Samsung TV makes a strange clicking sound
My Samsung TV (52″ LCD) started clicking several times before finally switching on after 30 seconds, this relay clicking gradually got worse each time I turned the set on. ( It turns out that this is quite a common problem with Samsung TV’s of all sizes). The problem seems to start after the TV is a year or two old (normally outside guarantee) and sounds like a relay clicking on and off. Samsung deny there is a design problem, so I thought rather than spend money on an engineer, I would try and fix the problem myself.
I thought the first place to look for a problem like this is in the power supply.
- I unscrewed the back cover of the TV (20 screws)
- Removed the metal cover of the power supply (4 screws)
- I carefully looked over the power supply looking for anything out of the ordinary, low and behold I could see a few capacitors (the cylindrical shaped components) that had raised tops. These raised tops are caused when the capacitor breaks down and forms hydrogen gas, if left, eventually the capacitors will blow, and hopefully the top will split open and release the gas pressure, if not, they may just explode.
Check out Capacitor Lab for more details on what to look for when a capacitor fails.
I checked out the replacement cost of a new power supply board, I couldn’t find the exact power supply online but this company has ones for smallers TV starting at around £160. So I was guessing it would be around £200 for a new one. Ouch, definately time to DIY.
I decided to replace all the capacitors in the power supply, I guessed if some were bad, then probably Samsung use cheap or poorly designed capacitors and at some point the others would go bad too. and replacing all the capacitors wouldn’t cost much more .
Each Capacitor has 3 important values
- The capacitance measured in μF (micro farads) eg (1000μF)
- Voltage (eg 50V)
- Temperature (eg 105°C)
This particular Power Supply Unit (PSU) has 3 different types.
- 1000μF 105°C at 10V
- 1000μF 105°C at 25V
- 47uF 105°C at 50V
RS Components have a good selection, so I opted to buy from there. It cost about £12 including postage for a 5 pack of each of the capacitors. I took a few photos of the circuit board so I wouldn’t forget what I was doing and set to work.
I re-opened the TV, and completely removed the Power Supply Circuit Board, you need to remove several connectors, again, I took some photos just in case I couldn’t work out where they all went when putting it back together. I made sure the Power Supply didnt have any residual power stored in the capacitors by unplugging the TV (whilst it was turned on) from the plug. This is very important as messing with a power supply even 30 minutes after it has been turned off can still give you a nasty shock.
I then drew a simple diagram marking the polarity of each capacitor. To remove each capacitor takes a little time, you need to heat each pin using a soldering iron and whilst it is still molten pull or wiggle each leg out in turn. I found it easiest when I used the other leg as a pivot and rotate the capacitor around the fixed leg.
Anyway once removed, you I used the de-solder pump to clean up any solder that was clogging up the hole and then I inserted a new capacitor (checking the values again) and making sure the polarity was same as the one I had just removed. turning the board over, I bent the pins a little, soldered the joints, and snipped off any left over wire.
I put the board back in and hey-presto it all worked beautifully. Job took about 2 hours in total and excluding tools £12 for the components and postage.
[Added 21/05/09]
If you snap off the solder connector on the PCB when doing this replacement, it is worth noting that you can re-attach your component in another place as long as it is electrically equal. The Red Line in the diagram below shows where an existing component was, this component could then be re-soldered into any of the positions marked in green. But in the case of a capacitor which has + positive and – negative legs, you must make sure that the leg is re-attached to the same track, I have marked with a + plus sign which track it must be re-attached too.
[Added 7/12/09]]
After replacing the capacitors a few people are still having problems, it appears that this can be fixed by resetting the EPROM chip (apparently – a simple matter of shorting two of the pins). http://www.tv.quuq.org/forum/index.php?topic=2377
and http://www.tv.quuq.org/forum/index.php?topic=1744.0 both detail the procedure, although it hasn’t worked for everyone who tried it. (Thanks to Jason for these links)
I just wanted to thank you for posting this. I just fixed my TV and I have no experience in electronics or soldering and managed to fix it so I know anyone can do it. In case it helped anyone I thought I would post my experience.
My TV is a year and a half old and it is LN46A550 (46″ Samsung LCD). Once I opened it 2 of the capacitors were a little swollen on top. It was the 1000uf 10v ones. A little research suggested it would be better to go with a little higher voltage so I got 2 of 16v ones at Frys. They were $1.90 a piece which is a little steep but about the same considering shipping cost of online stores that sell them for $0.29. If you have a local electronics store it would be a lot cheaper.
The longest part was taking the TV apart and getting all the wires out of the circuit board. I was afraid to use too much force to rip anything out so I took my time. To remove the bad capacitors, I used my soldering (desoldering) iron to heat the old connection and wiggled it out. You may have to straighten out the old wire to get it out. I actually bought a desoldering iron from Radio shack for $11 and it has a little bulb attached to the iron part that sucks the old solder out. I used this for the whole thing. Just make sure you get the polarity right. The gray part on the capacitor with an arrow is the – and the – has the shorter wires. The capacitor I bought didn’t have the polarity written.
I made a mess with soldering since I have never done it. It took a while to get solder on there since I kept burning it but I managed to get some blobs of solder on and it held it. It wasn’t pretty but it was holding fine. I cut off the wires and put the TV together. Voila!! It turned on! I just saved $300 but the priceless part is the satisfaction of having done it myself. Maybe it’s silly but this fix is among the top of my list of accomplishments.
So, I say to anyone who hesitate to do it themselves: If I could do it so can you. It is pretty simple and all the instructions are here on the post.
Thank you so much again. You’ve helped me and I am sure many others who will come across your page.
I am having the same problem with my LED UN55B6000 TV. Only had it 3 months. Still under warranty, but this seems like a real problem.
Chris your a ripper mate. Bloke at tv shop wanted to rip $200 out of me. Knocked it off in an hour. Shame sammy are playing dumb on this. Talk about brand damage, I am telling everyone not to buy samsung.
I have a Samsung LE40R88BDX model, followed the advice on the site about changing the capacitors and it did not work. Decided to change the power board, part arrived today replaced it and still no joy any advice would be grateful.
for all you UK fixers out there.
its great to fix your own tv BUT you will invalidate any warrenty.
the caps fault is an ‘inherent fault’ and you have 6 years to complain and get redress for inherent faults.
if you trawl back thru my prev posts you will see that i got my series 4 40 lcd tv completely replaced with a brand new series5 tv by samsung complete with another 1 year warranty.
UK law protects consumers with the ’sale of goods act’ against inherent manufacturing faults. 10volt caps on the power supplies are ‘inherently faulty’ and persistance with the retailer should get you result of a free fix or a new tv.
ps my series 5 is still going fine
You are a total hero. My Samsung, the last I will buy, fixed as described. Thanks again for taking the time to post that fix, you’ve saved an awful lot of people an awful lot of money, good job.
I too am having the same problems consistent with soooo many other Samsung TV owners…I purchased my TV in March 08 (model LNT4061)..The clicking started maybe a couple of months after the warranty had expired but only within the last two weeks did it become really bad…To the point now of the TV not turning on at all….Actually on the phone to Samsung customer service as I type just to let them know what I think of their product and judging by everyone elses experience nothing will be done…Just finished with Customer service and they offered to pay for the parts but labor charges would be mine to deal with…I will now go out to find the 16v capacitors as recommended by most of you , and hope that fixes the situation…Very glad I was able to find this forum and find out what the problem was.
Further to what Bob Barry says I did exactly the same. Said about the Sales of goods act – just get a template of Google.
Although it has taken since end of November, I recieved a really nice looking new Series 6 TV – Got it yesterday. (They were originally going to give me a Series 5 but it was out of stock – so they upgraded me!!) Thats one of the reasons it’s taken a litle bit longer, both because of it being out of stock and Xmas holidays ect.
Although some people say “I’m never going to get Samusung again ect.” – I won’t say that because ok there is a fault with some of them, but IMO their the best looking TV’s and have a great picture too. It’s day to day use and looking nice that concerns me, rather than worrying that it’s going to break down in 18 months.
Hi Chris\Anyone. I am grateful that you guys are taking the time to help with this. I have the same clicking and power cycling issue with my Samsung. Can you tell me what part\voltage etc. I should buy for a samsung 42inch plasma? thanks again
When I finally get to opening my TV and find out which capacitors are bad what do I change them with?
* 1000μF 105°C at 10V would be changed to ___________
* 1000μF 105°C at 25V would be changed to ___________
* 47uF 105°C at 50V would be changed to ___________
Or do you replace it with the same kind?
@ Jonathan Salina You should use the same kind of capacitors you are replacing, however you can use capacitors rated at higher voltages than the original. For example you can replace a 1000μF 10V capacitor for a 1000μF 16V capacitor. Using a higher voltage capacitor just gives the capacitor a little extra breathing room and it’s actually a good idea to choose a higher voltage rating capacitor to play it safe. Just keep in mind that the microfarad (μF) rating should be the same as the capacitor you’re replacing.
please help im having the same problems. i replaced the four capacitors that were bulged but it still isnt working just clicks and no red light… anyone have any ideas? please
Ok thanks a lot. That is very helpful.
I have a 40″ model LCD that suffered the same fate after 3.5 years (although I’ve had an issue with the screen for the last two). I checked the board and confirmed that several capacitors were shot, so I ordered a new one from Samsungparts. It arrived today (took five days); I installed it, and got nothing – not even the clicking or the standby light, which I at least had before. I switched back to the new old board, and still nothing. Any suggestions?
Hello ladies and gents, i have a 40″ samsung telly. My telly did exactly the same as all the posts above – after about 18 months it started to click when turning on, first it would turn off after a copuple of clicks and then it got progressivley worse. When it was around 24 months old it got to the point where i had left it on for around 3 hours and it just clicked on and off without turning on. I would like to make clear at the outset that i have absolutley no clue about electronics, soldering, tellys, power supplies or capacitors. In view of this i was amazed when even i managed to repair my telly in about 2 hours. This includes the trip to maplins to get me capacitors, soldering iron , soldering sucky out device and solder at the cost of about £20. Considering the local repair shop (that samsung had referred me to) wanted £85 just to take the telly in and diagnose the problem, this is wonderful – i reckon i saved about £150-£200. Excellent post with excellent easy to follow instruction, i take my hat off to the dude that figured this out and took the time out to help other people unfortunate enough to shell out top dollar to these absolute mongrels who trade under the guise of an electronics company. Going forward, i will be spreading the word at every avaialable opportuity about these scum bags slelling tellys which obviously have an inherent fault. I will no go spend the money i saved down the pub. Good day to you.
Im having the same problem with my TV so I contacted Samsung and explaned that hundreds of other people are having the same problem to which he replied ‘As with all TV’s Sony, Panasonic etc all of them develop faults and we wouldn’t fix it for you without a cost’ I just told him that I won’t be recommending Samsung and thanks for nothing so I am going to fix the TV myself but I don’t know what capacitors I should buy for a 40″ TV (LE40R73BD)can someone please advice? I am from the UK and I see alot of people buy from Maplins can I have some help!
Thanks
@Justin, when you open the telly and look at the capacitors on the power board, each one will show you three values written down the side of it. 1) the uF. 2) the voltage (v). 3)maximum operating celsius (c).
The ones that were broken on mine were all the same at 1000uF10v 105c and there was 4 in total. All the capacitors with other values where fine, they did not show any sign of bulging at the top or any weird black stuff coming out. This makes mes thing that there is an issue with this one type of capacitor in particular.
When buying your replacements you have to make sure that the uF and c values are the same. You can get higher v capacitors and according to previous posts it is actually beneficial as it give the capacitor more breathing room.
e.g for 1000uF10v 105c you could get exactly the same or anything with a higher voltage i.e 1000uF 105c. You CANT replace with a lower v i.e 1000uF5v 105c
I brought all my replacements capacitors from maplins yesterday and i could not find the capacitors in the same voltage so have brought capacitors with higher values. If it helps here are the maplins catalogue codes i used
1)DT69A (1000uF16V 105C) – i used these to replace the original 1000uF10v 105c
@Justin, when you open the telly and look at the capacitors on the power board, each one will show you three values written down the side of it. 1) the uF. 2) the voltage (v). 3)maximum operating celsius (c).
The ones that were broken on mine were all the same at 1000uF10v 105c and there was 4 in total. All the capacitors with other values where fine, they did not show any sign of bulging at the top or any weird black stuff coming out. This makes mes thing that there is an issue with this one type of capacitor in particular.
When buying your replacements you have to make sure that the uF and c values are the same. You can get higher v capacitors and according to previous posts it is actually beneficial as it give the capacitor more breathing room.
e.g for 1000uF10v 105c you could get exactly the same or anything with a higher voltage i.e 1000uF16v 105c. You CANT replace with a lower v i.e 1000uF5v 105c
I brought all my replacements capacitors from maplins yesterday and i could not find the capacitors in the same voltage so have brought capacitors with higher values. If it helps here are the maplins catalogue codes i used
1)DT69A (1000uF16V 105C) – i used these to replace the original 1000uF10v 105c
@woz thanks for the info buddy, I have looked on maplin website and they’re dirt cheap, I am getting my friend round in the week who knows how to solder and will find out which are the faulty compacitors.
Cheers
Justin
My TV it’s has been turn on and off when I connected my coaxial cable model SAMSUNG
# LN46A530P1FXZA
can anyone tell me what kind of relay switches are used in modern l.c.d and plasma televisions..i fear that my relay is broken in my 40″” samsung t.v….so can anyone inform me what kind of relays they are……….thanks
Just finished my Samsung 46 in. LCD 1 1/2 yr. old TV with the clicking noise and no start up. There is a You Tube video out there where a nice guy walks you through step by step on the capacitor change. Note; I would recomend that you find someone with soldering experience though because it takes a steady hand and shorting out other components on the board could prove costly. This job after tooling up was about 2 hrs.
hi all had the same problem with my 40 inch samsung about 3 years old now i done the same changed the capacitors for higher voltage 16 volt x 4 could not see any bulging in the others.board in diferent place then the pictures but the same returned went down to maplins bought the parts took some photos for ref put back together about 2hours max and blimey it works for the whopping price of £1.85 cheaper then chips and more satisfying.thanks to every one for there help and the brilliant author.all i can say is give it a go its easy and what can you loose.another lost customer for samsung
have a 46″ LNT4671F samsung model lcd tv, had the clicking problem after close to 2 years, used the you tube video to take the tv apart and found the bad capacitors, took board to a local tv repair guy, he removed and replaced, 5 blown capcitors with the same uf rating but higher voltages, cost $47 parts and labor, took a couple hours, replaced circuit board and reconnected all jacks(easy) and voila, no clicking, tv turns on one shot….it works. go to you tube and try it.
Just to follow up on my earlier post….
I opened my TV and there were 2 busted caps. Also, the power supply board was not covered in its own case like most of you had. I had a little trouble with the cheap soldering iron I bought, but I put it back together and fired it up and it lit up the first try. Its great not to have to wait 10 mins for the TV to turn on anymore.
If anyone has any trouble stateside let me know and I can try to be of help.
I have had the very same problem when the tv was bareley 2 years old and thank god for these websites and all you guys who have added comments. I have now just spent £2.10 at Maplins for 5 Capacitors had no 16v so used 25v and a friend with the right tools changed them in the space of 15 minutes. I put the tv back together and bingo it worked and what a relief. I tried ringing Samsung and explain what the problem was but because I didn’t have the extended warranty their customer complaints departmet just didn’t want to know and the attitude was impolite and down right arrogant they thought I was ok for me to spend in the region of £200-£300 on a tv that they had built inadequately after only 2 years.I will never buy a Samsung product again with aftersales and customer care service as poor as Samsungs and they know there is a real problem with their tv’s with this issue and are sweeping it under the carpet and letting unsuspecting loyal customer to suffer the cost of the repair. Mine cost £2.10 and a bottle of Scotch to my good friend who did the repair so thanks for all the advice guys and to Samsung thanks for nothing another loyal customer gone!!!!!!
Just repaired my LE40R74BD the same way, big thanks to everybody on the internet who makes this info available free.
If anybody is considering doing this repair themselves who has never soldered before, seriously dont worry! I basically butchered the thing and it still worked, in fact I was surprised when it worked as I was convinced I had ruined it. I dripped solder on other parts, scratched the board – all sorts. Tidied it up best I could before powering up again and basically was ready to dowse the flames but presto it fired up….
Just kept telling myself that if I ruined it then I was just going to buy a new board off ebay for £40 anyway and replace the whole thing.
Anyway, here are a few tips I can add from the research I’ve done.
It’s OK to use a capacitor with a higher voltage value than the originals. I replaced 1000uF 10v 105C’s with 1000uF 16v 105C’s. Perfectly fine to do this but not the other way around…
Making sure the polarity is correct is obviously important but not nearly as complicated as you would think. The capacitors have a short wire and a long wire. The short one is the negative one. You’ll also notice they have a coloured stripe down the one side. Thats the negative side as well. Now look on the board itself. Where each capacitor is located theres a circle drawn on the board around it. A small part of that circle is thicker than the rest. Line the coloured stripe of the capacitor up with this thick band and the polarity will be correct.
The Maplin Online Catalogue has most parts listed: The 1000uF 16v 105C’c are Catalogue No: DT69A
If you’ve never heard of capacitors and are a bit bamboozled by all the new terminology… dont worry. You need an Electrolytic Capacitor and you need the Radial type. (This means that both the +ve and -ve wires come out of the bottom of the component.)
Thats about as much as I can add only to say check out Youtube and VideoJug for some How to Solder videos and have a crack at it.
The best quote I could get was £90 labour, £70 parts + VAT = £188-00 and I got it all sorted for around £11-00 including buying a soldering iron, solder wire and solder braid for removing the old solder. And on that note, rather borrow a decent soldering iron than go for the £5 job at Maplins…. it was carnage…..
Have fun..
My question is:
If this has been happening for years now, why didn’t Samsung upgrade the parts themselves? Why did they continue to make TV’s with parts that will fail. It must cost them tons of money on the warranty work.
Hi Flopguy,
That is what has angered most people on here.The parts Samsung are useing last just long enough to get the TVs out of warranty then when the problem arrives a few months later Samsung are not in the least bit interested stating that the TV is out of warranty.
My own TV cost over £1300 and before it was even 18 months old the clicking had started.
I expect a modern TV at that price to last a lot longer than that.
Bill
hi, for those who got replacement tv from UK is the sales of goods act with the retailer or samsung directly? I have been told its the retailer and by samsung? please can someone share the template letter and advise who to post it to please
Hello,
Embarrassed to say this but your British explanation and pics were a lot easier to understand than the American blogs. Do you have to keep your TV’s on the right side of the room at all times (just kidding)?
Regards.
Joe
My tv was doing click click click on startup since the last 2 weeks.
When I called the Canada Samsung service center to repair my 40′ SAMSUNG LCD that was only 23 months old they wanted to charge me a new board and 100$ for the tech.
May I tell you with such crappy service that this is the last SAMSUNG I ever bought in my life.
With very little experience in electronics and the information from this site, I just changed 4 busted caps 1000uf 10v and saved about 500$ in repair bill. Total cost of the repair 4x 0.45$ = $1.80
I want to thank the author of this web page and the people that participated, this is a very valuable information that was very usefull in my case.
Fixed 2 2200uf 10v caps and replaced them with 2200uf 35v caps. total cost was 24 bucks. Would of been a lot cheaper but had to buy a soldering iron the resin and had to buy the 2 caps right from the samsung repair shop that was going to fix my tv. They cost me 5 bucks each. I know you can get them olone for like .50 cent each but had tv all open and removed the caps so had to get it done that day. TO ANYONE WHO IS SCARRED TO DO THIS!!!!! this was my first soldering job and it was so EASY. If i had all the parts this job would of took me prob like 20 mins max. I unsolder and resolder in prob like 3 mins. SO EASY!!!!!!! THANK YOU FOR THIS WRITE UP!!!!!
I replace my 3 caps with 1000uf 35v and now the tv is not working. While replacing, I made sure the polority was correct. Correctly it has silver screen and no pictures. Please Help!!!
Will upgrading these capacitors to a higher voltage or different manufacturer solve the problem? I realize that it fixes the problem. I am wondering if this is a power supply design flaw. I am wondering if everyone will be replacing their capacitors will become a year chore.
I wonder what the common thread is? This problem obviously does not affect every TV.
I replaced x1 caps with 1000uf 16v for a total cost of 46p and 1.5hrs labour, make sure when you put the new capacitor in that its the correct way round you should see a – symbol on the capacitor and under the board it also has the – symbol just make sure they are lined up correctly as will probably not work if not. Apart from that was a breeze.
Hi i have the same Issue with my Samsung 42in. I bought it from a guy that said it was turning on and off so right away i assumed it needed some capacitors. But to my surprise when i got home , he had allready changed the capacitors and it is doing the same thing. i have tested the capacitors and checked the fuses and nothing. Is there like a safety switch of some sort that keeps it from staying on. It turns on as soon as i plug it in , i get a picture on the screen and then it keeps cycling on and off. any help would be appreciated.
my moms telly sam 42 lcd has same sort of problem only we had no warning turned it off went to turn it on again in the morn but jus clicked and had blue light wich think is power light but no pic jus this sound right for capacators
LN52A650 started clicking Saturday. Set was purchased in Apr ‘08, so it was out of warranty. Purchased at Best Buy and had their extended warranty, but called Samsung anyway to see if they had a recall. No recall. Google and found massive amounts of Samsung owners with similar problem. Watch the ,B>YouTube fix, but called Best Buy. The Geek Squad was here at noon. Was prepared, because he came to door with everything needed – solder gun and 16v capacitors to replace the under power 10v. He was finish before 1 PM. Set is now working normally.
Oh, I did email my local TV news. Will they do a story, who knows, but after the Toyota fiasco of denying any defects, I figure they might be interested in another denial by a major Asian company. So please bring this to your local TV news. The more that do, the sooner it will be taken nationally and we can Samsung to do the right thing.
Come to think of it, is there any class-action in progress anywhere in the States?
My Next theory…
How many of you that had failed TV’s had installed the magnet that came with the TV?
This magnet was to be installed on the power wire at an exact measurement from the end.