Video Issues with Samsung LCD LN46B640R3F

[dlhodgson]

I have a 46" Samsung LCD that is having some serious video issues. It started 3-4 months ago as thin black lines running horizontally across the screen (and from top to bottom, every 1/4"-1/2" or so). This was an annoyance, but it wasn't a deal breaker as you could still watch shows and the lines weren't very noticeable unless you knew they was there. Well, they annoyed me but my wife didn't notice them much.

Then after about 2 months, the screen started to get random red and yellow vertical lines. They would come on after a minute (or less) of viewing and seemed to change position based on what was being played. The picture would also be temporarily burnt-in if you changed the channel. This was too much and so I brought the TV downstairs to start trying to fix it.

I did call Samsung due to the recent Class Action Lawsuit and unfortunately my model is not one of the models covered so they said they could have a service tech contact me for a repair quote. They also recommended that I update the firmware, reset the picture & TV, and tried all types of components (TV, DVD, PC, etc), but the lines still show up every time.

I'm hoping someone on this forum can recognize these problems and give me an idea of what the problem might be. If it's not too expensive, like the entire LCD Panel needing to be replaced, I'll fix it myself. Otherwise, this LCD will be in the electronics recycling in my town. Thanks.

[retiredcaps]

Originally Posted by dlhodgson

Otherwise, this LCD will be in the electronics recycling in my town.

1) If you bring up the onscreen menu (something like setup), does the setup menu have these lines too?

2) People will happily pay $20 to $50 for non working TVs like yours on craigslist, kijiji, etc.

[dlhodgson]

Yes, the lines occur during the setup menu as well. I would probably sell it on Craigslist if the fix proves to be too expensive.

[retiredcaps]

1) It might be the t-con card. Usually used t-con cards go for about $20 to $25 on ebay, but for your model, there is only one for auction at $60 (too much IMHO).

2) Before buying anything, reseat and clean every connection originating from the t-con card. It looks like this

http://www.ebay.com/itm/130632127892

and normally sits near the top of the TV and could be hidden behind some metal shielding.

3) Be careful with the connectors as they can be fragile.

4) If you are lucky, reseating and cleaning it is all that is required.

5) Otherwise, you can lurk on ebay hoping for a $20 t-con in the near future.

6) If you have not opened up the TV to look for bad capacitors, there is a small possibility it could be bad capacitors as well.

[dlhodgson]

So I opened the back up and started to get to the T-Con Board as you recommended. It looked OK and then I looked at the board with the capacitors on it and found mayhem!!! I counted 21 Capacitors that look to be bad as they're spilling goo out of them.

At this point, I still can't believe this model is not part of the Samsung Capacitor Class Action Lawsuit so I may send these pictures to them. However, they never responded to the last two messages I sent them showing the pictures of the TV screen I posted on this forum.

What is this board called? Is it worth trying to replace all of these capacitors or would it be smarter to replace the board. I'm leaning towards the capacitors since a new board may have the same capacitors. Any thoughts on what you're seeing here and how I should proceed?

Thank you so much for the help!

[jetadm123]

Actually, the white stuff you call "goo" is an adhesive used to hold the parts in place during the assembly process. And some of the components you are calling capacitors are resistors.

[dlhodgson]

So I guess I should keep on trying to clean the connections on the t-con card like retiredcaps suggest...which ones are the capacitors so I can double check them?

Thanks for the response - would have been embarrassing if I contacted Samsung and was talking about the wrong thing!

[richr69]

Hi dlhodgson,

Take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague to see examples of the badcaps.

[budm]

Yes, try cleaning and re-seating the cable first, you may want to read this also.
http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=19852

[cashkennedy]

You will almost never be able to tell a tcon is bad from looking at the board. Infact Tcons almost always look like the freshest, best soldered board in the whole TV, and look brand new. Usually you replace the tcon once youve cleaned and reseated the cables a few time, and have ruled out other possible errors. (Assuming the symptoms of the problem match common tcon failures like in the pdf budm linked)

[justlock]

So, was there a final diagnosis, have a TV with the exact same problem, already swapped out the tcon board on my beast, no help