Re: e701i-a3 no picture but backlights

And fyi....very close physical inspection of both inside and out of the side driver boards shows no sign of short (brown, burnt, otherwise)...so I'm trying to not blow the next T-Con because it's more than 30yrs since I did any soldering. As you can imagine, I'd probably blow it even more. ;-)

Re: e701i-a3 no picture but backlights

You said...."It involves disconnecting both the bottom three quarter inch ribbon cables going to the bottom side driver boards on each side of the panel. Then leaving the two ribbon cables connected from the t-con to the panel go ahead and power up the TV"

So, are you saying to disconnect on each lower (right and left) corners so that nothing is going 'up', just the lower driver boards are truly connected. Correct?

Re: e701i-a3 no picture but backlights

I've got this exact issue and understand fully what everyone is talking about. Before seeing this site, I had replaced the T-Con board and as soon as I powered on 'POP', I knew I blew it. So, I've got another coming but was wondering with this workaround, is there a way to tell which side may be causing the issue without having to guess and possibly blowing the T-Con board again? I have it all apart and awaiting the T-Con to come on Monday.