Samsung HW-Q990D Soundbar Firmware Issue

This week’s faulty firmware update from Samsung has made the flagship soundbar, the HW-Q990D, useless for some owners. Reports are flooding in on Samsung’s community forums, Reddit, and AVSForum, showing that something has gone wrong with this premium Dolby Atmos system.

Widespread Frustration

Customers from various regions are affected, including:

• United States

• Austria

• Philippines

• Malaysia

• Many other places

Customers report that the soundbar has become non-responsive. Attempts to perform factory reset procedures are failing. Affected soundbars also cannot be accessed via Samsung’s SmartThings app. The device boots up but hangs on the TV eARC input, which has no sound output.

Faulty Firmware Details

The issue seems linked to the most recent firmware release: 1020.7. Most Q990Ds are set to install updates automatically. This causes the faulty software to spread rapidly over the last few days.

If you have a Samsung soundbar, turn off automatic updates and wait until this issue is resolved.

Other Affected Models

There are scattered reports of the same bug affecting other Samsung models, including:

• HW-Q800D

• HW-S801D

Most complaints focus on Q990D. This soundbar is among the most highly reviewed on the market, making this issue particularly disappointing.

Next Steps

Samsung has been contacted for comment. Some customers have already been told to ship their HW-Q990D for repairs. This is the worst-case scenario. Hopefully, Samsung will find an easier, more in-home solution once it understands the extent of this problem.