Error code
Samsung microwave error code E-81
Samsung microwave error code E-81: Open, short and general communication errors, two additional open and short reports, plus -SE- for a key short and TE for a touch communication error. Every spelling Samsung publishes for it, which machines can raise it, and what to do next.
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What we can confirm
Code E-81, from the manufacturer's own documentation
A code is only meaningful together with the machine showing it — the same digits mean different things on different equipment.
The code
E-81
Open, short and general communication errors, two additional open and short reports, plus -SE- for a key short and TE for a touch communication error. The last two are the family people meet most: a panel that has a key reading as pressed, or a touch controller that has stopped answering, which looks from the kitchen like a dead microwave.
or call (305) 506-1256
What it narrows down to
communication between boards, a stuck key, and the additional-circuit reports
Diagnostic
From $95, credited to the repair
On the same appliance
What else belongs to the microwaves
On this make a code belongs to the appliance rather than to a product line. These are the other conditions this machine can display, and the models that can show this one — a display often has more than one thing to say, and the model number decides what any of it costs to put right.
Other codes this appliance can display
the sensor that watches what is coming off the food
the cavity temperature sensor
the sensor on the steam-cooking models
the control's own self-check
the door interlocks or the keypad
the boards inside have stopped agreeing
an open circuit, a time setting refused, or the swing heater
the sensor-cooking side, and the weight sensing that goes with it
the temperature sensor, open, short or out of range
the second sensor family, plus cooling and a door report
the control's own memory
the humidity sensor, and the steam sensor on models that have one
The same digits mean different things on different equipment. Search the full code list
In more detail
About Samsung microwave error code E-81
What E-81 means on this make
Open, short and general communication errors, two additional open and short reports, plus -SE- for a key short and TE for a touch communication error. The last two are the family people meet most: a panel that has a key reading as pressed, or a touch controller that has stopped answering, which looks from the kitchen like a dead microwave.
The other ways Samsung prints this one
E-81 · E-82 · E-83 · E-X1 · E-X2 · -SE- · TE
Samsung publishes a condition and then every string that can stand for it, and which one your machine shows depends on the panel it was built with. They mean the same thing and they are one page here, so whichever of them you searched for, this is the right page.
Where this appears, and why not to clear it
On the appliance's own display. Samsung reports errors two ways: machines with a digital display show a code, and the same machines without one blink their cycle lights instead. Both are published by the maker and both are on this site. Photograph what the panel shows before cutting the power — Samsung asks for this itself on its refrigerator and dishwasher pages, and it is the one thing that makes a first visit more useful. A code that has been reset is information a technician no longer has.
What to do about it
- Unplug the microwave, or switch it off at the breaker.
- If the electronics have recently met moisture — a spill, or steam from the cooktop below an over-the-range unit — give it time to dry out before doing anything else. Otherwise wait about sixty seconds.
- Switch it back on and see whether the code returns.
- If it does, write down the exact characters. On this table the digit matters, and it is what tells a technician which sensor is reporting.
Where this goes next
The job this usually becomes is microwave repair, and that page carries a starting figure and the reasons that move it. If it turns out to be nothing — and on this make a real share of these are modes, reminders and settings rather than problems — the visit ends there and you pay the diagnostic and nothing else, or call (305) 506-1256 and describe what the panel is doing before booking anything.
This article is based on:
- Official manufacturer documentation
- Internal repair procedures
- Technician repair history
- Company quality standards