How to fix your own IFE
 

I figured out a nice little trick today that will hopefully help someone else here in the future.

On a 319 with seatback IFE and my screen was blank and flickering on and off. PA and safety announcements would display just fine, but the IFE home screen to select a language and anything else was dead.

Pressing both the power and home buttons for about 10 seconds rebooted my screen and everything is back to normal.

It took a few minutes for the reboot, but was still better than pressing the call button and disrupting the flow of PDBs ;)

I believe you only need to hold the power button for 10 seconds, at least that's what an FA taught me once. It's almost always worked for me, though I'm guessing it was primarily on 738s. The most typical problem it resolved would be when the movies option is missing from the carousel menu.

Occasionally there are glitches that cannot be resolved in this way and require the FA to perform a different type of reset from the galley.

Nice tip... Last time the exact same thing happened to me I told the FA, but had to wait for her to finish beverage service before she fixed it.

Alternate fix: Bring your own IFE. Kindle, iPad, book, Sudoku.

On board IFE tends to actually have good movies. Right now Ford v Ferrari is available, and it's a good movie.

When I saw this thread, given the state of IFE on AA, I assumed the fix was going to be "reboot your device" :D

That said, good info OP! I hate when they reboot everyone when one person has a problem so this is good to know.

I can report that this is the case on the 321's as well; holding down the power button for what seems like forever will completely reboot the device....

I tried this a few weeks ago but it did not resolve a looping loading screen issue.
The FA reset it but it also did not fix the issue.
This was on a 738.

Well, this would be good practice for when the screens disappear in a couple years!

I enjoyed this on another airline this past weekend

I never understood relying on aircraft IFE. The only thing I use it for is the map to see where I am. iPad does wonders for entertainment, I can actually watch something I want to watch.

Similar to your personal electronic devices, rebooting will fix many issues, but not all.

I generally agree (I use my iPad for IFE but also have the screen on for the map) - but when you want that map and are having issues, hopefully this thread will help you get the moving map back.

I believe there are other threads on here to discuss the value of airline-provided IFE and the potential impacts of having them discontinued through the Oasis/Kodiak projects.

I thought this thread was going to mention duct tape. I had a flight where the bulkhead seat screen (the ones on the fold-up arms) wouldn't stay and kept flipping back. The FA came by with tape and kept it in place for me for the whole flight.

Don't be.

And it doesn't stop working when they do a PA to plug that stupid credit card.