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Samsung TV (no picture, but sound)

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JKessell

Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2011
Location
Long Island, NY
Came home, turned on tv, watched it for about ten minutes until the picture vanished, but I could still hear the sound.

Checked connections, wasn't it.
Tried other outlets, wasn't it.

I can faintly see something moving in the background despite the picture being pitch black.

I'm assuming something is royally :censored::censored::censored::censored:ed up.


Has anyone experienced this before?

I'm a graduate student paying off student loans, so, am I completely screwed now that my 40" TV doesn't work?
 
Sounds like the backlight is kerput if you can still see an image.
Did you call tech support? Samsung TVs seem to die after not too long due to capacitors going on them. Usually just change the caps and theyre good for years.
 
I unplugged the TV for five hours today, as I heard this can sometimes help. I came home ~8 hours later, plugged in the TV. It ran smooth for about ~4 hours, but now it's blacking out again.

:(
 
What you need to find out then is why it helps? If it's a known issue people must know the culprit. I'm sure something needs replacing in there but knowing what would reduce your cost. I guess you're out of warranty at this point? If you're still under mfg warranty that'd be covered. They usually have service centers for Panasonic/Sony/Samsung etc in major cities. You can probably drive it to one.
 
I actually work for Best Buy and I do have it under warranty for replacement/repair. However, the turn around time is ~2 weeks currently and I was trying to look for a solution that I might be able to accomplish myself.

Thanks for all the advice.
 
This sounds like it might be a different issue, but Samsungs have a well-known issue with 3-5 caps in the PSU section (these caps "bulge" and effectively quit working). The symptoms for this are generally that the TV takes longer and longer to TURN ON, and eventually won't turn on at all (repeated clicking, but the unit never actually powers on). This happened to me personally and to a buddy at work - replacing the 3-5 caps in the PSU did the trick (mine has been going strong for well over 18 months after the fix).

Your issue sounds a bit different, though. Does your TV take a while to turn on accompanied with repeated clicks before coming to life? Seems like your issue is isolated to the backlight itself or the backlight driver circuitry, but the PSU is certainly a possible culprit, too.

:cool:
 
The TV is nearing ~3 years old.

The TV is usually on ~18 hours a day. My dog gets really upset if she doesn't have some background noise.

The TV powers on just fine, but after a while, the picture fill fade to black, and I can only hear sound. Unplugging the TV, letting it sit there for ~15 minutes, and replugging it in usually fixes it for roughly ~6 hours.

I can only assume it's getting old since it runs so much.
 
18 hours a day for 3 years is quite a lot, especially if cheap parts were used in the manufacture of your TV. It does sound like bad cap or possibly bad solder join if it works while cooled down but fails after its warmed up.

Unless you're good with basic electronics repair and can identify and replace bad caps, you're better off letting Best Buy deal with it.
 
Wow - An entire forum dedicated to Bad Caps! :p I'm just glad I figured this out myself before I paid some dude $200 to fix it (plus a few weeks of turn-around time!) :) . $8 in caps from my local Fry's (105*C caps) and 2 hours did the trick for me. Mine is also close to 3 years old and is on for a good ~10 hours a day - and the cap fix is still holding up after 18 months (my initial issue appeared after 18 months, 6 months after the warranty ran out :( ).

:cool:
 
TV 2 weeks over 12 months old fine this morning turn on teatime no picture but sound OK no joy of Samsung helpline
 
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