Samsung Smart TV network connection problems (again)

[Writerman]

I have a Samsung UE32ES5500K TV connected to the internet via Ethernet cable to a WiFi repeater. My router is in another room and the TV itself doesn't have WiFi. My internet service provide is Virgin Media.

This arrangement has worked well for years, with only minor hiccups. Suddenly, today, the TV reports it cannot connect to the Internet.

I reset my router and the WiFi repeater. No change.

I then went into the TV's set-up menu, I noted the TV made the following choices: IP=169.254.115.43, Subnet=255.255.0.0, Gateway and DNS are all zeroes.

This didn't look right so I went and set an explicit IP of 192.168.0.47, Subnet=255.255.255.0, gateway=192.168.0.1, DNS=8.8.8.8.

Magic. The TV connected. But why did I have to do that? Yesterday, automatic settings were working fine.

My joy was short lived. The connection was so slow as to be unusable. Tried to watch some Olympics on the BBC Sport player and it was alternately 2 seconds of action then 10 seconds of whirly thing telling me it was waiting for data then another 2 seconds of video then whirly thing again etc. Eventually the BBC app gave up, reporting "Something wrong with this stream".

I checked the network speed on my PC (direct connection to the main router) and download speed reports 78.21Mb/s so why is the TV struggling?

OK. Here are the specific questions.
1) Why do I need to use explicit IP when automatic was working yesterday?
2) Is the fault likely to be in the TV, the repeater or somewhere else?
3) Why is the TV's connection speed so slow as to be unusable?
4) I have read elsewhere that Samsung TVs can fail to connect if the Samsung servers are down. Why do I need Samsung servers? None of my other devices do? Are Samsung TVs unable to connect to the internet without using a Samsung server?

Any advice or information gratefully received. I am reasonably technical computer-wise but don't really understand the deeper implications of subnets and gateways,

 

[Ralston18]

The TV is the only device having problems correct?

Any problems watching anything else? Could have been congestion with respect to the bandwidth being consumed by Olympic viewers.

Just to clarify terminology:

"explicit" meaning a static IP and "automatic" meaning DHCP assigned IP?

As it appears to me, the TV experienced some problem obtaining a DHCP address via your router and defaulted to the values you found.

If you assigned a static IP of 192.168.0.47 that IP may be in conflict with some other device. Connections worked until that device joined the network.

That said, first try replacing the ethernet cable between the TV and WiFi Repeater with a known working cable. Be sure all connections, including power are snug and tight for all devices.

Otherwise it may have been some wireless interference or power problem affecting the WiFi repeater that caused connectivity loss.

Samsung TVs should not need Samsung servers to work. (And if doing so is necessary I very much doubt I will be purchasing their products....)

You set up (8.8.8.8) to go to Google's servers. (8.8.4.4 is another Google DNS.)

Try to narrow the problem down and eliminate possibilities.