old Bravia double fail?

[eccerr0r]

Re: old Bravia double fail?

LOL ebay item 175579849596 showed up, wants a #*(@$ing $25 + $14 shipping = $39 for a broken board that has been out in the weather... this thing is made of gold or something!

[nomoresonys]

Re: old Bravia double fail?

lol, wow hes gonna have that board for so long he'll have to put it in his will.

[momaka]

Re: old Bravia double fail?

lol, wow hes gonna have that board for so long he'll have to put it in his will.

LOL ebay item 175579849596 showed up, wants a #*(@$ing $25 + $14 shipping = $39 for a broken board that has been out in the weather... this thing is made of gold or something!

And it's not even tested!!!

Looking through the feedback for this "seller", it seems he even sold one such scrap board for a funai/sanyo unit (fw32d06f). (See sold item# 185714584842). Also, I can't quite tell from the crappy pictures, but this one seems like it has a dead roach (or stink bug) right across the primary cap. This guy is definitely a dumpster diver livin' the life of a king. LOL!

Unfortunately, I'm starting to see this shit more and more on eBay - people just breaking down UNTESTED scrap and trying to sell it for what a working item would go for... OR MORE.

Maybe I ought to put my collection of "spare parts" (read: electronics scrap / dumpster junk) on there for a premium and see if I catch any fish too? Ridiculous.

Here are two from the same seller that I think take the cake, though:
Items 174548694240 and 175580704271
^ 1st one: Look at all of that rust on the ports. Definitely a scrap find. I looked through this seller's other items, and indeed they appear to be a scrapper / dumpster diver of some sort. He's got wireless subwoofers without the main unit, all sorts of TV boards, old laptop in poor condition with missing parts, and etc.
#2 gets me more though - just look at the "pictures" of that item. I can hardly tell WTF I'm looking at. No effort whatsoever!

[eccerr0r]

Re: old Bravia double fail?

All this just means that I don't think I'm ever getting a board at a reasonable price?

BTW that $80 turned into $120-$140... inflation? (and whole complete working Bravias are still going cheap, cheaper than these boards)...

[momaka]

Re: old Bravia double fail?

All this just means that I don't think I'm ever getting a board at a reasonable price?

Not necessarily.
I got a mainboard for an old 40" Samsung for $15 total (with shipping) to my door, since the one I had was lightning-struck and totally dead. Probably still not worth it, as I now regularly see similar 40" or larger TVs for free in working condition with remotes and stands (this one was without stand or remote.) But figured I should save it anyways. (Which reminds me, perhaps I should post the repair here on BCN too, even though it was a onesie failure?)

So I think it's just a matter of patience + luck to work out at some point.
Again, the downside is just having all of these things stored while waiting for the right part to come.

BTW that $80 turned into $120-$140... inflation? (and whole complete working Bravias are still going cheap, cheaper than these boards)...

LOL!
Maybe we gave that listing too many views, and now the seller thinks it's a "hot" item.

[eccerr0r]

Re: old Bravia double fail?

I picked up an old RCA mainboard+PSU from the trash as I chanced upon it at a time, but don't know if it still works or not. Alas I don't know what it would take to convert the connection...or whether this board supports my panel or not, or even if the resolution is the same.

Sigh.

Well I don't know, I had two samsungs repaired prior to this challenge - first one was backlight which I ended up forking out the bucks to get a whole set of strips, so I guess that Samsung should be good as new for quite a while. The other was a totally dead samsung that turned out to be that bad caps problem. So now it's like

Samsung 2 || Sony 0

or is it

eccerror 2 || sony 1, polaroid 1 (which is also starting to smell like a mainboard problem despite someone already futzing with the tcon...)

Yeah storage is a problem. And remembering what needs what is an issue, plus the effort of reassembly when you know you have to take it apart again to repair it...

Oh and $120 definitely does get a NEW black friday set...

[eccerr0r]

Re: old Bravia double fail?

I wonder what's the chances a similar board will work... I suppose if the LVDS connector is electrically and physically identical I'd give it a shot. Seems there are a lot of uncannily similar boards out there for different models -- however, every single one of them are $ARM$LEG for whatever reason. Some have a little discount as they deviate from the board I have...

[momaka]

Re: old Bravia double fail?

I picked up an old RCA mainboard+PSU from the trash as I chanced upon it at a time, but don't know if it still works or not. Alas I don't know what it would take to convert the connection...or whether this board supports my panel or not, or even if the resolution is the same.

Well, you could always look up the PCB / board model numbers online and try to figure out what TV set / model they came out of... and from there, find out what resolution the TV had.

But even if you do... that still leaves the question how the mainboard communicates with the T-con board. Just because it's an LVDS connection doesn't mean the signal lines would be in the same order. You'd probably have to look up the datasheet on the main IC on the T-con board and see what kind of signals it expects. Then look at the datasheet of the IC on the mainboard (if there is even a datasheet for it) and see how the output signals are arranged there... and then after figuring all of that, there's still no guarantee the two will be able to "talk" to each other.

I'm sure it's not impossible, as I've seen cheap generic "universal" VGA mainboards for LCD monitors before. But given how much time you're going to spend doing this... probably definitely (like that wording combo? ) it won't be a worthwhile endeavor... unless it's just to prove a point or go into a world record (as the most worthless repair? ) or something like that.

Well I don't know, I had two samsungs repaired prior to this challenge - first one was backlight which I ended up forking out the bucks to get a whole set of strips, so I guess that Samsung should be good as new for quite a while. The other was a totally dead samsung that turned out to be that bad caps problem. So now it's like

Samsung 2 || Sony 0

or is it

eccerror 2 || sony 1, polaroid 1 (which is also starting to smell like a mainboard problem despite someone already futzing with the tcon...)

Well, at the end of the day, who cares what the score is. You saved two TVs out of the landfill and put them to use, so not bad.

Yeah storage is a problem. And remembering what needs what is an issue, plus the effort of reassembly when you know you have to take it apart again to repair it...

True.
In most cases, though, I still remember what TV needed what all in my head... at least for a year or two. After that, I have to refresh my memory. But I always take pictures along the way, and often times write stuff down on sticky notes + regular paper too. For some, I even post the work-in-progress on here... so when I need to get back to something, I just re-read what I posted and I'm back to speed.

That said, I have a terrible example of this. It's a Samsung TV from this thread:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=74255
^ I've tried everything I could think of with that TV (a lot of things that I have not written or listed in that thread) - from disabling output to individual CCFLs to even driving the whole inverter transformer "manually" (with an ATX PSU dumping secondary-side AC to the secondary of a "loose" ATX PSU transformer, which then dumped it's primary side AC into the primary of the inverter transformer. Getting a bit lost now there? )
Anyways, that TV is still in pieces and I still haven't figured it out... but I'll have to close it up soon before my move. :\ The TFT matrix is still sitting on the floor under the bed in the guest bedroom. And the polarizing sheets are in the closet of same bedroom. It's been so many years, I can't even remember (too well) where I have all of the screws for this set, lol. I think it's doomed, but we will see.

In regards to the above, I think storage is the worst part, as TVs are kind of bulky, and you can't just carelessly shove them anywhere, or you risk breaking the screen too. If I ever try this as a business, I would definitely try to sit down first and come up with a dedicated shelf design for such. The way I have it right now, there's TV's stashed in many random parts of the house, and it looks really silly - especially when friends come over. One of the downstairs bathrooms has two behind the door, since that bathroom very very rarely gets used. But it's a funny surprise to someone who's never been there and doesn't know me too well - like, WhyTF does this guy have those TVs there, lol.

Oh and $120 definitely does get a NEW black friday set...

Or about four to five (4-5) 720p/1080p TVs in the size range of 40-55" on my local Craigslist, currently.
Shit, with $300, I can probably put a TV on every wall of my house. And the most ironic part - I don't have cable or watch TV. So they would just be used as oversized monitors at best. (In reality, I don't even need that many monitors either.)

I wonder what's the chances a similar board will work... I suppose if the LVDS connector is electrically and physically identical I'd give it a shot. Seems there are a lot of uncannily similar boards out there for different models -- however, every single one of them are $ARM$LEG for whatever reason. Some have a little discount as they deviate from the board I have...

With Sony... probably slim.
I've read some articles describing all the crazy "validating" signals they are designed to send between certain ICs... and I wouldn't be surprised if the T-con and mainboard have that too. So I would not count on this to work... at least not very easily.

[nomoresonys]

Re: old Bravia double fail?

that does make me wonder if a universal mainboard would work for the "old bravia" they sell for a lot less than those others.

[eccerr0r]

Re: old Bravia double fail?

so I'd need a new tcon along with the mainboard to use the panel -- which is a semi-standardized part? *sigh*

[nomoresonys]

Re: old Bravia double fail?

looked at several on youtube, none of them changed their tcons.

[eccerr0r]

Re: old Bravia double fail?

Now this is something. I was about to put another post before yours but you sort of confirmed it:

I was staring at the fleabay ads for t-cons along with the mainboards. The mainboards ads always warn to never to get something that's not exact to your TV. However the t-cons appear to be free reign - as long as it fits, then it should work?

Then this would imply that the main boards should also be the same as this is the main concern when pairing boards: to ensure tcon and mainboard jive. The power and accessory boards, are easier to jury rig so they're less of a concern.

Weird?

Hmm...

[eccerr0r]

Re: old Bravia double fail?

Ugh more bad news:

Saw a board pop up for $80 again ... and it sold within a week.

Not a good sign...

[nomoresonys]

Re: old Bravia double fail?

Hmm, might have to shop mexico, like for tequila and vanilla.

[eccerr0r]

Re: old Bravia double fail?

and eggs?

[eccerr0r]

Re: old Bravia double fail?

Ugh saw someone try reflowing the board and had some success .. implying it's probably not the reflow but EM like an nvidia ...

[momaka]

Re: old Bravia double fail?

Ugh saw someone try reflowing the board and had some success .. implying it's probably not the reflow but EM like an nvidia ...

Yup

... which means you can also try that with yours and see what happens. No loss, after all.
If that somehow miraculously "fixes" the TV, add a fan and/or improve the cooling so it can at least hopefully last for a while.

[nomoresonys]

Re: old Bravia double fail?

so when you click the remote like for channel change does the solid green light blink at all, did you use a smaller gb thumb drive when you tried the update, sometimes they don't respond well to the bigger gb thumbs.

[nomoresonys]

Re: old Bravia double fail?

not sure, it might be as simple as cleaning and re-seating the ribbon cables of tcon.

[nomoresonys]

Re: old Bravia double fail?

what is the full panel number?