2 Simple Checks When Your Smart TV Says Wi-Fi Password Incorrect

You’re in the process of setting up your smart TV  in your new home and cannot wait to start using it. When it’s time to connect it to your home’s new Wi-Fi router, you carefully insert the password, click Connect, and wait for it to establish a connection. 

However, your TV only displays a message saying that the Wi-Fi password is incorrect. 

You triple-check that the password is correct, but you’re still met with the same message. 

What gives? 

There are two main reasons why your smart TV may say your Wi-Fi password is incorrect: the date/time is inaccurate or you need to change your TV’s region. 

In this article, we’ll explore how to resolve both of these problems and connect your TV to Wi-Fi in no time. 

Let’s get started! 

1. Inaccurate Date/Time

Your TV may not be able to connect to your Wi-Fi if its date and times are incorrect. This may happen for a variety of reasons, the most common one being that the TV’s CMOS or integrated circuit (IC) is malfunctioning. 

This typically happens when the TV first turns on and after it’s been on standby mode. 

CMOS (or Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) and ICs allow the TV to accurately track the time and date when in standby mode. They ensure that certain internal components remain powered so that the Basic Input/Output System (or BIOS for short) and Real-Time Clock continue to function even while your TV is turned off. This allows your TV to display the correct date and time, even if it’s been powered off for several hours, days, or weeks. 

However, these batteries can fail, causing the BIOS and Real-Time Clock settings to revert to their default values, displaying an inaccurate date and time on your device. 

While these settings are typically found within laptops, we can apply the same logic to smart TVs as they have complicated operating systems and interfaces resembling those of computers. However, it should be noted that these components’ specifics could differ slightly. 

These settings are imperative to your smart TV’s Wi-Fi connection since it must validate certain certificates when connecting to your Wi-Fi router. These certificates may be checked by certain programs or the router itself to ensure the network is secure.

One of these certificates is the date and time, which when incorrect, will prevent the router from establishing a connection with the TV. 

Solution

While the specifics of this problem may be complicated, its solution is not. 

If your TV’s CMOS battery has failed, it will revert these settings each time you turn your TV off. However, you can still use your TV by manually setting the date and time. While this is only a temporary solution since you will have to do it each time you turn on your TV, it will allow you to connect it to Wi-Fi. 

The only permanent solution is to have your TV repaired by a skilled technician or contact your TV manufacturer’s customer support for additional guidance. You may also want to inquire if your TV’s warranty policy will cover the cost of repairs. 

This process will vary for different TV models. For your convenience, we’ve included instructions on how to do this on Samsung smart TVs. 

How to Change the Date and Time on a Samsung Smart TV

Step 1: Open your TV’s Settings, sometimes also labeled All Settings.  

Step 2: Then, click on General or General & Privacy, depending on your TV model. 

Step 3: Next, head to System Manager. 

Step 4: Go to Time. 

Step 5: Click on Clock. 

Step 6: Change the Clock Mode to Manual using your remote’s arrow buttons. 

Step 7: Adjust your TV’s date and time so that they’re accurate. 

2. Change Region

If you have an LG TV, your unit’s set Services Country may be preventing it from connecting to your home’s Wi-Fi. 

Several LG users reported this problem in early 2022 and later discovered that there was a bug in their TV’s Services Country settings. This bug invalidated their router’s certificates, leading to an Incorrect Password every time they inserted the correct password into their TV’s Wi-Fi settings. 

While the origin of this bug is unclear, users were able to work together to find a solution that involves manually changing your TV’s country. 

Don’t worry. This won’t change your TV’s language. It will only adjust the Services Country settings, allowing you to connect it to your Wi-Fi router. 

Solution

Step 1: Navigate to All Settings. 

Step 2: Head to General. 

Step 3: Click on Location. 

Step 4: Then, navigate to LG Services Country. 

Step 5: To disable this feature and manually adjust it, select Set Automatically.

Step 6: You will see a list of available countries on-screen. Select any country you want except for the one marked with a check box since this is the one your TV is currently using. 

Step 7: Once you’ve selected another country, a confirmation pop-up will appear on-screen. Select Yes to implement these changes. 

Then, your TV will restart and change to the new country you’ve selected once it reboots. 

Step 8: Once your TV has restarted, head to its Network settings and try to connect it to Wi-Fi. 

If your TV still does not connect to Wi-Fi, repeat Steps 1 to 4 and select a different country from the list. 

Watch the video below demonstrating how to adjust your LG TV’s Services Country settings to fix its Wi-Fi connectivity issues.