Samsung TV Won’t Connect to WiFi (Try This Fix FIRST)

For some reason, most Samsung TVs eventually run into a similar problem of not connecting to WiFi.

There are countless cases of Samsung smart TV owners who say they’ve had this problem – some say it’s been an issue they’ve dealt with repeatedly, on and off, for months!

Luckily there is a very easy fix that should resolve about 70% or so of Samsung TVs that won’t connect to WiFi.

Samsung TV won’t connect to WiFi

If your Samsung TV won’t connect to WiFi, you need to reset it. Unplug your TV and wait a full 60 seconds. While the TV is unplugged, press and hold the power button for 30 seconds. After the 60 seconds are up, plug your Samsung TV back in and it should connect.

Unplug Samsung TV from wall

While this fix sounds obvious, unplugging your Samsung TV from the wall socket is the most common way to get the WiFi working again.

1. Unplug your TV and wait the FULL 60 seconds. Have a little bit of patience and make sure it’s been at least a minute before plugging it back in.

2. While the TV is unplugged, find and hold the power button on your Samsung TV for 30 seconds. Make sure you are holding the power button on your TV and not your remote!

This will help to drain any residual power left in the TV and allows the TV to soft reset itself. This is different than simply switching the remote on and off!

3. After 60 seconds, plug your TV back in and you should see it power back up with no problem.

While this fix should work for about 70% of cases, the remaining 30% can be a bit trickier. If you’re still having trouble getting your Samsung TV to connect to the internet, try the fixes detailed below.

Why is my Samsung TV not connecting to WiFi?

If the first solution did not work for you, it makes sense to diagnose what might be causing your WiFi issues. Asking yourself the following questions will help you decide how to troubleshoot your WiFi issue best.

Is my WiFi working on another device?

Grab another device and see if it is connected to WiFi. This could be a smartphone, tablet, laptop, or smart TV in another room.

Try loading a webpage or opening an app to see if the content loads.

If it does not, then you likely have an internet issue. Jump down to the reset router/modem section and start from there.

If your WiFi is working fine on another device, then move on to the next question.

How is my internet speed at my Samsung TV’s location?

There are several factors that could impact the speed of your WiFi connection to your Samsung TV. The most common culprits include the distance of the device to the WiFi router or something interfering with the connection.

Using a WiFi connected device again, let’s test the network speed when standing directly next to your router and next to your Samsung TV.

1. Open your favorite speed test app or website. I typically use speedtest.net by Ookla.

2. Standing next to your WiFi router, run the test. Screenshot or write down the results.

Are these results reasonable compared to what you are paying your Internet Service Provider for? If not, stop right now and reach out to your ISP. Ask them to test the network speed on their end. They may be able to diagnose a hardware issue for you.

Note: Samsung recommends the following average speeds for streaming media on their TVs.

• 4.0 Megabits per second – Recommended for SD quality
• 6.0 Megabits per second – Recommended for HD quality
• 25 Megabits per second – Recommended for UHD (4K) quality

3. Now, go to your Samsung TV and run the test. Screenshot or write down the results.

Pro Tip: If the distance from your router to your TV is short, you should consider a wired connection. A wired connection will always give you better results than a wireless connection.

How did the results compare? If there is a significant drop-off, the distance could be too far or your signal could be interfered with.

Consider what is between the router and the TV. If you have a concrete or brick wall, if they are on separate floors, or if you have a large home, your home network setup might not work well for your situation.

The best solution for your WiFi troubles could be to upgrade to a new router or a mesh WiFi router.

If your speed test was successful and you have enough speed at the TV, one of the next solutions should work for you.

Update your TV’s software

Running old versions of Samsung software or firmware on your TV can cause a variety of problems. Typically, your TV will automatically download the latest version for you but sometimes that doesn’t happen.

I would make sure that your TV’s software is up-to-date. You can see step-by-step instructions for how to do this here.

Note: after a software update, your video and audio settings may reset to their defaults.

Change DNS number

For this fix, we will update your TV’s DNS settings by updating the server number.

1. Start by tapping Menu on your remote, then go to Network > Network Status. Your TV will begin checking your wireless network connection.

This will likely fail, given your connection issues, and you should see a pop-up that says you’re connected to the wireless network but not the Internet.

2. Go to IP Settings found at the bottom of this pop-up, then scroll down to DNS Server. You should see “8.8.8.8” or “8.8.4.4”. If you don’t see either of these, you need to change your DNS Server number to one of them!

After you make this change, your TV should connect again and the “Unable To Connect To Samsung Server” alert should go away.

Set IP Setting to “Obtain automatically”

Sometimes network settings on your Samsung TV change accidentally and a wrong configuration is actually what’s causing the issue.

A prime example of this is when the IP Setting is wrongly switched to “Obtain manually.” This means that you have to enter your IP address manually. Otherwise, your TV won’t connect to the Internet.

1. To check your IP Setting configuration, start by pressing Menu on your remote followed by Network > Network Status > IP Settings.

2. In IP Settings, make sure it says “Obtain automatically.” If it doesn’t, change it!

Factory reset Samsung TV

If power-cycling your TV, updating the software, and the DNS didn’t work, it’s time to try a full factory reset.

1. To reset your Samsung TV to its factory settings, press the Home button on your remote, then go to Settings > General > Reset (for older models, go to Settings > Support > Self Diagnosis > Reset).

2. Enter your security PIN (“0000”). Your TV will turn off and then on again, displaying the initial setup screen.

If you forgot your TV’s PIN, you can easily reset it with your remote control.

While the TV is turned on, press the following buttons on the remote control in the order shown and it will reset your PIN to “0000”.

• On the Samsung Smart Remote or Remote Control: Press +/- (Volume) button > Volume Up > Return > Volume Down > Return > Volume Up > Return
• On the Standard Remote Control: Press Mute > Volume Up > Press RETURN > Volume Down > Press RETURN > Volume Up > Press RETURN

Once it’s done restarting, allow your Samsung TV a few minutes to reconnect.

You’ll have to reenter your WiFi Network name and password, but hopefully, it’s working again!

Factory reset Samsung TV without remote

If, for whatever reason, you do not have access to your TV’s remote, you can still factory reset your Samsung TV.

There are a few options to do this without your remote control.

Option 1: Find the power button on your TV. Depending on your model, this may be on the right-hand side, left-hand side, or very bottom of the device.

With the TV on, press the Menu button on the TV and then toggle to Settings > General > Reset.

If you’re having trouble finding these buttons on your TV, or if your TV is mounted in a tight spot, there are other options.

Option 2: Use or download the Samsung SmartThings app to your smartphone.

After connecting your TV to the app, you can use your smartphone as a remote!

Option 3: Consider plugging in a USB keyboard directly into the back of your Samsung TV.

You can then use the keyboard to navigate and reset your TV.

Option 4: A final possibility is to grab a universal remote you have lying around and enter the appropriate Samsung code for the remote to get it working.

At this point, you should have fully resolved your WiFi issues but just in case you haven’t, I’ve included some additional steps worth trying before calling it quits.

Reset Network

Sometimes your established network connection fails and it simply needs to be deleted and reestablished.

Note: You will need to reenter your WiFi network name and password for this fix.

1. To do this, start by tapping on Source on your remote.

2. Then go to Settings (gear icon bottom left) > Enter > General > Network > Reset Network. This will restore your Network settings back to factory defaults.

This means that if you currently have your WiFi Network name and password entered, it will be deleted from your TV, and you’ll have to redo this process (which is what we want).

It will take a minute to reset your Network but once it’s done, you’ll be prompted to go back to Network Settings and sign back in.

While this fix will work for many of you, the unlucky few of you will need to try the additional troubleshooting steps detailed below.

Reset router/modem

If your router/modem isn’t working correctly, your Samsung TV won’t be able to connect to WiFi.

Simply unplug the router for a few minutes and then plug it back in. It will take a few minutes for the router to reset completely, but once it’s back online, your Samsung TV should be able to connect to the Internet again.

As a final effort, you may have to actually hard reset your router/modem. There should be a small button on the router/modem itself that you can press with a paper clip or ball-point pen.

Remember that you’ll have to re-set up your WiFi from scratch and reconnect all your devices to the new network.

If you continue having internet connection problems after unplugging your router/modem and a hard reset, you’ll want to call your internet service provider’s customer service line for assistance.

ISP Outage

If, after all that, your Samsung TV still won’t connect to WiFi, I would check to see if your Internet Service Provider is experiencing an outage.

While this doesn’t happen that often, it’s a real possibility. You can also check other smart devices, like your smartphone or laptop, to see if the internet is down for those devices too.

In this case, all you can do is wait for the servers to come back online.

If you follow your ISP (like Xfinity) on social media, like Twitter, they might tell their followers when to expect the internet to come back on. You can also check sites like Downdetector for information.

Conclusion

There are many reasons why your Samsung TV won’t connect to WiFi. Luckily you can try each of these proven fixes to get back online:

• Power-cycle Samsung TV
• Update your Samsung TV OS
• Change the DNS number
• Set IP setting to obtain automatically
• Factory reset Samsung TV (with or without remote)
• Reset Network
• Restart your Wi-Fi router/modem
• Check to see if there is an ISP outage

If you’ve tried every one of these fixes and nothing has worked for you, you should go ahead and contact Samsung support. They might be able to help you further.