What should I do with this busted LCD TV?

[lozina]

So I had a great week - one day my HTPC fails for some unknown reason and I spent all day rebuilding it then the next day my 45" Sharp Aquos LCD TV dies.

I am wondering is it worth trying to repair it? How can I tell how much I might get for a used TV? I searched on ebay including completed listings and couldn't find anyone selling one to get an idea of how much a used one sells for. I couldn't find anything on craigs list either. And general searches are mostly old product reviews.

From doing some research the problem with my tv is likely bad capacitors or a blown out power supply board, either of which I'd be comfortable repairing myself. But is it worth it or is this thing so worthless now that it's a waste of time? Either way I am buying a new TV anyway, just unsure about the fate of this one....

 

[isekii]

how far past the warranty are you ?

If you used a visa to purchase and I think Amex as well it extends the warranty one more year

 

[lozina]

how far past the warranty are you ?

If you used a visa to purchase and I think Amex as well it extends the warranty one more year

It's a Sharp LC-45GX6U and I am pretty sure the warranty was only 1 year and I bought this 5 years ago. Pitiful warranty, I know.

 

[PottedMeat]

put in $15 of capacitors and an hour or two of your work and dump it for $300 on craigslist or something

 

[RavenSEAL]

It's a Sharp LC-45GX6U and I am pretty sure the warranty was only 1 year and I bought this 5 years ago. Pitiful warranty, I know.

See if there are any repair shops in your area...it can't possibly that expensive to fix unless something is REALLY wrong.

 

[rasczak]

eh, if you're comfortable trying to repair it, why not? parts will probably run you $100 - $200 bucks? if it works out, then you save yourself a tv and can use that money elsewhere, or you have two tv's to enjoy watching

 

[RavenSEAL]

42" dual display!! wooo!

 

[lozina]

eh, if you're comfortable trying to repair it, why not? parts will probably run you $100 - $200 bucks? if it works out, then you save yourself a tv and can use that money elsewhere, or you have two tv's to enjoy watching

Yeah I like that. I could just put it up in my basement and have it for watching TV while I exercise. That would be cool - then maybe I'll actually exercise more often

 

[HardcoreRobot]

my plasma died a premature death, i also narrowed it down to probably a blown power supply board. yet, that part was like 150 and i didnt feel comfortable fixing that. so then im looking 150+ labor to fix a 3 yr crap tv.... ended up craigslisting it for 60 bucks. disappointed it died early, but could justify spending 200 bucks on old tech, put it aside for the replacement

 

[dud]

OP, Google your particular model and see if you can find any DIY repair instructions.

If your TV were a rear-projection model I would suggest that you pull the front screen (a Fresnel lens), trash the rest and build a frame for the lens. The next step would be to wait for a bright, sunny day and take your lens outside and burn some concete with it (with eye protection of course).

 

[SphinxnihpS]

5 years old? What a wonderful set...

 

[SparkyJJO]

Where are you located? I'll pick up your TV and get it off your hands for you

 

[bruceb]

Depending on what the set is doing or not doing and if you can find the service manual / schematic, it may be worth attempting to fix it yourself. On the other hand it is 5 years old and a new one will perform much better and have more features that were not out 5 years back.

 

[lozina]

I will open it up and visually inspect it and use my multimeter to check key contacts to see if I can determine the problem. If it seems like something wrong with a part I can replace I will try it myself. Otherwise it's going to the trash after I try to just give it away to someone who might want it for parts or fix it themselves.

If I try repairing it I'll take some pics to post if I succeed - otherwise I'll just keep quiet about it

 

[bruceb]

Make and Model # would be a big help. We can then try to locate service literature.

 

[lozina]

Make and Model # would be a big help. We can then try to locate service literature.

I posted it above in post #3- its Sharp LC-45GX6U

But I found the service manual and schematics for free from this nice site:
http://elektrotanya.com/sharp_lc-45gx6u_tu-gd10u_tu-45gad_sm.pdf/download.html

I was going through the steps in the second half of page 38 for power led wont turn from red to blue but i am not sure this is the right place, because if I remember correctly when the TV is off the power led stays constant red, until you turn it on it changes to blue. But my led now is not constant red it blinks red every 4-5 seconds repeatedly. And i think this section might be referring to if the light is constant red, not blinking.

And then on page 55 they do have a table which indicates what the blinking leds mean - what error they correspond to. for me:

is the power led lit up in blue? NO
is the power led blinking red? YES
the power led flashes once (cycle: slow)?

I guess so... it says flashes once but then says cycle slow so I guess it means it is repeating and at 4-5 seconds which is what I'm seeing I'd say that's slow. For this it says check the system cable. What could be wrong with my system cable? looks fine... I wonder if the cable is compatible with standard PC power supply cables so I can swap them? hmm... will check when I get home

EDIT: and then another thing is this doesnt make sense because I already opened up the TV and I tested the voltage at the output of the Line Filter board and it's 123V, so it's getting full power from the AC outlet and there's nothing apparently wrong with the line filter (it has a fuse on it too which did not burn out) I tested on the output of this board where it feeds into the power supply board - past the fuse.

 

[bruceb]

I am not able to get that download link to work at this time. I suggest you check the secondary outputs of the power circuits first.

 

[Wyndru]

So I had a great week - one day my HTPC fails for some unknown reason and I spent all day rebuilding it then the next day my 45" Sharp Aquos LCD TV dies.

I am wondering is it worth trying to repair it? How can I tell how much I might get for a used TV? I searched on ebay including completed listings and couldn't find anyone selling one to get an idea of how much a used one sells for. I couldn't find anything on craigs list either. And general searches are mostly old product reviews.

From doing some research the problem with my tv is likely bad capacitors or a blown out power supply board, either of which I'd be comfortable repairing myself. But is it worth it or is this thing so worthless now that it's a waste of time? Either way I am buying a new TV anyway, just unsure about the fate of this one....

My samsung has the same issue, had pink dots for a while, now starts up slow. The fix is to replace leaky capacitors somewhere on the power supply board. It is 2 years out of the warranty, but so many of these had this issue that Samsung is paying a local repair shop to come out and fix it. My sister is getting the same treatment too. Maybe email Sharp support, and see if they can do anything for you. If it is a common issue they might help, worth a shot.