Vizio E701i-A3 no picture or sound, flashing light

[fadecomic]

I have a 3 year old Vizio E701i-A3 with no picture or sound, and an irregular, dim flashing backlight.

It seems like this TV comes up here a lot, unfortunately, but I don't see these symptoms. Here are the details:

• Powers on, shows V logo clearly and normally
• Starts flashing. There was a horrible buzz noise, but now it's gone
• Cannot turn off the TV. Must be unplugged
• No buttons work on tv or remote
• Here's the weird one: The TV did this once before, but it went away, and the TV worked fine again for about a year. Then we moved it, and it started again.

It seems like it might be power related, but I'm not sure. I've tried the trick of unplugging and holding power for 30 seconds, to no avail. Can anyone tell me what might be happening?

[dskall]

Re: Vizio E701i-A3 no picture or sound, flashing light

I would make sure all screws are tight securing all your boards.

[jeremy1976]

Re: Vizio E701i-A3 no picture or sound, flashing light

You have LED backlight strips that are shorted.

[fadecomic]

Re: Vizio E701i-A3 no picture or sound, flashing light

You have LED backlight strips that are shorted.

Would that cause it to do nothing at all, though, other than dim flashing? There's no sound either (except the brief buzzing).

The thing that confuses me is that the V logo that appears at startup looks perfectly normal. It's properly lit and clear. I agree it sounds like a short though, since it worked again for a year after "healing" from the first round.

[fadecomic]

Re: Vizio E701i-A3 no picture or sound, flashing light

Here is a video of the symptoms from when it was making the sounds. Sorry for the low quality, but it's the best I have right now.

https://youtu.be/TmHkK3gtCFk

[Andrew F. Ali]

Re: Vizio E701i-A3 no picture or sound, flashing light

You have LED backlight strips that are shorted.

I'll go with jeremy1976 and suggest backlights failing. When cold they may work and as they heat up (quick process) shut down the PSU and then nothing will work.

[fadecomic]

Re: Vizio E701i-A3 no picture or sound, flashing light

Sorry for the terrible video quality. When I say, "I have", I really mean "a friend with no electronics knowledge has". I'll see if he has something that wasn't filmed on a potato.

[dskall]

Re: Vizio E701i-A3 no picture or sound, flashing light

So backlights are going to cause tv not to turn off or buttons not to work? Have you checked for loose grounding screws on your boards?

[Andrew F. Ali]

Re: Vizio E701i-A3 no picture or sound, flashing light

So backlights are going to cause tv not to turn off or buttons not to work?

No not at all...these are symptoms of a malfunctioning Main Bd. However, I have seen where the PSU malfunction seem to produce symptoms of a malfunctioning Main Bd. To rule out the PSU the 'self-test' must be applied but on performing a 'self-test' the backlights must remain connected thereby verifying working backlight, too.

[budwich]

Re: Vizio E701i-A3 no picture or sound, flashing light

did you try any of the "unplug cables test" outline in the many threads you read?