UE40C6530 Firmware Picture Quality Problem

[alishaded]

Hi, I'm completely new to this board, TV firmwares and all the technicalities involved in the service menu but am quite competent when it comes to technology in general.

Hope someone here can help. I've got a Samsung UE40C6530UK which I've had for about 4 years now. I absolutely love(d) the picture quality. It seemed to make even SD channels look good. All was well.

Recently however, I noticed that the TV turned itself on and off a couple of times. Since I had a warranty I called the company who send out an "engineer" to take a look.

All he did as far as I could tell was access the service menu using a special remote control while on the internal TV tuner source. From there apparently he did a Factory Reset and said the problem should now be fixed. As an aside I've always checked the Samsung website for the latest firmware for my TV thinking (wrongly) that newer is "better".

After he left, I re-set all the settings on the TV to how they were previously (I had them all written down) and immediately I knew something was "off". The contrast wasn't quite right, the picture quality in general seemed slightly out of focus - it had taken a definite hit in quality. I googled it and found the following post which basically describes my problem so I knew then it wasn't just me: http://forums.cnet.com/7723-13973_102-3 ... vice-menu/

So I called back the Warranty company (who are official Samsung service engineers) and they sent someone round to have a look. He hadn't seen the problem before but he said that he could see what I meant and that they would replace the Mainboard.

Today, an engineer been round and replaced the Mainboard and unfortunately - it's the same as before. Contrast is too strong no matter the settings I try, the picture generally is "soft" and motion blurry. It's just not the TV I bought.

I think that maybe the firmware updates all the way up to T-VALDEUC-3018.1 somehow didn't fully take effect until a factory reset was done with my original Mainboard. The new one of course, is already updated to the latest firmware.

So..... I'm hoping there is a way to perhaps "downgrade" the firmware on my TV or "upgrade" to the SamyGo firmware? I'm not sure if this is even possible? If it is, where can I get the older firmwares from and are there step by step instructions? Does anyone have any other suggestions? Would *really* appreciate any help with this. Thanks

[beatfreak]

first you need to know that samygo is not a firmware, its more like a set of scripts and executables that enhance TVs funcionality.

the only way to downgrade your firmware from 3018.1 is to get root access by hacking it like described in wiki and then make it think that a very early version of the firmware is installed which you can "upgrade"

[alishaded]

first you need to know that samygo is not a firmware, its more like a set of scripts and executables that enhance TVs funcionality.

the only way to downgrade your firmware from 3018.1 is to get root access by hacking it like described in wiki and then make it think that a very early version of the firmware is installed which you can "upgrade"

Thanks for clarifying. Seems obvious now... I've looked at the wiki and I'm guessing gaining root using the Internet@TV described here: http://wiki.samygo.tv/index.php5/How_to ... _series_TV is not possible because of the firmware I have installed?

What would you recommend as the best method to gain root for my TV? Also, how do I make it think it has earlier firmware once I have root? I have access to a Linux installation (Ubuntu on my laptop) but I'm not familiar with the files involved or the commands necessary. I do have a copy of T-VALDEUC_3015.0 on my hard drive. Are there any earlier versions available somewhere for download. Last thing - it's probably quite risky but if all goes well what are the risks involved in downgrading firmware like this?

Many thanks

[beatfreak]

first you need to know that samygo is not a firmware, its more like a set of scripts and executables that enhance TVs funcionality.

the only way to downgrade your firmware from 3018.1 is to get root access by hacking it like described in wiki and then make it think that a very early version of the firmware is installed which you can "upgrade"

Thanks for clarifying. Seems obvious now... I've looked at the wiki and I'm guessing gaining root using the Internet@TV described here: http://wiki.samygo.tv/index.php5/How_to ... _series_TV is not possible because of the firmware I have installed?

Yes, the internet@tv methods only worked on earlier firmwares.
this is the last method that was tested and working with T-VALDEUC 3018.1

faking an earlier version for tv is easy once you have root access: see here
basically you only need to create a textfile called Version.0 (or Version.1 depending) that contains

Code: Select all

SWU_T-VALDEUC_001000_I04_ES000DS000KS000RS000_100205

and tv will think it runs on version 1000

the downgrading comes with minimal risk, but the probability for success that your picture will be as good as it has been before is not very high, although its worth the try

notebook with ubuntu is totally fine for this

[alishaded]

first you need to know that samygo is not a firmware, its more like a set of scripts and executables that enhance TVs funcionality.

the only way to downgrade your firmware from 3018.1 is to get root access by hacking it like described in wiki and then make it think that a very early version of the firmware is installed which you can "upgrade"

Thanks for clarifying. Seems obvious now... I've looked at the wiki and I'm guessing gaining root using the Internet@TV described here: http://wiki.samygo.tv/index.php5/How_to ... _series_TV is not possible because of the firmware I have installed?

Yes, the internet@tv methods only worked on earlier firmwares.
this is the last method that was tested and working with T-VALDEUC 3018.1

faking an earlier version for tv is easy once you have root access: see here
basically you only need to create a textfile called Version.0 (or Version.1 depending) that contains

Code: Select all

SWU_T-VALDEUC_001000_I04_ES000DS000KS000RS000_100205

and tv will think it runs on version 1000

the downgrading comes with minimal risk, but the probability for success that your picture will be as good as it has been before is not very high, although its worth the try

notebook with ubuntu is totally fine for this

Thanks very much - appreciate your help - I'll get the failsafe stuff in place and give this a try soon hopefully.

What do you think could have happened to the picture quality to think it's not likely to be fixed with a firmware downgrade? Do you have experience in this specifically and haven't seen it work for things like this?