Samsung TV randomly power off and on

Categories: Personal, Technology

For Christmas this year, the big family gift was a new Samsung PN58B860 58" Plasma TV. Our old TV worked fine, but with the baby on the way I we wanted try and reclaim some living room space—much of which was being taken up by our old Mitsubishi 55" rear projection TV.

We absolutely love the picture, but from day one we started running into a problem with the TV in which it would just randomly power off and then immediately back on. I went through a battery of tests trying to determine if it was a power issue, cable issue, etc. I tried replacing the HDMI cable, hooking the TV up directly to the cable, changing outlets, etc. Nothing I did resolved the issue. Since the problem was random (on average, probably happened once an hour, but we might go a couple of hours with no issues or it might happen several times within a few minutes.) It didn't matter what we were watching—could be cable TV, a DVD, playing XBOX, etc. The TV would just turn off and then turn right back on.

After talking to Samsung and HH Gregg everyone seemed to think it was the power supply on the TV and since the TV was less than a week old, HH Gregg delivered a replacement TV. However, the new TV was having the same problem. So, once again I started going through my battery of tests trying to figure out what was wrong.

After testing tons of things, I finally found the root case—the Internet connection.

Newer TVs are now coming with Internet connections. Being the tech guy I am, I immediately hooked my TV up to the Internet so I could get firmware updates, view Flickr photos, etc. To get up and running quickly, I had plugged my TV into the wireless bridge I was using for my XBOX 360—which I had the IP configured as the DMZ in my firewall (which I had done to resolve some issues with online play.)

Since now the TV was acting as a DMZ, all unrecognized traffic was being routed to the TV. I suspect what was happening is various ping and exploit attacks on my IP address was causing problems with the TV, so the TV would just shut down and power up again. I just never thought that the Internet connection would be the root casue of the TV rebooting.

Anyway, if you have a Samsung TV that's recycling the power, try unplugging your Internet connection and see if that improves the situation. Also, never run a device as a DMZ unless you know what you're doing!

Dan - Dec 21, 2009 @ 10:27 AM Bookmark/Share Link 1996 Views Print Comments (28)

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Phillip Senn's Gravatar I'm researching TVs as well and Samsung is on the top of the list.

CNET said that with some Samsung models, the screen goes blank if the scene is too dark, although I don't remember which one it was.
http://reviews.cnet.com/televisions/
Phillip Senn - Dec 21, 2009 @ 11:21 AM
Dan G. Switzer, II's Gravatar Phillip:

I really love the picture and I'm really happy with the TV--especially now that I've got the issue resolved. While technically it's a problem with the TV (since bad packets shouldn't shut down the TV) the TV really shouldn't be open to all internet traffic (which running as a DMZ was basically doing) so I don't really put blame in the TV. It shouldn't have been running this way.

I did a lot of research before buying as well. Panasonic and Samsung seem to offer the best bang for buck, but I really loved the Samsung. I also liked the picture of the Plasma over the LCD LED (which I thought was overly bright.) I also noticed a little blurring in the LCD's still--although it might not have bothered me in a regular viewing situation, but when you're specifically looking for things, they tend to stick out.

The blacks on the Samsung Plasma Series 8 are really outstanding. It really adds a perception of depth to the picture.
Dan G. Switzer, II - Dec 21, 2009 @ 12:12 PM
Phillip Senn's Gravatar I bought a Samsung LN46B650 and last night got around to plugging in the ethernet cable. Guess what? The TV rebooted while watching a movie!
Is the solution to not use the Internet?
Phillip Senn - Dec 30, 2009 @ 6:21 PM
Dan G. Switzer, II's Gravatar @Phillip:

Is the IP address the TV using running behind a firewall? Make sure it's *not* running as a DMZ or otherwise getting all unfiltered TCP/IP packets.
Dan G. Switzer, II - Dec 31, 2009 @ 8:52 AM
nvonatiq's Gravatar Thanks for the usefully and interesting Archive. I will be test it on my TV.
Many regards from Germany
nvonatiq - Feb 4, 2010 @ 10:10 AM
Justin's Gravatar I'm having the same problem. Any way around the unplugging of the network cable? I'd like to be able to have it hooked up to the net. I may check and see what I can tweak in my router for the TV's access and still allow it to run its services.
Justin - Mar 1, 2010 @ 8:59 AM
Dan G. Switzer, II's Gravatar @Justin:

I still haven't been able to track down the exact issue--which does indeed stink. Even though the TV is no longer running as a DMZ, I still get the TV reboots. I'm hoping Samsung resolves this in a firmware update. However, the firmware on their website appears to be older than the one offered via the online update. This is a problem since I can't hook up to the internet.
Dan G. Switzer, II - Mar 1, 2010 @ 11:15 AM
Justin's Gravatar I have verified that unplugging the network cable seems to resolve the issue. I updated with the latest firmware via the internet when I first turned on the TV (Yesterday). My router has nothing in the DMZ and there are no real loose settings. I have port forwarding turned on, but I need that for other things. If I come across any other info on how to fix it, I'll reply here. I'll also check here for updates. This was the only thing I could find in a quick google search on the issue.
Justin - Mar 1, 2010 @ 2:00 PM
Dan G. Switzer, II's Gravatar @Justin:

One thing I haven't tried yet is replacing the ethernet cable. The cable I used wasn't marked, so I'm not sure if it was a 6e cable or not. I'm wonder if maybe I'm getting enough interference from the power cable or HDMI cable that it's causing an issue.
Dan G. Switzer, II - Mar 1, 2010 @ 2:44 PM
Justin's Gravatar In my case, I'm using CAT 5e. But Power is separated from all other cables by a wooden stud in the wall. I still haven't found anything else yet. But, I'm going to see if maybe there is a setting for the network on the TV. I can't remember one off hand, but there might be something.
Justin - Mar 4, 2010 @ 10:37 AM
Dan G. Switzer, II's Gravatar @Justin:

What version of the firmware are you running? I'd like to upgrade to 1017, but since they only have 1013 on their website and I don't trust my TV to stay on while attempting to upgrade via the Internet, I'm basically stuck until they decide to post the lastest firmware to their website.
Dan G. Switzer, II - Mar 4, 2010 @ 3:20 PM
Justin's Gravatar I have the newest one available from the internet connection. I'm not sure of the version. BUT, I may have found what the cause is. I've been running connected for > 2 hours with no issues so far. Here's a little about my setup and what I changed...

Network: I have a Windows Home Server machine that stores most of my data and content. I have other computers on the network that are backed up by that machine as well. And, of course, everything is all on the same network as the TV since it's connected to a switch in my living room that goes up to my router. That's a simplified description of my network, but the key component, I think, is the home server.

I looked in the settings and eventually found something that might be the issue. I went to: Application -> Home Network Center -> Setup. I turned off "Message" so that the TV will not receive messages from any of my other devices on the network. I left the other settings as they were.

I got going with checking out some more Yahoo Widgets and installed Pandora and let that run for a little bit. Then, it was back to good ol' Tivo and watching some other stuff for a while. Then live TV still through the Tivo which comes through my Receiver then to the TV. I don't think the source matters with this issue as it's network related.

Anyway, try out that change and see if your TV stays on long enough to do anything. Hopefully that is the fix and it helps you too. I haven't had enough time to test it for hours and hours. But it's been working perfectly so far. Thanks again for the blog and for pointing me in the right direction.
Justin - Mar 4, 2010 @ 4:20 PM
Dan G. Switzer, II's Gravatar @Justin:

Thanks for the pointer. I'll have to try that later tonight and see what happens.
Dan G. Switzer, II - Mar 4, 2010 @ 4:39 PM
Dan G. Switzer, II's Gravatar @Justin:

I tried disabling both the Messages and Media settings in the "Home Network Center" but was still getting the reboot issue. It's possible it's working for you because you're on a different firmware revision than I am, or perhaps it's a combination of settings.

It just really sucks not to be able to hook the TV up to my home network!!!
Dan G. Switzer, II - Mar 5, 2010 @ 8:51 AM
Justin's Gravatar That does suck. There are a ton of settings in there. I do know that my TV hasn't rebooted on me since making those changes. I'll keep monitoring it though. The firmware might be the issue. One thing you can try also is unplugging your other computers/devices from the network and see if your TV stays on. If so, grab the firmware update with everything else off and see if that helps. My router is a D-Link Gamer Lounge router (DGL-4300) I don't know if the router has anything to do with it, but I figure I'll give you as much info about my setup as I can to help you out.

Good luck.
Justin - Mar 8, 2010 @ 6:08 AM
Justin's Gravatar UPDATE:

The power cycle is back. Though it is less frequent. So Something is definitely happening more frequently in your setup than mine. I'm not sure what the cause is, but I've since unplugged the Network cable until I can have time to troubleshoot more. Surely, there are others who have the same problem. I'll post anything new that I find.

Sorry for the false hope. That setting did seem to help. But I'm not sure what else can be done at this point.
Justin - Mar 12, 2010 @ 8:07 AM
Justin's Gravatar Here's another update on something else I tried...

I turned off the media option in the home network setup as well, but I think the setting that actually worked was the ... I forgot the name... something like "anynet link" or something with "link" in it. It's the *feature* that lets you turn off other connected HDMI devices that support some specific standard. I've had these settings for almost a week now and so far I've had zero reboots.

Hopefully, that will work for you. Also, my firmware is from November from the internet firmware update.
Justin - May 2, 2010 @ 8:19 PM
Matt's Gravatar This is really interesting. Thanks for posting. I have had my Samsung LN46C630 for about two weeks. I have had my ethernet plugged in for almost the entire two weeks and this power cycle issue just started happening to me this morning.

Unfortunately it does it on a frequency of more than once / minute. i breifly went to Samsung's support and they said to unplug the tv for 30 seconds and plug it back in. Obviously that did not fix the problem. Their next siuggestion was that my Tv needed to be serviced.

This scares m a bit. I already called Amazon and they said they will send me a new one and pick up the old. I just have to wait until 12 EST for their Special Shipping Deaprtment service lines to open so I can call.

In the meantime, I will give this fix a try, but it bothers me that it took two entire weeks for the issue to start, it seems that my problem might be more hardware related.
Matt - Jun 4, 2010 @ 10:37 AM
Dan G. Switzer, II's Gravatar @Matt:

I'm not sure servicing will help, but if you like the option, go for it.

I had my original TV replaced and had the exact same issue w/the new TV. I've had zero issues since it's been unplugged from the ethernet cable. I think there's something in the ethernet firmware/code that causes issues if it sees certain types of network traffic.

I keep meaning to try shutting down all my internet appliances to see if I can figure out what the root cause is, but it's more a bother at this point than resolving the issue.

Certainly keep me updated if you resolve the issue!
Dan G. Switzer, II - Jun 4, 2010 @ 12:02 PM
Matt's Gravatar @ Dan

The ethernet fix worked and I have had no need to keep the ethernet plugged in at all times, so it was an easy fix.

Unfortunately my USB Hard drive that I keep plugged in *occassionally* reproduces this issue. It happens far less frequent, but is enough to freak me out.

One of these days I will get around to calling Samsung.
Matt - Jun 28, 2010 @ 5:07 PM
Justin's Gravatar Another Update. While that last thing I posted seemed to work for a while, it happened again at some point a little after I posted. It's REALLY annoying as I'd like to be able to use some of those features every now and then. But I can't due to the problem. Looking on the web, there are other models with the same problem. I don't know what is causing it, but it must be driver related as Dan suggested.

Anyway, if I find any real fix, I'll post it.
Justin - Jul 16, 2010 @ 2:29 PM
Dan G. Switzer, II's Gravatar @Justin:

Thanks for keeping me in the loop. I'd like to get this working as well. Fortunately, it's not a deal killer for me, but it's frustrating that it doesn't work as advertised. Samsung's support is useless.

-Dan
Dan G. Switzer, II - Jul 16, 2010 @ 3:16 PM
Michael Fever's Gravatar I'm having the exact same problem, but this only started happening around August 1st 2010. It has been REALLY HOT here where we live and most everyone is now running their air conditioners. My thinking is that somehow the tv is not getting enough power or surges are coming down the line. I'm not really sure, my TV is the 5 series and does not have the internet connection. So it can't be the internet on mine. I have also done the same tests such as unplugging HDMI, running direct thru cable, disconnecting all devices, worknig in other modes.

Still, the past 3 days it was not as hot outside and the TV didn't turn off/on once. Now today has been hot and its doing it every 15 minutes.

Could power be the issue?

Also for updating - does your USB stick need to be formatted a with NTFS, FAT32 or FAT16. I plugged in mine with the update on it and it said no update was available.

Thanks guys
Fever
Michael Fever - Aug 11, 2010 @ 11:52 PM
Dan G. Switzer, II's Gravatar @Michael:

When I originally called Samsung about this issue, they stated the problem was with the power supply and I had my TV replaced (it was less than a week old.) However, even with the new TV in my case the problem is completely replicable by simply connecting an ethernet cable to the TV that's connected to a router.

So, your problem could be related to the power supply. I actual wonder if the problem is your TV isn't getting *enough* power. In this extreme heat, people tend to blast AC units--which draw tons of power. I wonder the voltage is dropping enough to cause the TV to turn off.
Dan G. Switzer, II - Aug 12, 2010 @ 8:07 AM
Michael Fever's Gravatar I think that is the problem too. they called me today to do a service call but i have to pay $90 just for them to come. I'm going to wait and see what happens. My tv was purchased through a liquidator so I am not entitled to warranty.
Michael Fever - Aug 12, 2010 @ 3:55 PM
Michael Fever's Gravatar Forgot to mention - a couple times when the TV was off it turned on and off. That definately leads me to believe its something with the power in the building where i live. It must have got a surge of power or something to make it do that.
Michael Fever - Aug 12, 2010 @ 3:57 PM
AV's Gravatar I have a recently purchased LN52B610 that restarts every two hours. Exactly two hours. Mine does not have an ethernet port either. Interestingly, when I talked with Samsung support, her first instruction was to unplug the TV from the surge protector. That, of course, did not resolve the issue.

Googled and found this thread. Thought I would share. Will call Samsung again and see if they have any better ideas.
AV - Aug 14, 2010 @ 12:09 AM
SAMSUNG LCD 1080p TV's Gravatar Most likely problem is a defective power supply.
SAMSUNG LCD 1080p TV - Sep 2, 2010 @ 12:39 AM

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