Diagnosis
From the symptom on screen to the board most likely at fault, with safe tests first.
- Safety and ESD when working inside a flat-panel TV
The hazards inside an LCD, LED or plasma TV and how to work around them: stored charge in power supply capacitors, live tests, glass panels, and static protection for the boards you are handling.
- Sound but no picture: the flashlight test for LCD and LED TVs
How to tell a backlight failure from a main board or T-con fault in two minutes with a torch: how to do the test, how to read the result, and what to check next.
- TV symptoms and the board most likely at fault
A symptom-by-symptom guide for LCD, LED and plasma TVs: dead set, clicking, standby light blinking, sound but no picture, lines, half-screen faults, no HDMI, and which board each usually points to.
- Using a multimeter on a flat-panel TV: the safe basic measurements
What a digital multimeter can tell you about a TV fault: choosing a meter and probes, measurement categories, checking that capacitors are discharged, testing fuses, continuity and diodes, reading standby and main supply rails, and the measurements to leave alone.
