Alright, time for a small technical article.
Many of you TV Repair Enthusiasts are probably all like "what is an EEPROM?" Then, you Google it, and come up with "Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory." Right. Makes sense.
Not.
I get it. Everyone has struggled through learning technical mumbo-jumbo. Herein I make an attempt to explain EEPROM (insofar as TV's are concerned) in layman's terms.
What is EEPROM?
Look at a motherboard (main PCB) from a television. You'll be able to locate an 8-pin IC somewhere on the board, usually smaller than your fingernail. Tiny! But yes, it's there. That little IC stores information such as operating frequencies, settings, etc.
The cool thing about this whole shebang is that the EEPROM does not lose data when there is no power. This is why you can set all of your picture settings on your monitor or TV, power it down, unplug it and move it to a new location and still retain all of the settings when you power it up again. Neat!
The IC on your motherboard was programmed with the factory settings when it was manufactured.
How do I know my EEPROM has been corrupted?
While it's kind of rare, sometimes EEPROM data becomes corrupted when static discharge or high voltage spikes occur. It can seem like your TV is completely dead because it won't power on. Perhaps you cannot change settings such as brightness, contrast, audio settings, etc. Or maybe you can change them, but they simply will not save. Another thing that can happen is your TV will run for a moment and shut down unexpectedly or run for awhile and then randomly turn itself off. These are all very puzzling symptoms, but can all be associated with corrupted EEPROM data.
What can be done?
Nothing can be done without a programmer, that is, assuming you do not wish to purchase a new IC. Often times, if this is a common problem with your television, sellers will have pre-programmed EEPROM's available. If this is the case, you can simply replace the EEPROM (assuming you are confident enough to solder SMD's*).
Otherwise, if you're tech savvy, you may wish to purchase an EEPROM programmer and try to find a source for the factory data. Either way, you can get your TV working good as new and for under $20.00 in most cases.
*Surface Mount Devices
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Thanks for reading, and if you have questions, you may post them in the comments as always!
-Craig
