If your Sony TV turns on by itself, it’s most likely because you have HDMI-CEC turned ON. Some HDMI devices (like your DVD player, for example) turn your TV on automatically when they turn on. To turn HDMI-CEC OFF, go to SETTINGS > WATCHING TV > EXTERNAL INPUTS > BRAVIA SYNC/LINK > OFF.

Disable BRAVIA sync/link (HDMI-CEC)

HDMI Consumer Electronics Control (HDMI-CEC), is an HDMI feature that helps your connected devices work better together.

It gives your HDMI connected devices partial control over your TV, and your TV partial control over your devices.

For example, with HDMI-CEC you could control your DVD player with your TV remote. Or your DVD player could automatically change your TV’s input to HDMI when it turns on.

In some cases, by default, HDMI devices are configured to turn the TV on automatically when they turn on.

Sony TVs have this feature, and since your TV is turning on by itself, you should start your troubleshooting process here.

Click the SETTINGS button on your remote and go to WATCHING TV > EXTERNAL INPUTS > BRAVIA SYNC/LINK.

Make sure all the settings under Bravia Sync are turned OFF!

Keep in mind that you will no longer be able to use your TV remote to control any other devices.

Wait to see if disabling CEC solves your issue. If it doesn’t there are several other high probability reasons your Sony TV is turning on by itself.

But before we get into those, there are a few more simple steps you absolutely should try before things start to get complicated.

Disable Eco mode

Sony TVs also come equipped with something called Eco mode. This mode automatically controls various settings on your TV to save power whenever possible.

Sometimes these settings can take on a life of their own and its worth turning them off if you’re already experiencing some issues.

To disable your sleep timer first select HOME/MENU on your remote control.

Scroll down to SETTINGS and then PREFERENCES and select it by pressing OK. Next scroll down to ECO.

Make sure all of the following settings are OFF!

Power Saving – OFF
Idle TV Standby – OFF
Auto Shutoff – OFF

Power-cycle your Sony TV

Everyone likes to skip this step, but power-cycling your TV, or any electronic device for that matter, solves most issues!

To power-cycle your Sony TV unplug it from the wall and wait for 60 FULL seconds.

After the 60 seconds are up, press and hold the power button on the TV (not the remote) for 10-15 seconds. This helps to drain any residual power stored up in the TV.

Now go ahead and plug the TV back in. See if this reset helped at all.

Remove batteries from Sony remote

If unplugging and re-plugging your TV in didn’t fix the problem, try taking out your remote batteries.

Make sure to take both batteries completely out of the remote.

With the batteries removed proceed to hold down the power button on the remote for 15 seconds. Again, do this for a full 15 seconds! Not 5 seconds, 15!

After the full 15 seconds are up, put the batteries back in the remote and turn on the TV. It should power back on fine and hopefully it stops turning on by itself going forward.

If this fixes your problem but then a few days or weeks later you run into the same issue, you’ll want to try factory resetting your TV for a more permanent solution.

Factory reset Sony TV

A factory reset essentially restores your Sony TV to the settings it had on the day you purchased the television.

With the TV powered on, click the HOME/MENU button.

Select “Settings” from the menu
Then select “Storage and Reset”
Choose “Factory Data Reset”
Finally select “Erase Everything”
Restart your TV and see if the problem goes away.

Note: if you have a Sony Bravia TV, the factory reset process is different.

Factory reset Sony TV without remote

Luckily, you can still factory reset your Sony TV without a remote.

To do this find the buttons on your TV. Depending on the model you have, these buttons may be on the right hand side, left hand side, or very bottom of the TV. Or even underneath!

Start by unplugging your Sony TV. With the TV unplugged, press and hold the POWER button and VOLUME DOWN at the same time. Keep holding these buttons and plug your TV back in.

You can release the buttons once you see the Sony logo or a green light on the front of the TV. This could take 2 seconds or 30 seconds, depending on the model of TV you have.

The reset process can take a couple of minutes to complete but hopefully when it does your TV will stop turning on by itself!

If this process doesn’t work the first time, you should keep trying until it does.

Tighten power supply cable

Depending on which year/model Sony TV you own, there may or may not be a covering on the back of your TV that you can remove. This will expose the power supply cable.

I recommend you disconnect this cable and then reconnect it, making sure it is snug and fully plugged in.

This fix has been reported to work for many owners of older Sony TVs.

Regardless of whether or not this covering exists, it’s a good idea to just make sure all your cables and cords are in good condition and are firmly connected!

Update your TV’s software

Running old versions of Sony software on your TV can cause a variety of problems. Typically, your TV will automatically download the latest version for you, but sometimes that doesn’t happen.

I would just make sure that your TV’s software is up-to-date. You can see step by step instructions for how to do this here.

After the software update is complete, your video and audio settings may reset back to their defaults.

It’s also possible that your TV is turning on by itself because of the automatic software updates! To see if this is the issue, I would disable automatic updates for a period of time and see if that fixes your problem.

To turn OFF automatic software updates:

Press HOME on your remote
Select SETTINGS
Then CUSTOMER SUPPORT
Scroll down to AUTOMATIC SOFTWARE DOWNLOAD
Turn this OFF

If this does in fact resolve your issue, you’ll just have to remember to manually check for software updates to ensure everything stays up-to-date.

Disable sleep timer

Sleep timers are good ways to conserve energy and are typically used to automatically shut your TV off at a certain time.

I know your issue is about the TV turning on by itself, but let’s just make sure the sleep timer is disabled.

To disable your sleep timer first select HOME/MENU on your remote control.

Scroll down to SETTINGS and then PREFERENCES and select it by pressing OK. Next scroll down to SETUP and then CLOCKS/TIMERS followed by SLEEP TIMER.

Make sure it is set to OFF!

Sony TV support

If you tried all the troubleshooting steps above and your Sony TV is still turning on by itself, you should contact the Sony TV support team directly.

They can be reached at 1-239-245-6354.

Monday – Friday: 9:00 am – 9:00 pm ET
Saturday – Sunday: 10:00 am – 8:00 pm ET

(Shortest wait times are usually Monday – Friday, 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM ET).

You can also try using their Text Message support or Live Agent chat.

Sony TV warranty

You can also check online to see if your TV is covered under Sony’s warranty.

Unfortunately Sony TV warranties typically only last 1 year and most of the cases I’m hearing of TV’s turning on by themselves are on TVs several years old.

Still worth a shot.

Conclusion

Sony TVs have a history of turning on by themselves.

There are a number of things you should try to fix it:

Disable HDMI-CEC
Disable Eco mode
Power-cycle your TV
Remove batteries from remote
Factory reset your TV with or without your remote
Tighten power supply cable
Update your TV’s software
Turn off Automatic Software Updates
Disable sleep timers

If none of those steps fix your TV you should call Sony support and see if you can get a certified Sony technician to take a look.

I’d also check to see if your TV is still covered by warranty!

Sony TV turns on by itself