Dead 32" Philips TV

[heather2634]

We have a year old 32"Philips Flat Screen TV. Worked fine till about 3 weeks ago. Then it would just shut down on its own while watching it. It would power up again but would just shut down, whenever it felt like it. It almost seemed like there was a timer of some sort set. Now it won't turn on at all. You sometimes hear a click and it sounds like it is trying to warm up but then shuts down. There is a green light by the power button that flashes, almost like a code flash, once, twice, then 5 quick flashes. Then it keeps repeating that code. Plugging in the power cord and moving the tv on the shelf at times would make it work for a bit, but now it won't come on at all. It is a new enough tv, you hate to run into problems this quick with it. Any suggestions other than hauling the heavy brute up out of the basement and into a repair shop 2 hours away?

 

[fingers]

Have you called Philips customer service? I have an Acer LCD TV which had a similar fault. They came to my house and fixed it for free. Maybe Philips would do the same as they are a big enough organisation.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

It might help if your location was filled in?, but I will mention that Philips have had MASSIVE numbers of CRT failures? - not just on Philips TV's, but any set that uses a Philips CRT.

From your vague description it could well be the CRT!.

 

[dknguyen]

Spectrum

Was this the same Phillips failure caused by some counterfeit components getting into the assembly line that I read about in last month's IEEE Spectrum?

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Was this the same Phillips failure caused by some counterfeit components getting into the assembly line that I read about in last month's IEEE Spectrum?

No idea, I've always presumed it was because of their joint venue with LG?.

 

[HarveyH42]

No Waranty? Does the unit have a SLEEP function? The 'click' could be a relay.
The flashing LED, error code? Have you tried search the internet for your model number? You'd be surprised at how often similar problems are reported on new equipment, nice function of mass-production... Also, several websites have product recall searches, but usually deal with products that can kill you if you don't get it fixed.

Try phillips.com and see if they can help.

 

[raybo]

it sound to me like you have a power supply problem. most of the problem is usualy associated with leaking caps. as times go by they begin to leak and get hot never gets better. the relay is probaly a soft start relay that shut down before melt down. on a rainy day i never shut down any not in use components because the unit is hot and during shutdown cool off time it sucks air in and we know our air is full of contaniments and the older it gets the dirtyer it gets.

 

[heather2634]

I'm in Saskatchewan, Canada. Thanks for replies. I am thinking it may have something to do with a timer since it worked some mornings and nights. The CRT problem also was interesting, is it an expensive fix? Got the TV with Credit Union Choice Reward points so have no sales receipt. Will take it in for repair as it had such a nice picture and good sound when it worked, hate to go back to the old 27" now. Thanks for the input, all!!! It is just sooo big to haul around, a 2 man job!!

 

[HarveyH42]

32" TV? Must be small men in Canada... I hope the repair shop is reasonably honest up there. From what I hear around here, it's almost cheaper to just buy a new one. But I guess technology has been changing so fast, that fewer people actually go in for repairs anymore, it's just time for an upgrade.

Good luck.

 

[raybo]

yah i agree with china supply and the new plasma i woul'd fix it but ultimatelly it is your choise take care

 

[panic mode]

hmmm, i've just replaced my second DVD player from Philips...
japaneese or korean products seam to last so much longer.

 

[HarveyH42]

Ever wonder if there is a microcontroller calender in consumer electronics, programed to sense the end of the warrenty, and then trigger intermentant problems, for which most consumers will eventually replace the unit? Or better yet, spend hundreds of dollars on replacement parts? Repairs usually involve replacing whole boards, don't think anybody looks at the component level anymore. I don't find a whole lot of parts worth salvaging anymore. Most of the silicon parts are house numbered. Don't do surface mount, not even sure if these parts are reuseable. Kind of sad that consumer electronics are so disposiable. with little recycle value. Pepole are so greedy...

 

[bhong2002]

i think it's horizontal power transistor are busted? due to the AC power sometimes have a fluctuation?..

 

[Canti]

Hi there,

6 months ago my friends TV did almost the same thing. It turns out that there was a bad resistor. I can't explain it too well, but here's the link to the how to fix site, something worth looking into.

https://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/electronics/msg0422572015185.html
Philips Magnavox TV problem

Hope it helps.

 

[ADELRESTA]

Well i think this is a faulty horizontal output transistor since the power LED is indicating then power supply might be ok!

 

[heather2634]

Thanks for the replies. Checked out the site Canti mentioned, it is great, thanks so much. Think we may try a little home repair, if we can spot the problem. Will keep you posted.

 

[shawnsterz]

I have the same probably with the same model TV (32" Flat screen HDTV model 32PT9100D). The green LED flashes and it shuts down and won't restart. The guy from Philips says that it sounds like a power relay problem due to the flashing LED and the relay switching sounds. The TV does weigh alot (152 lbs) and the TV repair place thinks I need to bring it to them. I have had it since Nov '05 so parts are under warrenty but not labor. Does anyone have any idea how many hours it would possible take to repair this type of problem?

 

[ThermalRunaway]

Like Nigel has already said, Philips sets have in the past had a very poor reputation for the quality of their CRTs. I used to work on a lot of Sanyo stuff which had their 28" CRTs fitted (W66ECK-something) and they would go down ALL the time. The Sanyo sets weren't too intelligent so they would just sit there and allow the fault to appear, but Philips TVs are much more complex - they monitor the working operation of the CRT and, if something is not as it should be, it'll shut itself down into standby. This makes diagnosis much more difficult because the Philips sets don't allow you to see the actual fault!

The flashing LED you speak about is an error code generated by the microprocessor. Personally I've rarely found them to be of any use, but if you're still interested to find out what your code means you'll need to obtain a service manual for it.

I also had quite a lot of trouble with the SSB panel on a lot of Philips TVs. These TVs had the A10 chassis fitted, and there's an IC on the SSB panel called the "painter" IC, which caused me no end of grief. Faults ranged from sound quality, intermittent remote control operation, picture faults, shutting down into standby for no apparent reason, changing channels on it's own - pretty much anything you can think of. You can tell if yours is an A10 model by checking the label on the rear of the TV - the chassis number will be shown on there.

Hope this helps,

Brian

 

[ThermalRunaway]

Shawnsterz:

Unfortunately TV repair is not as simple as that. If you were experiencing a common fault which the engineer knew about, then it would probably be possible for him to give you an idea of the labour time involved in changing the part and setting up the TV, but if an engineer has to walk in on a new problem, it is completely impossible for him to give any idea of the time it will take him to trace the fault. It might take him as little as 5 seconds, or it might take him as long as a week or more!

Quite often these days repair shops will offer a free estimate service in order to encourage business, or they may offer a flat rate repair service, so that you only pay them a set rate for the repair regardless of how long the poor old engineer spends on it. Ring around and have a chat with a couple of these places.

Brian

 

[zevon8]

Just as an aside, Thomson ( RCA, GE, Proscan , and many other rebrands I'm sure ) had a similar problems with a line of chassis #CTC175-187. It was all due to poor soldering around the micro / eprom and the shield cage. A whole myriad of weird problems arose. If the problem was left go for a while it only got worse, to the point where the EEPROM could be damaged. Then the set could do it self expensive damage or be completely inoperable, since the EEPROM held values for proper operation of power supplies, scan rates, etc.

If caught when it first happened, simply resoldering the bad joints ( Thomson actually issued a special solder and flux kit ) was all that was needed. If it progressed, you needed to replace the EEPROM with one that was preprogramed to a level that would allow the set to turn on, then you had to recalibrate everything, full factory alignment. The fun was that you only got one shot at it, hoping the correct values got written to the EEPROM, or you would be back at square one, replacing the EEPROM again.

Lesson? - get it fixed before it gets worse, and possibly more expensive. Just turning the set on, even if it appears to work sometimes, could be a bad idea.