Samsung LCD TV LA40A650A1F Ghosting Repair
Firstly, let it be said that this is not a permanent fix. It is purely an opportunity to carry out a repair and keep an appliance away from recycling for a little longer.
A customer brought in a Samsung TV that would regularly experience ‘ghosting’, distorted picture or lines across the screen.
After checking the basics, I thought that the problem might be with the T-Con (Timing Control) board. However, after doing more research, I discovered a simple way to find out the origin of the fault. By selecting the menu feature and twisting the TV, the distortion will be shown either across the picture only or across the entire screen, including the menu.
If the picture is distorted across the picture, but not the menu, this indicates a Timing Control board fault. If however, the distortion occurs across the entire screen – the picture as well as the menu, this shows the fault is a connection onto the screen itself.
In this case, the lines carried right across the screen. You guessed it – a screen replacement was necessary! As the ribbon cable is adhered directly to the screen, this bad connection could only be truly repaired by replacement of the screen.
Unfortunately, most screen replacements far outweigh the price of another TV. But, I’m sure you, like me, hate to see any appliance with a chance of extended life thrown into recycling, even if it’s for a short time. After discussions with the customer, it was decided to give the repair a try.
The problem exists because where the flex ribbon is connected to the screen a poor connection is created by heat and vibration over time. The only true way to repair this is to replace the screen itself. But with a little ingenuity, a clear screen can once again be obtained. It all depends on the tension kept between the ribbon cable and the screen.
Believe it or not, this repair involves using a car tyre inner tube! By cutting the tube into little pads, these pieces can be placed between the ribbon cable and the screen frame, putting pressure on the connection and eliminating the distorted picture. In some cases, extra pads may need to be placed under the ribbon as well, sandwiching the ribbon between the 2 pads. This is where a little experimentation is required.
After reassembly and testing for 2 days, flexing the TV and screen, a clear picture remained. Obviously, at some time in the future, the customer will have to decide to either purchase a new screen or new TV. But for now, at least this TV has been rescued from recycling for a little longer!
If you are interested in a video of this repair, please follow the link below
This article was prepared for you by Mark Rabone from Australia.
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Note: You can check out his previous repair article below:
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MJ Masalesa
December 12, 2016 at 6:06 pm
Thanks. Your creativity saved the appliance from recycling. People must try before they decide to throw away the gadget. Thanks once more.
Albert van Bemmelen
December 12, 2016 at 7:18 pm
I always kept some parts of the old rubber inner tire bicycle tubes just in case this kind of repair comes up. I also used it to mount my Satellite antennas to the fence of my balcony to somehow prevent any scratching on the galvanised metal. I do not know how thick inner car tire tubes are, I don't own a car either, but I guess that we always can put another layer on top of the previous one if we need it. Good job Mark. Indeed buying another TV always can be avoided if this method is a success!
And if we do not have any success in these provisional fixes we always can go to it, which as I just found out, is a town in the state of Arkansas/ Clay County USA (LOL).
Mark
December 13, 2016 at 5:24 am
Hey Albert,
This way I got to use 2 of my careers - automotive and electronic. A winning combination!
It's always good to at least 'give it a good try' and repair these appliances before we resign them to either recycling or landfill.
It disappoints me that we live in a throw-away society, where appliances are thrown away, not necessarily because they are broken and unrepairable, but simply because next year's model is being pushed by marketers.
Hopefully, as a group, we can make a tiny difference - and enjoy sharing our discoveries as well!
Parasuraman S
December 12, 2016 at 11:33 pm
vow! very ingenious! Learnt a trick today!
Henrique Jorge Guimarães Ulbrich
December 13, 2016 at 3:13 am
Great, Mark. The nature thanks.
Humberto
December 14, 2016 at 1:18 am
Another device saved from dump. Congrats.
Lee
December 14, 2016 at 6:49 am
Hi Mark
Here is a link explaining what go's wrong & how to fix it if your adventurous.
Mark
December 17, 2016 at 10:21 am
Hey Lee,
I would like to look at that link, but I don't think you left it with your comment.
Robert Calk
December 15, 2016 at 5:53 pm
Good job, Mark. You gave the TV a reprieve.
Yogesh Panchal
December 16, 2016 at 12:43 am
Well done! Mark,
Good idea but with little precaution; because more pressure will damage the screen. once i have damaged one accidentally while handling the screen for the similar fault .
mahmoud_tajpour
December 16, 2016 at 3:49 am
Thanks Mark this fault and repaired by you very useful for me.I must say you ci am living in a little town in east of IRAN.congratulate Mr.Mark.
Samir Mulla
December 19, 2016 at 5:22 pm
Excellent job sir
Hermann
December 23, 2016 at 2:21 am
Hi,
I don't understand the rationale behind the rule that if the menu is not affected by the ghosting, it is a defect TCON. The menus are produced by the main board like all other image signals, I suppose. How would the TCON be able to discriminate between a menu and other signals?
Mark
December 26, 2016 at 3:51 pm
Hey Hermann,
Thanks for your comment. I may have got a little confused by my statement. The method suggested in Kent Liew's LCD Repair Tips V3 states that if the menu shows a good display, but the background is distorted, the mainboard is at fault, but if the menu as well as the background is effected, the problem will probably lie in the LVDS cable, FPC cable, T-Con board or LCD screen. I found the fault by the 'wiggle method'.
Thanks for helping me to clarify the explanation.
Cheers
Mark
Tyrone
February 16, 2017 at 9:05 pm
Excellent repair Mark,I recently had a Samsung Lcd with lines at the top of the
screen and while replacing the metal frame which is around the screen which carries 8 screws I damaged it therefore great care is paramount.
Dhirsing vasave
January 24, 2018 at 3:43 am
Hello sir I have ua55c7000 vertically lines on osd if reduce back lights it clears only lines on osd otherwise full screen distortion pliz help me I am from india.
Paul
December 29, 2018 at 1:03 pm
Hi Mark, thanks for the tip on ghost image. I did what you said and used a thick rubber tape unstead of tyre rubber.
The tv now is working fine. Just finished. I’m gong to keep testing it. Only comment on your article is that (me been a novice with lcd tv) you should have mentioned that it is necessary to remove the front plastic frame and inner metal frame to access the flex cable. Anyway, thank you very much again and cheer up. Paul.