Q6FN remote control "Home" button not working

[userH3XjfVkjtX]

I have a Q6FN (2018) model which is 2 days old. Last night I was in the settings adjusting the picture for the first time and today when the television was turned on, the Home button on the remote doesn't do anything. Light flashes red on the remote, no menus, no app bar, no nothing. Can't change inputs with the remote, settings or really anything important at all.

I researched it a bit and have tried the following so far: I unplugged the television while off, waited and then plugged it in. Power it up (with the remote) and still nothing. Repeated that process a few times. I have also re-synced the remote (hold Play / Back simultaneously for 3 seconds). It re-syncs successfully, still nothing. All the other buttons on the remote function normal, even the "long" press function of home works which brings up the remote assistance reference number. Short press of Home to access pretty much anything important is the culprit.

Other solutions I've read involve accessing settings to reset the Smart Hub etc. which is of course impossible because I can't get to the settings in the first place.

A little side note for flavor: 7 months ago I got a full refund on a Samsung KS8500 which had 4 repairs in a single YEAR, under warranty. After battling Samsung. I SWORE I would never buy another Samsung product and sat on the money until 2 days ago where after a lot of research I decided to take the leap...give them a second chance. It has the features I want (gaming). It looks great, price isn't bad. My frustration level is well beyond 9000. You know what they say, "fool me once".

[userAAZ91MXEPE]

I have a brand new qe55q9fn, sold in Europe, firmware 115.3 and I have the exact same issue. Tried unplugging the TV, then doing cold reboot and pairing the remote - to no avail.

The only thing that helps is going to Settings and resetting the Smart Hub (if you can't get voice commands to work, try accessing the settings via Smart Things app and starting tv setup from there, then cancelling it, which brings to you settings on TV, then you can reset Smart Hub).

I have my nVidia Shield TV 2017 connected via HDMI do AVR (Denon X3400H) and AVR connected to TV via HDMI ARC (HDMI 4). One thing I noticed which may be related is that when the AVR is off, the remote doesn't work at all, and sometimes, when AVR is on, the Home button brings up source selection menu of AVR. But since it is resetting the Smart Hub that helps I too believe that it is a Smart Hub software issue.

Sinece Q9FN is a premium TV which I paid a lot of money for, I'd expect it to work as intened out of the box. Instead I'm battling this problem since day one and can't use my TV without hacking it every single day. This is unacceptable. Please fix this already.

[userdzosWSqd1h]

Has anyone found a solution to the home button not working on this remote?  I called Samsung, as advised on this board.  Did the troubleshooting again.  They sent me a new remote, which arrived yesterday.  It is exactly the same scenario.  All the buttons, except the home button, works on the remote.  The red light on the remote flashes when I press it, but the TV ignores it.  All the other buttons work fine.

i guess my next step is to have the Geek Squad come back out to see what's going one.

[LoopBak]

I guess you're lucky you have the Geek Squad option, though I don't think they'll be able to do anything. Even replacing the TV won't fix the issue as I believe this is a software/firmware bug. I bought mine from Dell.com and they're less than helpful. I've sent an email to Samsung Support regarding this issue, but their response was the same as we've seen posted here already. They think it's the remote. They had me reset the SmartHub and the TV iteself, change the batteries, etc., but none of these generic troubleshooting steps will fix a bug in their software. I even shared with them the link to this forum and they responded saying there are no reported issues with my model TV. They don't seem to care, or they don't want to admit they have a problem on a premium TV like this. You would think they'd take this more seriously. I'm putting reviews on the various sites and telling people to avoid this TV. In fact, based on the response from support I'm suggesting that people avoid Samsung all together. The power of reviews in our age is a useful tool. I'd suggest others use it to their advantage as well. I'll update my reviews to be more positive once Samsung admits there is a problem and fixes it.

[LoopBak]

I've pushed support a little harder. I told them they really need to inform their engineers of this issue, as it's more wide spread than they believe. They said the only way their engineers would get involved is if a service technician comes to my house to take a look at the problem and finds it's something they need to report. I submitted a request for a service techinican at https://www.samsung.com/us/support/service/ I'll update on the progress.

[Duanerice]

I held out slight hope that when I got my new remote it would work.  Doesn't sound like it.  When I called I tried to tell them the remote won't be the answer but they wouldn't listen, just wanted to get me off the line.  I aslo sent a private message to the person from Samsung on this thread, but of course there was no response.  

I'm lucky, I bought mine from Costco.  Once I get the new remote (although it's been 9 days with no new remote) I'll see.  If it doesn't work I'll call Costco Customer Service and see what they say.  I still have 75 days left to return it.  

It is amazing that they are basically ignoring the issue.  I used to be a big Samsung fan, but based on their lack of caring, that's waning.   

[LoopBak]

Let us know either way if the remote works. I'm not sure what Coscto could do besides allow you to return it. Have you thought of submitting a service request? It looks like if you register your product at Samsung.com you can request service on your TV. Maybe if enough people start requesting service and the technicans see the problem repeated on a lot of TVs Samsun will take this more seriously.

[Duanerice]

And yea Loopbak, just being able to retun to Costco with no issue is what they offer.

I went to the support page you listed in a post above and contacted them.  They told me a remote will be sent out and I'll get it in 7 - 14 days.   It was supposed to be sent out 12 days ago.  Ugh!!!  I even told them about this page and others are having an issue, no response to that.  It's as they are trying to ignore the issue.  Great customer service. 

So I called Costco as they have their own techincal service.  They got on with  Samsung and said they had them expedite the remote, we'll see.   So I'll wait 5 days as they said, then take it back if I don't have a remote.  I relly like the TV but this is crazy.  It's also just started dropping the wifi and won't connect although our laptops connect just fine.  I just have to switch which to a differnt wifi to connect.  Who knows.....

I don't want a service call on a brand new TV.  If this doesn't work I will go get a brand new TV that does work.  I'll let you know.

[LoopBak]

So I got a call back about my service request. They said they had to go through all the troubleshooting steps again. That's annoying. Anyway, the technician I spoke with said Samsung has just barely recognized there is a problem with this TV, and they are planning to push out a software/firmware update in the next few weeks.

Fingers crossed!!

[Duanerice]

Update: I received the new remote so Costco did get it expedited but..... no change.  So, I called Costco back and they had me reset the reset the smart hub.  It worked until I went throught the steps to sign in to Samsung then it stopped working.

So, they had me reset the the entire TV.  That worked.  Even went through and set it up, signed in, etc.  So for now it works but we'll see tomorrow.  FYI, I had to use Bixby to get to the settings menu.

So it's settings, support, self diagnosis, reset 

[Zperri88]

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@Duanerice wrote:

 also just started dropping the wifi and won't connect although our laptops connect just fine.  I just have to switch which to a differnt wifi to connect.  Who knows.....

I don't want a service call on a brand new TV.  If this doesn't work I will go get a brand new TV that does work.  I'll let you know.

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It did the exact same to me. WiFi troubles and now home button..