Samsung is in hot water following a firmware update that has bricked hundreds, if not thousands, of soundbars around the world. The company began rolling out a new firmware update (1020) for a select range of soundbars last week; however, owners started to complain that after updating their soundbar, it would no longer function.
All over Reddit and the Samsung community forum, Samsung soundbar owners have expressed their anger regarding the situation. Many of them say that after updating the firmware, their units are now bricked and frozen on the “Hello” text.
Many of the users claim that the firmware doesn’t brick the soundbar straight away. Many of them say that their soundbars updated automatically last week, and a few days later, the unit stopped functioning.
Some users say that even their TVs have stopped detecting the soundbars, failing to connect them via eARC or other input methods. Their TVs have fallen back to TV speaker mode even if the soundbar worked perfectly fine before updating the software.
Of course, disconnecting the soundbar and turning off the power has not worked. There’s also no way to factory reset the unit in the current state. Some more technically advanced users claim that the only way this is going to be fixed is a widespread recall as Samsung would have to replace the PCB boards in the soundbar to repair the issue.
Those who have contacted Samsung in the United States have been let down by their response. The company has reportedly asked for money to repair out-of-warranty units affected by the problem. As for the firmware update, Samsung has yet to comment on any of the reports. There’s zero feedback from them on how and when it will be fixed.
Samsung Europe, however, has been a little more helpful. The company has responded to the claims, acknowledging the issue, claiming that it stems from an OTA (Over The Air) version of the firmware. The company has supposedly taken down the update. It also confirmed that the only way to repair the device is to physically manage the PCB chip.
However, since the statement, Samsung has taken down its online repair portal so users can’t file any repair tickets related to the issue on the website.
As of the moment, it seems blocking updates to your soundbar is the best way to avoid damage. I suggest disconnecting it from your Wi-Fi for the time being. It is not a “chance” the soundbar might be bricked following the update; it seems that almost everyone who installs the update has been affected by the issue.
The firmware update has been bricking Samsung HW-Q990D, HW-Q880D, HW-Q930D, Q800D, S801D, and Q700D soundbars with firmware 1020 available. If you see a new firmware update, don’t install it yet.
Source: Samsung Community Forum / Reddit
