This article covers a developing story. Continue to check back with us as we will be adding more information as it becomes available.
Samsung soundbars are unresponsive following the recent v1020.7 firmware update. This problem primarily affects customers with newer soundbars or home theater kits.
Reports of unresponsive or “bricked” soundbars began flooding the Samsung Support forum and r/Soundbars subreddit on March 13th. Affected customers say that their soundbars turn on but cannot produce audio, connect to Wi-Fi, or switch away from eARC input.
The v1020.7 firmware update, which began rolling out on March 10th, appears to be responsible for this problem. Those who have disabled automatic updates in the SmartThings app, as well as customers with old or unsupported soundbars, are not experiencing any issues. Oddly, customers who manually updated via USB also seem to be fine—the v1020.7 firmware may only be problematic when updating over a Wi-Fi connection.
Samsung is yet to comment on this situation. However, the company has told some customers to send in their soundbars for repairs—this is what you might call a “bad sign.” Firmware bugs are usually resolved through updates or rollbacks that customers can perform at home. If Samsung’s customers are forced to mail in their soundbars, they may be less trustworthy of the company in the future.
We’ve reached out to Samsung for additional information. To reiterate, we still don’t understand the full scope of this situation, and it’s possible that Samsung will resolve the bug without blowing a fortune on shipping labels.
You can check your Samsung soundbar’s current firmware version in the SmartThings app. If you want to disable automatic updates (although it’s probably too late for that), open SmartThings, go to Settings in the app menu (not the devices menu), and scroll down to the “auto update devices and services” button.
Source: Samsung Support Forum via Hacker News
This article covers a developing story. Continue to check back with us as we will be adding more information as it becomes available.
