I tried fixing the TV

"gmctavish needs more space" (gmctavish)
07/22/2020 at 02:18 • Filed to: I hate electronics

I opened up my TV, and my dads, since it’s been lying around since it died a couple years ago. The internet leads me to believe my problem is in the T-CON board, so I pulled that out of his TV, which has a power supply board or main board issue, and put it in mine.

This was the result

I bent a couple pins on one of the connectors when I was trying to plug it in. I have shaky hands so tiny electronic shit like this is one of my least favourite things. I bent them back as best I could, but either that board is bad too, or I fucked the connectors. So I wasted 2 and a half hours doing all this for nothing, my TV is still broken, but in a different way. It even gave me false hope by working when I tested it, so I put it back together and back on the wall mount. Then it did this shit.

So now I’m a couple beers in and looking up TV reviews. This is gonna be an expensive month. I’ve already bought two sets of tires and my insurance got more expensive since I’m back at work.

DISCUSSION (18)

Exage03040 @ opposite-lock.com > gmctavish needs more space
07/22/2020 at 02:39

I wouldn’t call your effort wasted per say, it sounded like it almost worked. Annoying, but i f you didn’t try then you would have never known. You likely learned something through the processes of handling (or mishandling) the components.

All of us have a list of things we’ve attempted to fix and ultimately ended up not being able too.

My first job on the ship as officer was to replace a tombstone on a fluorescent light in an emergency escape between 7 0C tanks . It snowballed into me replacing the whole damn thing as everything was crispy; whatever connectors and wire I touched turned into dust or broke.

gmctavish needs more space > Exage03040 @ opposite-lock.com
07/22/2020 at 02:44

Fair points, if I never tried I’d always wonder if the fix was that simple

pip bip - choose Corrour > gmctavish needs more space
07/22/2020 at 03:36

easy fix for the TV, throw it out a window

PartyPooper2012 > gmctavish needs more space
07/22/2020 at 06:50

There was an electronics repair shop near my old house. Dude was always fiddling with monitors and TVs.

My old office had a bunch of smaller monitors. Some were not working. Others were scratched pretty badly. Dropped it off at his place. He couldn’t be happier.

I wish I could have shadowed him for a bit to see what he does to fix them.

But that said, maybe there are youtube videos on how to fix it. At this point, you’ve probably written these off as a total loss.

Other than getting accidentally electrocuted or tripping circuit breaker, there isn’t much else you could lose by trying something else.

When you’ve completely given up on it, put it outside your entrance door as a floor mat and wipe your feet with it for ultimate satisfaction. Don’t break your legs. It might be slippery.

BUT... if you end up fixing it, well, hey. most electronic equipment could be returned within 60 days so maybe you could return your new tv and use this shitbox.

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > gmctavish needs more space
07/22/2020 at 06:56

You tried...which is much more than most people even think of doing. This reflects well on you.

Jayvincent > gmctavish needs more space
07/22/2020 at 07:39

my LED tv repair experience was similar: the surgery was a success but the patient died... I consider it good practice and a learning experience. Like you, I have hands designed for wrenching, not delicate electronics

Kinja'd!!!

Sovande > gmctavish needs more space
07/22/2020 at 07:40

Get a big ass Sony TV. Mine has the super convenient feature of turning on at random times so when I wake in the morning, it’s already warmed up.

Fucking TVs.

adamftw > gmctavish needs more space
07/22/2020 at 07:41

I’ve repaired quite a few, sometimes it just doesn’t work. It can get really tiresome tracking down exactly where the fault lies on the 7,8,9,10 boards these things have. It used to be more cost effective when I was doing $200 boards in $15k Pioneer plasmas but it just isn’t that way anymore. I put a new board in a Viera I was trying to save a couple weeks ago, I SWORE I checked everything twice and when I powered it on, all the magic smoke came out.

TBH, mid range Vizio or TCL sets are perfect for 99.9% of people, not sure why yours konked out so early. The Sony Bravia (950 I think is the current gen?) is AMAZING if you want to spend some more cash for a better picture without jumping all the way to OLED.

facw > gmctavish needs more space
07/22/2020 at 07:55

Fun to take stuff apart, even if fixing it turns out to not be worth the effort.

Over the past 5 years I’ve lost a TV and two monitors to bad capacitors, but while I did take apart the monitors to see if there were any obviously blown caps, it just didn’t feel worth the effort to repair them given how cheap new ones are.

RacinBob > gmctavish needs more space
07/22/2020 at 08:15

What always amazes me is how somebody in China can plug those boards together at the pace of a hundred per hour without defect.

Snuze: Needs another Swede > gmctavish needs more space
07/22/2020 at 09:19

At least you tried, which is more than most.

Check out LG TVs. I have 2 in the house and love them.

Snooder87 > gmctavish needs more space
07/22/2020 at 10:02

Yeah, bent connectors will fuck ya. L earnt that the hard way taking apart my calculators as a kid.

If you remember which connector you broke, you could go deeper in this rabbit hole and search eBay to see if anyone is selling one. I t’s pretty encouraging that it worked before you mounted it, cause that kinda implies it’s probably just a connection issue where moving it shifted the bent connector out of alignment.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > PartyPooper2012
07/22/2020 at 11:37

One office I worked at had a whole batch of bad Samsung monitors. We were able to fix 10 out of 20 or so. They had capacitors that eventually went bad and would swell up. Replacement capacitors cost something like $1 or $2 after shipping. It was a kind of fun lunch time thing for a bit - fixing dead monitors at work.

PartyPooper2012 > BaconSandwich is tasty.
07/22/2020 at 11:52

yeah. that is probably what happened to those monitors. They were too small to use again in production so it was ok to get rid of them. It felt... ok to give them to someone who could fix em.

gmctavish needs more space > adamftw
07/22/2020 at 13:47

I dunno, and my dad’s of the same model too. I was just looking at that So ny 950, it’s very tempting...and expensive..

gmctavish needs more space > RacinBob
07/22/2020 at 13:48

Right? I couldn’t even get one right, and there’s people doing that all day.

Crazy

gmctavish needs more space > Snooder87
07/22/2020 at 13:49

Ohh that is encouraging. And better yet, I have another one of those connectors in my dad’s dead TV. I guess tomorrow I’ll be seeing if I can get it unhooked from the panel without breaking it

adamftw > gmctavish needs more space
07/22/2020 at 21:46

They’re outstanding