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General discussion

Volume goes automatically to 0 on my Samsung LCD TV

Jan 24, 2009 9:34PM PST

Hi,

I have a Samsung LA32M51BS LCD TV. The last few days something strange is happening to the TV: When I turn on the TV, the volume is at 0. If I try ty turn up the colume, nothing happens (though the blue colored light on the TV is flashing). If I try to turn up the volume by pressing the + button on the TV itself, the volume goes up, but as soon as I release the button, the sound goes down to 0 again! I tried to take the batteries out of the remote to see if it's the remote that's messing up, but it didn't help. Does anyone know what could be the cause of this problem? Someone experienced the same?

Discussion is locked

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Volume on UN65KS9000F 4kHD TV only two days old
Jul 4, 2016 7:59PM PDT

I'm over a half century old and still get the latest and greatest techie stuff, but enough is enough of things lasting decades to just a few years to now a few days after dropping a couple of Grand. These TVs are a pain to bring home and install, now after two days I'm spending time on internet to learn that Samsung has ignored the problem since 2009 and now I have to drag a two day old TV back to the store - I knew in my gut I'd regret venturing into unfamiliar territory with a brand I never bought before. As a consumer be it a two day old TV or 2 years, I should not have to crack open the back of a TV to get volume to consistently work, back to my faithful Bravia's. Bless those that posted issues and solutions, shame on Samsung for ignoring the problem. Now I have to pry this beautiful 4kUHD picture from spouse's addicted eyes, this is going to get ugly - grrrr Samsung.

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Add me to the list! Another one fixed!
Jul 8, 2016 3:58PM PDT

Many thanks, Joe. I was a bit intimidated at the thought of taking apart my 55 inch Samsung 3D LED LCD TV to bypass the defective lower right side control panel. It took about a half hour and the TV works perfectly. I won't even be replacing the bad panel because I don't think I've used the thing 3 times in the 3 or 4 years I've had the TV. I have 3 remote controls that operate it anyway.

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Disconnect the button panel connector
Aug 4, 2016 8:35PM PDT

I opened the back of my TV and used pliers to pull out the connector at the bottom of the button panel. This solved my volume stuck going to zero problem! Hope it helps!

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A new fix for this headache???
Sep 9, 2016 9:43AM PDT

Hello,
I had this problem and though this is an old thread the problem shows up many times when doing a google search so I believe this is still relevant.
As it does not seem to be happening only on one brand of TV based upon my searches I suspect my fix may actually get at the root cause of this problem and its much less invasive and cheaper than cutting grounds in your TV - which may create a safety problem - or forking out lots of money to repair folks.
The problem started for me when I set up a Ham (amateur) radio in my home. When I keyed the mike to transmit my TV volume would go down to zero. Then when using the remote to raise the volume it would go back down to zero as soon as the remote button was released. I had to do a hard reset (unplug) to fix it but it would come back as soon as a transmitted again.
I fixed this by properly grounding my my TV's satellite dish system! I suspect the same fix will work if you have this occurring on cable TV. While I no longer use my cable TV service I looked and it was not grounded either.
It is a common problem that Sat Dishes and Cable connections are not grounded. They are supposed to be per the National electric codes (in my Dish contract it says they will install them per that code- which they did not!) and keep in mind that if you get a lightning strike on your house and file a claim the first thing the adjuster will do is check for proper grounding and they may deny your claim based upon that!
I also suspect that this can be caused by other forms of RFI (radio frequency interference) from neighbors Ham or CB radios or even by transmitters in passing vehicles. AND if the Ham or CB is properly installed and grounded per the FCC it is NOT their problem.. its yours.
On my Dish there is a paired RG6 coax cable and on the outside of it there is a single ground wire from the dish base that was connected to the splitter box which is usually near where the cable going into your house. That ground goes into a screw type terminal and next to it there will likely be an empty screw/hole/terminal and that is the one you have to ground.
Funny thing on that is that code says that ground wire has to be #6 (which is the diameter of the wire) but a #6 would not even fit in it. I pulled a ground wire from a piece of 110V house wiring to test this out but have since drilled out the hole to accept the #6 so that I am code compliant)
I was fortunate as within 5 ft of this location I had a 8 ft copper grounding rod in the ground for my Ham radio so I tied it into that an ta da not more problems.
Grounds can also be connected to the cold water pipe entering your house (if its metal) as long as its within 5 ft of the entry point and BEFORE your water meter if you have one. That's code also. For a test you could connect it to a cold water faucet outside to see if this fixes your problem but that's not code and same issue would apply if you ever made an insurance claim. Note that if your plumbing has any PVC/Plastic or those cool and handy "sharkbite" solderless things you will not have a connection to the earth ground you need and that outside test ground on the faucet will not do anything for you.
If you find the quick test fix works I would suggest you contact your cable or dish provider and demand they get out there and install it correctly. Or if you have the knowledge do it yourself like I did.
Good luck.