Official Pioneer 5070/71 Flashing Blue Light Shut-Down Thread - Page 21

Thanks Double Eagle I'll give it a try as there may not be any other options. I've been tempted to buy a larger set on a few occasions but the Pio has significant sentimental value and has delayed any upgrade ...perhaps will just do it (65") by end of the year and put the Pio in a guest room while it still works, this way with it's infrequent use it'll last many more years to come

I had this issue for quite a long time. When the digital transistion happened, I no longer had the issue (weird huh!).
Anyway, Double Eagle, given the advances in tech, and the reduction in price, I don't think repairing our Pios are worth the money. Don't get me wrong....I love my Pio....But if my 5070 kicks, then it is time to think about a 70" LED, which gets me in at the same price point (a bit lower, actually) when I bought the Pio almost six years ago.
I really wish Pio never left the business....they were the best, IMHO.

I have a 5010FD, and after a power surge the blue light flashes 8 times. Set is 4 yrs old. Called repair place, they say this means the main board is fried and they want 823 for the part and 350 labor to replace. If that doesn't fix it, I don't have to pay.

They did not open the set to diagnose.

Questions:

1. Does that make sense? 8 flashing lights does mean some kind of communication failure.

2. On the pioneer site, the main board is listed at 823:

AWV2457 MAIN ASSY (US FHD R) $823.00

But plenty of other sites on the internet list it for less in the 150-250 range. I assume these are refurbs but some say new. Is it possible to replace this part on your own?

Finally, does anyone recommend anyone in NYC that could possibly do the install if I could get the part? This repair is probably worth $500, but not worth $1500.


Finally, finally, if all else fails anyone have a bid for a non-working Pioneer 5010FD?

IMHO, I would not even throw 500 bucks at a repair for a set where the company is no longer in the business. Prices have come way down, and tech is more advanced. Don't get me wrong, I love my Pio. But to throw money at a repair, with a limited (if lucky) warranty on the repair, it just does not seem worth it to me.
I hope mine lasts a long time, but if not, it is time for a 70"!!!

I was recently given my parent's 5071HD (because of issues) and I have a similar tale..

I have it hooked up to antenna A with cable TV.. When the TV boots cold is works perfectly - I can jump to channels, etc, HD looks brilliant - I could be happy with this TV for years.. However, after about 10-15 minutes (when the TV gets warm) and I flip through channels it will shut down and give me 8 blinking blue lights (most of the time) but always when I go from a SD to HD channel... If I unplug the TV for 15 minutes it cools down and will come up fine as before...

If I turn the TV and stay on the same channel or watch a movie (or punch in the channel number directly (most of the time)) is works great all day long with a great picture.. It has it's problems only when switching channels or input selections...

So I suspect the 8 blinks are related to overheating. I talked to a guy at work and he says that these TVs are notorious for getting dust clogged in the fans. There are 2 fans on the top that suck in air and 2 fans on the bottom (or vice versa) that blow it out - that is the cooling system.... When a person tries to flip to another channel the TV launches a sequence where everything is checked out before the new picture is displayed and this includes checking that the TV temperature is 'acceptable'... If I put my hand near the TV it is defintely quite warm.

So perhaps the issue is 1) dust clogged fans or 2) inoperable fans...... These fans are not tied to the mother board and should be inexpensive to replace so that would be the first thing to try.. This guy showed me that the mother board part can be replaced for slightly under $300 which is close to edge in terms of deciding if it is worth it...

I would suggest having someone try to clean the fans out...

I realize this is a golden oldie TV and I have read almost every post on it in AV.. Some posts had links to the service manual for it but none of them now work....

- I would really like to know if anyone out there has the service manual for this TV (would like to know what it says about 8 blinking lights)...

- Does anyone have a link to the latest firmware for this TV ? (I would also try this)

Given how cheap newer 720p plasmas cost I would say it would not be worth spending more than $250/300 on this 4 year old unit to fix...

10 blinking blue lights indicates a problem with the fan. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...7#post17706837

8 blinking blue lights indicates a failure in IIC communication with the main microcomputer http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...6#post10534306

I have read this post and I didn't read a situation like I have. Repair Tech replaced digital and (I believe) P/S boards. Upon turning TV on, 2 things occur:
1. The blue light just blinks continuously, there is no pattern.
2. I'm getting red to pink pixelation happening when scenes change.

The TV does turn on and off and the initial issues that he came over to repair seem to have improved dramatically ('blooming' and another pixelation issue not the same as described above.

The repair tech told me he needed to come back w/special remote to fix these issues so I guess I have to believe him. Has anyone heard or seen a continuous blue blinking light or the other issue I describe? Any truth to the special remote the repair tech mentions?

Looks like I'm the newest member to the Pioneer blue blinking led club:rolleyes:

5080HD - Have never used OTA or the tvguide, only connected to a directtv sat box.

Our local power company (SDG&E) left a note on our door that they had to shut off our power to install a new 'smart meter'. I went through the house and reset all the clocks, restarted the computers and sat down to watch TV. No Dice.

12 blue blinks
"Starting up, please wait" - while in this mode I can access the home menu but nothing there is useful
back to 12 blue blinks

I've read through all 21 pages of this old thread and it appears there is no good fix. New main board with latest firmware seems to help some, but not all. Also, there were quite a few people that reported the problem after a power outage, wonder if it's related?

Have I missed anything? Is there a simple fix?

I'm certainly not going to dump much money into this, but it sure sucks to trash a great plasma over a firmware glitch:mad:

12 blinkers indicates that the TV Guide can't lock onto it's programming and clock time, either via cable or antenna -- stupid default feature, huh. I have the Pro-110 model and went through the hassle of shutting the tv off and back on to "reset" it. But that was only temporary as it lasted about 3 weeks then it would turn off again with its 12 flashing blue lights. I could have disconnected the antenna but I like that option for when cable is down (mine has dual tuners). So, for the ultimate fix what I ended up doing was a total reset of the tv (to factory specs) and then once back on DECLINING TO SET UP THE TV GUIDE OPTION. That cured the problem. Knock on wood -- there hasn't been a shut down going on 3 months now. Be sure to copy down (or take a pic) of all your user settings menus before they're erased by the factory reset. It will save time and headaches in reconfiguring your optimals.

There should be a thread somewhere on AVSforum on how to reset and reboot your particular model of panel to factory specs. As with mine it will most likely mean going into the Service Menu to do it ..no big deal if you follow the instructs.

As pioneer is now out of the tv biz, there is no firmware update (or any real tech assistance) to correct this little annoyance.

Hope this helps

Before I'd do the total reset try this. Turn off power then Unplug the set for a few mins then replug and repower. Might do the trick.

REVIVED my Pioneer PRO-1150HD
Purchased from Tweeter in May 2008, just before Tweeter went out of business.

I've generally had ANT-A hooked up to OTA
But the tuner on this TV is so bad that I rarely
watched OTA on it, usually just movies via HDMI.
(an inexpensive newer TV on the same signal tunes in HD just fine)
Yes, I had TV-GUIDE and Clock auto-update enabled from day-1.

At one point, after the 2-year warranty had expired,
the unit would not power-on. I googled and probably found this forum.
I don't recall what the blink pattern was, but the solution was simply
to COLD POWER OFF when not in use. Ie. not just a
mechanical button press on the TV, but switch off at the power strip.
Previously I had been powering off on the panel power button, but not at
the power strip. Power strip power cycle immediately cleared the issue.

But when I came back from a trip this summer, things were worse.
It had been left with the power-strip enabled and the ANT-A
(which used to be OTA) was connected to a stretch of coax,
but no longer connected to the antenna. Front button power-on,
would normally momentarily shine RED, then solid BLUE and the
panel would come on. But now it would stay RED for a variable period
up to a few minutes, then turn BLUE, then display a box at the
bottom of the screen saying:
"/!\ PLASMA DISPLAY Starting up Please wait"
Then it would give up, click off the display, and go into
a pattern of 12 BLUE LED BLINKS. (okay, 1st cycle is
actually 11 blinks if you don't count the initial BLUE-on,
but clearly 12 after that)

If I turned off the power-strip during the blinks, then
on next power-on it would give me 8 BLUE LED BLINKS.
This could be cleared by powering off on the power button,
then at the power strip; power-on at power strip,
and then power-on via power button. Apparently those 12-BLUE-BLINKS
would prefer to be terminated by a panel power button press
than a surprise power strip cold-off...
But that just got me back to 12 BLUE LED BLINKS as above.

I took the unit off the wall so that service could come
see it. So now it is disconnected from everything, probably
most importantly power, but also ANT-A (OTA), HDMI, optical
audio out, and Ethernet.

Service shows up the next afternoon, we power it on
and it powers-up like normal! The tech yanks out the
power plug, and on next power on we get 8-BLUE-LED BLINKS
as above, clearing it as above to get stuck back at 12-LED BLINKs.

Note when the "Please Wait" is displayed, I can press the MAIN MENU
and get into the on-screen menus. The Reset in the Picture
menu has no effect on this problem -- just resets your customized
colors etc. And at this point the Tuner menu is greyed out.

The Tech tells me that no, he doesn't have a Pioneer G8 service remote.
He tries some sequence with my remote that he gets from Pioneer on the
phone, but it does nothing. He tells me that there are not parts available
for this TV, and if there were, it would be an $800 main-board replacement.
He tells me I should not necessarily hate Pioneer, all brands fail.
I pay him $89 to go away.

I leave the set powered-off at the power strip overnight
in hopes that I can get it to come up the next day like
it did when service arrived.

After trying this a few days, it actually works --
power was off probably about 24 hours since
previous power-on attempt.

In the MAIN MENU I can now get into the TUNER MENU
where immediately I set the CLOCK to MANUAL from AUTO.

I press and hold the DISPLAY button for 10 seconds
and my firmware version is displayed:

-05K
07.00d
2.4.2527
04.13d

Then I try the magic sequence to get into the service menu
from a BLUE-led-on state, but it power's off the panel
to a RED-LED-ON standby state. But from that state
I CAN ENTER THE SERVICE MENU THIS WAY:

press (not hold) DISPLAY
count 4 seconds
LEFT
UP
LEFT
RIGHT
POWER

And the service menu comes up.
The 1st screen has INFORMATION on the 1st row,
a black row and VERSION(1) on the 3rd row.

Using the DOWN KEY cycles through the INFORMATION screens:

VERSION(1)
VERSION(2)
VERSION(3)
MAIN NG
TEMPERATURE
HOUR METER
HDMI SIGNAL INFO 1
HDMI SIGNAL INFO 2
VDEC SIGNAL INFO 1
VDEC SIGNAL INFO 2
DTV TUNING STATUS 1
DTV TUNING STATUS 2
DTV TUNING STATUS 3
DTV TV-GUIDE BER
DEBUG INFO

When in the service menu,
use MUTE key to cycle through the INITIALIZE menus

PANEL FACT.
PANEL FACTORY

OPTION
EDID WRITE MODE

INITIALIZE
SIDE MASK LEVEL

INITIALIZE
FINAL SETUP
DATA RESET

On the FINAL SETUP/DATA RESET screen,
press RIGHT-ARROW and change the "NO" to "YES"
press and hold ENTER for about 5 seconds

"FINAL SETUP IS IN PROGRESS." is displayed
and then
"FINAL SETUP IS COMPLETED.
PLEASE POWER OFF". is displayed

So I press the panel power button.
Then I kill power at the power strip.

But when I restore power and turn on the unit...

RED, then BLUE, then "Please wait", then back
to 12-BLUE-BLINKS

No Joy. Seems we just proved that the MANUAL CLOCK
is not a fix, and perhaps neither is the service reset.

I'll let it sit around cold off to see if I can get in again.
If I can, I'll use the TV GUIDE reset procedure and/or
disable the TV GUIDE altogether. But as others have posted
that they have DEATH-BY-12-BLUE-BLINKS and never used
TV GUIDE, I'm not hopeful.

I paid $2,625 for this unit in 2008 and the service menu
says the panel has been on a total of 1106 hours.
So it cost me $2.37/hour to watch this TV, nearly
$0.04/minute.

I'm considering a PANASONIC TC P50ST50 plasma which will
fit in the same space and cost $1100 from Amazon.
This gives full HD, and half the price. Maybe
its tuner will work better, and maybe it will reliably
power-on...

*** UPDATE ***

GOOD NEWS!. The Pioneer PRO-1150HD powered up after being left unplugged for 2 days
after the reset. As described earlier in this thread, it prompted me to initialize the TV GUIDE.
I declined TV GUIDE setup and selected that it NOT ask me again.
(though if you press the TV GUIDE button on the remote, it will ask you again)

Have had no problems (in the couple of days) since. Have tested various power-off/standby sequences
and they all work fine.

As this unit has a weak tuner, I'll probably get an external tuner, say a
Channel Master CM 7001 Antenna and Cable Tuner,
plug that into my receiver and keep the Pioneer on a simple diet of HDMI
from the receiver -- no antanna, no ethernet.

I'm pretty happy with this turn of events. I had actually given up and ordered
the PANASONIC from Amazon (Prime), but called and cancelled before delivery.
Lets see if we can make this PIONEER last a little longer...
Edited by lenb417 - 10/9/12 at 11:58am

Good luck. I read your post, and you said "I'm considering a Pioneer TC P50ST50 plasma which will fit in the same space and cost $1100 from Amazon".....I had scratched my head, wondering why you would buy another Pioneer (would have to be used, obviously!). The I went to Amazon and saw it is a Panasionc! Now I know you are sane! Just a typo!

Thank you sooooo much!! This thing drove my family and I completely crazy! Pioneer helped NOT AT ALL! Will never purchase Pioneer product again, which goes without saying.

The factory reset thing did the trick. Symptoms were auto-shutoff every 20 mins and blue LED blinking 12 times. The authorized dealer referred by Pioneer wanted to charge $1000 for repair and replacement of main board. Freaking insane!

Long live internet.

My Pioneer PRO-1150HD worked fine for a few weeks after taking the steps above.
I could power off/on via remote (switching LED between BLUE and RED),
and I could power on/off via the power button on the front of the unit (LED OFF).

But we lost A/C power in Hurricane Sandy for 4 days, and
when power was restored, the Pioneer was back to 12 BLUE LED blinks.

For several overnights I let the system sit, completely disconnected from A/C power,
attached power in the morning, and hoped it would turn on.
When it came up into 12-BLUE-LED-BLINKS, then I pressed the power button, waited a bit,
and disconnected the A/C for another try the next day.
After about a week it came up, but then I had to disconnect A/C to get it back on the wall
and it went back to 12 blinks:-(
So I did the same thing on the wall, it worked the 2nd day, and is now fully functional.

So it seems happy with remote ON/OFF and button press ON/OFF -- as long as I don't
cut the actual A/C power. This is somewhat ironic, since in the past, it was cutting
the A/C power that made the system work...

Saving my pennies for a new set, but in no hurry as long as this one still functions...

Pioneer PRO-950HD Manual straight from Pioneer's website.

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/StaticFiles/PUSA/Files/1150.pdf

I have had my 5070 since before the Super Bowl with both Comcast and OTA with no problems until lastnight at about 11:30. I saw that it had shut down with the blinking blue light so I hit the power button and it came back on and so far I have had no problems but what confuses me is I have never used the TV Guide feature nor did I set it up. Im hoping it doesnt happen again because I like the TV.

It seems silly that a $3000 TV will shut down because of a possible low OTA signal or TV guide software problem that I have never used. I could understand it interrupting The OTA feed but not my Cable.
Edited by avsforumsdsd - 12/15/12 at 6:25pm

Pioneer PDP-6010FD getting the same 12 blinking lights but mine will only come on on screen that says starting up, then shuts down. Tried resetting but nothing happens. Does not respond to remote immediately neither. Has anyone had any success in resetting TV when it does not come on to go into set up?

Others that have posted on this thread have had success. I have followed this thread for years, since I got my 5071. I know there are some posts, if you have the patience to weed through them.

The 12 blue LED blinking started about a week ago on my PDP-5080...
Did it 3 times this week but I could clear each time by power shutdown switch (under side of panel) and removing AC power too.
Yesterday it happened again but the above method would only work for 10-15 minutes.
Thought it had something to do with TV guide going away but after some research it looks like a long standing Pioneer problem.
I did one more thing before I was going to try the panel reset and that is the trick to enter 00000 for your zip code in TV guide setup.
This will reset the TV guide and after power down/AC removal I switched the ant input.
I had been OTA but switched to cable and re-scanned (I have left over basic digital from internet connection).
About 28 hours now and many on/off cycles without a glitch.
I read the issue is mainly with the OTA tuner.
I will just never set up the TV guide since that will be gone soon.
I will update if it still acts up...

Todd

Does anyone know of a firmware update that was released to fix the blue light issue? When I had the blinking blue light, TV shut off issue, I conatcted Pioneer and they sent me a "letter" indicating I could have a free firware update if I acted within 30days of receiveing the letter. This was back in late 2009 when the OTA analog to digital conversion was happening. At the time I did not use the tuner feature, so before carting the TV to some service center I hooked up the antenna, let the TV find/download the OTA Guide data, and the problem never returned - until last week.

I forgot to count the number of blinks this time but the TV shut itself off for no reason but came back on immediately with the power button. It woked fine for a few more days then it went off again.

So, my question is; Is there a firmware update available (assuming I don't have a board problem) ? What is ther latest firmware for a PDP-5080HD?

Over two weeks and no issues !!
I turned the TV guide back on and setup after a couple of days too.
Looks like thgis is totally an OTA tuner issue or OTA/tv guide combo.

Another one suffering from the blue led blinking 12 times saga. My set is a PDP-6010FD had it since 08 with zero problems previously. Starting doing the shutdown and tried the power disconnect, verified connections, 0000 on the TV guide which I wasn't ever using. no luck. Then I went throught the factory rest mentioned here and knowhere in the owners manual. Bad Pioneer. The factory setting reset has worked so far. Remember before you do it to write down your settings. Hope it lasts.

Call me lucky but just bought a 6010fd from a guy on Craigslist who described these symptoms for $200. Left it unplugged overnight after trying to factory reset with no success and bam everything works now! Set TV guide to 00000 just in case. I think I got the deal of a century!

Also if anyone has a table top stand they want to sell me let know!
Edited by ajsimeon - 2/1/13 at 8:10am

Quick update. Unplugged the power cord from the outlet to move the TV and bam 12 blinking lights again! Not out of the woods like I thought. I'm going to leave it unplugged again for another night and see if it turns on again. I'm going to try to do a factory reset next time and then decline the TV guide setup. Finally I'm going to get a APC ups battery backup so it never turns of after a slight power outtage. I still think for $200 this was worthier even if I have to go without a a day once in awhile if this problem continues to happen. I'll just go into my theatre room that day .

I'm hoping someone here can assist with some issues with my 5010. After power was finally restored to downtown Manhattan after Hurricane Sandy I wanted to be able to watch TV again. Unfortunately Verizon FIOS was still down. I connected an inside antenna for OTA broadcasts and, for the first time, used the speaker connectors on the 5010 for audio. This worked fine. When Verizon service came back while disconnecting the speakers I inadvertently caused the speaker wires to touch. This resulted in a short in the audio connection, which shut the TV down.

When attempting to power up the TV I'd get five blue flashing lights and an error message which pointed to a short in the speaker connections. It would then shut down and I'd get the five flashing blue lights. This continued even after I disconnected the speaker cables from the TV and went back to using my AVR for audio. The only way I could the TV to work was to disconnect the power cable from the TV for at least a few minutes, reconnect the power cable, connect a speaker to the right channel speaker connector on the TV, even though there was no audio output from that speaker. It would then power up without an error and operate normally.

I've left it that way since early November until a few nights ago when I turned it on and it wouldn't display output from any sources. Powered it off and on, five flashing blue lights and the error message are back. After a number of attempts to disconnect and reconnect that speaker the TV finally powered up and stayed on. In an attempt to figure out if the audio amplifier board had been damaged I connected speakers to each channel. Very low output on the right, none on the left. Same with the headphone jack on the TV.

The set's protection circuitry thinks that there's a short in the audio connection. If there is it's not external. I tried a factory reset from the service menu - no change. At one point I did call a TV repair service. They told me that they had to send two guys to work on the set because it can't be worked on while it's on my equipment rack. I was told that the 5010 stand prevents the back from being removed unless the TV is laid face down on the floor. Does anyone know if that's true? Doesn't look that way to me. I did manage to find a copy of the 2007 Pioneer Service manual which includes the 8th generation sets. Didn't see anything there but I may have missed it.

I was thinking that maybe replacing the audio amp board might resolve the issue. I tried shopjimmy.com but the part is out of stock. Anyone know of any other reliable sources for these parts?

Thanks
Gary

Check out http://www.discount-merchant.com/ for your part. I was looking for my mainboard everywhere and it was out of stock everywhere. Found them at discount merchants and at a super low price. Installed my part a week ago and now I've got a perfect 6010 for a total of $260! It was pretty easy to replace the board. Just took forever to unscrew and screw back the screws. I layed the TV flat glass down on top of a comforter. I used that same pioneer service manual to take the pioneer back cover apart. Good luck!

Thanks very much for the information. That was very helpful.

Hi,

Hope you don't mind answering one more question? You mentioned that you used the service manual to take off the back panel. I didn't see anything that gave a good explanation of that procedure. Do the screws have to be tightened in a certain order when replacing the back panel?

Thanks again.

I don't think it's necessary to do it in order but I did cause it helped me keep track of everything.

Agreed. I'll do the same. Found the part I was looking for at the website you provided. Thanks again.