‘Samsung Blu-ray players got into bootloop due to an error xml file’

It seems that the recent crash of many Samsung blu-ray players was caused by a wrong xml file pulled from Samsung servers. The players crash after loading the file, but automatically reload it after a reboot.

As a result, the devices ended up in a bootloop, as it turned out last month after a large number of owners of various Samsung Blu-ray players expressed their complaints. It was not completely clear at the time what caused the problems, but a reader from The Register seems to have found the cause.

This is because Samsung Blu-ray players with an Internet connection loaded an XML file from the servers of the manufacturer with an error in the file. Specifically, it would be an empty list element in the code; Although this did not affect the validity of the file, the blu-ray players could not handle it, causing them to crash and reboot. The xml file is intended to establish the logging policy for reading information via telemetry.

Samsung has replaced the file on its servers, but because the xml file is read again immediately after reboot, the blu-ray players ended up in a bootloop without the possibility to replace the wrong file. Also, it is not possible for an average user to manually get the file from the player, according to The Register.

The manufacturer has not yet responded to the report from The Register. However, users facing the problems can have their Blu-ray player repaired.