Re: Samsung LN52A650: intermittent random horizontal lines

The problem was the T-con. I got one off eBay for $40 and the TV works fine now.

Re: Samsung LN52A650: intermittent random horizontal lines

Thanks, guys, I'll try as Dick suggests and see if I can get a focused fan on the T-con heatsink to see if that will stop the issue. If not, I'll try the main board heatsink. Once I'm confident of which it is, I may try a DIY BGA reflow. Even with a low chance of success, it can't get much worse. :-) I think I can get a $40 T-con off eBay if that doesn't work. I'm hoping it's not the main board, as those run $60-100, for a used part of unknown mileage.

I've done a lot of web research over the last few days, but haven't found a failure mode quite like this. My Samsung LN52A650 (fluorescent LCD from 2008) has intermittent random horizontal lines across the entire screen. They occur regardless of the input source and on top of any OSD menu overlays. They seem sharply defined, as if they're digital in nature, not some analog/power issue in driving the panel. They vary in intensity from a single raster every few seconds to covering almost the whole screen continuously. When they get really intense, the TV will restart and the cycle will repeat. Attached...

Re: New Members - please post your introductions here

Hi, I'm a computer engineer from Austin, TX. I got started in computers with a TI 99/4A at age 7. Though I mainly stick to software, attempting to repair my failing Samsung LCD TV has me breaking out the soldering iron again. I replaced the underrated caps in the PSU (which I now find out where part of a class-action lawsuit), but that wasn't it, so I'm hoping to find some help here in tracking down the problem.