The issue of Samsung Smart TVs turning on and off by themselves is relatively common. At times, the TV may turn off, only to power back on after a short while. There are several potential causes for this malfunction, and in some cases, identifying the source of the problem can restore the TV to normal functionality. Here’s how you can troubleshoot and determine the cause of the issue.
When does the malfunction occur?
Pay attention to when the TV turns off:
- After first turning on : If the TV works fine for a while after first turning on and then starts to turn on and off, the problem may be faulty or unstable electronic components that fail after heating up.
- Immediate power off : If the TV turns off immediately after being turned on, the cause is most likely faulty components such as the power supply (very common), motherboard, WiFi module or screen matrix. Faulty components can cause excessive power consumption, triggering the overload protection in the power supply.
- TV shuts down on boot: in this case the TV cannot boot the OS, the reasons are power supply failure, or memory chip failure, this situation will also occur if you set the wrong parameters in the service menu.
Possible causes of switching on and off
For more in-depth troubleshooting, here are some signs of possible technical problems:
- Black screen and image reappears: If the screen goes black and then the image reappears but there is no sound, this indicates a problem with the electronics. If there is sound but no picture, the problem is most likely in the screen matrix.
- TV reboots after the logo appears: If the TV continually reboots and shows the logo each time, it means that the TV cannot enter normal operating mode. This usually indicates a faulty power supply or other critical components such as the main board, T-con (display control board). There may also be a critical OS failure.
In these cases, repair is required. While the power supply can be repaired or replaced, replacing the screen matrix can be prohibitively expensive, often costing up to 90% of the price of a new TV, making it impractical if the TV is not under warranty.
Troubleshooting options on your own
Follow these simple steps to begin troubleshooting:
- Unplug the TV: As Samsung recommends, unplugging the TV and waiting at least a minute (preferably 2-3 minutes) before plugging it back in can solve the problem. Sometimes this quick reset can restore normal operation.
- Disconnect HDMI cables: disconnect all HDMI cables and check how the TV works without them. If this doesn’t help, try disabling the HDMI-CEC (Anynet+) feature in your TV’s settings. This feature allows devices to control each other over HDMI, which can cause the TV to automatically turn on or off based on commands from other connected devices, such as a game console. A malfunction in one of these devices can cause the TV to turn on and off. Poor compatibility between the devices or differences in the years of manufacture may contribute to this problem.
