Faulty LCD TV

This sounds like a failure in the power supply section, or there is a short on one of the boards, thus over-loading the supply. Without proper diagnostics, it is impossible to guess. The service rep will fix the set by swapping out the defective board(s).

The failure has nothing to do with anything connected to the set, unless what is connected has a serious defect. These sets can fail on their own from use and age.

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JANA _____

My parents have a Samsung LCD 17" TV (model LCDLW17N13W). Had it for around a year and only used about 10 times in total.

At the weekend when the kids came round they had a PS2 plugged in (via scart) for a couple of hours while playing games. After that someone switched off the TV but left the PS2 switched on and connected over-night.

Next morning when they tried to switch on the TV they found it was not working.

When it is plugged in, the power LED comes on for a couple of seconds followed by the normal 'start-up' beeps, then the power LED goes out. After a few seconds the sequence repeats ad infinitum. The display never actually comes on - the TV just seems to perform a start-up test then resets every time.

Has anyone come across this model of TV before? Are there any known faults? Is it possible that the PS2 being left plugged in has caused the problem?

As the TV is out of warranty now they will probably have to pay to have it fixed. I'm just trying to get an idea of the likely cause of the fault if possible.

Cheers, Ian.

Does the set have any kind of parental lock-out feature? Or maybe a PAL/SECAM/NTSC switch? The kids may have fooled with the set and turned on the lockout or set it to the wrong video standard. The way to reset it may be in the owner's manual. Or maybe it's as simple as they turned the brightness all the way down. Most sets will go to some minimum brightness picture instead of going completely dark, but I guess having it go dark might be a "feature" enabling you to listen to the TV audio without running the LCD if you're in the next room or something.

If it has any pushbuttons on the set itself, you might make sure that they all operate freely. A stuck-down button might be confusing the set. Find the remote and remove the batteries from it - maybe the kids spilled soda in the remote and the "power" button on the remote is shorted, causing it to run continuously and shut off the TV as soon as you turn it on at the set.

This may not help, but it's free to try: unplug the set from the mains and disconnect _everything_ connected to it - antenna, cable TV, PS2, headphones, stereo, whatever. Leave it disconnected from the mains for half an hour or so, then plug it back in and try again. If the microprocessor got confused, this may reset it. If it works after this treatment, add back the things you disconnected one by one to see which one makes the TV fail. If it doesn't work after this treatment, your problems are probably more expensive.

It's possible, but unlikely. Any decent TV set should be able to stand having its A/V or SCART inputs driven while shut off.

Matt Roberds

Try shining a bright light on the screen when you turn it on. Look for any sign of the picture. If you can see a faint picture under bright light, the LCD's back light isn't working. Problems with the back light power supply are very common with LCD TVs and monitors. Most will shut down when the back light doesn't turn on. Andy Cuffe

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