your hand and only using your fingers to push the buttons it will be fine.

For IR remotes, it’s possible to check if the remote is sending a signal without you pressing any buttons by using your smartphone’s camera.

Simply point the IR transmitter on the end of your remote at your phone’s camera and you will see a red light appear when you press any button on the remote. If you see this light without any buttons being pressed, then you know that you have a faulty Sony TV remote.

This doesn’t work for some cameras though, notably some iPhones, so check with another remote if in doubt about your camera.

7. Update Your Sony TV’s Firmware

Software and firmware issues can often be the source of Sony Bravia TV problems.

As with any product, you should ensure that you have updated your Sony TV’s firmware to the latest version, even if it is new.

To update firmware on most Sony TVs:

Press Settings on your remote control.

Go to Customer Support, Product Support or Setup.
If available, select Automatic Software Update or Automatic Software Download and check that this is switched on. (Note that you must agree to the Privacy Policy to receive automatic updates – go to Help -> Privacy Policy to find it).
Otherwise, select Software Update.
Choose your Network, then press Yes or OK to start the update process.

For Sony Android TVs:

Press Home on your remote.
Go to Help.
Choose Status & Diagnostics.
Then System software update.
You can check that Automatically check for updates is switched on, and manually check for updates using the Software Update button.

For Sony Google TVs:

Press Settings on your remote control.
Go to System.
Then About.
And System Software Update.
Confirm that Automatically check for update is On. You can also manually check for updates using the Software Update button.

Sony Android and Google TVs will automatically update firmware if connected to the Internet. If your connection is not stable, then your Sony TV may not have the latest firmware, which you will have to install manually via USB.

Go to the Sony support site on your computer.
In the Search box, enter your TV’s model name. (Take a look at Sony’s help page if you can’t find it).

Go to the Downloads tab and click the most recent Firmware update and download it to your computer.

The update process varies depending on your TV, but full instructions for each model are provided on the firmware update screen. Follow these to complete the update process.

8. Turn Your WiFi Off

Although with Remote Start and the BRAVIA Sync settings turned off other devices should not be able to control your TV, it’s worth making a final check of this by turning off your TV’s WiFi.

This will prevent any remote devices from interfering with your TV.

Press Home on your remote.
Then go to Settings.
And Network.
Choose Expert setup.
And toggle your WiFi Off.

9. Factory Reset Your Sony TV

Returning your TV back to its factory settings is a more extreme step, as it will delete any personalization features, downloaded apps or connected devices, but it’s always worth a shot when other methods haven’t worked.

To factory reset a non-Android Sony TV:

Unplug the TV.
Wait for 1 minute, then plug your TV back in.
If it doesn’t switch on automatically, press the Power button on the remote or TV itself.
Once switched on and fully loaded, hold the Up arrow on the remote and at the same time, hold the Power button on the TV until “Reset” appears on-screen.

Once you see “Reset” on-screen, or after a count of ten, release the Up arrow and then the TV’s Power button.
Your TV will now reset itself and return to the initial setup screen.

You can see these steps in the video from Sony below.

To factory reset an Android Sony TV and if your Sony TV remote is working:

Press Settings on your remote.
Go to System.
Then About.
And Reset.
Choose Factory data reset.
And Erase everything, and confirm you want to do this. If asked for a PIN, use 9999.

You can see details for how to reset other models of Sony Android TV in the video below.

If you don’t have the remote, then you can factory reset your Sony TV using the guides for TVs that have either one or three buttons or four or more buttons.

Sony TV Support & Warranty

It goes without saying that if your TV is under one year old, then you should contact Sony customer support to get it replaced under warranty.

You can call Sony directly on:

239-245-6354 (Mon – Fri, 9am – 9pm ET, Sat – Sun, 10am – 8pm ET)

Or text them on 239-245-6354, or ask for a callback.

Even if Sony won’t fix your TV, they might still offer you a discount off a future model if you pester them hard enough! This is always worth a try in my experience.

Sony Bravia TV Turns On By Itself: How to Fix

If your Sony TV turns on by itself, fix it by:

Power cycling your TV.
Turning off Auto Power On.
Turn off BRAVIA Sync.
Switch off Remote Start.
Disable the On timers.
Check your remote has no stuck buttons.
Update firmware.
Turn off your TV’s WiFi.
Factory reset your TV.

If you’re still having trouble then contact Sony support and see what they can do, but if you still can’t get your TV working after this, then it might be worth looking at a new TV.