Vizio SV370XVT lines throughout entire display. Not signal data. (pictures inside)

I have that same type of problem with our Vizio. And as you say, it depends on the off time on how long it takes to get the picture fully restored. When we have been away for several days it can take nearly 30 minutes to get the full picture back. The picture also freezes and periodically updates and this continues until the picture is fully restored. The sound is always fine. The chat line with Vizio has been of no help. They always pick on the cable box as being the problem, we don't have a box for our cable.

You need to get this: http://www.shopjimmy.com/new-vizio-3632-0872-0395-main-unit.htm
I bought it from them and installed it myself on my Vizio SV370XVT and I'm no tech. Just take your time. Good luck and let us know how it goes.
Edited by afterlife2 - 8/14/12 at 8:49am

Did you have that same problem and did the new board fix it? Our problem seems to be getting progressively worse.

Yes it resolved everything not a problem since last year Dec. There is a tech online on their site that you can talk to as well before buying. Let us know how it goes.

Thanks for your help! So far your post has been the only bit of good information that I have found in all of my searching. It is too bad that the Vizio people can't seem to be able to diagnose their own products. Please excuse me while I go order my needed part. Installing it should not be a problem. I grew up in a TV repair environment, my Dad made a living doing that and I was his helper. That was in the early tube television days when they weighed a ton and were in nice wood cabinets. That's when the helper part came into play. He would marvel at what a TV is like today. Flat panel TVs were only a Star Trek thing back when he was alive.

Yeah Vizio phone techs sucks with that stupid reset thing that does not solve anything. If I were to get it serviced it would have cost me over 300-500 bucks to service, believe me I did my research. This TV is awesome with great color and good blacks. I bought mine refurb and it worked nicely for 2 months then I got this Issue and did some deep researched and notice they had 2 boards available. One for electric and one for video, so I went with the Video board and have had no issues since then. Shopjimmy also said it it didn't work they would exchange it for the electric board as well, so they were great and would not hesitate to buy from them again. Glad I could help.

Be careful copotica. The images you posted do not strike me as a Main Board defect. It looks more like a bad LCD Panel to me. If so, then the set is not worth fixing.
However, if you want to replace the Main Board anyway, make sure they will accept it back for a refund if it doesn't work.
Good luck!

I received the main board today. I will keep you posted on the results.

Great! Happy to hear. Like I said take your time.

The new board is in and so far so good. 30 screws out and back in makes your fingers tired.

Now we will see if it fixes the problem.

Make sure you post pictures of your NEW TV.

We will be away for several days over Labor Day weekend. That should be a good test.

I just turned it on after about 12 hours off time and getting lines at the top and short screen freezes.

I'm going to give it some more time and see if anything happens, good or bad.
Edited by ricrupe - 8/26/12 at 12:57pm

Oh damn that sucks. Did you do a live chat and tell them it didn't work? Maybe they can give you an option. Mine worked right away.

I have been hoping that when I turn it on the next time everything is working perfectly. But it doesn't appear that will be the case, if anything it may be getting worse. I will contact them and see if they have any solution. I don't understand how the amount of off time effects the picture and also the length of time that is required to resume the normal screen. It seems like there is something loosing memory during the off time. It's like a battery slowly going dead between charges.

I just started researching a nearly identical problem and it seems it could be a bad power supply capacitor. I have inspected them and see no bulging. i'm thinking I may replace the 0500-0505-0690 Power Supply Unit which has several capacitors on it. It's out of stock for $39 an ShopJimmy.com. If I do replace it I'll post my results.

You may be on to something and I would be delighted to hear that is the cure.

Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ka6FoIzNuX4#!

I tried a new main board from Shop Jimmy with no improvement. Then tried a used power supply board from Ebay with no improvement. My issues are the same as the original poster but I do have days without a problem. High humidity nearly guarantees a long startup. I think I'm going to live with it through the northeast winter and deal with it next summer when the humidity returns.

Are you in a high humidity area? Now that the summer is over in Massachusetts I'm having less and less problems. It's confined to rainy days now. Does anyone know if a bad LCD panel would be affected by high humidity?

EG3, since you suspect a bad LCD Panel could you tell me if high humidity would increase the symptoms during a cold startup?

The problem is most likely a loose tab bond (factory bonded ribbon cable) inside the LCD panel. Heat will cause materials to expand while lack of heat will cause them to contract. In either case, this mechanical movement can make or break an electrical connection. As for humidity, an abundance of moisture in the air will increase the resistance of temperature change, while a lack of humidity will allow air temperature to fluctuate more freely.
There are posts in the LCD forum in which others have had some success in applying pressure to the faulty tabs to create a secure connection. I believe one of the posters name was OnlyTono. This poster was working on a Sony LCD.
Here it is:http://www.avsforum.com/t/1173106/kdl-xbr4-half-the-screen-dark-with-slow-pixel-refresh-all-inputs

Thanks for the info.

So im leaning more towards your initial assessment of it being a capacitor issue. The reason I suspect this is because I have been having the same horizontal line and freezing picture etc similar to the video that was linked and pictures 2-4. I occasionally had issues like picture 1 but not very often. I did not ever notice the TV needing to be off for an extended period of time but it did usually do this after 8+ hrs of being off (but not every single time, and i live in a humid area and it has only done this for the past year). Also it would take about 10-20 minutes for it to fully resolve and be usable again. I suspect it is a capacitor of some sort because my hdmi ports died today. They "know" that a signal is being pushed through because it will tell me what res my ps3 is set at, but there is no sound and a black screen. I switched cables and tried all 3 ports with my ps3. My receiver shows up as a green screen which has never happened before today. The component port works just fine and the TV tuner part seem to be just fine as well today (although like I said my TV doesn't act schizo every time it goes off, so it still might have lines etc). It also could be the loose connector ribbon as it has only done this for the past year after I moved. In fact the first time it did it was the first time I turned it on in my new apt last Aug. I thought it was because I traveled with it laid down (big no no). So it could be a the ribbon, but seems more like a capacitor because it is similar to the onkyo receiver hdmi port issues described in this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gj0x5S9ez5U . The guy switched a few of the capacitors and everything was just fine. I only think this because my TV has had the schizo line issues for a bit more than a year now and now the today 10/5/12 hdmi ports "died". Also I get no sound through the hdmi even though it does know there is a signal of some sort.

If those 0500-0505-0690 boards were in stock id try one of them, but since they are not I may just pull the back panel off and see if there are any bulging or busted capacitors and try to replace them one by one. Since the component connection is working though I may leave it for the time being. I will also post back if my scan line issues start happening again since the hdmi port died. If that happens that will most likely exclude my hdmi ports as the culprit theory.

After a little bit of phone investigation, according to vizparts.com which is licensed by Vizio, they think the problem is a bad t-con board. Not much more info to give, but if you want more info call them from the number at the top of the website.

I actually had the tech I was talking to look up this thread and look at the pictures from the op to show her what my problem was. Might be worth a look.

EDIT: Also, this is the part they linked me to in case anyone was curious. http://vizparts.com/product_detail.php?act=add_to_cart&pid=1910