Repair Journal | Philips 42PF9631D/37

PHILIPS 42PF9631D/37 | 42" PLASMA DISPLAY W/AMBILIGHT

SYMPTOMS: When plugged in, TV has green power LED. However, when the power button is pressed, the TV's relay clicks once or twice before giving up and gives the "7 red blinks" error code. If you look in a service manual, it will say that 7 blinks is a "total failure" or something similar. 

DIAGNOSIS: Total failure sounds decidedly bad and prepares you for news of the same nature. It's too bad, really, that the nice people at Philips couldn't be more helpful. This model is one that is affected by the notorious bulging capacitor issue. The capacitors are a brand named "Samwha," which are made by (you guessed it) an Eastern company! Although, this time, I feel as though it's just poor component choice and bad circuit design that leads so many of these Philips TV's down the road to destruction. 

SOLUTION: The values on the caps are 3300uF 10V. I chose to replace them with 3300uF 16V in hopes that they will last longer. TV works great after installation of new caps at locations C8060 and C8059. 

DIY INSTRUCTIONS:

What you'll need:

1. #10 Torx screwdriver [This one works fine]
2. #2 Phillips-head (cross-head) screwdriver
3. Two (2) 3300uF 16V Capacitors [Buy them at Digikey]
4. Soldering iron (and soldering skills)

• NOTE: I use Chemtronics Chem-Wik to desolder components, but you can use a solder sucker or whatever other methods you find to be appropriate. Through-hole components are some of the easiest to work with, so you shouldn't have too much trouble. Use YouTube if you really need help and/or have not ever soldered before. I also find a pair of needle-nose pliers to be helpful, and keep a pair of wire-cutters around to snip the leads once you solder in the new components. 

How to:

DISCLAIMER: Anything you do when following advice from this blog in its entirety is completely and utterly up to you. This means that I am not responsible for your injuries and/or death if you choose to attempt a DIY repair. There are extremely high voltages involved depending on which repair you are attempting to complete, and proper precautions should be taken. Turn off your TV, unplug it from the wall, and unplug the power cord from the set itself. Let it sit for at least 10 minutes to allow for complete discharge. NEVER OPEN A SET OR PROBE AROUND WITH THE TELEVISION PLUGGED IN IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING AT. Okay, rant over. Be safe, people.

1. This TV weighs 97 lbs. so it is strongly advised that you find a friend to help you out when moving it around. Prepare a flat surface that will not scratch or mar the PDP or the bezel (e.g. your dining room table with a towel or two laid out on it). 
2. Carefully place the TV on the work area, screen down. 
3. This particular set allows easy access to the PSU via service door. That is, there is a rectangular section of the cover that will come off without having to pull the whole cover. Grab your Torx 10 Screwdriver and be ready to take out a lot of screws.

   

   Here is the back "sub-cover" after screws have been removed.

   

   An example of what screws you will be taking out.

4. Once you remove the cover, you'll see a board with a lot of heat sinks. This is the PSU. You'll need to remove a good amount of cables from the headers on the board. Refer to the images below to help you locate all of them.

   

   Top left of board: Three different harnesses to be removed.

   

   Bottom left of board: Four harnesses.

   

   Bottom center of board: a somewhat hidden harness.
   

   

   Bottom right of board: main power supply cord.

5. Next, use your #2 Phillips Screwdriver to remove all of the board screws (I believe there are about seven of them). It should easily lift right up and out of the TV.
6. I won't go over how to solder in new capacitors, and if you need help figuring that out, please get a hold of me. I don't think you should really be inside your TV if you don't even have basic soldering knowledge, however. 
7. Everything from here on out is just doing it in reverse!
8. Here, I have an example of what bad capacitors look like. They are bulging on the top and one is leaking a slight amount of fluid.

   

   Left: leaking fluid and bulging; Right: bulging

9. Here are the two new capacitors safely installed on the board.

Locations C8060 & C8059

Zoomed-out view for help locating the caps.

I wish you all luck with your Philips televisions, and hope that you can get a few more years out of your purchase. Thank you all for reading this blog, and please feel free to contact me if you would like to guest post or have some information to add to an existing post! And of course, you are more than welcome to get a hold of me if you need help with any of your television repair projects. 

Blu-ray Disc Player will not play new movies!

You just brought home your slick lookin' new BD Player and a stack of Blu-ray Discs as well. It's all hooked up, the TV powers on and the brand logo flashes triumphantly on the screen. You pop in a movie, and after a few minutes of trying to read the disc, the player says it cannot be played. What! This is brand new, there's no way it's already broken! You're right, it's not broken. However, your firmware may be out of date. Most manufacturers make it super easy to update the firmware, and best of all, it's free!

If your BD Player has internet connectivity, it's as easy as navigating through a few menus and letting it download and install the newest firmware. Check your user manual to find out if you are this lucky.

If your BD Player does not include internet connectivity, there will at least be a service USB port in the back. You will need to download firmware from the manufacturer site (usually in a zipped file) and put the data on a thumb drive. Any old USB flash drive will do, as the firmware is generally not a large file. There are plenty of tutorials out there for extracting a zipped file onto a flash drive if you need help doing so. Samsung includes instructions on their site for updating their devices' firmware, too. I use WINRAR to unpack and extract .zip and .rar files. Once it's on the drive, you simply plug it in and wait (in most cases). A menu will pop up showing the current version of firmware and the version on the thumb drive. Be sure the firmware you want to install is the latest version and select "OK." You're home free; the firmware will install and the unit will shut itself off. The next time you power up, you'll be updated and ready to go!

Keep in mind that this is a general guide and not a model or brand-specific tutorial. If you have questions, refer to your user manual, manufacturer website, or get a hold of me in the comments or otherwise. Have fun with the excellent picture quality offered by your new BD Player!

Repair Journal | LG 42LV4400 | 47LV4400 | 55LV4400 | 32LV2400

LG 42LV4400-UA.CUSYLH | LCD TV
SYMPTOMS: Dead set. It won't turn on at all.
DIAGNOSIS: This model specifically, along with a few others by LG have what's called a FLASH IC on the motherboard (MAIN PCB). This is the most common point of failure.
SOLUTION: Replace the FLASH IC for your model. If this cannot be done, replace the MAIN PCB for your model. Listed below are the different models affected, part numbers for their respective MAIN PCB's and FLASH IC's, and the location code for each IC.

55LV4400

• Main PCB: COV31310901
• Flash IC: COV31451701
• Location: U14

47LV4400

• Main PCB: COV31310801
• Flash IC: COV31451801
• Location: U18

42LV4400

• Main PCB: COV31310701
• Flash IC: COV31451901
• Location: U18

32LV2400

• Main PCB: COV31310601
• Flash IC: COV31452001
• Location: U18

Here are some picture references if you need help finding the Flash IC on the MAIN PCB:

Model No. 55LV4400 Location U14

All other affected models Location U18

As an added tip, make sure you find or acquire a fine tip (puns suck sometimes) for your soldering iron. It will make things a lot easier, trust me. If you are having trouble soldering the connections (and they are VERY small connections, trust me on that, too) it's normal. The best thing you can do is minimize the time the soldering iron makes contact with the part/pcb so that it does not become damaged from heat. If you have some copper braid like Chem-Wik, you will find it very helpful in the desoldering process. A solder sucker may also work well, but I have found I have no affinity for solder suckers (just a personal preference). Anyway, good luck and have fun!

Repair Journal | Samsung UN22D5003BF | UN32D4003BD

SAMSUNG UN22D5003BF | UN32D4003BD | LCD TV
SYMPTOMS: Dead set.
DIAGNOSIS: With no power indicators or anything, I always suspect the PSU. I am lucky enough to have a Samsung test jig for 2011/12 model LCD televisions. This confirmed my suspicion.
SOLUTION: I have worked with two (2) different sets with this model code, and they both had bad PSU/INVERTER boards. The combo board is used in a lot of the new LED LCD sets. This fixed the problem in the 22" set (UN22D5003BF), but in the 32" set, the PSU fixed the TV for less than one month. The PSU did not go bad a second time, but the MAIN PCB shorted out, eliciting the same symptoms. Keep this in mind if you choose to repair this yourself. If it's still under warranty, let Samsung pay for the repair.

As always, for help finding parts or executing the repair, feel free to comment or contact me otherwise.

Repair Journal | OLEVIA 242-S11

OLEVIA 242-S11 | LCD TV
SYMPTOMS: Having difficulty powering on at first, and issue worsened (power up time was slower, TV would sometimes shut itself off, multiple power attempts required, etc.) until the set went completely dead.
DIAGNOSIS: In cases like these, it seems as though the TV doesn't get enough power. Essentially, that is correct. The issue here is a common one. Bad capacitors. In these Olevia sets, there are a few capacitors that usually go out. You will be able to tell if they are bad by the trademark bulge on top.
SOLUTION: Acquired the correct values of capacitors and replaced the bad ones on the PSU. Keep in mind I normally go up a voltage rating (i.e. old cap is a 1000uF 16V; replace with a 1000uF 25V). Here's the capacitors you may or may not need:

• 1000uF 50V and 25V (up from 35V/16V)
• 680uF 25V (up from 16V)
• 1500uF 25V (up from 16V)

If you have questions on repairing one of these models with the same issue, take some good pictures of the PSU and contact me. I'll help you out if I can!

Repair Journal | Viewsonic N4285P

VIEWSONIC N4285P | LCD TV
SYMPTOMS: Set turns itself on and off.
DIAGNOSIS: When a TV does weird things power wise, what do you think should be the culprit? The power supply! Check for bulging capacitors and output voltages. If anything seems off, the PSU is probably shot.
SOLUTION: Order new PSU and replace it. If you are unsure about things (as DIY repairmen often are), just replace the whole PSU. I do the same thing for efficiency reasons and because it's sometimes difficult to find a short if you don't have a schematic. The TV is still working great after many months with its new PSU!

Repair Journal | Mitsubishi LT-40153

Welcome to my very first REPAIR JOURNAL! I am constantly receiving jobs involving TV's and miscellaneous other consumer electronics. When you see the "REPAIR JOURNAL" tag anywhere on this blog, know that it is in relation to a specific experience with a specific model. This is NOT a tutorial and none of this should be considered a blanket statement or a fix that will work 100% of the time. Everything is situation based. That said, the tips and tricks found in REPAIR JOURNALS are meant to enhance your understanding of what may or may not work and will help you build your knowledge base in relation to general repair.

MITSUBISHI LT-40153 | LCD TV

SYMPTOMS: No audio. Video OK.
DIAGNOSIS: The set's issue is with the audio signal. In an LCD TV, the signal processing is handled by the MAIN PCB (motherboard). That is where all the inputs are (i.e. component video, composite video, VGA, HDMI, etc.), so it handles the audio and video signals, hence why we suspect it is the culprit in this case.
SOLUTION: I simply ordered a new MAIN PCB and installed it. Works like a charm.

For TV parts, try out eBay, ShopJimmy, and Encompass Parts. Need help finding the correct part? Let me know. I'll do my best to help you find a budget-friendly solution.

Sony convergence issues and the STK392-XXX

If you own a SONY DLP and are experiencing convergence issues, this is the post for you! What is convergence? You might have a convergence issue if the picture appears "3D" or looks like there are three (3) different colored instances of the same picture that don't quite overlap. This means the TV's convergence circuit isn't properly placing each of the red, green and blue images in the correct place. In some cases, you are able to adjust settings in the menus or otherwise to correct this problem. Sometimes, though, it really is a problem with the circuitry. Here's a few pictures to give you an idea of what it looks like when your convergence is off:

Don't chicken out. This repair will be simpler than you think!

It's going to be tough to navigate like this...

Somehow, this doesn't seem like Dish Network's problem this time.

If you are staring at a picture similar to these and you are the proud (or not so proud) owner of a SONY DLP, here's what you do!

DISCLAIMER: You WILL have to know how to solder. If you haven't had experience with this, then find someone else who does so that you don't pull your hair out trying to do this. You WILL have to remove a PCB from the TV to service it and it CAN be a little bit tricky if you've never done it before. 

If you want the easiest route, visit this link. They sell a whole kit complete with all the needed parts, supplies and instructions.

If you want the budget friendly route and know what you're doing with a soldering iron and a meter, go ahead and order some replacement IC's. The convergence IC's are commonly 392STK-560's or something similar. I keep STK392-570's (yes, you are reading correctly. It is 570 as opposed to 560) in stock for these repairs. They should be around twenty to thirty (20-30) dollars for the two of them. Find them here on Amazon. You'll also want some thermal paste (like the stuff you use to seat your CPU in your computer) to properly install the new IC's with their respective heat sinks. Everyone has their favorite, but here's the page for Arctic Silver on Amazon for under ten (10) dollars.

So yeah, for a mere fifty dollars or so, you'll be a happy camper again. I will not go into detail here on how to go about such a repair, but feel free to contact me in the comments or otherwise if you need a little more guidance. I have done many of these repairs personally, and have had a great success rate. There have only been two instances in which this did not fix the problem. Have fun!