Red lines across Samsung LCD

[mattstermh]

I have had this TV since 2008, (but it was completely untouched for at least 5 years) and seeing as it has had hardly any use compared to many other TV's I own (or have owned) this problem is quite puzzling to me.

I was playing PS4 on the TV when one day I noticed some red lines across the screen. At first I thought it was my playstation or the game, but then I switched to watch a show and noticed it was present. It happens on every channel, all the time now and I do not know what the problem is or how to fix it. I have tried upgrading and reverting firmware but that did not help.
Please review the attached pics. The tv model is LN46A550

First post, any and all help is appreciated. Thank you!

 

[(*steve*)]

I've had a TV do exactly that. It was returned once for warranty repairs for this reason. I suspect its caused by something that gets too hot and eventually fails.

I still have the TV, promising myself to one day open it up to see if I could support anything.

As far as I can tell, when it was fixed under warranty they just replaced a board -- all I could get out of them was "motherboard".

 

[mattstermh]

Ok, gotcha.
Any other thoughts on this? I'd rather fix it myself if possible.

 

[(*steve*)]

Well, I extended the life of my old tv by installing a fan behind it to evacuate hot air from the cabinet. The fact that this helps does tend to confirm my hypothesis that it was heat related.

Also in my case there was an obvious place for a fan in the case but it was omitted.

Try locating what gets hot in the tv during operation and see if you can improve airflow. It may be sufficient to fix the problem, or at least extend the life of the set.

If you can unambiguously locate the right device, it might also be possible to fit an adhesive heat sink. Just be careful that it cant short anything if it falls off.

 

[Gryd3]

Ok, gotcha.
Any other thoughts on this? I'd rather fix it myself if possible.

At first I thought that it was perhaps a loose connection or a failed connection on the LCD driver or along the edge of the screen until I saw the pictures.
The red only appears to show in 'black'er areas, which tells me the fault is in an image processing portion of the circuit...
If at all possible, I would love to see some test patterns on the set to make sure it's only the black that is affected.
This fix may be very difficult to find.. especially since hot components may not be the culprit if this occurs immediately when you turn the tv on.

 

[mattstermh]

At first I thought that it was perhaps a loose connection or a failed connection on the LCD driver or along the edge of the screen until I saw the pictures.
The red only appears to show in 'black'er areas, which tells me the fault is in an image processing portion of the circuit...
If at all possible, I would love to see some test patterns on the set to make sure it's only the black that is affected.
This fix may be very difficult to find.. especially since hot components may not be the culprit if this occurs immediately when you turn the tv on.

How would I pull up a test pattern on the TV?

 

[Gryd3]

How would I pull up a test pattern on the TV?

Many many ways... burn a Slideshow onto a DVD and browse with a DVD player. Connect a computer to it, and browse that way...etc.