Philips plasma repair advice thread

[High_Pressure]

Hi,

My 18 month old Philips plasma has decided to stop working. I have a 37FD9944/01S that has a seperate tuner box. When you turn on the display the LED goes green for a few seconds then switches to a continuosly rapid flashing red with no picture. I figured it must be the display as I connected my xbox 360 straight in and it still did the same thing.

I contacted Philips who could not help without sending the unit away to be inspected (at my own cost). I then contacted the retailer, Discount Electronics UK, who couldn't have been more unhelpful.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what could have happened or any links to some technical advice on Philips plasma (I've already checked Philips.com)

Cheers, H_P.

[the_trickeys]

did you ever get an answer to this ????? i am now having the same problem with mine...... I thought my little girl had done summit, but it looks to be a fault?????

please help.. desparate without my tv.

thanks

[davidgarty]

hi there dont want to upset you but this happened to my hyundi plasma and it was the power point that was the issue and they fixed it then switched it on and it made another part go wrong this kept on happening and then 4 months down the line it was un repairable the guy told me with these big tvs once they go wrong its bout impossible to fix them as there packed with so much technoligy and it was only ten months old . well and for the hyundi warrenty thats a joke there based in koria so no chance of them honoring there warenty so ended up buying a new sammy hope yours is diffrent . good luck davie

[the_trickeys]

thanks for the reply davie...

I've got to keep +ve though so still holding out for solution

Did you say got another one.. if so what would you recommend at 37-40", should i get plasma of tft or are they the same???

thanks

the trickeys

[cdb]

Did you ever get your TVs fixed (what was it/how much) as I now have the same problem on my 27month old Philips plasma.
Funny old thing, out of the hundreds of extended warrentys I've bought over the year and not used, this is about the one item I never bought one for.

[Barbusa]

I have a 42PF9964, which I bought in 2003, with the same problem and, after a lot of investigation work I identified what causes it!

I sent an email to Philips pointing out the apparent solution, explaining that whilst not expecting them to repair the unit, I would like some help in finding a supplier of the capacitors that I need in order for me to arrange a repair at a reasonable price.

Their service agents quote the cost of repairs at £400 and then will only guarantee the repair for three months!

.................................................. ....

This is the reply I received today from Philips:-

Thank you for your recent e-mail.

Please accept our apologies for the difficulties you are experiencing with your model 42PF9964.

I'm sure you will understand that without a physical examination of your unit, we are not in a position to comment specifically.

As it would appear that your equipment is not currently covered by warranty, we would suggest that you contact our third party service provider Anovo who would be pleased to attend to your unit on a chargeable basis.

Anovo can be contacted on ..........

Should you require any further information please contact our Customer Care Centre (details below) quoting customer reference number xxxxxxxx.

.................................................. ..

This "Non-existent Customer Service" is, almost, unbelievable in this age of huge competition from companies in this particular home entertainment field!

Unfortunately, I am old enough to remember when Philips had a respected name and that alone was enough to choose them over other manufacturers!

Sadly, judging by my own and a huge number of other disappointed Philips customers that I have actually spoken to, exchanged emails with, or posted on various forums, this is not the case any more.

I will go out of my way never to purchase another Philips product and to prove this I have just purchased a Samsung PS42Q97!

I just hope their after sales customer service is better but, after all, how can it be any worse?

However, when I purchased the 42PF9964, I was never offered any form of extended warranty option. With my experiences I have opted for a 5 year extended warranty with the Samsung for an extra £219.00 and I would strongly advise anyone buying a plasma/lcd tv to do likewise!

.................................................. ......................

The main components that wear out are the capacitors which, with a minimum amount of electronics knowledge and a suitable soldering iron (you need one with a tiny point, preferably a butane gas powered one) and a powerful magnifying glass. This must be self supporting or one that hangs from a neck cord.

The capacitors and any other parts you need can be purchased very, very cheaply from rswww.com and they offer a free delivery service or, for an extra fee, a next day service!

When you remove the back panel from the TV, you will see a few circuit boards and you need to locate the one for the power supply.

On mine it is really obvious as it is situated at the top just left of middle. They all have numbers printed on the circuit board. Mine are 2662 (25V 1000 uF) 2663 and 2664 (both 50V 100uF)
The ones originally fitted are '85 deg C' but it is best to replace them with ones that are '105 deg C' because they will last longer.

These '85 deg C caps' normally have a guaranteed life of of 1000 hours, whereas the '105 deg C' ones have a guaranteed life of 2000 hours!

This being the case, when Philips build the sets they know that they will probably break down after a minimum of 1000 hours of use. If we suppose that the caps last for twice their minimum life span (2000 hours) and the TV is switched on for an average of 5 hours per day over the year one, ore more, of them will probably fail in the second quarter of the second year.

With this knowledge, for high cost items such as this, you would always be wise to take out an extended warranty and Philips, or any other manufacturer, should be obliged to include an information card warning consumers of this fact!

The Aluminium Electrolytic - Radial capacitors in question are, usually, 2 x 100uF. The voltage, I believe, depends on the screen size. My 42" screen requires 50V whereas the 32" version uses 25V caps.

There is also a larger 1000uF capacitor, of a similar type, that will be sighted close to the other two. This seems to be 25V, whatever the screen size!

The only thing you must remember when replacing these caps is that the longer leg on the capacitor is 'Positive' and the shorter one is 'Negative' and you must ensure that you do not damage the circuit track!

If you are careful and have a steady hand it is quite an easy job but if you are not too sure, you will probably be able to find a local repairer that is able do the job.

However, you have to beware of the Companies that offer a service where they come and collect the tv for a set fee, usually just under £100! They then work out the cost of the repairs and, if you give them the go ahead, they deduct the amount paid from the overall repair cost.

I have looked into many of these and, even if you agree to the repair estimate, usually in the region of £300, they never seem willing to guarantee the repair for longer than three months, six months at the very most!

When you consider that these components cost a matter of pence you can see the value of trying to repair it yourself.

[MAW]

LOL!

I just hope their after sales customer service is better but, after all, how can it be any worse?

Just wait and see! You have picked the worst AV company in creation.

[norfbech]

Our last TV (CRT) was a Philips and pretty much the same thing happened.
I think we had it around 2 years before it started to slowly give up the ghost - it began turning itself on and off which became progressively worse over the last year (we had it around 4 years in total). It also turned green/blue on occasion. We were quoted a ridiculous fee for a fix and in the end we gave it away on a local freecycle site and we purchased a fine PX70.
I have a 15 year oldish Sony Trinitron portable in the kitchen which works as good today as when I first purchased it...4 blinkin years for a modern telly...hope this plasma is more durable...

[[davey]]

Sorry to dredge up an old topic.. I've got a similar problem with a 32" Philips Plasma.. When powering up one of the blue relays on the PSU board clicks constantly then the power light flashes red..

I've just bought the 3 CAP's as mentioned above and I am going to give it a go, but I thought I should ask has anyone else had the "clicking" along with the flashing red light?

Thanks.

[PlasmaManiac]

Hi - Its usually down to the power supply in most cases, but PLEASE BE CAREFUL.

DO NOT work on anything left plugged into the mains, also, remember that the larger capacitors on the Power Supply board can retain a large charge for a long time even when left unplugged for days.

[[davey]]

Replaced the cap's and its still dead

[[davey]]

ITS ALIVE!

I took the board out and checked all the solder joins, etc. then replaced it.. powered it back up and it was still clicking, but with no red light this time.. I thought I'd let it click away and see what happens.. The clicks got slower and viola she powered up

[[davey]]

Bah, knew it was too good to be true!

I've conquered the flashing red light so its not completely dead now, but the TV still takes about a minute to come on from cold, must be a faulty Mosfet or something along those lines..

This video was filmed thismorning before I left for work, the unit was completely cold (i.e. it had been off for several hours). When turned on the power supply clicks on and off for a while then the clicking slows and it comes into life.. Then once its warm if I turn it off and on again its fine!

[pixie]

Davey,

Was the replacement of the capacitors easy to do if you follow Barbusa's instructions? Don't suppose you have any photos showing which ones you replaced?

Our 32pf9964 has just started to have the switch on / clicking / red light problem. As it hasn't completely died we haven't taken the back off it yet to have a look.

Can't really complain too much, as we've had it just over 5 years and it's seen a lot of use (although it's 1 month outside of John Lewis' 5 year guarantee, which is very frustrating!).

Any advice you could give me would be much appreciated!

Pixie

[[davey]]

Its really easy, when you take the back off the board is smack bang infront of you, there are loads of connectors to remove on the bottom and side, but after that remove the screws and it comes straight out.. If you hold the board in your hands with the row of connectors along the bottom the cap's are on the very TOP LEFT of the board almost in a row