Polaroid TLA-04011c Red Light on, no power on

[Dgtech]

Re: Polaroid TLA-04011c Red Light on, no power on

Out of circuit. Black lead to negative (striped) side. Some Fluke meters auto range on capacitance checking but it's better to manually set the range.

[ryn0909]

Re: Polaroid TLA-04011c Red Light on, no power on

I don't see why. There are several compatible main boards on eBay available for under $130 delivered. Granted, a Polaroid is a poor excuse for a TV, but your friend could still wind up with a working 40" TV for about half the price of a new one.

PlainBill

Hey PlainBill, i just installed the board i purchased off of ebay. I plugged the power cord into the tv, the red light came on as usual, i pressed the power button and the blue light came on. However the screen is still black. i press the power button again and the blue light goes off and the red light comes on, like its suppossed to. Ive tried the ch. up ch. down and menu buttons and nothing changed. Any advice or suggestions?

[PlainBill]

Re: Polaroid TLA-04011c Red Light on, no power on

Hey PlainBill, i just installed the board i purchased off of ebay. I plugged the power cord into the tv, the red light came on as usual, i pressed the power button and the blue light came on. However the screen is still black. i press the power button again and the blue light goes off and the red light comes on, like its suppossed to. Ive tried the ch. up ch. down and menu buttons and nothing changed. Any advice or suggestions?

1. Compare the numbers on all labels on original board and replacement board.
2. Compare the positions of any jumpers on original and replacement boards.
3. Double check all connections, especially the cable to the tcon board.
4. Look for any sign the backlights come on when the TV is turned on.
5. Hook up a signal source such as a DVD player and step through all inputs to see if you can hear the sound. (The sound and video of a composite signal are processed through different paths. You should be able to hear the sound from a DVD being played even if you can't see the video).
6. Contact the seller.

PlainBill

[ryn0909]

Re: Polaroid TLA-04011c Red Light on, no power on

ok thanx, i will do that and let u know. so i take it that its a problem with the board i just got???

[PlainBill]

Re: Polaroid TLA-04011c Red Light on, no power on

ok thanx, i will do that and let u know. so i take it that its a problem with the board i just got???

You wouldn't be the first guy to buy a board that turned out to be bad. You also wouldn't be the first guy who discovered he forgot to connect a cable.

PlainBill

[ryn0909]

Re: Polaroid TLA-04011c Red Light on, no power on

LMAO!!! ohhh man did you call that one ...... sure enough i had left the power cable going to the backlights unplugged. So, now i have backlight on the screen. And if i wait for a minute or two, with it powered on, ill get some verticle lines on the screen. And thats all. I did hook up an audio & video input source,VGA from laptop and composite rca's, no sound or picture. Now when i initially power it on, i do get a slight pop from the speakers.

[ryn0909]

Re: Polaroid TLA-04011c Red Light on, no power on

Here are some concerns i found with this new board. i dont know if they have anything to do with the problem but i figured id ask.
In the first picture "reversed.jpg" i noticed that the circled component is soldered to the board reversed compared to the the other board. i noticed it by looking at the the numbers on it and their orientation to the board.
In the second picture "jp1.jpg" one side of the board is the JP1 connector and the other side they joined pins 4 & 5 together. Now at the cable, pins 2,3, 4 are ground and pin 5 has no wire. The old board DID NOT have pins 4 & 5 connected.
In the third and fourth pictures "sideA.jpg & sideB.jpg" Side B, the circled component, is some kind of a bridge soldered to the board. In respect to its orientation to side a, i did an overlay of the bridge to give you an idea of what its bridging. Once again, the old board DID NOT have this.
I hope i havent confused the hell out of you. but thats where im at with this problem. Thanx again for all your previous help. i really do appreciate it.

[PlainBill]

Re: Polaroid TLA-04011c Red Light on, no power on

Here are some concerns i found with this new board. i dont know if they have anything to do with the problem but i figured id ask.
In the first picture "reversed.jpg" i noticed that the circled component is soldered to the board reversed compared to the the other board. i noticed it by looking at the the numbers on it and their orientation to the board.
In the second picture "jp1.jpg" one side of the board is the JP1 connector and the other side they joined pins 4 & 5 together. Now at the cable, pins 2,3, 4 are ground and pin 5 has no wire. The old board DID NOT have pins 4 & 5 connected.
In the third and fourth pictures "sideA.jpg & sideB.jpg" Side B, the circled component, is some kind of a bridge soldered to the board. In respect to its orientation to side a, i did an overlay of the bridge to give you an idea of what its bridging. Once again, the old board DID NOT have this.
I hope i havent confused the hell out of you. but thats where im at with this problem. Thanx again for all your previous help. i really do appreciate it.

First, a good bit of detective work. I've stared at boards like this for hourse trying to spot differences, I know how difficult it can be.

Picture 1. That component is a crystal; used to generate a precise frequency. It does not have a 'polarity', so that is not a problem.

Picture 2. That does not appear to be a problem. As closely as I can tell, pins 1-6 are all ground (You can verify this on the original board); only pin 7 carries a signal. Still, that's poor workmanship.

Pictures 3 and 4. I find this disturbing. The component that appears to be bridged is an inductor - used to reduce noise on a power supply line. There is a diode next to it, and an IC that might be part of a bucking DC-DC converter. I can fathom only one reason for that jumper - the inductor is defective (open). Bridging it like that is a REALLY bad idea.

Before returning it for replacement, I would look at the revision level of the two boards. If they are identical I would assume this is a bit of inexpert repair.

PlainBill

[ryn0909]

Re: Polaroid TLA-04011c Red Light on, no power on

is there a way to check that inductor in pics 3 & 4?? ill look online to see if i can find the specs on it. Could that be the reason for having no picture?

Here are the numbers off of the boards....
Old Board: 200-107-gt321xa-Ah REV: A
New Board: 200-107-gt321xa-Bh REV: B

So far the 3 concerns i found were just from doing a quick scan of the board. If you think i should, i will give it a thorough inspection and ill list any concerns i find. here is a pic of something i remembered about circut board components, those 2 dont sit flush

[PlainBill]

Re: Polaroid TLA-04011c Red Light on, no power on

is there a way to check that inductor in pics 3 & 4?? ill look online to see if i can find the specs on it. Could that be the reason for having no picture?

Here are the numbers off of the boards....
Old Board: 200-107-gt321xa-Ah REV: A
New Board: 200-107-gt321xa-Bh REV: B

So far the 3 concerns i found were just from doing a quick scan of the board. If you think i should, i will give it a thorough inspection and ill list any concerns i find. here is a pic of something i remembered about circut board components, those 2 dont sit flush

OK, there IS a difference in the revision level of the boards. Interesting.

The picture shows another example of sloppy workmanship, but it shouldn't cause this problem.

While I'm posting, take a look at this thread about a different Polaroid TV. In particular, note post 4.

PlainBill

[ryn0909]

Re: Polaroid TLA-04011c Red Light on, no power on

ok

[ryn0909]

Re: Polaroid TLA-04011c Red Light on, no power on

Im getting ready to contact the seller from ebay, but before i do that i wanna make sure i have all my ducks in order. So the board is definatly faulty then?

[PlainBill]

Re: Polaroid TLA-04011c Red Light on, no power on

Im getting ready to contact the seller from ebay, but before i do that i wanna make sure i have all my ducks in order. So the board is definatly faulty then?

I would say so. The Coppell TV repair blog specifically mentions the two versions are compatible. IF you have all the cables connected properly, etc, I would say you have received a defective board.

PlainBill

[ryn0909]

Re: Polaroid TLA-04011c Red Light on, no power on

thats what i was afraid of..... lol luck of the draw i guess. As far as the cables go, there is a ground cable that is attached to the cable that goes to JP4 on the main board, does it matter where it gets grounded to? or just as long as it goes to ground? attached is a pic of it, sorry its crappy quality, i took it with camera phone in low light.

[PlainBill]

Re: Polaroid TLA-04011c Red Light on, no power on

thats what i was afraid of..... lol luck of the draw i guess. As far as the cables go, there is a ground cable that is attached to the cable that goes to JP4 on the main board, does it matter where it gets grounded to? or just as long as it goes to ground? attached is a pic of it, sorry its crappy quality, i took it with camera phone in low light.

Yeah, crappy picture, but in this case, more than enough detail. The ground pigtail should be attached at the ground point closest to the connector. If I had to guess, that is the LVDS cable, a good ground is essential.

PlainBill

[ryn0909]

Re: Polaroid TLA-04011c Red Light on, no power on

yea, it is the one that connects to the center of the main board and runs straight up to a small square board at the very top center of the tv. i had it connected to one of the mounting screws for the power supply board, cuz i forgot where it was when i first took it off......... yea i know, not paying attention. lol

[ryn0909]

Re: Polaroid TLA-04011c Red Light on, no power on

ok well im getting closer to fixing it. On advise of the seller, i went ahead and removed the "homemade jumper" from the back of the board. I hooked it all back up and this time i secured that ground cable to one of the mounting screws for the "main board" this time. Prior to this time, i was securing it to a mounting screw on the "power supply board". When i turn it on, it will power up and now its getting a blue screen, with verticle lines in it. i attached 2 pics to show u what i mean. it seems to be responding to the buttons i press because when i press the menu or input button, the verticle lines will shift from side to side. please tell me im gonna be able to fix it. lmao jk i just hope i can

[ryn0909]

Re: Polaroid TLA-04011c Red Light on, no power on

Yeah, crappy picture, but in this case, more than enough detail. The ground pigtail should be attached at the ground point closest to the connector. If I had to guess, that is the LVDS cable, a good ground is essential.

PlainBill

so is the board still bad?? the seller told me he'd refund the full amount and that. but he doesnt have any more boards.

[PlainBill]

Re: Polaroid TLA-04011c Red Light on, no power on

so is the board still bad?? the seller told me he'd refund the full amount and that. but he doesnt have any more boards.

I'm trying not to sound like a jerk here, but there are a number of questions that I can't answer. Without definitive answers to those questions, I can't give an absolute answer to your question. In a nutshell, you don't know what you are doing. You could be making some minor mistake and I wouldn't know it. For example, that problem COULD be the TCON board. Troubleshooting logic says it is very unusual for two boards to fail at the same time. Maybe you disconnected the tcon and failed to reseat the cables properly. Maybe when you unplugged the LVDS cable you damaged it. Maybe you zapped the replacement board while installing it.

There is a strong possibility the replacement main board is bad; the seller may not have tested it. (I'll get back to that later).

Even experienced technicians can make mistakes. If you were Toasty, Wizard, or dozens of other people here I would be confident the problem wasn't 'technician error'. If you were one of hundreds of other people here (I'm NOT going to name names ) I would not be confident it wasn't technician error. Unfortunately, you are one of those hundreds of people.

There are many people selling 'used, working' boards on eBay. Some of those are professional operations who have tested the boards and are sure they are good. Others have stripped the boards from a dead TV or monitor and are letting the buyer test them.

Short story: Sunday night my 22" LCD monitor went black. Push the power button twice and it comes on for a few seconds, then goes black again. While it's on, the screen has a reddish tint. This is a classic case of 'Two Seconds to Black' caused by aging CCFLs. New CCFLs will run about $40, AND delicate mechanical work is NOT one of my strong points, so I decide to check on eBay to see if anything comes up. Someone is selling the exact LCD panel for $90 + $25 shipping. This person is semi-honest. Their shop repairs monitors. Sometimes they get monitors which are unrepairable. The ask the owner if there was any problem with the display. If the answer is 'No' they put the LCD panel up for sale on eBay. If the buyer reports a problem they will refund the selling price and $10.00 for return shipping, but NOT the original shipping cost. Essentially, they are charging the buyer $15 for the 'privilege' of testing the LCD panels.

PlainBill

[ryn0909]

Re: Polaroid TLA-04011c Red Light on, no power on

well i cant say that i dont agree with you, because you are totally correct in saying that i dont know what im doing. You are also correct about the seller not testing it. Here is his message to me

Dear figave209,

Must have missed that somehow, sorry. I only tested the TV when it was still in one piece, worked fine with the cracked screen, didnt take close enough look at the board i guess.
can return it for a refund, and will refund your return shipping as well.
or if removing the jumper would solve the problem, feel free to try that, and if it didnt work, Id still offer the refund.

- kjlewter


so ill be returning it and looking for another one thanx alot for all your help PlainBill and everyone, i do appreciate it