Vizio M3D421SR broken......how best to fix?

And this is a problem? Most manufacturers (if not all) don't provide any support after the warranty is up.

Unfortunately, this is where you have to look at what's more cost effective. ANY brand of tv will have problems, and unfortunately it usually costs more to fix than to buy new.

I've never seen any service that allows you to ship off a main board and have it fixed. First, you don't know for sure that the main board is the problem. Second, any place you ship it off to will have no way of testing to see what the problem is, or it they have fixed it.

What has taken place with your Visio M3D42SR? Have you been able to get fixed? I have exact problem with mine that I got on Black Friday 2011. No picture or sound less than 2 months after the 1 yr warranty! BTW, did you have any issues with an intermittent occurrences of green screen prior to your tv having no pic or sound? This had occurred a handful of times off and on for several months prior to the tv's not coming on at all. We emailed Visio support about this before the warranty was out but couldn't do anything about cause we couldn't say whether or not the problem was fixed by doing what they suggested (the same thing they say to try first for practically everything from what I hear-- "performing a power cycle on your TV and re-seat all of the devices that are connected to it:). This is because the problem, as we told Visio, was intermittent, and had been several months before it did again.

Anyhow, when we contacted Visio less than 2 months after the warranty to tell them of no picture or sound now, and that we believed that they should honor the warranty because we had contacted them prior to the 1 yr warranty was up to tell them of our tv not working properly and feared then that it was failing. Their answer was that they would not honor because they stated in their reply that they will consider the problem fixed if they do not hear back after giving their response to the problem, and they do not have record of receiving anything further about. I replied and explaining this...."I told Visio less than 2 months ago in the email I sent worried about the tv failing and what it had been doing...It was an intermittent problem and the amount of time between the last 2 occurrences was a few months, and therefore there would be no way that I could say at that time to Visio whether or not the suggestions we were told to try at that time actually fixed anything and couldn't know whether or not the tv was indeed failing. Of course now, we know indeed it was failing! Visio could care less and said they would do nothing.

You would think that a company would want satisfied customers for repeat business and for good reviews instead of warnings to stay away. I will never purchase anything Visio and will warn everyone that I can not to either. Since we are mostly home bound, entertainment for myself and my husband is watching television, especially movies, and why we allowed ourselves to buy a 3d tv. We are disabled on a very limited income, and cannot buy another 3d tv at this time. Not only are we out this 3d tv, but also the 3d dvr that we had to buy in order to watch 3d content. (which we didn't realize until after bought the tv), and also out the money for the 3d dvd movies that we bought just this past Christmas! We had to wait a year later to even watch any 3d on it since it wasn't until this past black Friday 2012 that we were able to find any good variety of 3d dvds to choose from. I was so excited when we bought it at Walmart Nov 2011 to watch 3d only to find that they had no 3d dvds for sale at Walmart except a child's movie that we had no interest in buying! So was thinking this black friday that we would finally be able to enjoy.....We watched 2 of our new 3d movies and then our tv died! The two 3d movies we finally got to watch were great, but certainly can't afford to watch two movies for the cost of a new 42 inch 3d HGTV, a new 3d blu-ray player, and six 3d dvd movies!!! I don't know anyone personally that makes that kind of money that can spend that much in order to watch two 3d movies!!!

Any suggestions by anyone is appreciated!

This is a good reason to buy the extended warranty on Visio's or any other brand. I replaced every lcd set in the house with Visio's LED's, 6 of them if the last year and a half. I only bought 1 new from amazon and the rest are what is called rectified and rehabbed some by Vizio's vender in the med west and a from a vender that takes in big box store returns a does the same thing. I registered all of them with Vizio and bought the extended warranty from Vizio for less then from the sellers or right from square trade. Just one problem with a remote and that was replaced fast, but I figured out the remote was not the problem it was the user, ME. I well never by a new anything again if I can help it, with the production lines running a fast as they can there are going to be weak parts slip past. With the rehabs at lest some tech as looked it over and taken care of any problems. The best deal I got was and is the last one a M3D470KD not KDE for under 500 including shipping with no remote or base and a little mare on the outside edge, and a little cleaner fixed that. If you are looking for Vizio parts look here. http://www.vizparts.com:cool:

Mine just went out the other day too. Calling Vizio support they referred me to a HDrepair. He said $355 flat fee to come fix it. I've pulled the main board out of the TV already. Is the $89 bucks on Ebay legit? Or should I try to find a new or refurb'ed one?

What a piece of crap product. I too will never buy another VIZIO. Same issue. Power will not turn on tube as of about a month ago. VIZIO log light comes on and that's it. This TV is rarely used and has low # total hours. Called support, basically said "oh well". Here's a number to call and not our problem now.

How did you know which board was bad? Can you recommend the place on eBay that you used to repair your board?

One more quick question. In one of your comments above you mentioned to "pack carefully and take static precautions". What did you do to take static precautions?

Thanks for the tip on the black clips. That would have taken a while to figure out on my own.

Would anyone know of others places that can replace the mainboard or fix them. Mine is having the same issue.

To buy new boards try these www.shopjimmy.com
If they have it it will be very reasonable
try union electroncs
retech
and vizioparts.com

Also wanted to state we are a warranty station for many brands and looking at the prices posted on here for repairs is just beyond belief

Do you mean hi or low?

atus: Connected
Kayla (Listening)
Kayla: Thank you for contacting VIZIO Live Chat. This is Kayla in South Dakota. Have you ever contacted us before?
Rob Saia: yes
Kayla: Do you have a case number?
Rob Saia: no
Kayla: The TV turns on but you have no picture or audio?
Rob Saia: correct
Kayla: Did you contact our technicians?
Rob Saia: OMG, really?
Rob Saia: I am extremely disappointed in VIZIO as a company. My TV has stopped working, there is no one that you have recommended to me that can help. The mainboard is out of stock everywhere! My TV is out of warranty by a couple of weeks (go figure) and VIZIO has such a cavalier non-chalant attitude toward consumer confidence & satisfaction. I am glad that my wife works in retail so that she can pass the word on to others... NOT TO BUY VIZIO. I was surprised to see so many negatives online when I googled the model that we have. Why can't VIZIO just build a TV that lasts!?! You REALLY should do the right thing, stand behind your product & do something to help.
Kayla: I ready your quesiton.
Kayla: question*
Kayla: I am confirming information.
Rob Saia: Apparently you all built a lemon & a lot of people are pissed
Kayla: There is no known issue in this model. The TV will need repaired and if we are out of stock, then the tech will have to wait for more inventory to be able to repair the TV.
Rob Saia: there are blogs, bad reviews, & chat forums all over about it
Kayla: You can find anything on the Internet for any brand, make or model. Whether it be good or bad.
Rob Saia: apparently it is the SAME issue... no power, just a light & it all comes back on the mainboard
Rob Saia: which is out of stock
Kayla: I am sorry to hear that you experienced a problem with your VIZIO TV. Just as other electronic vendors, we cannot predict how or when a unit might have a problem even though we wish it would not happen to any one of our valuable customers such as yourself. Although our failure rate is extremely low, no electronic product can be made 100% flawless. We pride ourselves on providing a quality product at an affordable price.
Kayla: We stand behind out products 100%, but you are outside of the manufacturer warranty and our warranty does not state that we do out of warranty repairs. There are extended service plans that are offered through the store of purchase and also on our website.
Rob Saia: funny. I had an HP LCD TV for 7 years, gave it to my parents... still works
Kayla: Just in case something would happen outside of the VIZIO manufacturer warranty.
Rob Saia: so does my 36" LG
Kayla: The TV will need to be repaired and the tech will need to have the parts in stock to do the repair. I do not have an ETA on when they will receive parts, that would be a question for you to ask them.
Rob Saia: I figured that I would receive this type of attitude from the company, like I stated before... you might not care or notice too bad, but if we can keep even a few people from purchasing your products... then we did something
Rob Saia: this is not personal toward you Kayla
Kayla: Do you have any other questions for me at this time?
Rob Saia: my issue is with your company
Rob Saia: no, but gonna copy & paste this chat on-line

Just wanted to thank LED Balloon for all the post. My television did the same thing 1 y and 4 months after I purchased. Seems I read everywhere that people bought this television on Black Friday 2011 and a year and a few months everyone is having this issue. Seems to me that if a lot of people who bought this set that are having the same issue, it would be a manufacturer defect and someone should file suit. Just seems to coincidental. Needless to say, I followed LED Balloons advice and bought the service through EBay and had my main board repaired and now the television is working. While they had my main board, they also noted the memory chip for the apps was faulty. Did anyone have this issue as well?? So now my TV works, but no apps, which I never used anyway. Seems ironic too that 1 week after I updated the TV with the latest updates that the TV went up. Thank you LED Balloon for the step by step with pic's and sources, it was a money saver. $95 ($5 to ship the board) and my tv (other then smart apps) is working again. I would recommend to anyone having this issue to do the steps above and save the money from buying a new TV. If your like me, you don't have the money anyway. Just a few simple screws to remove from the back and board and then remove the cabling, all in all (being very careful) 30 min process. Just need a Phillips screw driver and as noted, ensure you are grounded. Thankfully I have an ESD jacket from work I was able to wear to help.

The prices I see on here and other web sites are some of the most over priced.
Charging half the price of original price of set is raping the customer.
Some parts are over priced too. And sometimes there is a shortage of
parts. And a lot of times a manufacturer will buy boards from another maker
such as LG as an example. Most of our repairs are $100.00 labor plus parts
if any making a small amount on it. Vizio is a decent brand and you may be
surprised as to where some of their parts are from. They didn't make the part
but bought from another giant company. Most all these makers buy from each other.
There are some sets not worth leaving the stores they came from. No I am not
sticking up for Vizio just trying to let you know they are good product and no such thing as an
unbreakable tv or anything. I still go to homes and folks have 27 inch RCA still trucking along
and another home for an in warranty repair call for a 2 day old LCD.
Any way I would say you feel bad about your unit breaking down. But anything man made can break.