Issues with wifi after Android firmware update? (KD-55XD8577)

[chomerly]

I don't know if anyone else has experienced this issue but i'm having internet connection issues with 5Ghz wireless on my TV.

My model, KD-55XD8577, just stopped communicating with my router last night, which is positioned about 12 feet opposite my TV with no obstructions.  I didn't notice it at first as i was watching normal television but when i switched over to watch something on YouTube i was greeted with a message telling me that there was a connection error.

This led to me spending the next 2+ hours trying to diagnose the issue, restoring the TV back to factory settings and eventually restoring my router back to it's factory settings, to cut a long story short.

Every other device in my home that supports 5Ghz wifi works without issue.  In fact, my Surface tab which i am using right now to create this post is connected this way.  I did manage to get the TV connected to the internet for about 20 minutes last night but it lost the connection again, with no explanation why.

I got up this morning and checked the TV again to see if anything had changed but this issue was still happening.  It was at this point that i decided to check if 2.4Ghz wireless was having the same issue.  As soon as i switched over to 2.4Ghz it worked immediately and i was able to do everything as normal again.  I then decided to take a look on the forums to see if this is happening to other people with this, or similar Android models.  While navigating to the threads i noticed a post talking about the new Android firmware update and that it was released yesterday 19 April 2017.  This immediately got me thinking that this can be the only reason why my TV suddenly stopped connecting to the internet via 5Ghz wifi.  My TV has automatic updates turned on so I can only assume that the new firmware (PKG3.533.0108EUB) is the cause for this as it would be the only thing that had changed.  My TV worked fine on both wireless modes before yesterday but since the firmware update only 2.4Ghz works without issue.

Now, this brings me to ask the question, where does this leave people like me when we are unable to connect our TV's via an RJ45 network cable, and can't use 5Ghz wifi in order to watch 4k content via Amazon and/or Netflix?

Also, when can we expect to get a fix for this?

Yes, i know you can still watch 4k content via 2.4Ghz but 5Ghz gives peace of mind when there are more devices in the household that utilise 2.4Ghz.

In any case, i am not a happy about the fact that my TV has been reduced in its capabilities via a simple update.  And making the case that i still have 2.4Ghz and a wired option simply doesn't cut it as an excuse. I purchased the TV with the capabilities mentioned in its description and, considering i have only had the TV for a month, i expect to be able to use those capabilities as and when i please.

[gorante]

I have the same problem with a kd55xd8599.

I can't say how it was working before the firmware upgrade because I had a 2.4GHz router, but mu ISP changed it some days ago and this one has 2.4 and 5 GHz bands.

I've lost some hours trying to figure out why the TV was not connecting to the internet even if it was logged in to the wifi with IP correctly assigned. Then i tryed to split the two SSIDs (standard config is both with the same name an password) and to connect manually one and the other. Connecting the 5GHz SSID the problem was the same of above, switching to the 2.4GHz one it started working again as it always did.

Al lot of other devices are correctly logged in to 5GHz SSID, so it's not a entwork related problem.

I hope a solutions will come fast.

Thanks,

Marco

[Anonymous]

Hi @gorante

The 5Ghz band should work on the TV - its just when the SSID is hidden you cannot connect to it.  Is this the case with you ?

Cheers

[JanneR71]

Is there a solution for this problem?

I have a KD55XD8577 with same 5ghz wifi problem. Android 7.0 and PKG5.381.0167EUB software.

I have changed different names for 2.4 and 5ghz, tried different channels, no help.. if i disconnect power from tv it connects to 5ghz network after restart, but after a day with power connected it tries for a long time and then says that its not available or not found..

i don't have a hidden SSID.

Before latest update, it stayed on 5ghz, but many times a week had to be manually connect.

[chomerly]

I am assuming there is nothing wrong with your TV so my resolution to this may work for you.

As you know, I had this exact issue and for the life of me i could not work out why and eventually gave up.  I didn't revisit this until after I had received notification of a new update, and even after the update I continued to get the exact same issue.  Only this time, 2.4ghz Wi-Fi began to have a problem.

Bear in mind, I hadn't used Wi-Fi on the TV for some time after I had tried to resolve issues with the 5ghz Wi-Fi.  I just sat there staring at the TV trying to figure out why it refused to detect either 2.4ghz and 5ghz networks.  But as I sat there, I thought back to a similar issue I had with a laptop I was asked to diagnose at a neighbours house about a decade earlier.  It too had the same issues and was being used to connect to the internet with a CAT5e network cable.  It was only then that I thought to myself 'It can't be that simple surely'.  I walked over to the TV, unplugged the network cable and performed the scan for Wi-Fi networks.  Within seconds I was able to connect to either 2.4ghz or 5ghz Wi-Fi and if I plugged the network cable back in I couldn't connect to either.  What both the old laptop mentioned earlier and this TV have in common is whenever a network cable is plugged in you cannot connect to any Wi-Fi networks.  I don't know why this is or what the thought process, if any, is behind such a design but what I think is happening here has something to do with the android updates for the TV that applies to networking.  

I used to be able to connect to both 2.4ghz and 5ghz Wi-Fi with the network cable plugged in.  An update was released which rendered 5ghz networking inoperable, but 2.4ghz was still functional.  A couple of updates later I discovered that 2.4ghz became inoperable too.  But it was only until I sat down and really thought about what could possibly be going on did I even think to try something as simple as just unplugging the network cable.  Doing just that brought both 2.4ghz and 5ghz back online.  I don't believe it to be a hardware issue as this would have always been a thing.  But I do believe it is related to software.  Specifically whatever was changed in the updates from last summer.