Philips 55PFL8008S/12 two blink error code

[Dvsr]

Hi. This noob needs help with this TV.

Symptoms: TV haven't always turned on but when it has, it has been working normally. The TV was sitting in the storage for about an year and after that time for a few days it worked perfectly and turned on every time. But then it suddenly won't turn on anymore and just shows two blinks with standby light.

I disassembled the back cover and examined the circuit boards. I didn't notice anything obvious with PCBs and components. I measured the voltage rails. In the connector that connects to logic board every voltage is present and correct. But in the connector that goes to the screen both 56.1 V rails measured only about 45 V.

Then I looked at the boards with my thermal camera. Two spots were getting quite hot pretty fast. They can be seen in my attachments. I also marked the "hot spots" in red in the pictures. Other component is in power supply board capacitor C612 221K 1KV. I remember measuring it and it's capacitance would be fine. The other component getting hot is in the logic board under the antenna connector's shield. It seems like a some kind of SMD chip. I couldn't examine it since I haven't removed the shield. But from the hole in the shield I could measure its temperature.
Also the processor's(?) white large heatsink was getting warm but don't know how hot the chip itself was getting.

I'm completely amateur with TV's and repairs. I have no idea what should I do next. Any help is greatly appreciated and thanks in advance for the kind wizards who might help me!

[Dvsr]

Re: Philips 55PFL8008S/12 two blink error code

I have to add that earlier I didn't find the repair manual but now I found it!

https://elektrotanya.com/philips_cha.../download.html

[todor]

Re: Philips 55PFL8008S/12 two blink error code

Hi. This noob needs help with this TV.

Symptoms: TV haven't always turned on but when it has, it has been working normally. The TV was sitting in the storage for about an year and after that time for a few days it worked perfectly and turned on every time. But then it suddenly won't turn on anymore and just shows two blinks with standby light.

I disassembled the back cover and examined the circuit boards. I didn't notice anything obvious with PCBs and components. I measured the voltage rails. In the connector that connects to logic board every voltage is present and correct. But in the connector that goes to the screen both 56.1 V rails measured only about 45 V.

Then I looked at the boards with my thermal camera. Two spots were getting quite hot pretty fast. They can be seen in my attachments. I also marked the "hot spots" in red in the pictures. Other component is in power supply board capacitor C612 221K 1KV. I remember measuring it and it's capacitance would be fine. The other component getting hot is in the logic board under the antenna connector's shield. It seems like a some kind of SMD chip. I couldn't examine it since I haven't removed the shield. But from the hole in the shield I could measure its temperature.
Also the processor's(?) white large heatsink was getting warm but don't know how hot the chip itself was getting.

I'm completely amateur with TV's and repairs. I have no idea what should I do next. Any help is greatly appreciated and thanks in advance for the kind wizards who might help me!

This chassis is very capricious. First of all, you need to rebolt the processor and then you need to overwrite the nan flash with working software. If it works, you need to improve the cooling of the processor (under the white radiator). In my opinion, the cooling is not calculated right and that's where the problems come from

[yokoono]

Re: Philips 55PFL8008S/12 two blink error code

That capacitor creates big problems in the Philips power supply. DO NOT START AGAIN. Replace the capacitor with another one of 2Kv.

[nomoresonys]

Re: Philips 55PFL8008S/12 two blink error code

maybe try switching out the ceramic cap for one of those, see if it helps: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...fLoc=2&_sop=15

[nomoresonys]

Re: Philips 55PFL8008S/12 two blink error code

ok, Yokoono beat me to post, lol.

[Dvsr]

Re: Philips 55PFL8008S/12 two blink error code

Thanks for quick replies!

This chassis is very capricious. First of all, you need to rebolt the processor and then you need to overwrite the nan flash with working software. If it works, you need to improve the cooling of the processor (under the white radiator). In my opinion, the cooling is not calculated right and that's where the problems come from

I'm sorry but have to ask what do you mean by rebolting the processor? Do you mean reflowing? I have no idea how to overwrite nan flash Can you give some information or guide me towards instructions?

[Dvsr]

Re: Philips 55PFL8008S/12 two blink error code

That capacitor creates big problems in the Philips power supply. DO NOT START AGAIN. Replace the capacitor with another one of 2Kv.

maybe try switching out the ceramic cap for one of those, see if it helps: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...fLoc=2&_sop=15

Thank you both! I'm going to buy and replace that capacitor first. I contacted the local electronics store and ordered 220 pF 2 kV one. If I'm lucky it might arrive this week. I will inform you after changing the cap and testing the power supply!

[nomoresonys]

Re: Philips 55PFL8008S/12 two blink error code

I usually order a few of them in case anything goes wrong.

[nomoresonys]

Re: Philips 55PFL8008S/12 two blink error code

Those lit up very well, which thermal camera do you have?

[Dvsr]

Re: Philips 55PFL8008S/12 two blink error code

I usually order a few of them in case anything goes wrong.

Same for me. I think they will order at least ten of those so they'll have them in stock too. I'll take few of them.

Those lit up very well, which thermal camera do you have?

Yes, this camera is very sensitive! My camera is Guide IR PC210. I did quite a lot of research before acquiring. I found this one providing best bang for buck in a "budget" category (compared to professional cameras). I also have a macro lens so it can also be used to examine SMD components for example.

[nomoresonys]

Re: Philips 55PFL8008S/12 two blink error code

ok, yes looks like a very capable camera, thanks.

[Dvsr]

Re: Philips 55PFL8008S/12 two blink error code

I received the caps and replaced the original 221 pF 1 kV with 221 pF 2 kV. I then connected all the connectors. When I plugged the TV in I noticed that things got worse. Almost instantly when I only plug the power cord the capacitors temperature starts to rise rapidly. But this time it goes up to over 90 °C... With the original cap it heated up to only about 60 °C.

And now the TV won't even start to show that error code.

I'm completely clueless what to do next.

[Diah]

Re: Philips 55PFL8008S/12 two blink error code

put back yours original 22iPF in place.. and rework soldering on the wholw back side... in case you don't have good magnifier to scope soldering points

[Maalobs]

Re: Philips 55PFL8008S/12 two blink error code

You might be following a red herring; the TV set is helpfully providing you an error code so why not investigate that clue instead.

The repeating two blinks means that you have a layer-1 error code 2.
If you take a look in table 5-2 in the service manual, you will see that they are all related to the system board ("SSB"):


This old model TV has a hardware SDM feature (see section 5.2.1 and figure 5-1), where you can force the TV to blink the more specific layer-2 error code by soldering a jumper wire from the SDM point to the nearest GND point on the system board:


When that's done, connect the mains power again and wait for the blinking to begin.
It can take several minutes before the blinking begins if the underlying problem is a fall to protection mode as described in the flowcharts in section 5.3, because the device will cycle through several reboot attempts before finally giving up and entering the protection mode, so just wait patiently.

The two digits of the layer-2 code will blink at two different speeds followed by a longer delay, then the two digits will repeat.
Another feature of the SDM mode is that it overrides the protection mode behaviour where most of the power rails are disabled.
Having SDM enabled leaves all power rails enabled while in protection mode, so they can all be measured correctly.

The most likely outcome is that you will get layer-2 error code 53, it's unfortunately a design error in this chassis, be it deliberate or accidental.
The main processor's heatsink is woefully undersized, which results in the BGA-type processor to heatwarp the PCB and over time some of the underlying pads on the PCB will disconnect from the processor.
The solution for this is two-fold:
1. The Fusion processor needs to be reflowed in the correct manner to regain contact with all the pads again.
2. The heatsink needs to be replaced with something bigger (it's a common form factor), and you need to make a ventilation hole in the plastic back chassis where the processor is located, as pioneered by Alpengeist, and you can see several successful examples of that here.
If you only reflow the processor and don't solve the underlying cause of the heatwarping, you will eventually end up in the same situation again, like this poor guy.

But you might have some other layer-2 error, so investigate it and let us know.

[Dvsr]

Re: Philips 55PFL8008S/12 two blink error code

put back yours original 22iPF in place.. and rework soldering on the wholw back side... in case you don't have good magnifier to scope soldering points

I will check them out and put the old cap in if I only find it.

You might be following a red herring; the TV set is helpfully providing you an error code so why not investigate that clue instead.

Thanks for the thorough guiding! Sad to see that kind of flaws. I will try to get out more accurate error code. Lets see what happens.

[Dvsr]

Re: Philips 55PFL8008S/12 two blink error code

I changed the old capacitor back and connected SDM to ground with a jumper wire. After waiting for a while the blinking started. And it was five short blinks and three fast ones. So you were right. While the TV was powered I measured voltages of the L_CA and R_CA pins in the connector which goes to the backlight(?) and it was still around 45 volts.

Great thing that the faulty part was confirmed! But reflowing the processor is complicated thing for me. I have never reflown any chips especially this size. I only know the basics of that process. Any advice on that is greatly appreciated.
I have Yihua 853AAA (in the picture) but don't know if I would need better equipment for even trying to reflow the processor.

I have to also ask from the local hacklab if there happens to be someone who is experienced with this kind of stuff.

[nomoresonys]

Re: Philips 55PFL8008S/12 two blink error code

Maalobs nailed it.

[Maalobs]

Re: Philips 55PFL8008S/12 two blink error code

If you don't want to risk it yourself, look for local repair shops for Playstations and things like that, bring the systemboard to one of those places and ask them to reflow the BGA chip for you.

Once that has been taken care of, there is yet another issue you might have to look into.
The Linux system on this board has not been properly configured to minimize write-cycles to the NAND storage.
That means that the NAND could be very dodgy by now.

You can find out how bad it is by recording the boot log from the system, and you can do that by hooking up the RXD and GND of a 3.3V TTL-adapter to these pads on the unpopulated debug port 1CV5:


TXD-SERVICE on pin 8 is the output from the MIPS Fusion processor, that's the interesting one.
It transmits at 115200 bps.

TXD-STANDBY on pin 2 is the output from the 8051 standby microcontroller, which is actually located in the same big chip.
It transmits at 57600 bps.

You need a USB-to-TTL adapter, here's a couple of options in Perkele land:
https://www.partco.fi/fi/raspberry-p...42-ada954.html
http://robomaa.fi/usb-to-ttl-serial-...Serial%20Cable

The Adafruit one is 100% legit, the other one maybe, the problem is that adapters at half the price of the Adafruit have the pirated chip that doesn't work with the signed Windows drivers, so you can only use the cheap pirated adapters with Linux.
On the computer the adapter shows up as a normal COM-port and you just use any free serial terminal program against it.

Get yourself a set of these while you're at it, it will make things much easier, and the whole kit is quite useful for other things too if you are the curious kind:
http://robomaa.fi/ic-hook-with-pigtail

Anyway, with that in place and the processor properly reflowed so it successfully boots, you can record what's generated to the boot log from the moment you plug mains power into the TV.

The output will show any issues that the standby POST and the Linux system can identify.
The number of lines with mention of "fixable bit-flip" is the number of bit errors in the NAND-chip, you can see here for a reference.
It's probably bad and you can start looking for used replacements for the NAND on Aliexpress, which have been stripped from recycled electronics.

Ask the hacklab if they have a flash programmer that supports NAND and EMMC, and if they have a TSOP48 socket adapter for it.

Or you can just forget about dealing with the NAND and decide that it will constitute the natural life span of this TV.
But you must deal with the cooling after the reflow, look for a matching northbridge heatsink on your old PC motherboards.

[Dvsr]

Re: Philips 55PFL8008S/12 two blink error code

Wow. You are a genius! And thank you so much for taking your time to write all that and help me! I really appreciate it.
Your instructions are very clear. I will try to fix the tv but it will take some time.
I try to find someone who is more experienced with reflowing. And if I don't find one near me or with reasonable price I will have to try it myself. I'm going to learn that skill anyway but this project is a bit pricey to be my practice item.