Samsung TV Not Connecting to WiFi: 11 Fixes That Actually Work (2026)

Is it the TV or the router?

Before you spend 20 minutes resetting the TV, spend 60 seconds working out which device is actually the problem. This is the highest-leverage diagnostic step — and the one most guides skip.

Test 1 — Can other devices get online on the same WiFi? Pick up your phone or laptop, connect it to the exact same WiFi network, and load a website. If other devices also fail, it’s the router, modem, or ISP — not the TV; power-cycle the modem and router, check for an outage, and skip most of the TV steps (How-To Geek; CNET). If other devices work fine, it’s the TV (or how the TV talks to the router) — continue with the TV-side fixes.

Test 2 — Let the TV tell you where it breaks (Self Diagnosis). Run the TV’s built-in network test: Settings → Support → Device Care → Self Diagnosis → Smart Hub Connection Test (2022+), or Settings → Support → Self Diagnosis → Start Smart Hub Connection Test on older sets. The test reports, step by step, whether the TV reaches your router, the internet, and Samsung’s servers — telling you exactly where the chain breaks (Samsung; Samsung CA).

Test 3 — Check the TV’s own Network Status screen. Go to Settings → General → Network → Network Status (newer One UI: Settings → All Settings → Connection → Network → Network Status) — (path varies slightly by year). It shows a visual chain: TV → Router → Internet. A break between TV and Router means a WiFi, password, or range problem (TV-side); a break between Router and Internet means a router/ISP problem (Samsung; Samsung US).

Rule of thumb: Other devices online + TV won’t connect = fix the TV (steps below). Nothing online = fix the router/ISP first.

Step-by-step fixes (easiest → advanced)

Work down this list in order. Each step gives you what to do, the menu path, and why. Stop the moment it connects.

1. Power-cycle the TV and router together (do this first)

Unplug both the TV and the router/modem from power for 30–60 seconds, then restore power to the router first (let it fully boot, lights steady), then the TV. This is the single most effective fix — it clears stale network state on both ends and forces the TV to pull a fresh IP address (Samsung; How-To Geek). Tip: for a deeper TV-side cold boot, hold the power button on the remote until the TV restarts, or leave it unplugged for a full 60 seconds.

2. Re-enter the WiFi password (it’s case-sensitive)

Go to Settings → General → Network → Open Network Settings → Wireless, select your network, and re-type the password with “Show Password” enabled. Most “wrong password” failures are a single mistyped capital, 0/O, or 1/l. Confirm you’re choosing the right network name (SSID) too — it’s easy to pick a neighbor’s or a guest network by mistake (Samsung; Lifewire).

3. Confirm other devices work (isolate TV vs router)

If you skipped the diagnostic above, check a phone or laptop on the same network. Everything else offline → fix the router/ISP, not the TV. Only the TV offline → keep going (How-To Geek; CNET).

4. Move the TV closer to the router (or test 2.4GHz vs 5GHz)

WiFi weakens with distance, walls, and interference. As a test, if the TV and router are far apart or separated by walls, move them closer (or move the router) and retry. On the bands: 5GHz is faster but has shorter range and worse wall penetration; 2.4GHz is slower but reaches farther. If your router broadcasts both bands under different network names, try connecting the TV to the 2.4GHz network — it’s far more forgiving for a TV across the house. If both bands share one name (band steering), the router decides, so moving closer or splitting the bands in the router app can help (How-To Geek; CNET; Lifewire).

5. Check the router isn’t full or blocking the TV (device cap / MAC filter)

Two router-side gotchas that look like a “TV problem.” First, too many connected devices: consumer routers have a practical cap on simultaneous clients, and a full network refuses new ones — disconnect a few idle devices, or reboot the router, then retry the TV (Asurion; Lifewire). Second, MAC address filtering: if your router has a MAC allow-list (access control), the TV is blocked until you add it. Find the TV’s MAC/WiFi address at Settings → Support → About This TV → (Wireless) MAC address (path varies by year), then add it to the router’s allowed-devices list in the router’s admin app (Samsung US; How-To Geek).

6. Set DNS manually to 8.8.8.8 (a known Samsung WiFi fix)

This is the fix that rescues a lot of stubborn cases where the TV connects to the router but can’t reach the internet or Smart Hub, or fails right at the end of setup. You’re overriding the TV’s automatic DNS with Google Public DNS:

1. Open Settings → General → Network → Network Status → IP Settings.
2. Set DNS Setting to Enter Manually.
3. Enter 8.8.8.8 (Google’s primary public DNS). If a secondary is requested, use 8.8.4.4.
4. Save and retry the connection.

Leave IP Setting on Get Automatically (DHCP) unless you know you need a static IP — change only the DNS field. This is a known fix for stuck/DNS cases, not a universal cure, but it clears a surprising number of them (Guiding Tech; Lifewire; Asurion; DNS values per Google Public DNS).

7. Reset Network (clears the TV’s network config)

This wipes the TV’s saved WiFi networks and network settings back to default — without touching your apps or picture settings — so you can join fresh. It clears corrupted network configs that survive a simple reboot. Path: Settings → General → Network → Reset Network → Yes/Reset (newer One UI: Settings → All Settings → Connection → Network → Reset Network) — (path varies slightly by year). The TV restarts; then re-run Open Network Settings and re-enter your password (Samsung US; Samsung).

8. Update the TV’s firmware (fixes WiFi bugs — but needs a connection)

Outdated firmware causes real WiFi/Smart Hub bugs that Samsung patches. If you can get any connection (even temporary, even wired), update at Settings → Support → Software Update → Update Now, and don’t power off mid-update. The chicken-and-egg: if WiFi is fully dead you can’t update over the network, so either (a) temporarily connect by Ethernet cable and update, or (b) use the USB firmware method (covered below). Full walkthrough: how to update a Samsung smart TV (Samsung US; Samsung).

9. Run Self Diagnosis — Smart Hub Connection Test

Let the TV pinpoint the break: Settings → Support → Device Care → Self Diagnosis → Smart Hub Connection Test (2022+) or Settings → Support → Self Diagnosis → Start Smart Hub Connection Test (older). It tells you whether the TV reaches the router, the internet, and Samsung’s servers — so you stop guessing. A green pass to the router but a fail to the internet points right back to DNS (step 6) or a router/ISP issue (Test 1) (Samsung; Samsung CA).

10. Check date & time (the sneaky “connected but nothing loads” cause)

If the TV clock is wildly wrong, secure connections to streaming and Samsung servers fail their certificate checks — so the set looks connected but apps won’t load. Set it to update automatically: Settings → General (& Privacy) → System Manager → Time → Clock → Clock Mode → Auto (path varies by year). Auto needs a working connection, so if it’s off, correct it manually as a stopgap, then switch to Auto once online (Lifewire; Samsung).

11. Factory reset (last resort)

If a software-level fault survives everything above, factory reset the TV. This erases apps, accounts, and settings, so it’s the final software move before suspecting hardware. 2022+: Settings → General & Privacy → Reset → enter PIN → confirm. Older: Settings → General → Reset, or Settings → Support → Self Diagnosis → Reset. The default PIN is 0000 if you never set one. After the reset, set the TV up again and reconnect to WiFi (Samsung US; Tom’s Guide). Lighter option to try first: Reset Smart Hub (same Self Diagnosis menu) resets only apps/accounts/network-linked services, not all your settings.

“Connected but no internet” — the variant

A different and very common Samsung symptom: the WiFi icon shows connected (the TV joined your network) but apps won’t load, Smart Hub says it can’t connect, and the connection test fails between Router → Internet. The TV reaches the router fine; the router-to-internet (or server) leg is broken (Lifewire; Guiding Tech). Work these in order:

1. Confirm the internet itself is up. Load a site on your phone on the same WiFi. If the phone is also dead, it’s your ISP/router — power-cycle the modem and router and check for an outage (CNET; How-To Geek).
2. Set DNS to 8.8.8.8 manually (step 6 above) — the single most effective fix for “connected, no internet” on Samsung TVs (Guiding Tech; Lifewire; Asurion).
3. Fix a wrong clock (step 10) — bad date/time breaks the secure handshake, so apps fail even with a live connection (Lifewire).
4. Power-cycle the router + TV to renew the IP lease and clear a stale gateway (step 1) (Samsung).
5. Reset Smart Hub if only the apps fail while the connection test passes — that points at the app platform, not the network: Settings → Support → Self Diagnosis → Reset Smart Hub (you’ll re-sign-in afterward) (Samsung CA; Samsung US).
6. Reset Network (step 7) if it persists — clears a corrupted gateway/DNS config the TV is clinging to (Samsung US).

Still failing? Firmware, wired, or hardware

If you’ve worked the full list and the TV still won’t get online, you’ve narrowed it to firmware, a wired workaround, or hardware.

Update firmware via USB (offline). If WiFi is fully dead you can still patch the TV: download your exact model’s firmware from Samsung’s Download Center onto an empty, FAT32-formatted USB stick, extract the files to the root of the drive, insert it, and run Settings → Support → Software Update → Update Now → Yes. Don’t pull the drive or power off mid-flash. Full step-by-step: how to update a Samsung smart TV (Samsung US; Samsung — firmware via USB).

Use wired Ethernet as a workaround (or a permanent fix). Run an Ethernet cable from the router to the TV’s LAN port and choose Open Network Settings → Wired. If wired works but WiFi never does, the TV’s internal WiFi module may be failing — and Ethernet is a perfectly good permanent fix (and more stable for 4K streaming anyway) (Samsung; Lifewire). No Ethernet port, or want wireless without the built-in radio? A cheap fix is a streaming stick (Roku, Fire TV, Google TV, Apple TV) in an HDMI port — it brings its own WiFi and bypasses the TV’s failed module entirely (How-To Geek; Lifewire).

Suspect hardware (failed WiFi module). The tell: Ethernet works but WiFi never connects even after a factory reset, or the TV no longer sees any networks that other devices see clearly. At that point it’s a hardware fault — contact Samsung Support for warranty or repair, or use the Ethernet/streaming-stick workaround above (Samsung; Asurion).

If the set is old enough that a failed WiFi module plus an out-of-warranty repair quote makes replacement the smarter money, here’s our current researched pick list: the best Samsung TVs.

Fix it or replace it? The honest math

If you’re replacing: three picks by budget

Straight from our researched Samsung TV guide — same picks, same cited reasoning, condensed to one line each.

Affiliate note: buy through a link below and we may earn a commission — at no extra cost to you. It never sways the picks.

BUDGET

Samsung Q60D (65″) — QLED

The cheapest Samsung worth naming — a clean everyday set for lit rooms, but it’s edge-lit with no local dimming (~417–470 nits — TechRadar / Tom’s Guide), so keep HDR and dark-room expectations modest. Our guide’s honest budget pick, eyes open.

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BEST VALUE

Samsung S90F (65″) — QD-OLED

Our guide’s value OLED: perfect per-pixel blacks plus the gaming essentials — about 9.1 ms input lag at 4K/120 and up to 144Hz (Tom’s Guide) — for hundreds less than the flagship. Buy the 65″: that size is guaranteed QD-OLED.

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UPGRADE

Samsung S95F (65″) — QD-OLED

The best picture in Samsung’s catalog — roughly 2,138 nits of HDR punch on a per-pixel-black QD-OLED panel (Tom’s Guide), with a matte Glare-Free finish that stays watchable in a bright room.

Check price on Amazon →

Full comparison — all five picks, measured brightness, gaming specs and the marketing traps to avoid: the best Samsung TVs → (including the QN90F Neo QLED, our best-overall bright-room pick). Going bigger than 65″ while you’re at it? Start with the best 70-inch TVs.

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Frequently asked questions

Why won’t my Samsung TV connect to WiFi but other devices do?

That points squarely at the TV (or how it talks to the router), not your internet. Re-enter the password with “Show Password” on (it’s case-sensitive), confirm you picked the right SSID, then — if it still fails — set DNS manually to 8.8.8.8 and run Reset Network (Lifewire; Guiding Tech).

My Samsung TV is connected to WiFi but says no internet — how do I fix it?

First confirm the internet itself is up on your phone. Then the two highest-yield fixes are setting DNS to 8.8.8.8 and correcting a wrong date/time (a bad clock breaks the secure handshake apps rely on). If only the apps fail while the connection test passes, Reset Smart Hub (Guiding Tech; Lifewire).

How do I reset the network settings on my Samsung TV?

Go to Settings → General → Network → Reset Network and confirm (on newer One UI sets it’s Settings → All Settings → Connection → Network → Reset Network). The TV restarts, wipes saved WiFi networks, and you reconnect via Open Network Settings — your apps and picture settings are untouched (Samsung US).

What DNS should I use for my Samsung TV?

Google Public DNS — 8.8.8.8 as the primary and 8.8.4.4 as the secondary — entered under Network Status → IP Settings → DNS Setting → Enter Manually. Leave IP on automatic (DHCP); change only the DNS field (Google Public DNS; Guiding Tech).

Why does my Samsung TV keep disconnecting from WiFi?

Usually weak signal or a band issue: move the TV closer to the router or connect it to the 2.4GHz band (longer range than 5GHz). Outdated firmware and an overloaded router (too many devices) also cause dropouts — update the TV’s software and reboot the router (How-To Geek; Asurion).

How do I connect my Samsung TV with an Ethernet cable?

Run a cable from your router to the TV’s LAN port, then choose Settings → General → Network → Open Network Settings → Wired. If wired works but WiFi never does, the internal WiFi module may have failed — Ethernet is a perfectly good permanent fix, and more stable for 4K streaming anyway (Samsung; Lifewire).