Samsung EcoBubble stuck mid-program - Repair guide 

Cheers Gold Flemming! We just saved one of these machines from the tip and it exhibited the same issue many have been seeing. The drum will try to move or spin and there is the initial jump as the motor tries to turn, but then nothing. After several tries, the machine just hangs or puts up a 3E error code. The issue gets worse with time. The procedure you filmed is exactly the one I followed. Disconnect the power to the machine and wait for the caps to discharge. Cutout the bottom of the tray the main PCB sits in and slowly carefully pry up the conformal coating (I used a plastic spoon and small plastic clay modelling tools as the metal implements would damage surface mount components sprinkled about the board and tracks). Once the conformal was off, especially the larger solder joints, I used a solder sucker and solder iron/pencil to reflow and remove the old solder and then lay down new solder. Visually the existing solder joints looked ok, but as Benny Zeusian points out in this video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-INJgzefQG24.html, there are subtle cracks and flaws. I was able to re-solder just the larger joints to all of the plugs, large capacitors and motor control chip (both sides) and it worked! Carefully inspect your board though. Also, be very careful not to make a worse joint than the original. I was not successful in simply re-flowing the existing solder and used flux, a solder sucker and wick to remove the existing stuff and completely re-do it. Hats of to you for putting up this vid for encouragement as well as Benny and micr1969 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-UVcrrwLRQek.html, who did much the same!

Thanks for the video. I followed the instructions in the video and my washing machine is now working again. I am now washing my 5th wash in a row, and the machine is working flawlessly.

The gel you are referring to is silicone and the purpose is not to reduce vibration, but to prevent moisture from damaging the board. If you remove it, the moisture is going to corrode the contacts. So after soldering and confirming that the issue is fixed, it is a good idea to spray a rubberized coating on the board to prevent moisture damage. Something like Rustoleum Leak Seal might work.

Will thank you for your video. I was about to buy a new motherboard and your video saved me 200euros (or a new washing machine for 500 ~ 600euro). Your video encouraged me to open the motherboard according to your description. I'm working at a company where we are designing and manufacturing circuit boards for heavy-duty components and tools for industrial use and I have good experience of both designing, soldering and inspection of PCB's. After I opened the board (on the backside) I found several components that had been loosened from their soldering and there were cracked soldering all over the board there they were “heavy” and big components (as you mentioned in your video). Most cracks were for the component under the heatsink. The heatsink is quit heavy and long and it is directly attached (screwed) to the component underneath, also the heatsink lays on the component, which in my opinion, it should be fastened/screwed directly to the board instead. I understand that the component which is attached to it will vibrate more violently (because of that heavy heatsink) and in the end the component will straining its “roots/legs” and that causes all cracks and misconnections. Will add a video with pictures I took during the repairing the board There are several issues with design of this kind of boards: The first problem is that the manufacturer of circuit boards has stopped using leaded solder in manufacturing because the lead is hazardous to health. Lead is a soft metal and that made that leaded solder was quite flexible and stronger. On the other side lead-free solder is hard, and very fragile, and therefore in the end with all cracked solders and a dead device. The second problem is that the Samsung, or their board supplier, have chosen to cover the circuit board with a silicon-like glue to minimize the vibration effect and/or isolate the board against corrosion because of high humidity. They may have thought that they have found a workable solution, but the problem is that this “jelly-alike-glue” will not help any components to be fastened on its place, that heavy heatsink is not even covered with that jelly-glue, when the device vibrates, heatsink will vibrate more violently(just go on and try to vibrate gel and observe how the top of it vibrates more violently) in the root, and when it vibrates, all bigger and smaller components will vibrate together simultaneously. on the other side, this jelly-glue goes off very easy from the board, which it shouldn’t. As I know how this process should be done, the entire production process has been wrong from the beginning. The board for instance have never been primed before gluing, which would increase the adhesiveness of the jelly-glue. The solution will be, as you may find in Braun rechargeable Shavers for instance, is to cover the whole circuit board with melted glue or industrial hard glue. In Braun case, even the batteries attached to the board are covered with hard glue. The third issue is the design of mainboard itself. When I start to re-solder the pins and connections, I realized that the components pin-hole are oversized and pads are undersized. The pads are there to solder (attached) the components to the circuit on the board. That means the components have too little support for that kind of force and vibration the board is exposed to. You may find this kind of boards in all cheap “one-dollar” China-products. Summary: short and consistent, the board is designed and mentioned to malfunctioning. You may say it is another conspiracy theory, but how would Samsung and other companies survive if their products last for ever? And this is the problem that occurs in the Samsung echo bubble products and eventually all other product with this solution will stop working after a few years. This is the result of a poor designed and solution for this kind of motherboard. This is evidence of poor quality of Samsung washing machines or/even other Samsung devices that will stop working after 2-3 years. I think Samsung must take responsibility and replace the motherboard in goodwill/warranty, because this is a quality problem during manufacturing which Samsung must admit.

Watched your video last night as I had the issue of the drum not rotating - would move slightly with a judder and stop. Tried calibrating with no success. When put into test mode, machine returned an error code of 3E2 😟 Followed your procedure and viola, machine now fully functional again 😀👍 Further to what you have done, have coated the board with a Conformal spray to keep moisture and humidity at bay, and hot glued the base panel back on. Hoping this will help protect the now exposed board. Again thank you for making this video, all the best.

Thanks a lot !!! after 9 months i past 3 hours to repair it as you showed and i can confirm the machine still working without problems and me and my wife are so happy !!! thank you so much !!!

Thanks a lot for making this video! I have the exact same machine with the exact same problems. It took about an hour or 5 to go through this repair but without this video it would have taken so much longer let alone start the repair. Before the repair, I could not get a washing cycle finish, now after the repair already 9 cycles without issues! Hopefully this repair will extend the lifetime of my machine a few more years.

Genius! Thank you so much. Did this a month ago and it is working perfectly. I owe you a beer!

Update edit 1 June 2023: the machine still works perfectly and has not failed me since the repair shown. Apart from the mishaps in it's adolescence, it grew up to be a loyal and hardworking member of the family. 😊 Update for all those wondering: I can confirm the machine is still working flawlessly and has not stopped to work flawlessly since the repair. Good luck to anyone out there facing the same problem.

many thanks for this contribution. It was the solution for my eco bubble. it totally costed me 10 minutes to open the case and 5 min soldering. and it worked !! you're my Eco bubble Hero :-)

Excellent, encouriged by your video guide I fixed my washing machine. Saved me some immediate cost and saved the planet from additional waste. Btw, I closed the housing with duckt tape. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks a lot for this video! Like you said, this wasn't as hard as it might seem at first. It seems to have fixed our washing machine (WW575H5400EW) too! I did end up ripping off an SMD diode (flyback diode between the relay coil pads) when removing the epoxy around the big contacts; but replacing it with a standard 1N4148 worked fine. Thanks heaps!

I did this as well! I only welded the bigger parts! The machine now works flawlessly again for a month!

Thanks Gold Fleming, just had the same problem with our Samsung EcoBubble and followed your directions and its working fine again now! I must admit all the soldered joints looked good so I was a bit sceptical at first that it would make any difference, but I went ahead and resoldered each of the larger components and it worked! - thanks again!

Incredible work. My replaced inverter board failed again in a similar Samsung Washer. Re-soldered some large components(after angrily removing gel and plastic) and back to normal. Cheers. Much appreciated.

Thanks for this 🙏🏼 My neighbour asked me to help out, they had an E3 error code “Motor Fault” but had the cycle stop midway through and was also doing a juddering.. whipped the PCB out.. (They only had 3 screws too..) soldered most joints but left the smaller/close gapped soldered joints alone.. it now works well and they are very happy! Thank you!

good video, I felt really helped, I found your video this morning, and immediately soldered everything I suspected, now the machine can work as it should. My washing machine is WF1124xac, 12kg. Thanks

It worked! I was a bit sceptic since I did not see anything wrong with the soldering, but did the big ones anyway and now it is working fine.

Thank you so much this helped, its been 2 months and machine works great ;) thank you for the video

Hello. A huge thank for sharing. The machine works again!

Thanks for making the video. Just did what you shown and my wf1124 is back in action. Hurrah

You are absolutely right these circuit boards soldering will give up on the most active components like capacitors,relays etc. thats where the resoldering should be done.

Thanks for the excellent tip. Our machine just developed the same fault of stopping mid cycle and when I checked the warranty we were at 5 years + 3 months of the original 5 year warranty, so nothing to lose by attempting the repair. I actually purchased a new mother board as a fall back and used that to confirm the fault was cured by replacing the original and sure enough it did the trick. I have now repaired the original so have a spare to use should the problem occur again. Thanks once again for a very useful video. (By the way, I only had the 3 screws too, Samsung were obviously on an economy drive!)

Thanks for tutorial. Had the same problem with my eco bubble washing mashing... before fixing you needed to kick it real hard where PCB was but over time even that stoped working. First time I resoldered only big parts, and it only worked for a two weeks before going into errors again. So I resoldered main chip this time like in video and it's working flawlessly over month and still going like a new washing mashine!! I think this is general flaw in this series of washing machines and I presume resoldering gonna be needed to do every few years in future. Probably it's general problem both with really bad PCB assamlby and vibrations during usage of washing mashine. All points out to pins loosing contacts over time and it is needed to resolder them.

Thanks voor je video TOPPER, super uitleg is me gelukt vrouwtje ook blij je bent een HELD

Thanks for this video! Helped us a lot, looks like the machine is working again after this fix! 😀

Thanks a lot! Got my washing machine fixed!

Thank you so much! This fixed my problem and now I don’t need to spend boring money on a new one🙌🏻 Greetings from Sweden 🇸🇪

Thank you for your effort. I'm not sure if my case is like yours. My machine some times work and sometimes don't work. It might stop during the program. Also some times 3E appeares on the screen

Thx for this video. I have 1 with a simular issue (timer resets to start in a program) so now i know i can try some things first before buying and replacing the board.

Hi! Thank you for your video. It was really helpful. I have a Samsung washing machine 2005 eco bubble vrt plus 9kg everything working except the buttons under the display. Is it easy to repair it? Do you have any idea? Thanks in advance

Erg bedankt voor deze video ! Wij hebben net 5 uren bezig geweest in totaal , bijna alle punten opnieuw gesoldeerd en testprogrammas doorlopen en het werkt momenteel goed ! Triestig van samsung dat de kwaliteit van de solderingen zo was ... alsook die gel die meer kwaad doet dan goed. Lang verhaal kort : dit kost niks en je hebt niks te verliezen !

Thanks ! I had the same problem and by soldering the larger details the defect disappeared. The washing machine works again for a second month.

Hey man I just wanted to let you know that you are a hero for taking the time to film and post this.

Naar hier verwezen via Tweakers. Héél erg bedankt dat je deze video hebt gemaakt. Hij doet het weer 😀

2021 Thank you Man! Just fixed it

You need to stress that the machine should be unplugged before opening it up and touching capacitors in a mains-powered appliance, especially 240v (they can store tens of thousands of volts) could possibly kill. Otherwise, it's a very helpful video as I'm about to try and do the same on our machine which starts up but stops after about 5 seconds. Pausing it a few times, or turning it on and off can make it work, but as it's an intermittant fault, resoldering every darn joint seems worth a shot as it'll cost nothing but my time and 20p's worth of electricity and solder.

Geweldig het heeft geholpen bespaart ons een nieuwe wasmachine thx

I do this today. What a job to remove al Silicon. Now its Works like a charm

Thanks man. It was useful.

Thanks a lot, I was able to repair it by following your video !! Correctly, all welds must be viewed with a 40 / 50x lens, the ones that fracture are the largest and medium ones. You need to control them ALL!

Thank you, chickened out of soldering and bought new mother board for £145 on eSpares which is still cheaper than buying a whole new machine.

Thank you so much for this video! You saved me over 200euro. Wish you a the best to you and your family. Cheers!

Thanx your fix worked on mine as well 😄 just gave it an new layer of tin

Thank you for posting this video, very helpful for me!

Awesome man Thank you so much :D it works now :D

Thanks for the informative video, I have a samsung 12kg ecobubble that was partially working (found the motor driver ic is bad). I have ordered a new PCB and the silkscreen is a different colour so I'm not sure if samsung has updated the boards? the lead free solder they use is a big issue for weak joints possibly leading to premature component failure...

Thank you very much you are a genius this contribution worksss, I made this repair on a Samsung WF18H5000AW, it was a bit difficult but it is working 100%, thanks and happy new year, I owe you a beer.

Superhandig. Hartelijk dank voor de moeite. Ik ga het maar eens proberen ook denk ik.

Thanks Gold, worked for me as well. Our machine lasted 6.5 years before we got the error. Great instructions. I didn't have a dremel, so used a bit of precision angle grinding. Silicon potting compound was stuck very well, so this took the longest time. I know that automotive ECU's have to go through a very stringent vibration testing regime (you wouldn't want your ABS ECU failing like this!), maybe Samsung should do the same...

Thank you for the video will try to do the same :)

Normally this sort of solder joint problem is worse with wire to board connections, i.e.where a pin from a connector or a component leg comes through the board, as the hole has to be made larger than the pin so it can be assembled easily in the factory, and the solder is then stressed by trying to stretch and form a bridge - so check those points first, sometimes you will see a little hair-line of fracture. Larger components add mechanical stress to this. My observation is from many years of TV repair, but the problem is basically the same here, sadly.

Köszönjük a videót! Az én Samsungom nem indul be néha. Szétszedem és megjavítom a módszereddel. Szerintem ennek is ez lesz a baja.

Hallo. Even getwijfeld of ik het zou aandurven, maar met pasen de stap gezet en ervoor gegaan. Sindsdien draait de machine nog steeds vlekkeloos. Hartelijk bedankt!

Thank you so much for this video, it inspired me to try and repair our washing machine tomorrow. The only thing that is unclear to me is: do you put the plastic piece back you cut off from the casing in which is the print plate? Or you just leave the print plate bare? Greetings Tessa

Hi Gold Flemming I have a Samsung washer/dryer WD6122CKC it’s an old model, it was working fine until the drain pump stopped, it happened that it was full of dirt, so I cleaned it and work fine but doing that I moved the washer to a new place but was no balanced, so after that, the washer jumps while spin dry cicle. One week later I got the "dE" error code, door lock problem (front load). I test door latch assembly and its good, the wiring is ok too. So that leaves me to check the main board. I opened it and found that some places the gel has come off due to the heat. I want to know your opinion, if it’s worth trying to resolder, or the problem is elsewhere?

i see it now 4 years later and i like it good job my man and i hapy thet it help becuse my samsung just started to make trubolls so i will do the same

It's true I had the same issue. I only soldier the big point ....Happy days ....thanks alot

Hi! First, thanks for your time and this great video. I have exactly the same issue. My Washing machine SAMSUNG Eco Bubble 7.0kg stuck at mid-program. As I do not speak well english I don't understand what points of "welding" must be redone. Absolutely all the points? Thanks in advance for your reply.

The "gel" is a conformal coating which purpose is to shield the solder joints from moisture.

Cheers Gold Flemming, following your instruction I was able ro give a new life to my washing mashine for more than one year. Now I have a new big problem. The integrated component IC6 is completely damaded by I do not know what reason, but on it there are no indications regarding type nor numbers for buying a new one. Do you have any information about this? Thanks in advance and sorry for my orrible english.

Nice work. Sadly even Samsung's latest ecobubble are still failing mine stopped working after 9 months from new.

My maskin Stop 2019 After 5 year so I followed this video. And I fix the problem. The maskin is still working 2023 So thanks for this video.

Hi! Thank you for your video. I have one question. In the part below, the one you opened, you didn't put the gel nor the cover, right? Did you leave it with nothing?

Hi I have the same problem, can someone tell me how to remove the silicone gel?. Tnx a lot

I have eco bubble 6 kg,problem was that it start to work and stops after some time. I found the mother board that was in the front cover and two cold solder were bad, i solder it again and the machine is working now ok

Excellent bit of information, thanks. I'd never have thought it would provide such an easy fix. I noticed you missed out the 'how to remove the plastic glop' from the back section, not so easy but it did come off ok, although it took a lot longer than the actual soldering. Many thanks.

They really did their best on newer models to make it impossible to fix yourself.

Kérlek mond el, mivel távolítottad el a bevonatot a panelről! Köszönöm!

hi please show more about samsung washing machine as i have one thanks chris from norwich

Thanks a lot for your video!! I follow your instructions and now it is working perfectly!!! I was thinking on buying a new wash machine but your video encourage me to try. You save me money, but the most important we save to send more contaminant waste to our planet. we all should try always to repare

Great video, I have the same machine, luckily for me its still working fine. Do you have any suggestions how this problem could be prevented? Or is it unavoidable? Thanks - Bedankt! Gr

That's very helpful. My problem is that there is no power getting to my Ecobubble. I'm guessing it's the power cable, but could it be another component?

How did you remove the silicone? How long did it take?

Dear Uploader! How did you remove the gel from the motherboard?

Hi! Thanks for video hopefully it’s gonna help me because I got same issue 🤬 will try to repair it and let you know how it goes 👍

Hi! Thank you for sharing this. My Samsung washer is about 3 years and has the same problem. I wanted to ask: 1. Did you cover the circuit board with something or just left it without the silicone gel. 2. How did you fix the underside of the box? Thanks

Hi! We did all the steps with our washing machine and it worked for a week (like 5 different washes, different types). But now the washing machine just goes out after like 2-3 minutes. The power cuts off. No idea why... We opened it up and pushed all the connections again but no difference. Any idea what happened? Anybody?

How did you remove that protective gel from the surface of the board? My washer has same symptoms and if samsung refuses to replace board free of charge, I’ll try resoldering. Thanks for your informative video! :)

Hi!, how did you remove the "gel" from the pcb ?

How did you remove the gel? Im having a hard time trying to do it

Removing the gel is hard… its a thick layer and im worried that i break the connectors underneath, i cant show a picture, but was it a half centimeter thick yellow layer? Yours looks very different and cleaner. Any tips on this step?

I used a heatgun to reflow all at once and it worked.

I have the 9kg. But the bord is in front of the machine. Turn wheel and screen are molded with it. Dous this one has the same issue? Not as easy as yours unfortunately

good luck sir

Had terrible trouble removing top panel. So tight never been off before had some sticky tape on it, nearly give up. I think this should be explained that some could be a real struggle on first removal

What tools did you guys use to rip the plastic from pcb?

hello, i have 3E error code but it is unstable like sometimes the cycle works perfectly and sometimes not, is this the same problem ?

Ik heb hetzelfde probleem. Samsung wil dit repareren maar omdat ik buiten de fabrieksgarantie zit moet ik van hen meebetalen. Dit is een onderdeel wat helemaal niet stuk zou moeten gaan binnen zo'n korte tijd en een vervanging verlengt dus ook niet de levensduur van de machine. Kan ik Samsung hier volledig voor op laten draaien, en repareren zij dit met een PCB die beter werkt dan het origineel?

If you depress the temp, delay end and power switch simultaneously, it enters calibration mode. Allow it to Complete this cycle without washing in the drum and then it completes full cycles uninterrupted.

The gel is there to prevent condensation from damaging the electronics, not as a shock absorber.

I did the repair however my waching machine doens't turn on anymore? It seems completely dead. Any advice?

Just did the same to mine - however my weldings did not look broken - BUT the peint lanes going from the capacitors looked weird ... i filled them with solder and it worked ...-

My English is poor and I did not understand everything, but you want to say that gel is a problem? My washing machine is the WF90F5E5U4W I have already replaced the motor, but the problem still exists.

took panel off today removing gel was a nightmare I don't know how you managed to get panel as clean as you did I took it to an electronics friend who has thirty years experience repairing and replacing components yes many cracked and dry joints he resoldered but guess what now machine wont even bring up screen I gues removing gel has caused further damage so advice be extremely gentle removing it mine would not peel I used a plastic car trim tool remover tool to gently scrape board but thanks for your info it was worth trying new board purchased

How did you remove the gel?

Over 80,000 views. This means a similar number of people had their Samsung wasmachine broken. My washing machine is also broken just like the Samsung wash dryer just about a year ago. It seems like a planned failure to make money. Samsung, besides your quality seems to s*ck big time, imagine the pollutions of these hundreds of thousands of machines that end up as waste. Please take responsibility and care. In 2020 it is not the way you should do business anymore.

I'm guessing that there's not a "non-destructive" way of removing that PCB from the plastic casing (presumably it's kind of "glued" in place by the gel). That definitely makes this a last resort if Samsung will not fix the machine under warranty.

But it says 10years warranty on the front. Was that machine actually 10years old?

Great video, you're wrong about the gel/silicon coating though, it's not added to dampen the vibrations, it's added so the part cannot be easily serviced, instead, the entire control board needs to be replaced. If Samsung wanted to protect the board there are far better ways to do it than just coating the entire thing in silicon and removing almost all possibility of servicing the board! Dick move by Samsung!