Fix VDA Connection and Power Issues

This page provides solutions to common VDA connection and power problems when working with Fire TV devices. Each issue includes the underlying cause and step-by-step resolution instructions. If you don't find a solution to your specific problem here, post an issue in Developer Forum for additional support.

Random USB disconnection from Fire TV Stick

Symptoms:

• Both vda devices and kepler devices list commands return empty results
• Device becomes unresponsive and unavailable for debugging
• Disconnecting or reconnecting temporarily resolves the issue but problem recurs

Cause: Faulty or incompatible USB cable causes intermittent connection drops during debug sessions.

During debug sessions, the Fire TV Stick might randomly disconnect when connected through a USB. When this occurs repeatedly:

Solution: Replace the USB cable with a different one. For recommended USB specifications, see Troubleshoot Fire TV Stick issues.

Connection or power issues

Cause: Insufficient power supply, faulty cables, or system power management settings interfere with device connectivity.

• Use the original USB cable that came with your Fire TV device
• Disable automatic sleep mode and "Selective Suspend" feature in your operating system
• If using a USB hub, make sure it provides adequate power and avoid connecting too many devices
• Unplug the power supply of your Fire TV device, wait a few seconds, then reconnect
• Unplug and replug the USB port, then reconnect your Fire TV device
• Restart your host computer and reconnect your VDA

After reconnecting the VDA, examine the issue using:

kepler exec vda shell pull /data/cache/recovery/logfile_name

Fire TV device not detected

Cause: USB hubs, virtual machines, or intermediate devices interfere with direct communication between the host and Fire TV device.

Solution:

1. Connect your Fire TV device directly to the host computer
2. Remove any USB hubs or intermediate devices
3. Disable virtual machine (VM) or port forwarding from other hardware like Raspberry Pi

Chrome USB discovery conflicts

Cause: Chrome Developer Tools' USB discovery feature conflicts with VDA device detection.

Solution: Disable the USB discovery feature:

1. Open Chrome Developer Tools.
2. Navigate to Settings > Remote Devices.
3. Deselect the "Discover USB devices" checkbox.
4. Reconnect your Fire TV device.

Fire TV device not showing up over TCP/IP

Cause: Network connectivity issues, incorrect IP address, or firewall blocking the connection port.

Solution:

1. Verify both devices are on the same Wi-Fi network:

   • macOS: Click Wi-Fi icon in menu bar to view connected network
   • Linux: Click network icon in system tray or run iwconfig
   • Fire TV: Go to Settings > Network/Wi-Fi to check connected network

2. Verify the correct IP address while connected through USB:

   Copy code Copied to clipboard.

   kepler exec vda shell ifconfig wlan0
   

3.Check firewall settings and ensure port 5555 isn't blocked, or temporarily disable firewall for testing.

Fire TV device stuck in TCP/IP mode

Cause: Device fails to enumerate properly after switching to TCP/IP mode and cannot revert to USB mode.

Solution:

1. Perform a factory reset to revert to USB mode (this erases all data - ensure you have backups).
2. Complete the Out-of-Box Experience (OOBE) setup process.
3. Review requirements and steps in Enable VDA Over TCP/IP before attempting TCP/IP mode again.

Ubuntu 64-bit compatibility issues

Cause: VDA is a 32-bit application requiring 32-bit architecture support on 64-bit Ubuntu systems.

Solution:

1. Install 32-bit shared libraries:

   Copy code Copied to clipboard.

   sudo apt-get install libc6-i386
   

2. If VDA devices show no devices, configure proper udev rules.

3. If permission errors occur, add yourself to the plugdev group:

   Copy code Copied to clipboard.

   sudo usermod -aG plugdev $USER
   

VDA server not responding

Cause: VDA server process becomes unresponsive or fails to start properly.

Solution:

1. Stop the VDA server:

   Copy code Copied to clipboard.

   kepler exec vda kill-server
   

2. Restart the VDA server:

   Copy code Copied to clipboard.

   kepler exec vda start-server
   

3. Check device list:

   Copy code Copied to clipboard.

   kepler exec vda devices
   

Unable to connect via TCP/IP

Cause: VDA daemon not running in TCP/IP mode, network connectivity issues, or incorrect port configuration.

Error messages:

   "unable to connect" or "connection refused"

Solution:

1. Ensure VDA daemon operates in TCP/IP mode:

   Copy code Copied to clipboard.

   kepler exec vda tcpip 5555
   

2. Verify both devices are on the same network.

3. Kill the VDA server:

   Copy code Copied to clipboard.

   kepler exec vda kill-server
   

4. Restart the VDA server:

   Copy code Copied to clipboard.

   kepler exec vda start-server
   

5. Restart your Fire TV device and attempt connection again.

6. Try an alternative port if issues persist:

   Copy code Copied to clipboard.

   kepler exec vda tcpip 5566
   

VDA permission issues

Cause: Insufficient system permissions prevent VDA from accessing USB devices.

Error messages:

error: insufficient permissions for device
List of devices attached
????????????    no permissions

Solution:

1. Disconnect VDA from your Fire TV device:

   kepler exec vda kill-server

1. Create permission rules:

   Copy code Copied to clipboard.

   sudo curl --create-dirs -L -o /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules https://raw.githubusercontent.com/snowdream/51-android/master/51-android.rules
   

2. Add permissions to the rules:

   Copy code Copied to clipboard.

   sudo chmod a+r /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules
   

3. Restart the udev service:

   Copy code Copied to clipboard.

   sudo service udev restart
   

4. Restart VDA:

   Copy code Copied to clipboard.

   kepler exec vda start-server
   

Verify device detection

Cause: Need to confirm whether the host system recognizes the Fire TV device at the hardware level.

Solution:

On Linux:

1. Run lsusb in the terminal.
2. Look for "Lab126 Alexa" entry with your Fire TV device serial number.

On Mac:

1. Install lsusb: brew install lsusb.
2. Run lsusb in the terminal.
3. Look for "Lab126 Alexa" entry with your Fire TV device serial number.
4. Alternatively, check System Report > USB devices for "Lab126 Alexa" device.

Test with alternate host

Cause: Need to isolate whether the issue is with your specific host system or the Fire TV device itself.

Solution:

1. Connect your Fire TV device to another Mac or Linux machine.
2. Open terminal on the alternate host.
3. Run kepler vda devices.
4. Check if your Fire TV device appears in the output.

Related topics

• VDA Tools
• Resolve Fire TV Stick Issues

Last updated: Sep 30, 2025