Samsung TVs are one of the best TV brands. But like every other electronic device, they have their share problems. One common problem is when your Samsung TV turns on by itself without you touching it.
Fortunately, this can be a relatively easy problem to fix. This guide walks you through several troubleshooting steps to fix your Samsung TV that turns itself on.
Why Does My Samsung TV Turns On By Itself?
The most common reasons for your Samsung TV to turn on by itself is having foreign objects stuck around the remote control’s power button, connected external devices, such as a router or network device, and your TV settings.
Samsung TV Turns On by Itself
If your Samsung TV turns on by itself, you need to disable the Power On with Mobile option. To do so, navigate to Settings > General > Network > Expert Settings > Power On with Mobile, and turn the setting off.
If that doesn’t fix the problem, follow the steps below until you solve the issue. Some of these fixes also work if your Samsung TV won’t turn on or connect to Wi-Fi.
1. Power Cycle the Samsung TV
The easiest and most obvious solution for all tech issues with electronics is to power cycle them, and therefore it applies here.
First, ensure your Samsung TV is shut off by pressing the power button on your remote, then unplug the TV from its power source.
Give it a solid minute, plug it back in, and try turning it back on. You may not know for a while, but this could have addressed the odd self-turning-on issue.
2. Turn SmartThings Off
Samsung TVs are in the “smart TV” category, so they use “smart” features operated through SmartThings. This is because a compatible device connected to the unit could be triggering it to turn on.
If that is the case, turning SmartThings off would theoretically stop this behavior. You can turn them off from your Samsung TV’s Settings menu by going to General > Network > Expert Setting and setting Power On With Mobile to the Off option.
3. Disable Anynet+ (HDMI-CEC)
Similarly to SmartThings, the HDMI-CED (HDMI Consumer Electronics Control feature is intended to help connected devices integrate with the Samsung TV better, by allowing them some control over the TV unit.
It allows you, for instance, to use your TV’s remote to control your DVD player or surround sound system. Some devices that may connect to the TV could be automatically enabled to turn the TV on when they do.
This feature has generally been known as Anynet+. Since the TV is turning on by itself, one of the connected devices through Anynet+ may be responsible.
Therefore, you can try disabling this feature by navigating to the Settings menu, going to General > External Device Manager > Anynet+, and setting it to Off.
4. Check Sleep Timers
For those of us who have a habit of falling asleep with our TV on, the sleep timer is a handy feature that allows energy to be saved by turning the TV off after a certain time period.
Sometimes, these timers have the odd effect of working backward. So to ensure this isn’t the problem at hand here, it is best to disable this feature.
You can do so from the Settings menu by going to General > System Manager > Time. One of the options will be a Sleep Timer, and another will be an Off Timer. Make sure both of these are set to Off.
5. Disable Eco Mode
One of the other features on Samsung TVs that tries to mitigate power usage is the Eco mode, which automatically controls various energy-saving aspects of a TV.
A glitch with these settings can also make the TV act strangely, turning it on at random times. To disable Eco mode, go to Settings > General > Eco Solution menu. If any of the eco settings are turned on, turn them off and see if you still have a problem.
6. Update Your TV’s software
Samsung is aware of many bugs users report about their products. But they don’t release fixes for it a la carte.
Rather, they wait until they have a slew of updates, bug fixes, and enhancements, then release them in a firmware service update.
These updates are very important to any electronic device’s functionality and should not be ignored. It is for this reason that many times users are not given a choice about installing them.
However, they can be installed manually via an internet connection or USB. To do this via web connection, follow these steps:
- Choose the Support option in the Settings menu (as long the TV is connected to the internet at the time).
- Then select the Software Update option.
- Turn Auto-Update on to ensure that in the future, firmware updates happen on their own.
- Then select the Update Now option and select Yes if you are shown that the update is available.
You also have the option of doing this update through a USB device. First, use your device’s manual to find the model number of the Samsung TV, then go to Samsung’s website (www.samsung.com) and find the Support section.
There will be a search box where you can enter the model number, and once you find it, select your option from the results list.
From here, click on Manual and Downloads, then click on “See More,” and then the Download button, which will download the update to your USB device. Once downloaded, connect the device to the Samsung TV and install the update.
7. Contact Samsung Support
If none of the options proved useful and you are starting to consider that perhaps your TV is possessed, after all, contact Samsung support through their website’s customer care support section to be sure.
They may have more technical steps to guide you through resolving the issue as they have done for other customers. They could advise you to claim the product’s warranty or ultimately suggest replacing your TV.
Wrap-Up: Samsung TV Turns On by Itself
There you have it–a step-by-step guide to fixing your Samsung TV that turns on by itself. In summary, here’s what you need to do to tackle this problem.
- Power Cycle your Samsung TV
- Turn off SmartThings off
- Disable Anynet+ (HDMI-CEC)
- Check Sleep Timers
- Disable Eco mode
- Update your TV’s software
- Reach out to Samsung Support
Let me know if this helped fix your Samsung TV. If you found success doing something else, leave me a comment down below!
