Samsung Refrigerator OF OF Error: Turn Cooling Back On in 60 Seconds

Your Samsung refrigerator is showing OF OF, or O FF, or OFF OFF, or the temperature digits have turned into slowly scrolling bars, and the milk has gone warm. One piece of good news first: on most models this is not a fault code at all. It is a mode the fridge was put into, and leaving it takes one button hold.

Here is the question that splits the problem in two. Open the door and listen. If the light is on, the panel is lit, and the fridge is completely silent with no hum from the back, you are in Cooling Off mode and the fix below takes a minute. If you can hear the compressor running and the display shows normal temperatures that never come down, you have something else, and a fridge that runs but will not get cold is where to start instead.

Start With These 30-Second Checks

1. 1Read the display carefully. On most Samsung refrigerators built in the last fifteen years, OF OF, O FF, OFF OFF and scrolling bars all mean Cooling Off mode, which Samsung also calls Demo mode or Shop mode. A plain OFF next to one zone on a convertible or FlexZone panel is different: that is a single compartment switched off.
2. 2Check whether the fridge is new or newly delivered. Floor models are the most common source of this, because the point of the mode is to let a store light up a fridge without running the compressor.
3. 3Think back to the last power cut. On some units an outage or a surge leaves the control board sitting on its factory default, and on those boards the factory default is Demo mode.
4. 4Put a fridge thermometer, or any cooking thermometer, into a glass of water on the middle shelf before you touch anything. The panel shows the temperature you asked for, not the one inside.
5. 5Notice whether the ice maker and the water dispenser died at the same moment. Cooling Off mode kills all three together, so that is one cause and not three. If the ice maker is still dead a day after cooling returns, that is a separate fault.

1. Panel on the Left Door: Hold the Top Two Buttons

This covers most French door and side by side Samsungs with the controls on the outside of the left door. The combination changed around 2015, so try the short version first, then add the third button.

1. 1Unlock the panel first if a lock or key icon is showing: hold Lock or Control Lock for about 3 seconds until the icon goes out. A locked panel swallows everything else you do without a sound.
2. 2On units built before roughly 2015, touch and hold the top two buttons on the left side for 8 seconds, until the fridge chimes.
3. 3On units built from about 2015 onward, and on any left panel that has only four buttons, hold those same top two left buttons plus the top right button, again for 8 seconds until the chime.
4. 4Keep your fingertips flat and still. These are capacitive pads, not switches, and a finger that drifts halfway through resets the count.
5. 5Watch the display. OF OF or O FF disappears within a few seconds of the chime and real temperatures take its place. Set the fridge to 37°F and the freezer to 0°F if they came back higher.

2. French Door Models: Power Freeze and Freezer

Some French door panels label the buttons instead of leaving you to count them, and three combinations are in circulation depending on the year. A wrong one does no harm, so work down the list.

1. 1Unlock the panel if the lock icon is lit, and keep the doors shut while you press so the door alarm does not interrupt the hold.
2. 2Hold Power Freeze and Freezer together for 8 seconds, until the chime.
3. 3If nothing happens, hold Power Freeze, Freezer and Fridge together for about 8 seconds.
4. 4If there is still nothing, hold Ice Off and Freezer together for about 8 seconds.
5. 5Give each attempt a full 10 seconds before calling it a failure. Eight seconds is longer than it feels in front of a warm fridge.

3. Flex Panels and Controls on the Inside Wall

On these the controls sit inside the fridge on the right wall, or the panel uses the Flex layout with Ice Maker and Auto Water Fill. Same idea, different buttons, and two of them need the panel unlocked first.

1. 1Prop the door open with your hip or a knee before you start, and keep your face out of its swing. On inside panels the display blanks the moment the door shuts, which costs you the blinking window in the steps below.
2. 2Flex models: hold Control Lock for 3 seconds to unlock, then hold Ice Maker, Auto Water Fill and Door Alarm together for about 8 seconds until the chime.
3. 3Panels on the inside right wall built before 2021: hold Fridge and FlexZone together for about 6 seconds until the display starts blinking, then touch Door Alarm once while it is still blinking.
4. 4Upright convertible models: hold Temp., Power Freeze and Lock together for 5 seconds. A chime tells you the mode has dropped.
5. 5Kimchi refrigerators with four doors: hold Lock for 3 seconds to unlock the main panel, then hold Ferment, Preserve and Lock together for 5 seconds.

4. BESPOKE and Family Hub: Arrows, Then a Menu

The newest panels dropped the labelled buttons, so the procedure changed shape. On a Family Hub there is no combination at all, it is a setting in a menu.

1. 1BESPOKE models, and inside panels built from 2021 onward: hold < and > together for 6 seconds, then press the O button to switch the mode off.
2. 2Be quick with the O. The arrows open that window for a few seconds only, and once it times out the O does nothing and the method looks broken.
3. 3Family Hub screens: tap Apps, then Fridge Manager, then Fridge Settings. Tap Cooling Off, tap Deactivate, then confirm with Proceed.
4. 4Afterwards, watch the compartment temperatures in the SmartThings app instead of opening the door. Every opening adds to the cooldown.

5. When the Chime Never Comes

If every combination for your panel type has been ignored, the control board needs a restart before you conclude that anything is actually broken.

1. 1Cut the power, and decide how before you move anything. While the panel is still lit, glance at the lock icon, because a locked panel is by far the most common reason a correct combination does nothing. If the outlet sits behind the fridge and you cannot reach it without pushing your arm past the compressor and condenser coils, switch that circuit off at the breaker instead and leave the fridge where it stands. If you do roll the unit forward, roll it slowly and watch the water line and the drain hose behind it, because running a fridge over its own copper supply line is how a one minute job turns into a wet floor.
2. 2The compressor and the condenser coils on a fridge that has been running are hot. Give them a few minutes before you work close to them, and keep loose sleeves and towels away from the fan grille at the back.
3. 3Leave it without power for 5 full minutes so the board discharges. Less than that and it often wakes up in the same state.
4. 4Take your hands and any towels clear of the back of the fridge, then restore power and wait for the panel to light up.
5. 5Run the combination for your panel type again. If the lock icon is showing, hold Lock or Control Lock for 3 seconds first, or the panel will swallow the hold in silence.

6. It Switched Itself Back On After a Power Cut

A small number of owners find OF OF back on the display after every outage. That is the board dropping to its factory default, and on those units the default is Demo mode.

1. 1Clear the mode again, then write down the date. A pattern across two or three outages is worth far more to a technician than a single event.
2. 2If it returns after every flicker in the supply, fit a surge protector rated for an appliance motor load, not a desk power strip. Cut the power before you reach behind the fridge: unplug it at the wall, and if the outlet sits behind the compressor and condenser coils, switch that circuit off at the breaker instead and leave the fridge where it stands. If you do roll the unit forward, roll it slowly and watch the water line and the drain hose behind it.
3. 3Plug the protector into the wall, plug the fridge into it with dry hands, then take your hands and any towels clear of the back of the fridge before the power goes back on. The compressor and the coils on a fridge that has been running are hot, so give them a few minutes if you have to work close to them.
4. 4If it returns with no power event at all, suspect a shorted membrane button. A shorted pad reads to the board as a finger held down permanently.
5. 5Check the warranty date before ordering any part. Samsung's US cover is usually one year on parts and labor, with longer cover on the sealed system and compressor, and a board that resets itself is a warranty case, not a DIY one.

Tools You Will Actually Need

When to Call a Pro

Cooling Off mode is a setting, so hardly anyone needs a technician for it. Three situations are worth the call.

1. 1The panel ignores every combination for its type, even after an unlock and a 5 minute power cut. That points at the display board or its ribbon connector, not at the mode.
2. 2The code cleared, the display shows normal temperatures, and 24 hours later the fridge is still warm. That is a cooling fault hiding behind the code: usually a frosted evaporator, a dead evaporator fan or a defrost sensor.
3. 3The freezer is cold but the fridge compartment stays warm. On Samsung units that split usually points at the evaporator fan or the defrost system.
4. 4Have the model number and production date from the sticker ready when you call, and say plainly that the unit was in Cooling Off mode. It saves the technician the first half hour.