Philips HTS7140 Soundbar , dead?

[Moreno83]

Hey guys.

I also posted the same thread in the audio section but I'm guessing more people look here as the device above is for TV purpose. Maybe a mod can decide which one goes!

So i bought this device as is. It was absolutely dead , no led no sound or working fans.
Opened it up and found some swollen caps on the power supply. They used those cheap china capacitors so i replaced all of them in the PS.

Reinstalled all the boards and the system turned on!

Only 1 fan was working but i thought , maybe the other one works when the system is getting warm.
It was already late in the evening so i just used the mini jack to RCA and i got some basic stereo sound and left it as is.
Next day i had trouble starting up the system , it just said "starting" and nothing happened.

After a few restarts and with the HDMI plugged in it "started up". I got sound through the speakers but no display on the tv when i use the "home" function. Tv says no signal.
After a few restarts it displayed the picture and i tried to update the firmware , but it froze with some coloured lines and since then the system just says " Starting".
The fault on the screen looked like a overheating problem as with video cards in pc's.

I googled the problem and found out that ALOT of these expensive soundbars have the "starting" problem. Its a main board/memory problem?

Is there a way to hard reset these sound bars? Maybe EEPROM reset? Should i try to reflow the CPU?

Anyone have experience with sound bars?

[diif]

Re: Philips HTS7140 Soundbar , dead?

I've fixed a couple with busted sockets.
You replaced all of the caps and not just the swollen ones ?

[Moreno83]

Re: Philips HTS7140 Soundbar , dead?

What do you mean with busted sockets?

Yes i replaced all caps on just the PS. Have to say that i replaced the 1500uf for 1800uf , dont think that thats a problem?

Did not replace the caps on the other boards.

[diif]

Re: Philips HTS7140 Soundbar , dead?

USB, RSA and a power one.
Have you photos of the other boards ?

[ReeceyBurger123]

Re: Philips HTS7140 Soundbar , dead?

Its a problem, never go down in capacitance !

[Moreno83]

Re: Philips HTS7140 Soundbar , dead?

Thanks for the replies guys!

I'll upload the pictures of the other boards.
I went up in capacitance , i replaced the 1500 for a 1800uf.

[Moreno83]

Re: Philips HTS7140 Soundbar , dead?

Here are the pictures of the boards. I noticed that the LCD took a bit longer to bright up. "Starting" took a while before it was fully lit.

They used "Chong" capacitors on all boards , can this be a capacitor problem on the mainboard or is the mainboard dead?

Any help is appreciated.

[diif]

Re: Philips HTS7140 Soundbar , dead?

Photo 1, top right. Are those some markings indicating voltage ?
Small caps tend not to swell. If you've replaced those in the power supply it's possible the others are starting to fail as well.

[Moreno83]

Re: Philips HTS7140 Soundbar , dead?

Yes those are makings. I replaced all the caps on the PS. Except the 2 big ones.
I did not replace the caps on the main board , i think its a cpu problem?

[diif]

Re: Philips HTS7140 Soundbar , dead?

This thread does suggest a main board problem. http://www.supportforum.philips.com/...tarting-device
Personally i'd measure the ESR of those small caps, if it is a heat issue then they will possibly be dead/dying. Then give the CPU a reflow.

[Moreno83]

Re: Philips HTS7140 Soundbar , dead?

Hi Diif , thanks for your help!

I reassembled the soundbar again and noticed that the cpu gets really hot when i turn on the soundbar. It just says starting so im guessing its a short? Imagine how hot it gets when its actually working ....

I will try and reflow the cpu and hopefully get it starting again.

[diif]

Re: Philips HTS7140 Soundbar , dead?

You're welcome. Really hot, doesn't sound good, nothing to lose by giving it a reflow.

[Moreno83]

Re: Philips HTS7140 Soundbar , dead?

Really hot is "normal" when its working very hard but its just starting up haha.

Will let you know the outcome

[Moreno83]

Re: Philips HTS7140 Soundbar , dead?

Hi Diif ,

Soundbar is working again! First reflow failed , i tried to reflow the CPU and the memory boards at the same time , probably not hot enough.

Second time i just reflowed the CPU with a hot air gun for around 10 minutes. Reinstalled the board and it turned on with the philips home screen on the tv!

I noticed it gets warm really soon so i now need to find a solution to cool the CPU. The original cooling was put there with just glue , no cooling paste. I think im going to try to use a laptop coolingblock with cooling paste , see if it works!

Im also going to rebuild the soundbar , i dont trust those chong capacitors.

Will post some pictures when im done!

[diif]

Re: Philips HTS7140 Soundbar , dead?

Awesome, good to hear you've got it working again
Perhaps a small fan mounted to the CPU heat sink might help ?

[Moreno83]

Re: Philips HTS7140 Soundbar , dead?

hi diif ,

Im still working on the soundbar. I already replaced all the capacitors on the LCD board and the mainboard. LCD lights up really nice , it used to be very faint. It starts up really quick after i replaced all the capacitors on the mainboard.

Used some flux and reflowed the other mainboard again just to be sure and im currently replacing the capacitors on that board also.

Still waiting for the panasonic capacitors i ordered so i can use them in the power supply and subwoofer/speaker board.

I also placed a new cooling block + fan on the GPU/CPU with cooling paste! Will post pictures in the end.

Cool project!

[Moreno83]

Re: Philips HTS7140 Soundbar , dead?

At this moment I'm having trouble getting any life in the sound bar. I don't even get a standby led , so back to square one.
Heating the power supply for a while turns the sound bar on.

Removed the power supply from the sound bar and plugged in the mains. ( Just power supply only ).

I don't get any voltages on the cold side connectors ( No 3.3v , 5v , 12v ). I first soldered a wire to ground and the black prope of my fluke meter. With a heat gun in 1 hand and the red prope in the other hand i started heating the big caps and suddenly i got 3.3v again. Starts at around 1.8v and jumps in few seconds to 3.3v. Not steady…..

I only had 1 capacitor from a VT50 poweboard with 330/250v and replaced it. The voltage now fluctuates so I'm guessing the other 1 is also bad. When i remove the heat from the caps the voltage slowly drops down to 0v.

Its a lot of work replacing all the capacitors in this sound bar but its worth it , great design and sound. Shame that Philips used such crappy parts……..

With crappy parts i mean the capacitors , they used capacitors that you can buy on ebay. ( 125 pieces for 7 dollars , same brand!!!! ).

[Moreno83]

Re: Philips HTS7140 Soundbar , dead?

Just saw this older thread and noticed that i never updated it.

The soundbar is still working perfectly. I reflowed the main cpu with flux and then used a big heatsink to cool it down. I also replaced ALL capacitors on all boards , even the small ones on the lcd display. ( display was very faint ).

Its working as new!

[ektpuah]

Re: Philips HTS7140 Soundbar , dead?

I have a simikar soundbar. Everything works fine except the dvd/blueray player stopped working though the display showed the player being selected. Where should I start the troubke shooting process ?