Vizio 37" VO37LFHDTV20A Has Standby Vizio Amber Light

[MisterD]

Re: Vizio 37" VO37LFHDTV20A Has Standby Vizio Amber Light

Please keep this thread going as I'm in more or less in the same boat with OP. VIZIO 26" with not picture, left it on and eventually the picture would come on.

Finally, that trick stopped working and now I have a VIZIO that has no picture or light from the lamps. The Orange logo is on when the tv is powered down and turns white when powered up (this is normal for this tv).

I check almost all of the regular suspects in regards to bad caps (I'm wondering if maybe there is a bad cap that didn't blow it's lid as that does happen some times) and I checked the fuses and everything seems OK. I need to check the voltages but had to locate batteries for my multitester which I did just a few minutes ago.

I like to listen to and work on all sorts of tube and solid state high end audio gear and I also like working and modifying amplifiers and building kits. I mention this to settle my skill level with electronics.

I have looked on YouTube, like everyone else, and the solution everyone is displaying is the changing of the Motherboard. This is NOT what I want to do. I want to find the specific component that is malfunctioning.

Someone out there must have that information about the component because refurbished boards are being sold by every Tom, Dick and Harry so they must be refurbishing (replacing/fixing) something and I would like to know what that something is.

Replacing boards is just not my style. Yeah, the money is an issue and a gamble but mostly I find it hard to believe that these boards are not "serviceable" cause I can see every component on there and thus I know it IS serviceable.

Any advice beyond what's already been posted?

Also thank you for a great thread with tons of info and also, this is my first post.

I suggest you start a new thread of your own with The Brand and model number listed and do it separately for each TV you are working on, you should also take pictures of all of the circuit boards and post them in the thread. Then someone will be able to help you.
Also a lot of the used replacement boards being sold on E-Bay and Shopjimmy.com are from working LCD or Plasma TV's that have a cracked or broken screen that still lights up and functions enough to tell the circuit boards are working properly. I'm sure some have been repaired and most of them are probably common failure components that have been replaced, availability of actual Schematic Diagrams for whatever we are working on would help, but not likely that easy to come by and if you can find one it will cost you.

[Ogien]

Re: Vizio 37" VO37LFHDTV20A Has Standby Vizio Amber Light

I suggest you start a new thread of your own with The Brand and model number listed and do it separately for each TV you are working on, you should also take pictures of all of the circuit boards and post them in the thread. Then someone will be able to help you.
Also a lot of the used replacement boards being sold on E-Bay and Shopjimmy.com are from working LCD or Plasma TV's that have a cracked or broken screen that still lights up and functions enough to tell the circuit boards are working properly. I'm sure some have been repaired and most of them are probably common failure components that have been replaced, availability of actual Schematic Diagrams for whatever we are working on would help, but not likely that easy to come by and if you can find one it will cost you.

Well I was looking over the pictures of your Vizio and I see many similarities to my 26 inch VIZIO.

I may eventually start a thread about that tv alone but right now I just wanted to thank you for all the efforts and information you posted because you've given me some fantastic ideas on what to test next that I hadn't thought of before.

I'm not trying to hijack your thread at all if that's what you were thinking. I simply meant that this thread is extremely helpful to me already and I'd love to see any new information that comes up that might help me and many other folks who will read it in the future.

In any case, it's a pain in the butt with these TVs dropping like flies just as soon as the warranty runs out.

[MisterD]

Re: Vizio 37" VO37LFHDTV20A Has Standby Vizio Amber Light

Well I was looking over the pictures of your Vizio and I see many similarities to my 26 inch VIZIO.

I may eventually start a thread about that tv alone but right now I just wanted to thank you for all the efforts and information you posted because you've given me some fantastic ideas on what to test next that I hadn't thought of before.

I'm not trying to hijack your thread at all if that's what you were thinking. I simply meant that this thread is extremely helpful to me already and I'd love to see any new information that comes up that might help me and many other folks who will read it in the future.

In any case, it's a pain in the butt with these TVs dropping like flies just as soon as the warranty runs out.

No I'm not worried about anyone hijacking my thread, it just helps a lot having Individual threads, Some Vizio Mainboards use Voltage regulators...U2,U7,U8,U9 and U33. It's common for some of these to fail.

[MisterD]

Re: Vizio 37" VO37LFHDTV20A Has Standby Vizio Amber Light

Any re-flow method suggestions from anyone???? Thanks!

I did a bad re-flow using a heat gun, got it too hot even though I used a lot of flux, I wasn't thinking about the difference in the Xbox360 that I re-flowed with success using a heat gun a few years ago (uses lead free solder and has a higher temp. for melting point) and the TV Main board (uses solder with lead, has a lower temp. than lead free for melting point) so now after this experience I suggest anyone doing a re-flow to use the oven method and to do some research to find successful stories on how it should be done... So I decided to order a replacement main board, it's in shipment now. I will update after I get it installed.

[redheaddiesel]

Re: Vizio 37" VO37LFHDTV20A Has Standby Vizio Amber Light

So after that cliffhanger,...how about that concluding post? Was it the main board after all? I'm in a similar boat, and knowing the outcome would help me decide whether or not to order a new mainboard.

Thanks!

[MisterD]

Re: Vizio 37" VO37LFHDTV20A Has Standby Vizio Amber Light

I just received the Mainboard Yesterday and finally got the chance to install it Today, and Yes the TV came back to life with a great picture and sound, I tested it on Cable TV and AV2, both were fine, had to autoprogram with the Cable in order to get the channel up/down on the remote to work. Tested for about 4 hours and all good so far.now for my next project back to the Philips 47 LCD.

[budm]

Re: Vizio 37" VO37LFHDTV20A Has Standby Vizio Amber Light

Great! Thanks for posting the repair feedback.