When I visited my friend’s house to watch Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure on his big screen with a Vizio soundbar, we were a little disappointed. During a fearful fight scene, we experienced some dullness in the sound. So, I stopped playing the episode to find out the problem. By doing some testing, I figured that the Vizio subwoofer was not working along with its soundbar.
So we took a break, and I started to fix the subwoofer issue by doing some basic troubleshooting steps. After trying a few troubleshooting steps, I fixed my friend’s Vizio subwoofer and streamed Anime again with the best sound quality. Once I finished watching the episode, I decided to draft this issue as a guide to help out other Vizio soundbar users.
If you are one of the users struggling to fix the Vizio subwoofer not working issue, then refer to the troubleshooting methods in this article.
Reasons for Vizio Subwoofer Not Working
If your Vizio subwoofer is not working along with your soundbar, there are various reasons for this problem to occur. Some of the reasons for the subwoofer not working are as follows.
- Wiring Issues
- The subwoofer kept far away
- Pairing issues
- Bugs in Vizio Soundbar
- Signal distortion
6 Ways to Fix Vizio Subwoofer Not Working
Here are some methods I tried to fix the Vizio Subwoofer not working issue.
Restart Your Vizio Soundbar & Subwoofer
If your Vizio Subwoofer is not paired or not working with your soundbar, then your soundbar has bugs in it. To remove and fix this issue, a simple restart will do the trick. To restart your soundbar and subwoofer, refer to the steps below.
1. Disconnect the power cables from the Vizio soundbar and the subwoofer.
2. Let the devices remain idle for 3-5 minutes.
3. Now, connect the cables back to the soundbar and subwoofer and power them On.
4. Push the Pairing button on your soundbar and subwoofer after restarting.
5. After pairing them, play any audio and check if the issue has been solved or not.
Do a Speaker Test
Sometimes, the video you play might not come with a background sound or no bass, and you will not hear any sound from the Vizio Subwoofer. This will make you feel that your subwoofer is not working. To test it out, try streaming content with various background sound effects. If you can hear the sound or bass on your subwoofer, then there is no problem with the Vizio subwoofer. In the meantime, raise the volume on your soundbar to listen to the audio around your room. Still, if you can’t hear any audio from the Vizio Subwoofer, it means the problem is with your Subwoofer. Move on to the next fix to resolve the problem.
Try Pairing the Subwoofer to the Soundbar Again
If the sound test fails, unpair the Vizio soundbar and pair it again. To pair the Vizio subwoofer to the soundbar, follow the steps below.
1. Plug in the power cables on the soundbar and the subwoofer.
2. Place the soundbar and the subwoofer closely.
3. Now, press and hold the Subwoofer pairing button at the back of your subwoofer for 5 seconds.
4. Press and hold the Bluetooth button on the soundbar for 5 seconds.
5. This will pair the subwoofer to the soundbar.
6. After pairing, test whether the Vizio subwoofer is working.
Update Your Vizio Soundbar
In most cases, a software update can solve various issues easily. Likewise, update your Vizio soundbar and try fixing the subwoofer not working issue.
1. Go to the Vizio soundbar support page on a web browser and look for any software update available.
2. Now, insert a USB flash drive and download the software file into it.
3. Extract the downloaded files into FAT format on your flash drive. Then, remove every other file except the soundbar update file on the flash drive.
4. Now, turn On your soundbar and put your soundbar in no audio format input.
5. Insert the USB flash drive into your Vizio soundbar.
6. The update process will begin on your soundbar, indicated by the flashing of the LED lights.
7. After updating your Vizio soundbar, pair it to your subwoofer again and check whether this method works.
Check Subwoofer Compatibility
Not all the subwoofers will be compatible with Vizio soundbars. The Vizio Subwoofer will be compatible only with the soundbar models it comes with. For example, you cannot connect the V-Series Subwoofer to the M-Series Vizio Soundbar or any other models. If you have replaced a new subwoofer to your Vizio soundbar, then compatibility issues may exist. This will result in the Vizio subwoofer not working. So, before switching the subwoofer, go to the Vizio official website and check for subwoofer compatibility for your soundbar model.
Reset Vizio Soundbar
If no troubleshooting steps lend you a hand in fixing the Vizio subwoofer not working problem, then try resetting your Vizio soundbar and pair the subwoofer again. To reset your Vizio soundbar, refer to the steps below.
1. Turn On your Vizio soundbar.
2. Press and hold the Volume Down and Bluetooth buttons on the soundbar for 5 seconds.
3. Hold the buttons until you see the Vizio soundbar input lights flash up to 3 times.
4. Now, you have successfully performed a reset on your Vizio soundbar.
5. After doing this, pair the subwoofer again and check whether the issue is resolved or not.
FAQ
No. It’s not possible. You can only pair the Vizio subwoofer only to its associated soundbar.
Power cycle your Vizio soundbar and subwoofer at the same time. Next, keep them closer and pair the devices again.
