Howdy all,
Please read my bio first for a breif description of my history with this problem.
TV#1. My first Plasma (Vizio 42" HDTV) kept shutting itself off occasionally for no reason. The company said a very small percentage of the tvs had a faulty relay switch (a 15 cent part) that was causing the problem. They said it was too labor intense to fix so they just brought me a new tv.
TV#2. My replacement TV was the identical model of the first. It performed well for a couple a few months. Then without warning I turned it on one morning and all I could get for a picture (on any input setting) were very bright, very saturated colors, but no distinguishable picture. Once again the company apologized and said all they could do was bring me out yet another TV. I told them to forget it and I took the unit back to Costco where I had bought the original TV and they refunded my money.
Most people would have changed brands at this point, but I wasn't sure if this was a TV, or possibly an electrical problem in my home. I looked online and tried to find ANY history of repairs or picture failure with this brand and could find none. I looked at Consumer Reports, Cnet, and a bunch of other sources...nothing. Even the folks at Costco who sell hunderds of these sets, said no one was returning them...no one that is except me!
Well, I wanted to change brands but didn't want to have to spend any more money (These sets are relatively cheap) So I decided instead to switch over to Vizio's LCD technology and try my luck.
TV#3 This 42" Gallevia LCD performed great at first. But about a month after setting it up the picture would not always come on when the TV is first turned on. I can hear sound in the background but no picture. The sceen will flash for a fraction of a second, then nothing. This happens regardless of what input the TV had been left on when it was turned off (Antenna, DVD, Sataellite, etc.). To fix the problem I power off, then back on, and the picture springs to life no problem. This only usually happens in the morning when the TV has been off all night, or for an extended period. And so far, the picture has never failed to come on after powering down/up. You only have to do it once, and this problem does not occur every time you turn the set on. For example, during the day after initial power up, the set can be turned on and off with no problems. Again, this happens frequently, but only when the set has been off for an extended period.
I have good quality surge protection for all of the equiptment, and have a dvd player, vcr, and a Dish Network satellite reciever, all integrated with a surround system. As an experiment, I have tried plugging the TV directly into the wall (Bypassing surge protection), and have even tried plugging the TV directly into a totally different outlet than the surge is connected to....But I still encounter the same issue.
I'd love to hear onyone's opinion out on this. I'm leaning towards thinking this is a "TV problem", but then again if you factor in the problems with the other sets...Well, I just don't know what to think! Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again
The company I work for does work for both Walmart and Sams Clubs. We see Vizio's all the time. Yep, they fail alot. The worst part is that the company Vizio doesn't have a clue to how to support a product after they've sold it. Getting parts for these things is difficult and we're an authorized repair station. They're service literature is terrible and incorrect. They've got multiple versions of most of their sets which use completely different parts in them but Vizio doesn't seem to have much of a clue on figuring out what set of part numbers goes with what version of set. It's a nightmare which is made even worse when Vizio's own tech support won't return calls or emails.
Drop the brand and switch out. Vizio is junk.
I am a Student majoring in electrical engineering. Would you happen to know what I could use to access the service port. I am somewhat skilled in writing code and if i can tap into the service port and run diagnostics on the damn thing. I have a L32 that just shut down right in the middle of my presentation a few months back and will not power back up. I have taken my multimeter across the board and can not find a single problem. All ICs are in-tack and all power circuitry seem to be functioning fine. I even ran some basic simulations of the power supply in multisim and still nothing seems out of the ordinary. Any help would be most appreciated Thank you ,PV
Tap into the service port? uh, I don't think so. Authorized service centers don't even have access to that nor would it do you any good. Vizio's, like most LCD TV's require the boards to be replace in the event of failure. In the case of LCD's, There's firmware preloaded that allows a certain main board to function with a particular LCD panel. There are no individual parts available for most LCD sets. In fact, when dealing with main boards on the major brands, guys like Sony or Mitsubishi won't even sell the boards to anyone that isn't an authorized servicer.
I also have a 42" VIZIO Galevia. It has the same problem. When you turn it on, it does not dsiplay the picture, you have to turn it off and then back on again. I e-mailed VIZIO for help, they told me the problem is with my hydro supply. This is complete nonsense, I am an electronics engineer and I know this kind of response is just a "brush-off". These VZIO TVs (all of them) are just junk.
If you can, return the unit. I would not buy any of these TV for any amount of money. They are just trash.
Yeppers pure trash, even an extended warranty gives no peach of mind! Uggg, Trash to the highest level!
I have a Vizio SV420XVT1A 120HZ it is 1yr old. The problem is about 4 channels,
hesitate and FX pauses every 5 seconds. My cable company said it is Vizio.
Vizio sent a repair man, he put in a new tuner. I still have the same problem.
Any info would be appreciated Thank you,GB
P.S. It plays fine with dvd player.
have you called back the repair center who came out?
Larry D.
The repair man talked to his shop after the new tuner was installed, told them that didn't fix the problem, sounds like the tech guy, that the repair man talked
to doesn't know how to fix it. This email came from my cable company.
FX (Channel 35.1) on Vizio TV sets – We have one remaining puzzle on Vizio TVs. This may impact other sets, but we are unaware of specific makes. On some Vizio TV sets, FX will freeze about every five seconds. This does not happen on converters or other QAM TVs. We are working with Vizio to determine the source of this issue. There is no need to report it since we are already aware of it.
I will call the repair shop again. Thanks GB
if it did not fix it yes for sure stay on both of their butts as these companies have a habit of getting Alzheimer lol, call them everyday not more than once!!! till it9the tv set) is fixed!!!!! or tell them you wish them to give you another set OR a refund!!!!!
Larry D.