How to Reset a China LED TV to a Factory Reset Code

A recent discovery by an IT student has resulted in a very interesting discovery-the possibility of hacking a Samsung LED TV. This television was purchased by the family of a very well-known Internet marketer as a gift to him for his birthday. The marketer did everything he could to make the gift special, including ordering the TV at an off-the-shelf rate from Samsung.

When the TV arrived at the doorstep of the IT student, however, it turned out that the television was not what he had ordered. Upon closer inspection, the IT student discovered that the television displayed a picture that was garbled and streaked-some sort of smudged appearance. Upon further inspection, the student found that the electronics board had been badly damaged. Apparently, the hacker had used some sort of power supply units or wiring to damage the electronics.

Once the IT student realized what had happened, he called the customer care center of Samsung. The customer care representative, whom the hacker had met during the course of his birthday spree, was not aware of what had occurred. In fact, he informed the student that he could not return the television due to "problems with the circuit board. Apparently, this was the first the employee had heard about the possibility of a hacker putting in a television with a Samsung reset code. The employee then requested the customer to pay the additional cost to have the television fixed. The IT student, apparently feeling somewhat embarrassed, declined to pay the charge.

This story is somewhat typical. Many people mistakenly believe that a brand-new TV can't be affected with a factory reset code. This is simply not the case. The fact is that many TVs are sold with a built-in factory reset code that can be accessed by the owner using a secret code supplied by the manufacturer. The only thing that can render this code useless is if the television is returned to the seller at the end of a promotional period (which is usually a stipulated time period beginning on the product's launch and lasting for a number of months after which the item will become obsolete and will be discontinued).

In the above scenario, a person who obtains a new television from Samsung can still use the factory reset code to change the channel and, in effect, bypass the entire encryption process that guards against hacking. It is possible to access the reset code by physically accessing the back of the television. This is not recommended, as it gives a hacker free access to everything stored within. If an IT student were to attempt this, there is a good chance that a professional technician from Samsung would detect the reset code before the person could do anything. This would render the reset option ineffective.

For this reason, a better option is to download software designed to disable the factory reset code. This software will allow a user to bypass the encryption layer and read the television's memory directly. Once the memory is accessed, the owner can make changes or upgrade the system without fear of becoming a victim of hacking. While this method may work to obtain a television with the China LED TV, it is probably not advisable to attempt to use this method on an otherwise secure, feature-rich television.

Of course, it is always possible to reset the television to an older model using third-party software. The risks are the same as with any other resetting technique. An untrained person could easily enable features that were meant to be disabled. One can even inadvertently cause random crashes or software errors. In the unlikely event that the owner does not have the proper software installed, a simple Internet search should result in plenty of information on how to accomplish the task.

For those who are worried about the security of their investment, there is little to worry about when setting up a China LED TV back to its original state. While an owner cannot achieve a functional bypass on a traditional television, he or she can easily do so with a Chinese LCD TV. A reliable aftermarket repair company should be able to assist with resetting the television to a factory reset code in no time.