Samsung Refrigerator error code PC ER
Panel communication error
Which models this applies to. This page covers the Samsung refrigerator codes.
What is specific to the Refrigerator platform
Two-digit codes here differ from the washer set, so a Samsung fridge code is never a Samsung washer code.
Your control board prints the code as text, for example F01 or EE3, so you read it off the display rather than counting blinks. The printed number is the fault itself, not a position in a table.
Quick answer
On Samsung Refrigerator (2000s onward), PC ER is a fault. It means panel communication error. A first thing to check: Door harness or ribbon cable connector loose, corroded, or pinched in the hinge.
- Applies to
- Samsung Refrigerator
- Samsung refrigerator codes · Refrigerator · 2000s onward
- Type of code
- Fault
- Urgency: Needs attention soon
- First safe check
- Unplug the cabinet and check the display and the panel connectors at both ends of the door harness.
What PC ER means on this model
The display panel and the board behind it are not exchanging messages, usually over the ribbon or wires running through the door hinge. Nothing the panel asks for will work until the link is back.
Symptoms you will notice
- Display blank, dim, or showing a communication message
- Panel shows a code with letters such as PC ER or PC CH
- No settings respond from the panel
- Fault appears after a power cut
Common causes
The code tells you what the control detected, not which part failed. These are the causes we see most often, roughly in order of likelihood:
- Door harness or ribbon cable connector loose, corroded, or pinched in the hinge
- Harness chafed where it flexes through the door hinge
- Main board output failed
- Display panel itself failed
- Moisture or a spill at the top of the cabinet reaching the panel
What you can safely check
These are homeowner-level checks. None of them need you to open a live electrical compartment or work on gas.
- Unplug the cabinet and check the display and the panel connectors at both ends of the door harness.
- Open the hinge cover and look for a harness that is crushed or cut where the door swings.
- Look for water staining around the top of the cabinet interior.
Do not do these
- ×Do not open the panel itself. It is not a serviceable part and it can hold a charge.
- ×Do not run the cabinet with a door harness pinched, since that is exactly how the fault reappears.
When to call a technician
Book a technician, do not keep resetting it
This fault will not clear on its own. Every power cycle gives the control one more failed attempt, and repeated attempts are what turn a cheap part replacement into a seized or contaminated system.
- If the appliance has stopped mid-cycle, is making a noise you have not heard before, or smells burnt, stop reading here and call. Those are symptoms of something the fault code does not describe well enough.
Technician work. A visual check of the hinge harness with the power off is a reasonable owner task.
What it costs to fix
Parts
Door harness $60 to $200. Main board $150 to $450. Display panel $150 to $400.
Labor
One to two and a half hours.
DIY or technician
Technician work. A visual check of the hinge harness with the power off is a reasonable owner task.
Typical US part and labor ranges, 2026. They vary by region, model and contractor, so treat them as a planning figure, not a quote.
Scope of this code
- Code table
- Samsung refrigerator codes
- How this model reports the code
- Printed on the control display
- Models in scope
- Samsung Refrigerator, 2015 onward
- How this platform differs
- Two-digit codes here differ from the washer set, so a Samsung fridge code is never a Samsung washer code.
- Checked
- Confirm on your own unit
- Find the model number on the data plate, then check this code in the service manual for that model. Manufacturers revise code tables between model years, and a revised board can renumber a fault.