Samsung TV problem, any easy fixes ?

[Steve Campbell]

Hi folks
My 5 year old Samsung TV has developed the following fault (see picture). It's very visible on green background (so watching football for example), but hardly visible at all for everything else.

TV is UE46D8000 if that helps.

Is this a particular component failing ? Any easy fixes that can be home remedied ? Wasn't really ready yet to change if I can get this one back to its normal wonderful self. As it's only noticeable under certain conditions I can live with it but if it is easy fix then I'll have a go.

Thanks

[HTP99]

My 7 year old Samsung developed a similar problem, however the issue was too much yellow, I think at 5 years old youve had its life out of itand any repair is likely to not be worth doing from a monetary point of view.

I binned mine and replaced it and also realised how poor the picture on the old one actually was as the new one is head and shoulders better, even on normal HD.

Didn't cost too much either; £430 for a 43" Smart Ultra HD Samsung unit, cheaper than the old one too which was also smaller.

[SS2.]

Longshot, but have you tried resetting the picture ? (Menu > Support > Self-Diagnosis > Reset).

If that fails, is the TV running the latest firmware ? If not, perhaps try an update.

If both of those do not resolve the issue, it'll likely be a physical problem with the TV.

Me, I'd whip the back off and, in the first instance, unplug & plug back in all of the connectors on the main PCB.

Bearing in mind there could be live 240v floating around, you might not want to try this, but I'd start flexing the PCB with the TV switched on to see if the problem disappears. If it does, it may be a loose component or fracture in a track that's causing the issue.

If you can find someone with a suitable oven, it might be worth reflowing the PCB. Failing that, a new PCB would be required.

Hope you get it sorted because the 8000 series is a great TV.

[Steve Campbell]

Thanks folks. Firmware is up to date, and tried reset.
Just to be clear, the issue is the vertical lines. I've shown this with a blank green background as it shows the issue up to the greatest extent. Look like a job for after Xmas :-)..... will have a fiddle with all the connectors.

[TonyRPH]

I would hazard a guess at a failing capacitor causing that.

When you take the back off, look for a swollen capacitor.

If surface mount capacitors - they'll look like this (the swollen one is obvious here at the top of the image)



If they are through hole capacitors - then they'll look like this:

The ones with goop sprouting out of the top are an extreme case - you can see the others swelling in the background (on top).

[Steve Campbell]

Well....just an update. Finally got around to taking the back off. No sign of swollen capacitors. I unplugged and re-plugged all the cables and connectors I could.

Results : No change :-(

On the positive side, I am now looking at new TV's :-)

[SS2.]

Pity it wasn't anything obvious.

Steve Campbell said:

On the positive side, I am now looking at new TV's :-)

What are your plans for the old one ?

I'll happily save you the trouble of taking it to the tip..

[teamHOLDENracing]

Steve Campbell said:

Well....just an update. Finally got around to taking the back off. No sign of swollen capacitors. I unplugged and re-plugged all the cables and connectors I could.

Results : No change :-(

On the positive side, I am now looking at new TV's :-)

Steve - I'm in the same position, albeit with a 40" Samsung unit - same series, same age, same fault. I have already bought a new one but I'm keen to repair the older unit if possible.

When I bought the new one I assumed that a new 4k UHD TV would have a better picture than a 5-6 year old HD TV, and prices have obviously come down. I was wrong on the picture quality! I bought a mid price Sony but the picture was so bad that I had to check I was actually on an HD channel! The 8000 series screen is quite high spec and is better than many (most?) current 4k TV's HD. The Sony went back and I got a 7500 series Samsung instead. My problem was I only wanted a 43" screen - apparently that is considered small these days and is low volume, and most manufacturers only do low spec units in that size. I had to get a curved screen in the end in order to get the screen spec - which I didn't really want.

Anyway, when choosing a new TV make sure you view in HD and not just the retailers 4k video, otherwise you could be very disappointed when you get it home.

Funny how these TVs develop a fault just after the 5 year warranty expires, isn't it?!!

[LordLoveLength]

Faults that develop slowly and 'come good' after a period of time are usually due to faulty electrolytic capacitors.
They have a limited lifetime and don't always show signs of distress so don't dismiss them if they don't show leakage or bulging. Best bet is to just replace the lot in the power supply*

Make a list of all caps on the psu board and get replacements rated at 105 degree C and same voltage or greater
Plenty of decent suppliers on eBay and shouldn't cost much more than £10-20.

• the power supply will have a (physically) big capacitor, typically rated at 400V, These seldom fail and I wouldnt bother

replacing unless it was leaking.

[Steve Campbell]

The 8000 was definitely top of the range 5 years ago, and I have been a bit worried about what to do for a replacement as I didn't want to commit too high a price but want at least comparable quality. I have no 4K inputs and likely won't for the next 5 years so want something that upscale normal TV very well (I watch through NOW TV box with the odd DVD / BR). I ditched SKY HD recently.

Just reading through this months Which magazine and the Samsung UE49KU6400 looks top of the list at the moment at <£700. Need to go see it in the flesh.

I'm still abit reluctant to leave this TV without trying something else as it's a great TV and I don't really need a £700 bill for a new one at the mo. If I don't fry it, it'll get transferred to another room as a gaming TV !

Edited by Steve Campbell on Saturday 18th February 17:03

[kejhj]

Its a faulty LCD panel unfortunately.
Price on replacement samsung screens has dropped a lot recently, still wont be cheap to repair but might be worth finding your local samsung service centre (dont use local tv repair shop as they will pay a big premium buying screen in) just to get a quote

[IanH755]

My 2012 Samsung ES8000 series looks exactly the same. I took mine back to Richer Sounds (5 year guarantee) and got it back with the picture fixed (yay) but within a week it returned (boo). Turns out RS had just done a factory reset which cleared it temporarily. It's now been like that for about a year and isn't 'too' distracting at the moment (i.e. I can live with it unless it gets much worse).

I'm now looking at various LG OLED sets as a replacement once the problem gets too distracting or the set fails.

[Steve Campbell]

kejhj said:

Its a faulty LCD panel unfortunately.

Hi Kejhj, I assume if that's the case then there is nothing that I can do as DIY fix ? (are you a tech person in this area ?)

As I've had the TV 6 years, is this something that can "develop". Faulty LCD panel sounds like something that would have occurred early in life rather than develop later. It has become slightly worse in that initially (within last 12 months) it started as slight grey banding at left of screen but as you can see, has now progressed to 3 main areas of problem (left, middle and right).

I've just ditched Sky sports so won't be watching much football, although I did watch the snooker which was also annoying ! Rest of TV we hardly notice it...so I'm tempted to wait until it either eventually fails completely or until I see a super sale for what I'm looking for ! Anyone know what the likely "progression" of such a fault would be ?

Edited by Steve Campbell on Monday 20th February 16:09

[kejhj]

Steve Campbell said:

Hi Kejhj, I assume if that's the case then there is nothing that I can do as DIY fix ? (are you a tech person in this area ?)

As I've had the TV 6 years, is this something that can "develop". Faulty LCD panel sounds like something that would have occurred early in life rather than develop later. It has become slightly worse in that initially (within last 12 months) it started as slight grey banding at left of screen but as you can see, has now progressed to 3 main areas of problem (left, middle and right).

I've just ditched Sky sports so won't be watching much football, although I did watch the snooker which was also annoying ! Rest of TV we hardly notice it...so I'm tempted to wait until it either eventually fails completely or until I see a super sale for what I'm looking for ! Anyone know what the likely "progression" of such a fault would be ?

Edited by Steve Campbell on Monday 20th February 16:09

Hi, Yes I repair tv's for a living, for a samsung/panasonic/sony service centre.

Unfortunately, lines,blobs, patches, stripes can all appear after 1 month or 8 years no obvious reason why or when they might appear.
Yours may stay like that for ever, OR it might gradually get worse over next few months. You could try playing about with backlight/brightness/colour settings to make it look less obvious, but wont get rid of it.

Fyi the price on a replacment screen is £660 add a bit of labour to that and repair cost in region of £750!!

[Steve Campbell]

Good to know (in that I won't bother going to the service centre then !!).

Thanks for info. I'm going to sit tight and put up with it for a while and see what happens.