Vizio TV problems...any advice?

[Appleby]

Ok this is for me personally, not a customer. I've got a Vizio 42" tv in my living room. It's about 3-4 years old and has been an awesome tv. Over the past 2-3 years, I've randomly had problems where I will use my Windows Media Center remote to turn on the TV and the amber colored "Vizio" logo will turn white (as it should) but the screen never comes on. Nothing. I can press the power button again and the logo goes back to the amber (off) color. I've used my Vizio remote and it will do the same thing sometimes but usually after 2-3 tries it will eventually come and and work perfectly. This has happened randomly and might not happen for a few months, then it might happen a couple times in one month.

Tonight it did this and I could not get the TV to come on no matter what I did. MCE remote, Vizio remote or using the power button on the side of the TV. I bet I tried it 25-30 times before it finally came on. I did some Googling and see people having this trouble and needing to replace the mainboard or some other part. But I've yet to see anyone say that the problem is random, but rather, it happens one time and never comes on again.

Does anyone with TV knowledge have any ideas? Is this a mainboard (or whatever it's called) problem? I don't want to spend a bunch of money to "fix" a problem that happens randomly because I won't know if it's really fixed or not, since it's so random. Advice?

 

[Styxbound]

Try the guys over at Badcaps, Appleby. Those guys can help with all that board level stuff.

 

[eric76]

I had a similar problem on my Samsung TV. I replaced the power supply and everything is fine. I've changed a system board on a Vizio - and it's very simple to do. Hope that helps.

 

[Paul Rodgers]

Mainboard or powerboard. You need to open it up to check. Very easy. Hardest part is the 20-30 screws holding the tv together.

 

[Appleby]

Thanks guys. To make this problem so annoying is the fact that its so sporadic. The TV worked fine last night, after I finally got it on, again this morning and tonight. It might not do that again for a week or a month...or it might do it tomorrow. Y'all know how hard it is to diagnose and confirm a repair on a computer with sporadic problems like that and a TV seems to be the same.

Styx, I appreciate that, I'll see if they can help.

Thanks for the advice fellas.

 

[oldtech]

Have run into similar symptoms with our Vizio from time to time and at least in my household it always boiled down to...embarrassingly stupid cause... some knick-knack or another being placed near front of TV partially blocking the IR signal from the remote. On more than one occasion you could literally bank the signal off a wall and have it work but not when pointed directly at the unit. My wife's fondness for kitsch is a pain occasionally