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145K views 162 replies 80 participants last post by  tcbarb 
#1 ·
Hi - first time poster, long time lurker. I have a problem with my XBR4 that I hope someone can give me some direction on.

Background info:

I've owned a Sony XBR4 for a little under 2 years now it's performed flawlessly - that is until recently. About month or two ago, it began exhibiting similar issue as described in these two threads:

avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=16243477&postcount=11085

avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=16203884&postcount=11077
(i woudl make these actual links, but becuse this is my first post, the system won;t let me post URLS
)

Problem 1

Basically the left half of the screen looks darkened with a reddish tint, and the pixels in the dark area seem to refresh really-really slowly, creating an ultra smearing effect.

(See attached photo)

At first when this problem began, it could quickly be fixed by simply holding on to the upper left and right corners of the TV and lightly flexing the bezel. This would cause the picture to come back and would only need to be done maybe once a day.


Now - the TV is not longer responding this is and the picture is permanently darkened on the left side.

Problem 2

the second issue is that (obviously) it's out of warranty, so I need to get it fixed. I've had a tech out to look at it, and all he could tell me (after looking at for less than 5 minutes) is that he needed to take it back to his shop and then he could tell me how much and how long it would take to fix it. I decided to not send it with the tech, since, according to him, the fix would likely be a new panel. The cost of replacing the Panel is not worth fixing

Solutions???

Well, I'm going to just get a new TV later today (we needed a slightly larger one anyway
), but I want to try and salvage this one myself - if possible. I just need a little direction. After ready a tone of stuff on these boards, I think my best bet might be to just replace each of boards one at a time in hopes the issue lies within of o these.

My questions are:


1 - Should I even attempt this, or would it be an exercise in fruition?


2 - if you thinks it's possible it is one of the boards, in which order I should start?

The second photo attached is the TV with the back housing pulled off and the various boards are listed A-B-C-D-E-F-G


I know what some of the boards are, but some I don't:


A- DF2

B - GF1

C - ??

D - DF3

E - ??

F - ??

G - ??



Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 
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#128 ·
Hi, I would just like to thank everyone for this information and share my experience. I had the exact same issue described here, except on my Apple Cinema HD for my PC (A beauty of a monitor which nobody makes anymore). The display is a bit hard to crack open because of the unibody aluminium case, and DONT make the mistake of removing the stand like I did, because the spring looses tension and will not hold the monitor up after re-assembling it. I have to tuck a piece of hard foam just behind the hinge to hold it up now.


Anyway after removing the unibody case, I unscrewed a few screws at the top on the front of the screen and pulled the metal frame back a bit to reveal the troublesome flat cables going into the LCD. After 30 minutes of poking at them with the display on as suggested in this forum, I still had no luck. Then I bravely decided I would get a metal screw driver and randomly slide it along some of the gold metal contacts and the solder joints of the tiny components near the flat cables. The image on the display went crazy but after a few seconds of random short-circuitry I saw a perfect stable bright image!!! The image stayed perfect even after turning the screen off and plugging into another PC!! I dont know how I managed to jiggle some electrons around to make it work but it worked perfectly now! Re-assembled the screen and its working fine now.


Thank you very much for you help guys.
 
#129 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by NetViper /forum/post/21120231


Do you have to have the TV on while you do this?


To minimize danger, can you just put tabs on the ones you think are the problem and do it trial and error?


I don't want to: 1. get zapped, 2. kill me tv any more than it already is.

The TV really should be on in order to identify the faulty tab.


As it will be on its back at this point most of the exposed circuits will be underneath.


The tabs get hot but do not appear to be live as I gently prodded them all and am still here



But they are not removable.


Proceed with caution at your own risk and good luck...
 
#132 ·
I have a Sony Bravia KDL-52XBR5, Manufactured on december 2007


I am having an issue with my Sony Bravia XBR5 television, i have a tiny vertical line (Magenta Color) from top to bottom at 3¼"in. of the right edge of my 52" Tv. LCD panel.


I bought that Tv Set on 03/30/2008, so it's 44 months old.


I did have a Sony representative technicien look at my television for $141,00 dollars for the evaluation.


He told me that i had to change the 52" in. LCD panel for a total evaluation of $2,400,00 dollars.


Here in Canada , Quebec Province, we have a Consumer Protection Law that sawing when you buy expensive appliances it should last a certain period of time proportionnal to it cost and fonction of a normal lifespan.


CanLII (Canadian Legal Information Institute)


Consumer Protection Act, RSQ, c P-40.1


#37 Article:

Goods forming the object of a contract must be fit for the purpose for which goods of that kind are ordinary used.

1978, c. 9, s. 37


Goods must be durable.


#38 Article:

Goods forming the object of a contract must be durable in normal use for a reasonable length time, having regard to their price, the terms of the contract and the conditions of their use.

1978, c. 9, s. 38


I am waiting a proposition from Sony about this issue.


I might have to use that Consumer Protection Law against Sony.


I'm seriously thinking about taking them to Small Claims Court.


ab2961
 
#136 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by potx4 /forum/post/21514913


Holy Moly, all these people trying to repair their XBR4/XBR5 panels, while these panels are under Sony's extended warranty program. Looks like a big hassle compared to getting your TV fixed for free...


Isn't that warranty only for 46" sets?
 
#137 ·
I just inherited a KDL-46WL135 with this same dark screen issue. The issue always cleared up 20-30 minutes after turning the TV on.


After reading this thread, I think I made the mistake of trying to swing up/out the front metal frame (TV still standing up on its stand) with that piece of conducting foil still attached to the TCON cover, instead of removing the foil and removing the frame completely. I think that may have shorted my TCON causing my screen to go white.


However when the screen was white, I noticed the faint images on the screen got sharper when I touched the tab on the far upper LEFT of my screen. So hopefully the new TCON board I just ordered will fix the white screen, and then I can once again address the dark screen issue with the tabs.
 
#138 ·
Just found this thread and am having problems with my Samsung LNT4661F tv. I'll post a video of the screen problems. I've tried pressing all around the panel but this didn't work. I had the Samsung approved repair person tell me the panel needs to be replaced. of course it costs the same as the price of the set. Over $1400 replacement cost. I'll check the tab connectors again with the back panel off and see if it makes a difference.
 
#139 ·
My TV has been having all the same symptoms since about 2+ years ago.

(Toshiba 46rv530u - manufactured in may 2008)


Started with vertical lines at startup, they would go away soon after turning the tv on, so I never thought much about it at the time. Over time it got harder to clear and then symptom 2, flickerin horizontal lines and ghosting, again it would go away after a few minutes from turing the tv on. it would keep taking longer to clear though. Recently it never cleared and I started to reasearch online.

I eventaully found this post and decidead to try the fix. My toshiba took time to figure out how to disassemble and get the LCD panel out of the housing. I did make it to the ribbon cables, and ofcouse the bad one was in the same spot upper right corner. For the shimmy i used a couple of cut in half pen grips.

This fix does work for my tv.


Have some photos I took , will try to post those at a later time.
 
#140 ·
anyone had a tech come out and repair this set? Called Sony tonight about my 46xbr4 and they told me a tech will contact me in 2-3 business days to come look at it, and if its a panel problem they will fix it in home.


what exactly do they do? do they put an entirely new lcd screen in?
 
#142 ·
Hey guys!


I want to apologize straight up for hi-jacking this thread... I know it's the cardinal rule of forums... you can stone me later if you like!

But I've asked over 30 people (repairmen and 'experts' alike) for an answer to a question and NO ONE can give it to me straight!!



If ANY of you could shed some light on my issue with my Bravia, I would be SO incredibly tickled! It seems to mirror the symptoms OnlyTono had, but it's not the same problem!

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1438043/my-bravia-screen-is-broken-and-i-cant-get-a-straight-answer-as-to-why-help
 
#143 ·
Hey OnlyTono,


EDIT:: Sorry for posting twice! I added to this thread at first, then directly responded to the thread starter post not realizing it was the same action! I can't figure out how to delete on of these posts! Sorry guys!


Question: When you first booted your TV up, did you notice if the Bravia logo was affected by the darkening??


My symptoms match yours to a "T", but I've tried the TABs and to no avail.


I noticed that my Bravia logo is completely fine, even though it's located in the same spot that appears 'broken' later.


I've started a thread on this phenomenon, and would love some input!
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1438043/my-bravia-screen-is-broken-and-i-cant-get-a-straight-answer-as-to-why-help

Thanks man!
 
#144 ·
Joined just to thank OnlyTono for his awesome writeup. Had the same dark/slow pixels on half the screen on a Sony Bravia KDL-52W5150. I couldn't locate which ribbon was the faulty one, so instead of rubber bumpers, I used a piece of nylon twine held by electrical tape to make a ridge running along the entire top edge of the metal bracket opposite the tabs. So far haven't seen the problem come back. Hopefully it stays working.
 
#145 ·
I'm subscribing just for a single reason (but I might stay too
): to thank you guys for this awesome post.


My TV not working properly has been bugging me for two years but the warranty having expired and not being able to replace it just now meant I had to stick with it. Good thing I looked up if someone had a DIY solution. Too bad I didn't look it up 2 years ago



I had the exact same symptoms : either slow pixels and a darkened left side of the screen, or horizontal lines and mirror images still on the left side. And slightly tapping the upper left side of the tv would switch from one symptom to the other. And sometimes after hours turned on, the tv would just start working normally until we switched it off... (Remember the Friends episode with the free porn where Joey and Chandler dare jot turn their tv off ? Same thing ^^)


Opening the TV set isn't too hard if you've already had fun playing around with a screwdriver (just don't forget to bin sort the screws
). The only hard part was putting the television face up without any electronic components on the back touching the table it was on and the solution I found was using a square wood base of approximately the size of the wall mounting structure on the back of the television which is obviously very strong and place tv on it. Once the panel was opened, the faulty connector is easy to find and fix. And the fault is obvious: in my case pushing on the connector shows a bubble of air appearing between the glue and the connector.


Just FYI, the tv is a Sony KDL-46W4710 (a variant of the 46W4500 series).


So again, OnlyTono, good job on daring to open your tv in the first place, and all the others for the additional input. I am ecstatic \o/


Greetings from France.
 
#146 ·
I have the Sony KDL-52W3000, was having the same problem as everyone else here. TV turned on and LCD showed a picture fine it just had 4 horizontal lines and a black shadow in the middle. Picture would lag a bit. I found this thread and decided to try it.


I got everything apart just fine and discovered that applying pressure to the ribbons definitely fixed it if I got them perfect. I turned the TV off and unplugged it to get some supplies for the fix and when I plugged the TV back in the LCD just stopped displaying anything. The power light will turn green for about 10 seconds then go to the standby blinking light, which in my case blinks 5 times. I looked it up and this means "T-Con Error". Now I'm trying to figure out how it couldve have went from working perfect to not even turning on? I starting double checking everything and noticed that there were 4 clips total on the top that holds the metal frame to the inside rack. I had only removed 2 because the others were hidden. The remaining two were laying directly on top of the boards that the LCD ribbons connect too, not the T-Con but the boards connected to it.


I know it's possible that could have shorted out those boards or the T-Con board but is it very likely? Any ideas what else could have happened and how I can test it to make sure?
 
#147 ·
Hey guys, I joined just to say thanks for this awesome thread, especially to OnlyTono. Sorry to ressurect this old thread, but I thought I'd add a bit in case anyone googles it to solve their problem like I did.


I ended up fixing the dim side/pixel refresh problem very briefly before I think I accidentally shorted the TCON board. I'm having the exact same symptoms as Dillon above now. The LED and sony symbol light up, but nothing on the screen, after about 10 seconds it goes to the standby light. I ordered a new tcon board and I'm going to try to replace it and see if that rectifies the problem.


For those who are going to try to replace the TCON board, this guy at http://www.gotosnapshot.com/myblog/sony-kdl-52xbr4-t-con-ub1-replacement wrote some pretty good directions on how to access it.


Will update if it works so anyone else checking this thread can have a reference.
 
#149 ·
Just want to report another successful repair of a Samsung set with a tab bonding problem.


My Samsung LN40A650A1F (LN40A650A1FXZA) 40" LCD TV was a hand me down from my father in law because it had developed some screen problems.


When I initially received it, the TV had multiple images, expanded vertically upon startup, which then dissipated after 5-10 minutes of warm up. We lived with it like that for 6 months. However the problem became worse with left half screen dimming and some number of thin colored vertical bands running down the left side of the screen. This new problem would appear after the set had been on a few minutes, and in the early stages went away after 30 or so minutes. We tried just leaving the set on 24x7, but eventually the second problem just stopped going away.


Following the examples here and also on badcaps.net, I purchased some heat conductive compressible foam on eBay (Thermagon T-Flex 6100 highly Compressible Gap Filling Interface Pad 47mm x 66mm) for $3.74 including s/h. I opened the TV and removed the metal frame on the LCD panel. While running the TV for at most 1 minute at a time to avoid overheating damage, I found that pressing down on the left most (as viewed when looking at the TV in the normal orientation) tab bonded flexible circuit, between the in-line driver IC and the glass panel edge, cleared the picture up for the most part. It seemed like the right most tab bond also had some effect on the picture. The 14 flexible circuit tab bonds in between had no effect on the picture when pressed on in various ways, so they seemed very solid. I cut two roughly 8 mm strips across the short edge of the Thermagon pad (so roughly 8mm x 47mm), peeled the backing off both sides, and applied them on top of the flexible circuits at both ends, aligning with the edge of the glass. In this position they partially overlapped the position of the inline integrated circuit, however I do not think the placement of the pads was particularly critical. I replaced the metal frame and tested the LCD panel and it had a perfect image again, which remained without any problem after I finished reassembling the TV.


A couple of minor notes.

1) I did "break and remake" the contacts on the cable from the main control board to the TCON board on both ends, and also on both ends of each of the four short ribbon cables from the TCON board to the signal distribution board. It had absolutely no effect on the LCD image when I powered it back on.


2) The metal frame on my LCD panel was attached to the LCD by the 10 smaller silver screws from the front (image side), and also by three screws (M4-0.70 x 12mm) black machine screws that attached it to some other metal frame parts at the bottom. But there were 10 other screw holes on the sides for attaching the metal frame to the plastic LCD frame that did not have screws in them. I decided that adding these screws could only make the overall panel more rigid, and perhaps reduce flexing that might cause more problems, so I purchased the additional screws (M4-.70x12 oval head Phillips) at Lowe's and added them. There were no problems with clearance of the heads when reassembling the TV. This step was probably unnecessary, but I thought I would simply let folks know that you can do this without damage. Don't use longer screws, cause that could potentially cause problems.


So thanks again to OnlyTono and NipRing and others for providing this information. Saved this TV from the landfill.
 
#150 ·

Hello. My dad and  were fixing our 46 in. xbr 4 just now.  We stupidly left the TV on when we were pulling of the last silver layer over the tabs.  I guess when we were pulling it up one of those metal tabs made contact (like how OnlyTono says in description to prevent with the wooden dowels).  So the picture went out, and now we have the layer completely off and the tabs exposed, with wood blocking the metal tabs from touching, and are unable to get a picture.  When you first turn the TV on, it makes the usual 'click', but no picture.  Even when turning it on and off you only get a click the first time you turn it on (probably not important information). So i guess we did damage to the t-con board like OnlyTono said? I was just wondering if anyone has any advice on what would be our next step.  I don't know if we can replace the

t-con board or something, just please get back to me.  

 

Thank you
 
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