LCD TV dead should I even try to fix it?
 

I was wondering if anyone has had their LCD repaired. Last night I lost the backlight on my 4 year old Toshiba flat screen. I have heard it could be an inverter board...should I try to have this fixed? Or just buy another one. There is an inverter board on the Bay for $35 but I do not know if it is worth even that much of a small gamble.


4 years?
at least by Toshiba DLP still works and it is 7 years old.

Does it have a lamp used to backlight it? I have never needed to work on one but seems to hear a lot of stories about a lamp in the back. Or recap the power supply is another common fix I hear of.


Barney

Depends. Is it the thick, projector type LCD? I had a Hitachi and the projector some how rattled out of focus. I had it repaired, but it was expensive. ~$300 IIRC.

Dave

I will have to check that out...I was under the assumption that the LCDs do not need a lamp...I have had to replace my DLP Lamp twice already...I will do some research.

I will take it apart and do some general stuff like reseat some cable connectors

thanks
Robbin

I've never had the back off any of my flat panels. Just blow them with canned air every now and then. Dread the day, but would attempt a recap of the power supply board. Like you will pull the back and give it a look see when it messes up.


Barney

Thanks guys...I think I will just go buy a new one and take some deoxit to this one....
it is not a real thick one...pretty slim I purhased it in 2009. Amazing how things do not last. It was like $600 plus brand new but I guess in 2009 dollars that is not alot...

shame how things do not last like they used to

If it's older fluorescent tubes provide the backlight. The common failure modes are power supply caps and the inverter board. I've successfully repaired LCD monitors via recapping. Now, whether or not it's worth the time given the current price of LCD TVs is a different matter. Did it show any symptoms before failure or did it simply not light up when you turned it on? I noticed on some LCD monitors that the picture can sometimes be seen even though it appears dark. BTW all the monitors I fixed were Samsungs and had Crapon caps. Good luck!

No symptoms at all...it just died on me when I started to watch Starship Troopers 3. Yeah the flashlight test works....
are the power supply caps accessible and are they expensive or just common ones you can get at Radio Shack?
thanks!

They're normal electrolytic caps and are cheap. I search on the internet and buy kits for ~$10.00 to save the time of ordering. I 've had good luck with these guys:

http://lcdalternatives.com/Default.aspx

Access to the PS board and inverter board is the difficult part IMO. I have a set of Nylon pry tools for opening plastic cases. Everything is so tightly packed and snapped together. See if you can find a tutorial on the internet for your specific TV. I suspect the same make, model, and run all died about the same time, thus some enterprising individual may have posted a repair procedure.

Given the quick onset of the problem, I'm guessing a bad inverter board.

Thanks Bhunter! Cool site and it has great videos on desoldering that I need to learn to do ....they do not have Toshiba caps.....I think the Toshiba invertors use a different sort of form factor since on Ebay the one I need for my model does not have radial capacitors that I can see from the pictures.
However I am going to tear the Toshiba apart...and it is a bit thick at about 2.5 inches wide and has screws so hopefully will not have to pry....

just bought a Sharp 39 inch LED for $350.....
maybe I will buy the extended warranty for 4 years at $70.....
I have 30 days to decide,,,