Having issues with your Samsung TV? It’s common for electronic devices to encounter problems from time to time, and luckily, you can usually solve these problems on your own. Generally, Samsung TVs last long, but there can be problems along the way.
That said, it would be good to know how to troubleshoot your Samsung TV to save yourself the trouble of going to the service center.
1. App not working on Samsung TV
You may sometimes encounter an app simply refusing to work properly. You try opening an app, and either it doesn’t launch, or it keeps on crashing during use.
There are different ways to troubleshoot this issue.
The first thing you need to do is give the TV a cold boot.
- A cold boot is letting your TV startup from a total shutdown.
- As pressing off on the remote control or the TV simply puts your TV on standby, a cold boot restarts your TV without any extra load on it.
You can do a cold reboot in two ways:
- Using the TV’s Remote Control, hold down the power button until the TV turns off and on again.
- Another way of doing it is to unplug the TV from the power source and wait for 30 seconds before plugging it again.
Should this fail to resolve the issue, you should check for updates for the app and the TV firmware.
To check if an app has an update:
- Press the Smart Hub button and open Featured.
- Look for the App that you’re having trouble with, then press and hold the Enter key.
- A Sub Menu will appear, wherein you need to go to Update Apps.
- You’ll have the option to select which apps you want to update.
- Select Update and wait for the app to finish downloading.
If the app still doesn’t work, the app might not be compatible with the TV’s firmware.
- To update the firmware, go to Settings and look for Support.
- Under this sub Menu, go to Software Update, then click on Update Now.
- Your Samsung TV will check for updates.
- If there are firmware updates, your TV will automatically download them.
- After it downloads, make sure it installs.
You may also check for firmware updates in the Download Center of the Samsung website, listed in the Sources at the end of this article.
Note that it is highly recommended to give the TV a cold reboot after installing the firmware or app update.
2. Samsung TV only shows a black screen
A TV only showing a black screen is a common issue with smart TVs, regardless of the brand.
Diagnosing the cause of this problem is relatively easy, although there are different possible issues behind the problem.
- You may encounter a black screen if there’s a defective connection between a set-top box or any other video device connected to the TV. In this case, you should replace the cables that connect to the TV.
If there are no devices connected to the TV, it is most likely that the issue is with the power supply inside the TV.
- Chances are, you may have a faulty capacitor inside the power supply.
- You will know which capacitor is broken when it’s leaking or bloated.
- This can be fixed by taking the TV to an authorized repair center.
3. Samsung TV flickers when in use
You may encounter flickering on the screen of your Samsung TV.
- You can try doing a cold reboot to fix this. (Steps outlined in Question 1.) A cold reboot helps unburden your TV from all the processing it handles.
- If the flickering continues, you most likely have a faulty jumper in the power supply. An authorized maintenance specialist can easily fix this problem.
This is a quite common issue among smart TVs – it’s also on the list of problems with Pioneer TVs. Here’s more on how long Pioneer TVs last.
4. Samsung TV has no sound
You might encounter a time wherein your Samsung TV goes mute.
- The first you should check is if the Mute mode is on or if the volume is set to zero. It may sound obvious, but it’s a good thing to check! Press Mute on and off to check.
- If the problem persists, check if a Bluetooth headset or speaker is paired to the TV. If there is, unpair it in the Audio settings, or turn the headset off.
You may also consider doing a cold reboot of the TV if there is still no sound.
- Should the TV remain mute after the cold reboot, check your cable connections if using an external device, such as a gaming console.
- There might be a defective cable that is causing the audio to fail.
If you are using your Samsung TV as a computer monitor, make sure that your HDMI settings on the computer designate your TV as the audio output.
If you are watching videos from the USB port, you should also check the codec used for the video. While Samsung TVs have a wide coverage for audio and video codecs, there are times when you may try to play a video that was rendered with an audio codec not recognized by the TV.
If the problem happens while watching videos from a streaming service, such as YouTube or Netflix, the lack of audio is a deeper issue and may involve component failure.
- To identify which component in the TV malfunctioned, try connecting your Samsung TV to a set of external speakers or headphones. If there is any sound, the problem is likely the internal speakers of the Samsung TV.
- Should sound still be absent, the issue is likely with an audio IC chip.
- In the last two cases, you will need to have an authorized repair center look into your TV.
Do note that some Samsung TVs offer a self-diagnostic feature under the Support menu to help you find the problem. You may also run this diagnostics test to check for any issues.
5. Smart Hub does not display any apps
Samsung TV uses the Smart Hub as its primary menu system. It holds all the apps and settings.
There have been cases of apps disappearing from the Smart Hub. Despite navigating everywhere, you can’t find the app.
If this happens to you, here’s how you can fix the problem.
First, you can try switching the TV back to your original settings.
- Press the Smart Hub key on the remote control. (For older remote controls, you need to press the Menu or Home button.)
- Once the Smart Hub loads, press the following keys: fast forward, 2, 8, 9, and rewind.
- Choose another location in the Setup list, then Accept the Terms and Conditions.
- The Smart Hub will update and reset.
- Then repeat the steps, and switch back to your location.
If the problem is still there, you need to do a Factory Reset.
- You may access the Factory Reset functions under the Self-Diagnostics Menu in the Support Settings. It will be located at the bottom.
- You’ll be asked to enter your security PIN, which is 0000 by default.
- Confirm your actions, and your TV will reset to its state from the factory.
6. Samsung TV won’t connect to Wi-Fi
Many smart TVs encounter issues with connecting to Wi-Fi. We have a full guide here on what to do when your Samsung TV won’t connect to Wi-Fi.
And it’s frustrating when this happens because it defeats the purpose of the smart TV: to bring you content from the Internet anytime you want it.
And while an Ethernet connection can provide a more stable connection, it can be impractical for some, especially for homes with the router too far from the TV room.