SAmsung LE40F86BD Problem with image (green lines)

[Librex]

My Samsung tv was bought in Jan 2008 (funny how they break down just after warranty period..) and is now showing lots of unwanted green lines all over the screen (see image). I've tested all the inputs and it's always the same. Even when there is no input whatsoever the menus are showing signs of flickering around edges. The green lines are usually in darker areas of the image.

I probably had the clicking relay thing that is so common with Samsung LCD but not as bad as to prevent the tv from working. Nevertheless, could this be a capacitor or corrupted EEPROM problem? Before I get it to a repair shop and get a quote, I wanted to check if anyone had any idea of what could be wrong and how much I'm looking for to pay to have it fixed. I can do the soldering thing on the caps if I really need to or if the quote they give me is ridiculously high but before I start opening the chassis, an expert opinion would be much appreciated.

Thank you in advance for your precious help.

[davenjax]

hi personaly id be looking in 2 places the power supply check the caps .maybe see if there is a refurb kit you can fit to it should be straight forward soldering and if thats not the issue id replace the tcon ( the panel on the rear of the lcd top center ) you can usualy source one on ebay for a good price rgds dave

[sparky]

hi
his there any caps in psu bulging it so change them ,it
also could be the cable to screen drive board or you
will need new eeprom ic charles hyde sells them,easy to change
and they set them self up
dave

[Librex]

Thanks for the replies.

I removed the back panel, checked the PSU (everything's fine, no bulging caps) and checked connectors. The funny thing is that the tv worked again when I put everything back in place but only for 5mins before the green lines reappeared.

I'll see about the tcon and the eeprom.

[Kilroys]

Or perhaps the LVDS cables.
You got 3, one between the mainboard and the frc board and
2 from the frc to the t-con board,
bad connectors could make it periodically

[davenjax]

hi when you say it worked for 5 mins then green lines started to appear makes me wonder about the tcon .i recently had a toshiba which worked fine for about 25 mins then i had lines starting to appear and occasional pausing of pic but sound remained constant i replaced the tcon and it cured the fault

[Turnip]

Hi folks,

Notice that board numbers and piccies are a bit absent.

Feel it's difficult and almost pointless to try diagnose probs without any useful initial input -

Just a thought as have needy Demijohns to flush, and wine to check   - Chris.

[Librex]

Not quite sure what more info I could add. The picture I posted is a good example of the problem (that guy isn't supposed to be covered in green slime or anything..). Periodic clicking sound, vertical green lines, lots of green noise on black pictures, chronic symptoms.. are board numbers really that useful? If so, yes, I can list them.

Well, anyways, this morning the tv started to work just fine, with all the HDMI inputs, without anything changed since last night except going through the test patterns from the service manual (from the factory menu). IT's been stable since then without any sign of green lines. The only thing that may have changed since yesterday is a slight drop in temperature as it's noticeably cooler today which could point to faulty PSU or similar component.

As the problem is sporadic I'll investigate the cables and Tcon first in case it comes back. Thanks all for your input. I may not need to buy a new tv after all!

[Turnip]

Hi Librex,

Not intending to be difficult, but problems tend to be localised to specific panels, where repair folks may well have some data.

General problems with no useful information tend to gain vague replies.

Cool, if Vague is your biz - I try go for Panel numbers and piccies - Chris.

[JAYROD]

Hi, 9 times out of 10 from my experience this sort of problem on all lcd`s is cured by simply unplugging the cable from T-CON board, (the small board on the back of the lcd panel) and cleaning the contacts with a suitable cleaner.
 phil,

[tsgunnell]

I had the same problem with a nec monitor cured by unplugging and clean connector to the screen the problem came back but cured it completely using some hot melt on the connector

[Librex]

Hi, 9 times out of 10 from my experience this sort of problem on all lcd`s is cured by simply unplugging the cable from T-CON board, (the small board on the back of the lcd panel) and cleaning the contacts with a suitable cleaner.
 phil,

Thank you so much!!

I did exactly that a couple of weeks ago and since then the TV has been working great, even after many hours of TV, Blu-ray and XBOX activity.

This forum is great. Thanks all for the help. If anyone has the same problem of vertical green lines, go ahead, remove the back of the TV and clean up the connectors, it works!

[davenjax]

hey glad you got a positive result .nice one .dave