Is the volume stuck on your Samsung TV? You’re not alone – it’s a problem that many users have been reporting.
The exact cause can vary from case to case, and you might have to try several solutions before finding one that works.
If your Samsung smart TV’s volume is not working, you should first check your remote. You might also need to reset the TV’s Smart Hub, delete some unused apps to free up memory and update the TV’s software. Finally, you should try restarting the TV or resetting it back to factory settings.
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Check the Remote of Your Samsung TV
In many cases, this issue is caused by a faulty remote. This can manifest in several different ways: your volume buttons might be broken, the remote could have a general internal malfunction, or its batteries may simply be dead.
As an optional step, you can also check if other remotes are conflicting with your main one.
Batteries
First things first – make sure that the batteries haven’t died. A quick way to verify that is by looking at the remote through your phone’s camera and pushing a few buttons.
Normally you can’t see the signal light emitted by your remote because it uses infrared light, but your phone’s camera can actually pick it up and display it as visible flashes. If you see brief light pulses at the front end of the remote, this means it’s still working.
Your volume buttons might be broken or stuck. Repeat the above, this time specifically pressing the volume buttons, to see if one or both of them have stopped working.
If that’s the case, you will probably have to replace the whole remote. You might be lucky to just have something stuck under the button though.
Try a Different Remote
If you have other remotes in your home, see if they work correctly. Universal remotes are compatible with most Samsung TVs, so if you have one lying around, give it a try and see if you can control your volume with it.
Check for Conflicting Remotes
On a related note, although rare, having too many remotes in the same room can also be a problem. Sometimes their signals might interfere with each other and the TV ends up unable to recognize any commands at all.
Apart from the stock Samsung remote, stop using all other remotes and see if that fixes the problem.
If you are using several TVs (or other devices that use a remote) in the same room, keeping the remotes in a separate location can be a bit of a hassle. If this is the root cause of your issue, you might want to think about rearranging your home.
In some cases, simply turning one device in a different direction may be enough to solve the problem. The point is to prevent the infrared signals from your remotes from interfering with each other.
Reset Smart Hub
If the problem is not in your remote, the next fix to try is to reset your Samsung TV’s Smart Hub. It’s an App Store-like (or Google Play Store-like) user interface seen on the latest Samsung smart TVs.
To execute this, go to Settings -> Support -> Self Diagnosis -> Reset Smart Hub. Follow the instructions and enter your PIN when requested. If you’ve never set any PIN, the default one is 0000.
You should also disable Smart Hub from starting automatically. Go to Settings -> General -> Smart Features, and uncheck both Autorun Smart Hub and Autorun Last App.
Delete Unused Apps
Smart TV users frequently install new apps to try them out and then forget about them. Your typical smart TV has more limited resources than your smartphone though, and leaving dozens of unused apps installed can degrade its performance and leave it with no memory for apps that need it.
Go to your Apps screen and go to Settings in the top right. You will see a full list of installed apps. Go over them one by one and uninstall any that you haven’t used recently.
Even if this isn’t the culprit this time, it won’t take long for it to actually become the culprit down the road! Keeping this in mind, it’s always a good idea to get rid of unused apps on a smart TV.
Just keep in mind that there’ll always be a few built-in apps that you won’t be able to uninstall even if you wanted to (usually, apps like Netflix, Prime Video etc.). So, don’t waste your time trying to get rid of every single unused app.
If an app is simply not removable, that’s fine and you can be sure that it’s not the one causing the volume issue.
Update Your Samsung TV’s Software
If you haven’t updated your TV’s software in a while, this could also cause some software issues. Many users tend to be neglectful of their devices in this regard, and smart TVs are usually around the bottom of the priority list when it comes to installing new updates.
Just like your smartphone, which most likely runs on either iOS (if it’s an iPhone) or Android, Samsung smart TVs also run on their proprietary Linux-based OS named Tizen.
Just like your phone needs periodic software updates for bug fixes, feature additions, and performance improvements, your TV needs periodic updates as well to function smoothly.
Go to Settings -> Support -> Software Update -> Update Now. Wait for the update to finish and do not turn off your TV while it’s in progress. If it’s been a long time since you last updated your Samsung smart TV’s software, it can take quite a bit, so be patient.
Your apps should be set to auto-update by default, so there should be no need to go through each of them individually and update them manually. Still, go to Settings from the Apps screen and verify that Auto-Update is enabled. It’s possible that you might have disabled the setting at some point and forgot about it.
Restart the TV
Restarting an electronic device is a classic fix for many problems, and it’s still perfectly relevant in today’s world of smart electronics.
Simply turn off your TV, unplug it from the power supply, wait a couple of minutes, and turn it back on. In some cases, this will fix the problem with no further action required.
Make sure to actually unplug the TV though. Simply turning it off from the remote does not actually shut down the internal electronics completely.
Smart TVs usually go into standby mode when they’re “turned off”, meaning that they don’t properly reset everything when you turn them back on.
Reset the TV’s Sound
Samsung smart TVs allow you to reset the device’s sound separately from the rest of the system. This can sometimes fix problems like stuck volume controls. To do this, go to Settings -> Sound -> Expert Settings -> Reset Sound. The process shouldn’t take long.
You might lose certain settings like surround sound customizations. Other than that, your TV should still work as before and your apps should not be affected in any way, unlike a more general software reset (see below).
Factory Reset Your Samsung TV
Resetting your Samsung smart TV to its default factory settings is an annoying process because it will destroy all your customizations and settings. But in some cases, it’s the only way to fix problems like your volume getting stuck.
Keep in mind that you’ll lose all your logins in apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+ and will have to enter them all from scratch. Only do this as a last resort if you’ve already tried everything else on the list above and you’re still experiencing your problem.
To factory reset your TV, go to Settings -> General -> Reset. Enter your PIN when asked to – as I mentioned above, the default is 0000.
A factory reset can take a long time. It’s very important to keep the TV powered on during the process. If you accidentally turn it off before the factory reset is finished, you might end up bricking it permanently.
Get Help from Samsung Remote Support
As a last resort, you can try talking to Samsung’s remote support. You can dial 1-800-726-7864 (8 AM to 12 AM, every day).
No, this support isn’t specifically limited to ‘TV remote’ issues. ‘Remote’ in this case simply means ‘remote access’.
In other words, if your smart TV is already connected to the internet, then Samsung’s TV support team can attempt to fix any problem by gaining remote access to it and taking a deeper look at its settings and configuration.
To get this support, follow these steps:
- Open the menu, and go to the support section.
- Select ‘remote management’ and accept the terms.
- A PIN screen will appear, and you’ll need to provide this PIN to the support agent.
- Wait for the support person to access your TV and attempt to fix your problem.
Final Thoughts
Having the volume on your TV stuck can be an annoying problem. In some cases, it can even make your TV unusable, especially if you last left the volume on a high setting and have lots of neighbors close by.
This is a problem with many possible causes, so be prepared to take some time investigating it until you’ve found a solution that works.
