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Samsung bluray players go awol worldwide.

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Samsung bluray players go awol worldwide.

Old 06-20-20, 09:19 AM
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Samsung bluray players go awol worldwide.

Heh.

https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/...king-worldwide

Samsung manufactured bluray players suddenly stop working, and go into an infinite bootup loop when turned on. Allegedly it doesn't even reach the bootup stage to read a usb flash drive.
Old 06-20-20, 10:08 PM
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Re: Samsung bluray players go awol worldwide.

I was panicking a minute ago because I couldn’t remember if I recommended that my in-laws get a Samsung player last year. But I think it was an LG player from the limited selection at the Best Buy down the road, so I guess I won’t get any hysterical phone calls this weekend.
Old 06-20-20, 10:15 PM
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Re: Samsung bluray players go awol worldwide.

Ironically, samsung stopping making new bluray players more than a year ago.

No idea what Samsung will do, besides flipping the bird at owners of bricked players out-of-warranty.
Old 06-20-20, 10:21 PM
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Re: Samsung bluray players go awol worldwide.

If they don't want to to tarnish their own brand name, they might offer a $50 coupon towards a future purchase of something else made by Samsung. Or even a $50 refund, if there's too many class action lawsuits.

At this point, I wouldn't be surprsied if Samsung has already disband the group/division which handles bluray players (both technical and marketing).
Old 06-20-20, 10:23 PM
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Re: Samsung bluray players go awol worldwide.

Crap! I have two of them.... I haven't watched a disc in a while. I hope mine aren't bricks.
Old 06-20-20, 10:23 PM
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Re: Samsung bluray players go awol worldwide.

How is this happening? Were these all online players and they didn’t get a monthly check in?

Shades of DIVX...
Old 06-20-20, 10:37 PM
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Re: Samsung bluray players go awol worldwide.

My dad just called me this morning saying their Samsung player had freaked out. I wonder if he already bought the LG he had found online.
Old 06-20-20, 10:40 PM
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Re: Samsung bluray players go awol worldwide.

Originally Posted by milo bloom
How is this happening? Were these all online players and they didn’t get a monthly check in?
Hard to say for sure, without seeing what the firmware code looks like.

My wild speculation is it might be a "code signing" issue where a certificate to verify the integrity of the firmware at bootup, ended up expiring. Unknown whether this might be intentional or accidental.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_signing
Old 06-20-20, 11:04 PM
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Re: Samsung bluray players go awol worldwide.

If these infinite looping Samsung bluray players never reach the stage where cd/dvd/bluray discs and/or usb flash drives are mounted before a reboot, then upgrading the firmware to "unbrick" would likely require sending the player back to the factory. Basically a very costly process for Samsung, if they don't throw everyone under the bus.
Old 06-20-20, 11:56 PM
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Re: Samsung bluray players go awol worldwide.

Originally Posted by milo bloom
Were these all online players and they didn’t get a monthly check in?
(As another wild guess).


The only other semi-plausible explanation I can think of offhand, is if the "monthly check in" server has been hacked and has been sending out corrupt updates over the past few days which deliberately bricks any and all Samsung bluray players.

Though I have to wonder why Samsung would still be maintaining such "check in" servers, when they have already exited the bluray player market. (ie. No more legitimate firmware updates after a year or two after the initial release date of a then-new bluray player).
Old 06-21-20, 12:01 AM
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Re: Samsung bluray players go awol worldwide.

Originally Posted by lwhy?
Crap! I have two of them.... I haven't watched a disc in a while. I hope mine aren't bricks.
If I owned a Samsung bluray player which hasn't been turned on in awhile, I would definitely disconnect the ethernet cable and completely turn off my own wifi system temporarily before turning on my Samsung bluray player. (I don't know if wifi can be turned off in a bluray player, without booting it up).
Old 06-21-20, 04:28 AM
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Re: Samsung bluray players go awol worldwide.

Epic problem for Samsung, with lots of (righfully) angry customers. Way to go! I didn't even realize Samsung had discontinued all BD player manufacturing. Is it a timebomb, or a hack? My guess is probably not.

The simple solution is of course to TOTALLY DISCONNECT the player from seeing any online presence. How can the player "know" about an expired SSL cert if it's not aware of or connected to any DCHP servers / online? Does this mean that even those players that have updates turned "off" still update silently, ie phone home without user consent or any sign of downloading an update? If I owned a Samsung player, I'd open up the unit and physically remove the wifi card from the unit, or if not possible, disconnect the wifi MAIN and AUX antennas. That would be the only way to ensure that this rogue update, which was apparently "pushed" on all Samsung BD players, wouldn't get through.
Old 06-21-20, 05:43 AM
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Re: Samsung bluray players go awol worldwide.

Originally Posted by morriscroy
If I owned a Samsung bluray player which hasn't been turned on in awhile, I would definitely disconnect the ethernet cable and completely turn off my own wifi system temporarily before turning on my Samsung bluray player. (I don't know if wifi can be turned off in a bluray player, without booting it up).
I'll attempt that this afternoon.
Old 06-21-20, 08:08 AM
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Re: Samsung bluray players go awol worldwide.

Originally Posted by zyzzle
How can the player "know" about an expired SSL cert if it's not aware of or connected to any DCHP servers / online? Does this mean that even those players that have updates turned "off" still update silently, ie phone home without user consent or any sign of downloading an update?
Good question.

Even in a completely standalone player, something "expiring" would be dependent on a player knowing what the current time is. If there is no battery to keep the clock ticking when the player is unplugged, then the "time" would just revert back to a default start time or the "last time" stamp recorded to flash memory before it was unplugged.

What is currently unknown is whether a Samsung player which has never been connected to the internet (via ethernet or wifi) after purchase, has also suffered this infinite loop bug.
Old 06-21-20, 08:19 AM
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Re: Samsung bluray players go awol worldwide.

Originally Posted by zyzzle
The simple solution is of course to TOTALLY DISCONNECT the player from seeing any online presence. How can the player "know" about an expired SSL cert if it's not aware of or connected to any DCHP servers / online?.
I don't have any Samsung players but my friend has two. I called him yesterday to warn him of the issue and see if he was having the problem. He's in an extremely rural area and his players aren't connected to the internet. Looks like that's what saved him.
Old 06-21-20, 11:03 AM
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Re: Samsung bluray players go awol worldwide.

I have a Samsung BD player that hasn't been turned on in months, maybe a year (still plugged in though). Wondering how I should proceed.
Old 06-21-20, 12:26 PM
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Re: Samsung bluray players go awol worldwide.

Yep. My HT-J4500 is suffering this issue.Basically it turns on, spins the disc (even though there isn't one inside right now), displays load - no disc, while it cycles through the disc/pictures/music/video icons on the menu and then turns off, all within 4 secs. Then turns back on, looping constantly.

I can turn it off, but it does two loops before it finally does so.

People are saying they reported it Thursday night but that was the last time I watched a film - so there wasn't a problem then.
Old 06-21-20, 02:05 PM
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Re: Samsung bluray players go awol worldwide.

My guess the only recourse will be a class-action lawsuit where the lawyers get money and victims get worthless coupons good for select Samsung products.
Old 06-21-20, 04:47 PM
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Re: Samsung bluray players go awol worldwide.

This will be fun when all of the Samsung TV’s get bricked.
Old 06-21-20, 08:52 PM
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Re: Samsung bluray players go awol worldwide.

Wow. That's really shitty on Samsung's part.

Just another reason I really hate the idea of having everything connected to the internet.

I almost bought a Samsung player on clearance a while back to keep around as a spare -- one of those "curved" ones from when they were pushing curved tvs like crazy.) Now I sort of wish I did to hook it up and see if it worked. Though I wouldn't connect to to wifi or ethernet.
Old 06-21-20, 11:23 PM
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Re: Samsung bluray players go awol worldwide.

I unplugged my router and my player boots up. I switched the settings from wireless to wired. It wouldn't let me delete my network settings. So I hope it will just look for a wired connection from now on. If it eventually bricks, what should I replace it with?
Old 06-22-20, 04:34 AM
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Re: Samsung bluray players go awol worldwide.

Originally Posted by lwhy?
I unplugged my router and my player boots up. I switched the settings from wireless to wired. It wouldn't let me delete my network settings. So I hope it will just look for a wired connection from now on. If it eventually bricks, what should I replace it with?
I wouldn't trust it.

Could you:

1) Change the wifi password on your player to a nonsense password? So when it tries to connect to your router it would be denied?

or

2) Change the name and password on your router so your player can't connect to it?

As for getting a blu-ray new player, Sony maybe? I'm not even sure who still makes them. I think we're down to just Sony, LG, and Panasonic. (Those are the only three brands Best Buy has in stock. Amazon has some other brands like Philips and Sanyo, but I can't tell if they're third party sellers burning off old stock or refurbs.)

Old 06-22-20, 06:55 AM
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Re: Samsung bluray players go awol worldwide.

Originally Posted by zyzzle
Is it a timebomb, or a hack? My guess is probably not.
I would be somewhat surprised if it was a deliberate timebomb written by a disgruntled former coder who was fired. Deliberate vandalism this severe should have been found by whoever subsequently worked on the code.
Old 06-22-20, 08:00 AM
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Re: Samsung bluray players go awol worldwide.

My Sammy started doing this last Thursday. I tried what was suggested above, disconnecting internet/wifi, unfortunately it is still a brick. I’m guessing that if you were unlucky enough to turn yours on during this fateful period (as I was) then the damage is done and turning off the internet will do nothing at this point. I hope that I’m proven wrong.

Any other suggestions at this point?
Old 06-22-20, 08:00 AM
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Re: Samsung bluray players go awol worldwide.

Originally Posted by lwhy?
I unplugged my router and my player boots up. I switched the settings from wireless to wired. It wouldn't let me delete my network settings. So I hope it will just look for a wired connection from now on. If it eventually bricks, what should I replace it with?
If you have full control of your router and it supports the function, drop the player in a "black list" or "denied" section so if it tries to get an IP the router will reject the request. Or, as has been suggested, change the SSID or password on the router so the player can't connect. Although, depending on how many other connected devices you have, that could be a royal pain reconnecting everything else. You also might look for a "factory reset" to restore all the player's settings to the factory default. If that can be done you could then set it up for a wired connection. OR - if you can set the IP on the player (static IP) then put it on an address outside the range of your router or set the DNS resolver IP to 0.0.0.0 so it can never, ever, resolve an IP to get anywhere.

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