THIS IS RIDICULOUS!! I've spent 6 hours today trying to fix this problem. WHY? Because "customer service" is completely non-existent. "The virus" has shut down all their customer service, though other companies seem to be able to cope. And no online chat. Just "articles" and "community". Anyway, remote wouldn't power on or off tv, or control volume. I repaired, I shut down and unplugged and changed batteries all multiple times and sacrificed a chicken and finally got volume control, but when I try to power on it takes literally 10 minutes to come on. Now it's the same for my own TV remote.
This could have been answered in a couple of minutes by a service agent. But it's only my 6 hours of time (with no solution in sight).