How to Troubleshoot Samsung TV Screen Flickering

When your Samsung TV flickers, is it a sign for you to buy a new unit? Heave a sigh of relief as flickering/dimming is typical for today’s smart TVs and could be due to either external hardware or internal software issues, which are minor.

Some of the most common reasons your digital TV flickers/freezes are: 

• The broadcast signal is weak.
• An HDMI cable connection is loose.
• TV software needs an update. 

In this post, we’ll give you the lowdown on how to deal with Samsung TV flickering. We’re detailing a blow-by-blow account of 10 proven fixes with pictures and the reasons why your TV is acting up, so you can get things done in about an hour!

Difficulty	Easy ●●○○○
Duration	1 hour and 18 minutes
Number of Fixes	10
Things You Need	Samsung TVSamsung Smart remotePhone or PCUSB stickA working internet connectionUSB keyboardScrewdriver

10 Ways to Fix Samsung TV Screen Flickering Issues

Screen flickering is usually the result of power supply and input connection issues on your Samsung TV. Also, it can happen when the image stabilization and power-saving tools that Samsung uses on TVs malfunction.

Further, it can be caused by a software or hardware-related problem. The good news is you can fix Samsung TV flickering issues by troubleshooting the device to identify and address its root causes directly.

Troubleshoot Samsung TV screen flickering by performing a reboot, checking your input devices, and inspecting the power supply. Also, you can disable Energy Saving Mode, reset picture settings, and adjust the backlight.

If that doesn’t work, you can also perform an OS update, factory reset, or hardware inspection.

Don’t worry, just follow the steps below to get going. To fix the flickering issue on your Samsung TV faster, we strongly recommend you follow the solutions in the order they are presented. 

1. Power your Samsung TV off and on.

The first thing you should do when experiencing a Samsung TV flickering issue is to perform a soft reset by turning the device off and on. It’s a quick and easy way to fix minor issues as it only involves shutting down and rebooting your TV.

In this regard, you can use two methods to reboot your Samsung TV and address the flickering issue. 

The first method is to perform a cold reboot and the second one is to power cycle the Samsung TV, which will remove any residual electrical charge stored in its capacitors.

Method 1. Cold Rebooting Your Samsung TV

Difficulty	Very Easy ●○○○○
Number of Steps	2
Duration	30 seconds

Cold rebooting will forcefully shut the TV down, refreshing its system memory and fixing minor issues as it reboots. This action is also said to eliminate some residual power from your Samsung TV while improving app behavior and startup speed.

Follow these steps to perform a cold reboot:

• Press/hold the power button on the Samsung Smart TV/remote control.

• Release the power button when the Samsung Smart TV shuts down and reboots.

If your remote control is broken and your Samsung TV doesn’t have a working power button, you can still cold reboot it by unplugging its power cable for 30 seconds. After which, plug the power cable back, and your Samsung TV should reboot.

Method 2. Power Cycling Your Samsung TV

Difficulty	Very Easy ●○○○○
Number of Steps	4
Duration	1 minute and 5 seconds

Power cycling is the most effective way to eliminate any residual electrical charge stored on your Samsung TV. Contrary to a cold reboot, this action takes longer to finish since you must wait until the capacitors are entirely out of their stored charges.

After the power cycle, reintroducing electricity to your Smart TV’s system and components should be able to resolve the Samsung TV flickering issue, making it work like normal again.

Follow these steps to perform a power cycle:

• Unplug the power cable of your Samsung TV.

• Press/hold your Samsung TV’s power button for 30 seconds.

• Release the power button .

• Wait for another 30 seconds and plug in the power cable of your Samsung TV.

2. Inspect the cables and connected devices on your Samsung TV.

A Samsung TV flickering can be due to a problem with the power supply and the connected input devices. We highly recommend checking if your power cable is connected and appropriately plugged into your TV’s back panel to the power outlet.

You should also test if electricity flows into the power cable and if the power outlet is outputting enough power to make your Samsung TV work as intended. A voltmeter can be used to help you get a proper reading on your power cable and outlet.

If the power cable shows signs of damage, you should replace it with a new one immediately or try plugging it into a different power outlet to see if it’s the culprit. The same should be done with the input devices connected to your Samsung TV.

Ensure that your HDMI, ethernet, USB stick, optical audio, or composite cables are securely plugged into their respective ports. Always look for signs of wear and tear and replace the damaged cables as soon as possible.

3. Disable Energy Saving Mode on your Samsung TV.

Samsung TVs are equipped with a power-saver tool called Energy Saving Mode which automatically reduces their power consumption. This might result in you experiencing Samsung TV flickering issues due to the display’s brightness level.

If you’re not trying to save power, it might be better to disable Energy Saving Mode to prevent the possibility of the display screen flickering on your Samsung TV.

Follow these steps to turn off Energy Saving Mode on your Samsung TV:

Difficulty	Very Easy ●○○○○
Number of Steps	5
Duration	15 seconds

Step 1: Press the settings button on your Samsung TV remote.              Scroll down/click General.

Step 2: Scroll down/click Eco Solution.

Step 3: Scroll down/click Energy Saving Mode.

Step 4: Select/click Off.

Not all Samsung TVs have a dedicated Energy Saving Mode. If you own a TV like that, you instead need to turn off brightness optimization, brightness reduction, and motion lighting.

Follow these steps to configure the brightness on your Samsung TV:

Difficulty	Very Easy ●○○○○
Number of Steps	7
Duration	20 seconds

Step 1: Press home on your Samsung TV remote to open the Smart Hub.

Step 2: Scroll left/click Settings.

Step 3: Scroll down/click General.

Step 4: Scroll down/click Power and Energy Saving.

Step 5: Toggle Brightness Optimization off.

Step 6: Toggle Brightness Reduction off.

Step 7: Toggle Motion Lighting off.

4. Reset your TV’s picture settings.

Difficulty	Very Easy ●○○○○
Number of Steps	6
Duration	15 seconds

Believe it or not, you o could have unknowingly made some changes in the picture settings, which is causing the Samsung TV flickering issue. If you don’t have a habit of adjusting your TV’s settings, you might not even think this is a possibility.

If you’ve never tried messing with the picture settings before, we recommend just resetting it to its default settings. This action will revert the settings to what they were when you first bought and set up your Samsung TV.

Follow these steps to reset the picture settings on your Samsung TV:

Step 1: Press home on your Samsung TV remote to open the Smart Hub.

Step 2: Scroll left/click Settings.

Step 3: Click Picture.

Step 4: Scroll down/click Expert Settings.

Step 5: Scroll down/click Reset Picture.

Step 6: Click Reset to confirm.

That should be easy. Take note that you shouldn’t skip a single solution here in this guide until you overcome the problem. 

5. Adjust your Samsung TV screen’s minimum backlight.

Adjusting the minimum backlight of your Samsung TV’s display screen is an alternative solution in case turning off Energy Saving Mode, brightness optimization, brightness reduction, and motion lighting didn’t work for you.

To fix Samsung TV flickering issues, the minimum backlight must be adjusted to reflect the ambient lighting conditions. This means that your backlight settings should be lower in a low-light environment and higher in a bright-light environment.

Follow these steps to adjust the screen’s minimum backlight:

Difficulty	Very Easy ●○○○○
Number of Steps	4
Duration	10 seconds

Step 1: Press the settings button on your Samsung TV remote.              Scroll down/click General.

Step 2: Scroll down/click Eco Solution.

Step 3: Scroll down/click Minimum Backlight.

Step 4: Press the left/right directional buttons on your Samsung remote to adjust.

If your Samsung TV doesn’t have Eco Solution under the general settings, you have to adjust the screen’s backlight from the picture settings instead. Just follow the steps below. 

Follow these steps to adjust the screen’s backlight from the picture settings:

Difficulty	Very Easy ●○○○○
Number of Steps	4
Duration	10 seconds

Step 1: Press the settings button on your Samsung TV remote.              Click Picture.

Step 2: Scroll down/click Expert Settings.

Step 3: Click Backlight.

Step 4: Press the left/right directional button on your Samsung remote to              adjust.

It might be a good idea to have the whole family check on the backlight settings. While you may be satisfied with the whole picture onscreen, your kids or other people in the house may not be as satisfied. 

6. Change your Samsung TV’s video source.

Difficulty	Very Easy ●○○○○
Number of Steps	3
Duration	5 seconds

Connecting a TV box, gaming console, or streaming device to your Samsung TV might cause its display to flicker. This is usually the result of a loose or faulty HDMI connection.

If you’re experiencing flickering issues whenever an external device is plugged in, this is a telltale sign of an input connection problem. Make sure to plug your HDMI cables tightly and check for any visible damage.

In case of a faulty input device, you can switch between different video sources to pinpoint the culprit.

Follow these steps to switch video sources on your Samsung TV:

Step 1: Press home on your Samsung TV remote to open the Smart Hub.

Step 2: Scroll left/click Source.

Step 3: Switch between the available input devices.

Other Samsung models may not have the same TV settings setup. Still, each one will have an input source selection so it’s a matter of checking under the settings menu using your remote. 

7. Install an OS update on your Samsung TV.

OS updates for Samsung TVs are important for adding new features, boosting performance, and improving power efficiency. Using an older OS also makes your Samsung TV prone to errors and problems such as screen flickering.

You can download and install new OS updates by connecting your Samsung TV to a Wi-Fi network and performing the software update from the settings. Another viable option is to manually install the new OS version using a USB stick.

A PC is needed to download the upgrade file from Samsung’s download page and to extract it to a USB stick afterward. Once, the upgrade file is on the USB stick, plug it into your Samsung TV so it can detect and install the new OS version.

Follow these steps to update your Samsung TV via Wi-Fi:

Difficulty	Easy ●●○○○
Number of Steps	6
Duration	30 minutes

Step 1: Press home on your Samsung TV remote to open the Smart Hub.

Step 2: Scroll left/click Settings.

Step 3: Scroll down/click Support.

Step 4: Click Software Update.

Step 5: Click Update Now.

Step 6: Wait for the TV to search, download, and install any available update.

Follow these steps to update your Samsung TV via a USB stick:

Difficulty	Moderate ●●●○○
Number of Steps	17
Duration	35 minutes

Step 1: Press home on your Samsung TV remote to open the Smart Hub.

Step 2: Scroll left/click Settings.

Step 3: Scroll down/click Support.

Step 4: Scroll down/click About This TV.

Step 5: Take note of the TV’s model number and software version.

Step 6: Visit Samsung support’s download page using a PC.              Type/search your TV model number in the search field.

Step 7: Scroll down to the firmware section and click the download button below             Upgrade File(USB type).

Step 8: Extract the upgrade file into the desktop of your PC.              Note: Don’t rename the extracted folder.

Step 9: Plug a USB stick into your PC and copy the extracted file there.

Step 10: Unplug the USB stick from your PC and plug it into your TV’s USB port.

Step 11: Press home on the Samsung TV remote to open the Smart Hub.

Step 12: Scroll left/click Settings.

Step 13: Scroll down/click Support.

Step 14: Click Software Update.

Step 15: Click Update Now and wait for the TV to fail with the update check.

Step 16: Click Yes to search for the connected USB stick instead.

Step 17: Click Yes to install the detected update file.

8. Factory reset your Samsung TV.

Performing a factory reset restores your Samsung TV to its original state when it was bought and unboxed for the first time. This means that all of its settings will also revert to the factory defaults.

WARNING: Back up your data and take note of your TV configuration before doing a factory reset. All your personal preferences and stored data will be lost once you do one.

Plus, it will also remove all your installed apps, data, and setting preferences from your Samsung TV. You can think of it as having a new television that isn’t suffering from any issues like the screen flickering.

Follow these steps to factory reset your Samsung TV using a remote:

Difficulty	Easy ●●○○○
Number of Steps	7
Duration	5 minutes

Step 1: Press home on your Samsung remote to open the Smart Hub.

Step 2: Scroll left/click Settings.

Step 3: Scroll down/click General.

Step 4: Scroll down/click Reset.

Step 5: Type your Samsung TV PIN and click Done. Step 5: Type your Samsung TV PIN and click Done.

Step 6: Click Yes to return everything to factory default.

Step 7: Wait until the TV shuts down and fully reboots.              Follow the instructions on the screen to set up your TV’s Smart Hub.

In case you’re Samsung TV remote is broken, your alternative option is to use the SmartThings app or a USB keyboard as a backup. Please note that your phone must be connected to the same Wi-Fi network as your Samsung TV to use the SmartThings app.

Follow these steps to install the SmartThings app and factory reset your TV:

Difficulty	Easy ●●○○○
Number of Steps	13
Duration	5 minutes and 40 seconds

Step 1: Open your Google Play Store.

Step 2: Click the search bar.

Step 3: Type/search “SmartThings app.”

Step 4: Click the Install button beside the app to download and install it.

Step 5: Click the Open button to launch the app.

Step 6: Click the + symbol in the upper-right corner.

Step 7: Click Add device.

Step 8: Click Scan nearby.

Step 9: Select/click your Samsung TV.

Step 10: Enter the PIN shown on your Samsung TV screen and click Done.

Step 11: Click Done again to complete the setup.

Step 12: Select/click your Samsung TV on the app’s home screen.

Step 13: Use the app’s button controls to operate your Samsung TV.                 Follow the previous instructions for performing a factory reset.

To use a USB keyboard, just plug it into the USB port at the back panel of your Samsung TV. Click the Windows/Command key + Esc key to open the settings menu and use the Enter and Arrow keys to navigate.

9. Check your Wi-Fi network connection.

Another solution you should consider is to check your Wi-Fi network connection. A slow and unreliable internet connection can cause Samsung TV flickering issues when you’re using apps that require the internet to operate.

You can test your internet connection by connecting a phone or PC to your Wi-Fi network and using them to browse the internet. Alternatively, you can also run a speed test to determine your network’s download and upload speeds.

If your Wi-Fi network is experiencing slow internet speeds, you can reset it by clicking the reset button on your router or by unplugging it from the power source for a minute before plugging it back in.

10. Inspect your Samsung TV for hardware problems.

Hardware-related problems might also cause flickering on your Samsung TV screen. If you’re confident with your technical skills, you can open up your Samsung TV by unscrewing its back panel to inspect its internal components for signs of damage.

If there are damaged components, you’ll need to replace them. The most common victims of hardware damage are the capacitors, the power supply board, and the main board.

You must disassemble them to properly check for any swelling or burns. We highly recommend taking a photo of everything before the disassembly so you can use it as a reference once you reassemble everything.

If your Samsung TV is still covered by warranty, it’s better to send it to Samsung so their qualified technicians can perform the repairs. Also, they might even ship a new one to you instead.

5 Reasons Why Your Samsung TV is Flickering

Many factors can be attributed to the flickering issue that’s happening on many Samsung TVs. Listed below are some of the more common reasons that might be causing the display on your Samsung TV to flicker.

1. Faulty Connections

The most common cause of screen flickering on Samsung TVs is faulty input connections. This can be due to your HDMI cable, ethernet cable, USB stick, optical audio cable, or composite cables not being plugged securely into their ports.

It’s also possible that these cables have already sustained some damage such as wear and tear, which causes them to no longer work. In such cases, the only remedy would be to replace the faulty cable with a new one.

2. TV Picture Settings

Prior changes made to your Samsung TV’s picture settings can also be the root cause of the screen flickering. It’s possible that you’ve changed some configurations unknowingly or it’s likely that a child played with the remote and made the changes.

3. Overheating

Samsung TVs are prone to malfunctions when they start overheating. This can cause many problems, such as forcefully shutting down, being unresponsive, not turning on, blinking red light, screen flickering, etc.

As such, it’s essential to let your Samsung TV cool down after a long use period and store it in a well-ventilated area.

4. Internet Connection Problem

Samsung Smart TVs have a bunch of pre-installed streaming apps, and you also can download and install some more. However, most apps you can install on your TV require a good internet connection.

If you’re constantly experiencing internet connection problems, these apps will not work correnctly. It can result in your apps not behaving properly and lead to more malfunctions, such as the TV screen flickering.

5. Power Supply Problem

Another common cause of Samsung TV flickering issues is a problematic power supply. The culprit of this is usually a busted power outlet or a faulty power cable.

In more extreme cases, this can be due to damage to your Samsung TV’s power supply board or its capacitors. This results in your TV not receiving sufficient electricity, which then leads to malfunctioning or not turning on.

FAQs about Samsung TV Flickering