This article provides you with step-by-step instructions to resolve various issues you may encounter when using your Samsung soundbar.
Samsung soundbar not working – general troubleshooting process
- Check proper cable connections
If your sound bar isn’t functioning properly, disconnect all the cables and then reattach them one by one until you figure out which cable is causing the problem.
- Check for the correct source
If your sound bar is set to a different audio output device than you’re currently listening to, you may not be able to hear anything coming out of it.
- Check if the source is ON.
Sounds obvious. Trust me so many people forget about this step and get stuck.
- Make sure your TV is set up to use external speakers
Check to see if the sound bar is your default speaker. If your TV doesn’t automatically recognize your sound bar, you may need to manually set up the connection between your TV and your sound bar. If you’re using your TV’s settings, check to see if you’ve selected the right settings for your sound bar to be used as your main source of audio.
- If you are using a Bluetooth connection, disconnect and then reconnect the Bluetooth connection.
Depending on the device connected to, the steps for disconnecting and reconnecting to Bluetooth may vary. In any case, the process of disconnecting and then reconnecting may fix a possibly bad connection.
- Reset your soundbar. See below to see how it is done
How to reset your Samsung soundbar
Using any electronic device for a few days or weeks may cause temporary issues that may be fixed, oftentimes, by resetting the device.
Here are the simple steps to factory reset your Samsung soundbar:
- Turn on the soundbar by pressing the switch-on button. In order to do this, either the remote control or the dedicated button on your sound bar.
- Turn on the soundbar by pressing the switch-on button. In order to do this, either the dedicated button in your soundbar or the remote control can be used.
- Hold the power button either on the remote control or the soundbar control panel.
- Press the power switch for at least 10 seconds until you get the ‘INIT OK’ message displayed on the screen.
- the soundbar will restart after a short while, and that hopefully will solve your issue..
Here is some more information about resetting electronic devices. The process above is more of a hard/factory reset of your soundbar.
A. Soft reset?
A Soft reset is generally referred to as a restart of a device. It has the advantage of not losing any configurations and not needing to re-connect your Bluetooth device.
B. Hard reset, or factory reset
A Hard reset, refers to the process of loading the factory values of your device. Such a process removes all user data, settings, Bluetooth paired devices and put the device back to the state it was in when it shipped from the factory.
Samsung soundbar not connecting to TV
Here are the step by step instructions for both HDMI and Bluetooth connections:
A. Samsung soundbar not connecting to TV using HDMI
- Newer Samsung soundbars come with HDMI cables. This is the preferred way to make the connection to your TV. Make sure no other cables are connected at the same time to your TV and soundbar. Your Samsung soundbar sound may be totally cut off as a result of this
- Your soundbar comes with two different HDMI connections:
- HDMI ARC (Audio Return Channel) – to be used for TV connections
- Standard HMDI – to be used with other audio sources such as media players, cable boxes, DVD players, etc.
It is very important to make sure to use HDMI ARC when connecting to your TV.
- Consumer Electronic Control (CEC) must be activated to make sure the HDMI ARC functions properly. This can be done usually through your TV system menu. CEC is the essential part to make sure the Soundbar can be controlled through your TV remote.
- Make sure your TV speakers are set to “auto” or “off”. Consult your TV manual to see how it is controlled. It is usually very simple to do, although the way to do it may vary from one TV to another. With that being said, most of the time, when connecting the TV to soundbar the sound should automatically be redirected from the TV to your soundbar. I am just providing you with this option just in case you have an older TV or this does not happen with the TV you have.
- If you are still experiencing connection issues, unplug both your TV and soundbar for thirty seconds and plug them back. This in general help overcome minor issues
- Check your TV manufacturer’s website to make sure you have the latest version of your firmware. If not download this version to your TV. The firmware is continuously being updated to fix glitches and the newest version may help your connection issue
- Perform a factory/hard reset both on your TV and Samsung soundbar. See above in this article to learn the step-by-step process of hard resetting your Soundbar. As for the TV, this can be found in the system submenu. Once this is done, unplug both devices for thirty seconds and plug them back to make sure your connections and devices start from a clean slate.
- Another reason for your HDMI connection issue might be that you have a faulty cable. Try to replace your cable with a new HDMI cable. We recommend purchasing this one if you need to.
- If all the steps above are not helpful, you may want to start using an optical cable instead of HDMI. Make sure you use the right jacks (labeled as optical on both devices) when making the connection. You can find a high-quality digital optical cable that we recommend here.
B. Samsung soundbar not connecting/pairing to TV using Bluetooth
Pairings were designed to be simple and easy to use. Just put both devices into “pair” mode, enter a pin (if needed), and that’s it. It might take some time for them to pair up, but once they’re paired, they should stay connected without any issues.
To set up the sound bar for wireless audio streaming, follow these steps: Press and release the Source button on the remote control repeatedly until the sound bar’s display reads WAIT. Then press and release the Source button again until the sound bar’s screen says BT PAIRING. Finally, press and keep pressing the Source button until the sound bar’s message changes from WAIT to READY.
In general, you will need to verify the device you are connecting to is in pairing mode. The method for putting a device in pairing mode is different for every device. Check the user manual for your device if you aren’t sure how to put it into pairing mode. If you are pairing to a Samsung TV, and the soundbar’s name is not shown on the Bluetooth speaker list, select cancel and try again. You may need to do this one or two times until the soundbar’s name appears.
No sound from the Samsung soundbar
When there is no sound coming out of the speakers, check the following steps to see if it could be fixed:
- Make sure the TV is powered on.
- Check the volume levels on the TV and sound bar. If the volume level is turned down, turn up the volume on both devices.
- Connect the HDMI cable from the TV to the soundbar.
- Turn off the TV and wait about 5 seconds. Then turn on the TV again.
- Press the power button on the soundbar. This turns off the device. Wait 10 seconds and turn it back on.
- Turn the TV on again.
Samsung soundbar not connecting to subwoofer
See our detailed article on this here.
Samsung Soundbar loses audio/video sync or disconnects when connected via HDMI ARC
If you notice that your Q900A, Q950, Q960, Q970, Q980, Q990, Q2000, or T500 soundbar is out of synch with your TV or randomly disconnected when connected via HDMI ARC (ARC stands for Audio Return Channel), there is a simple solution.
Each model has a firmware update available on Samsung.com to fix the issue. You must download the latest firmware update and install it onto your soundbar. Here is the list of Samsung sounbars and related firmware version fixes:
HW-Q900A : Version with the issue -1021.1 / 0108
HW-Q950: Version with the issue -1013.5 / 0202
HW-Q960: Version with the issue – 1016.4 / 0212
HW-Q970: Version with the issue– 1020.1 / 0107
HW-Q980: Version with the issue- 1022.7 / 0109
Soundbar will not pair to the TV using TV SoundConnect (SoundShare)
If the connection between your sound bar and TV isn’t working, we can help you fix it by ensuring the settings on your TV aren’t set incorrectly.
With the exception of some older models, most modern soundbars and TVs support Bluetooth connectivity.
To activate TV sound connect, go to Settings > Sound > Speaker settings > TV Sound Connect > Add new devices. If you don’t find these options on your television, consult your user guide for more details.
Hope you found this article helpful and that one of the very many solutions above could be used to resolve your soundbar issue. Feel free to contact me through our contact page if there are any other questions. I will be happy to assist.
