Samsung LE32A431T2 bad colors

[dominik0801]

Hello! A few weeks ago I was posting about another TV, and i could fix that one. However, the same friend of mine gave me another TV, which I thought will be just as easy, however, I can't seem to find what's wrong here.

It's a Samsung LE32A431T2 TV. The problem is with the colors, they are all messed up, solarized as someone would say. Check the attached picture.

I have changed the AS15-F chip on it, but it didn't help.

I measured the voltages on the Tcon board too, just to be faster.
To me, they all seem fine, but here you go:

GAM1 - 13V
GAM2 - 10.4V
GAM3 - 9.6V
GAM4 - 9V
GAM5 - 8.5V
GAM6 - 7.5V
GAM7 - 7V
GAM8 - 6.6V
GAM9 - 6.2V
GAM10 - 5V
GAM11 - 4.5V
GAM12 - 3.8V
GAM13 - 3V
GAM14 - 0V

I also reseated all cables, and the PSU had a blown cap, which I replaced with a new Low-ESR one. Still no change.

Any ideas?

[dominik0801]

Re: Samsung LE32A431T2 bad colors

So I spent a whole afternoon trying to get this to work again, no luck.
I got into service menu and adjusted all the White Balance values till I got a normal picture, and yes, I could get it to display good colors, however, the display was really dark, and it also kind of "vibrated" too. Setting the brightness or contrast higher, messed up the colors again.

And also, I can assure you, that the white balance setting is not what causes the problem, because even if I set everything to a point where the picture is okay-ish, the menu still remains all messed up (white balance doesn't affect the menu).

Btw, I checked all the voltages to other cases about a V315B1-C01 T-con board, and they all are alright.

However, no one on any forum could answer this problem of mine, so most likely I am going to throw this one away - or at least try to sell it as defective.

[diif]

Re: Samsung LE32A431T2 bad colors

I've replaced quite a few of those AS15-F ICs, they are sensitive to heat, I'd fit another before writing off the set.

[dick_barton]

Re: Samsung LE32A431T2 bad colors

Perhaps the screen model number or 8bit/10bit is not set correctly in the service menu.

[nomoresonys]

Re: Samsung LE32A431T2 bad colors

Perhaps the screen model number or 8bit/10bit is not set correctly in the service menu.

+1, I wondered the same thing, gammas look good, what is the history of the tv? meaning wonder if anyone has been inside messing around, trying to fix etc. Maybe someone changed the mainboard and gave up.

[dominik0801]

Re: Samsung LE32A431T2 bad colors

So, it was given to me to fix it, a friend would like to use it.

The only history I know, that this was his cousins TV, and they said that the colors started to go bad so they gave it to my friend. He said, that when he first plugged it in, it was all good (this was in his garage), then when he carried it in his house, to use it as an external monitor, it was messed up again, and it looks like this ever since.

The service menu didn't have a bit selection, or I might not have seen it. Gotta try, tho. It has a pretty minimalistic service menu imo.
It looks like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjbypRaB_GE

I couldn't find anything like bit or whatever. I might look into it again.

EDIT: I just noticed, that in the video the guy has a 42" TV, and the PDP filter for him is 42" aswell. However, on my TV, which is a 32", I have the PDP filter set to an 50" value, and can't even change it.. could this make this mess?

EDIT2: Nvm, those settings are normal, found a picture with the same service menu, same TV model. There's something else that's wrong with it.

[dick_barton]

Re: Samsung LE32A431T2 bad colors

Can you do a factory reset via the service menu?

[dominik0801]

Re: Samsung LE32A431T2 bad colors

Yes, I tried it many times, however, the service menu options are not affected by it. I tested it by setting a few things to a certain value, did a factory reset, then went back into service menu, and everything was the same.
It only affects the "user settings".

[nomoresonys]

Re: Samsung LE32A431T2 bad colors

In the video there's a D.GAMMA, might be something to look at, always make a note of original settings before changing, specially those you are not familiar with, never know what will brick it, I've bricked a few messing about in the service menu. Last time I bricked one it was on burn-in mode, was going thru and hit wrong click on remote, did recover after a while messing with it tho.

[dominik0801]

Re: Samsung LE32A431T2 bad colors

The D.GAMMA unfortunately doesn't help either. I think I lost this war with this TV, at least I feel like this so far.

[nomoresonys]

Re: Samsung LE32A431T2 bad colors

Suppose it could be something else wrong with the tcon, many times a washed out picture is tcon related.

[diif]

Re: Samsung LE32A431T2 bad colors

The D.GAMMA unfortunately doesn't help either. I think I lost this war with this TV, at least I feel like this so far.

Have you tried another AS15-F ?

[dominik0801]

Re: Samsung LE32A431T2 bad colors

I have tried an older one from the Philips TV I fixed last week, as the old AS15 was good, the AS34 was bad on that one.

Still nothing changed, the voltages still seem fine. Currently I don't have another one on hand, because my orders from china are still on the way, and this chip in my country is around ~$20, which isn't worth it.

[dick_barton]

Re: Samsung LE32A431T2 bad colors

Have you tried a firmware update?

[dominik0801]

Re: Samsung LE32A431T2 bad colors

Honestly, I'm not really sure, how I could do that. It's not a smart TV, it doesn't have a USB nor RJ45 port.

Can I do it without those?

Also, I wanted to reprogram the EEPROM on the T-con, but couldn't find a .rom file.

[diif]

Re: Samsung LE32A431T2 bad colors

I have tried an older one from the Philips TV I fixed last week, as the old AS15 was good, the AS34 was bad on that one.

Still nothing changed, the voltages still seem fine. Currently I don't have another one on hand, because my orders from china are still on the way, and this chip in my country is around ~$20, which isn't worth it.

The gamma voltage is slightly off on a couple of values.It's quite possible it was damaged in the removal process. It's not scrap, just wait for a new one from China.

[dominik0801]

Re: Samsung LE32A431T2 bad colors

Omg, I feel like a total idiot.. but I managed to fix the problem.

Sooo, last time I used the TV, I fiddled around in the service menu, and noticed that a lot of the settings won't do anything at all, even if I turn the TV off then on, still nothing happens. So since nothing could help, I took out the PSU to get some low ESR caps to test the monitor I'm working on. After the test, I put the caps back to the board, then the board to the TV, and re-assembled it; I was about to sell it as a bad TV.

But after I assembled it, turned it on, and realised something: the colors were PERFECT, however, the picture was upside down. I really didn't know what did this, so I started to change the screen type in the service menu, but nothing could help.

Then there was something like "model" (or similiar), where you could choose between a lots of options, some I can recall: Jeida, Coral, etc.. I noticed, that if you change those, nothing happens, and if you restart the TV, still nothing will happen. In order to make those have an effect, you have to PULL THE PLUG FROM THE WALL, then PLUG IT IN AGAIN after a few seconds...

Then I got to the point, where the picture on the screen started to change with every other option.. But since it had too many of them, I opened the TV and tried to search for some labels, which can indicate the right model.

Then, on the mainboard, I saw something like Tanzanite(or something like that?), then I went into the service menu and set the model to Tanzanite(?) too, then pulled the TV out of the wall, plugged it in again, and Boom! It worked! And it works ever since.

Thanks for everyone who tried to help.

[nomoresonys]

Re: Samsung LE32A431T2 bad colors

Nice work, that's a trick I was not familiar with.