Foo - My TV died

I have a Samsung LN40A550 (http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.aspx?EDC=1442335) 40" LCD TV that I purchased in June or July of 2008. I've had no complaints about it until last week. When I'd try to power it up, the red remote light and the white TV on light would flash alternatingly, and it would take 5-10 minutes for it to power up, instead of the matter of seconds that it used to take. I did some research and discovered that there are two capacitors that are nearing their end of life. Supposedly new ones are about $20, but the old ones have to be removed from the motherboard and the new ones soldered on in their place. I don't have soldering skills or equipment, nor do I want to learn on a TV. Saturday it powered up fine, but Sunday it never did. I ended up having to watch the Seahawks/Bears game on a 19" widescreen LCD monitor that I hooked up in place of the 40". That sucked.

So Sunday I researched local TV repair shops, and found one that comes to you to fix it. I spoke with the guy this morning and scheduled the repair for today at 1:30. He charges $180+ tax, so just under $200. That's much cheaper than the $800-$900 that I'd have to spend to replace it.

We'll see how the repair goes this afternoon.

He's probably not replacing two individual capacitors, but rather one circuit board with those capacitors on them.

Actually, assuming you didn't try to turn it on with covers open, wore gloves, and shorted the caps with a 1MOhm resistor before working on them, the TV would have been a decent place to learn. Soldering is easier than changing oil when you're working with big stuff. Either way, I'm glad you're getting it fixed. My fiancee's father got a 3k TV a couple years ago and the picture has turned yellow. The ones before his were recalled, but not his. Fixing it at a tune of $800 just puts the issue off for another 2 years.

More time to ride your bike!

Oh, wait, it's already nearly 2pm CDT. Never mind.

It took the guy about 30 minutes to open the TV, pull the board, remove the capacitors, solder new ones on, put the board back on, test it, and put the TV back together. I know I could have done it myself for much less, but I don't have the skills or equipment, and didn't feel like learning on my beloved TV. I'm quite happy with the results. While I didn't hover over him (I used to be a bicycle mechanic & hated when customers would do that to me), I did look over now and then while eating my lunch to see how it was going. He did actually change the capacitors only.

If anyone in the D/FW area needs LCD/Plasma TV repairs, I know a guy that does great work.

If you watched you could fix it yourself next month.

If you watched you could fix it yourself next month.

If it needs it next month, I have a 60-day warranty.

And actually, having watched him do it, more or less, I feel confident that I could do it myself if I learned how to solder. It was obvious to me which capacitors were bad. The only part of working on it that I would be concerned about doing is the unsoldering/soldering of the capacitors. I'm sure it'd be easy enough to get the tools at Radio Shack and learn how to do it. I didn't want to go that long w/o the TV, though. Not with the Packers in the playoffs.

It took the guy about 30 minutes to open the TV, pull the board, remove the capacitors, solder new ones on, put the board back on, test it, and put the TV back together. I know I could have done it myself for much less, but I don't have the skills or equipment, and didn't feel like learning on my beloved TV. I'm quite happy with the results. While I didn't hover over him (I used to be a bicycle mechanic & hated when customers would do that to me), I did look over now and then while eating my lunch to see how it was going. He did actually change the capacitors only.

If anyone in the D/FW area needs LCD/Plasma TV repairs, I know a guy that does great work.


I commend you, sir. I do various oddjob renovation work on the side and I absolutely loathe people breathing down my neck watching me.

I have a Samsung LN40A550 (http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.aspx?EDC=1442335) 40" LCD TV that I purchased in June or July of 2008. I've had no complaints about it until last week. When I'd try to power it up, the red remote light and the white TV on light would flash alternatingly, and it would take 5-10 minutes for it to power up, instead of the matter of seconds that it used to take. I did some research and discovered that there are two capacitors that are nearing their end of life. Supposedly new ones are about $20, but the old ones have to be removed from the motherboard and the new ones soldered on in their place. I don't have soldering skills or equipment, nor do I want to learn on a TV. Saturday it powered up fine, but Sunday it never did. I ended up having to watch the Seahawks/Bears game on a 19" widescreen LCD monitor that I hooked up in place of the 40". That sucked.

So Sunday I researched local TV repair shops, and found one that comes to you to fix it. I spoke with the guy this morning and scheduled the repair for today at 1:30. He charges $180+ tax, so just under $200. That's much cheaper than the $800-$900 that I'd have to spend to replace it.

We'll see how the repair goes this afternoon.
Very interesting...

I have a 42" LCD that my folks replaced due to the repairman never calling back. I may have to take a whack at repairing it myself. Oh, and I have mad soldering skills and all the tools. :)

just curious, do you have this TV plugged into a surge protector?

just curious, do you have this TV plugged into a surge protector?

Yes. All of my electronics are plugged into surge protectors.

Yes. All of my electronics are plugged into surge protectors.

I've read on A/V forums that a lot of folks are plugging their flatscreens into Uninterruptible Power Source units. Much like computers, flatscreens are sensitive to power fluctuations, especially low voltages, and the UPS keeps a constant voltage. It may be worth it to prevent the problem in the future.

I've read on A/V forums that a lot of folks are plugging their flatscreens into Uninterruptible Power Source units. Much like computers, flatscreens are sensitive to power fluctuations, especially low voltages, and the UPS keeps a constant voltage. It may be worth it to prevent the problem in the future.

Yes, I'll have to look into it.

Thankfully, capacitors tend to die in a non-subtle way. You're right that soldering isn't amazingly difficult, especially with full-sized components, but even so, I probably wouldn't start on a nigh-kilobuck TV set.

Many years ago my company was moving from a single minicomputer running on punch cards to a Unix minicomputer with distributed terminals. We had bought the computer and the tech was doing some configuring while sitting at a terminal near the computer. He jumped up and turned off the big switch on the front of the computer, and told me that he saw a wisp of smoke come out of the machine. We opened the case and on the circuit board for the power supply there were 2 curved wires sticking out and a little pile of dust where one of the components had been. I thought at the time that it was a resistor. I've heard that you shouldn't let the smoke out because it won't run after the smoke escapes, this was an example of that.