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 21th May 2009]
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 7th Dec 2009]]
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)
[Added 10th March 2010]
You are not alone, there have been almost 65,000 visits to this page in the last year. The answers to many of the questions people are asking are scattered through the previous comments, Most people with little experience have been successful in fixing their TV’s although for a few, it didn’t work, the symptoms were similar but cause was different. A few of the more recent comments reveal that people are becoming more successful with getting Samsung to repair their TV’s, its definitely worth trying before you launch into a self fix.
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Nice post, thanks!
My Samsung 40″ T4042H is having the same problem with the clicking when powering the TV on. So far the clicking in only 10-30 seconds. I plan to try this since my TV is out of warranty anyway and hopefully this will stop the clicking. Heaven forbid one of those capacitors exploding while still inside the most expensive TV I have every bought!!!!
Thanks for the info,
Hi,
I bought mine online about 2 weeks ago. The model is LA46A650 (Series 6 46″). It’s already doing that clicking sound and i’m really disappointed. I have 3 years warranty but am unsure what to do. What’s the model of your TV? Thanks very much.
Mike.
@mike
My TV is an 52″ LCD Model LE52M8 but I believe the problem will be with any Samsung TV thats uses these ‘bad’ components, mine was bought over 2 years ago. If yours is with 28 days and is defective (not sure about the legal protection where you live) but I’d get a refund and try and more reliable manufacturer. Having heard about all the people with this capacitor problem (Plus another design flaw with a Samsung fridge freezer I was going to buy) I shall not be buying or recommending Samsung to anyone.
Chris
Thanks for the reply chris,
Wow, what a bummer. The picture produced by the TV is rather stunning. It’s a shame. Yesterday i noticed it took around 1 minute for the TV to finally switch on (after being on standby for a few hours). But if it’s only been on standby for a few seconds, it usually takes around 5 or so seconds to turn on. Would that be grounds for a ‘defective’ TV? Will something like this just get worse? Thanks.
Also Chris, if i do get a refund, which manufacturer would you recommend next time i purchase an LCD TV? Sony?
@mike
I agree the picture on these samsung TV’s is good (although I used a test DVD on it and noticed mine is a little jumpy under high speed motion) and I like the styling of the cabinet too. However, this is exactly how my TV started to deteriorate, so I am guessing it is the start of these capacitors failing. Under UK law you can return anything defective for a full refund within 28 days of purchase (if the item is defective they also need to refund the postage/packing costs). If its only 2 weeks old I think you should act now and get it refunded, instead of going through a repair later, if it fully fails.
I wouldn’t really recommend any manufacturer, I am not really quialified as I don’t really have enough information or experience. But, when I need to buy another (even though I pains me to say it, as I dislike Sony because the lock customers into proprietry technology and have installed rootkits onto peoples machines) it would be a Sony.
Chris
I see. If i choose to use the warranty to repair the problem i.e. the crappy capacitors, would the TV be normal after that? For instance, after you fixed your TV, did it ever deteriorate again? Or is it still ok? I guess what i’m trying to ask is, is the problem due to the fact that Samsung uses really poor quality capacitors and that replacing them with better quality ones will completely solve the problem? Thanks.
Since I changed the capacitors mine works perfectly, but I only changed the capacitors about a month ago.
Thanks for the info Chris. Much appreciated.
Hello someone recommended this site to me off of FixYa.com. I was experiencing the same problem with the clicking and not turning on, but on one incident the TV took about 10min to turn on. To my surprise after the TV finally came on it had no picture just the sound. You can tell the back lights are on. I guess it’s the LCD lights but its not producing the picture. So I’m wondering if these capacitors r what caused the picture to go out as well or does this mean I have a added problem?
need help lol, took out the resistors and like an idiot i slipped on one and took off the copper ring solder pad, any ideas? cheers
@Rosalind – Not sure, if its out of warranty, I would probably replace the capacitors as a start and see if that fixes the other problem.
@Jay – You changed the resistors or did you mean capacitors? anyway, If you removed the circular pad where the component connects to the circuit board, I think you will need to scratch off some of the coating along the printed track to make a new soldering point, you will probably need ‘flux’ (or at least solder with built in flux) to make the solder stick. Then bend over the pin of the component to join up with the newly exposed area.
i ment capacitator lol and thanx, i can see the track, but theres only one and the legs go through either side of it. only repaired a wii solder pad and they have 1 track each so it was easier lol, should i just scratch next to where it was joined? any way i can test it with my multimeter?
cheers
capacitor* haha
@jay
Its hard to give any advice without seeing the problem, but just take you time.
A bit obvious, but as long as both legs of the capacitor are connecting to the SAME track (even if its another solder pad a few centimeters away, connected via an extra wire , you should be ok). Be wary of using multimeters to test “on” the PCB, short circuit, (or resistance) testing may give false readings, as other components on the board will change the reading.
thanks for the swift reply but how would i go about which other point to go to? ill take a picture, do you have an email i could send it to?
cheers again
http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/1458/img00120200905201827.jpg
http://yfrog.com/5jimg00120200905201827j
found it lol iv bent the legs to show and lifted another pad lol, im all in sweats now haha
update:
the tracks are very thick, all the negatives go to the same track which joins to 3 solder points on a cable connector, and 2 positives go so the same track also which go to three different solder points on the same cable connector, with the 2 remaining positives each going to a seperate track that both also join to the same connector, could i just directly solder to the points? if so which ones as the track covers two or three solder points each.
cheers
power light stays on (blue).the green led on the tuner board stays on .tv makes a clicking sound
dell tv w4201c
It is not clear to me who posted this solution, though I think is Chris, but is worked for me, on my 81inc Samung LCD TV were 3 capatitors where blown up, after replacing them, working like a charm.
Thank you very much.
THANK YOU SO MUCH. Those stupid capacitors were blown out. We spent only 8 bucks to replace those things and our Tv works really good. At first we thought we were going to have to replace the whole motherboard which cost close to $300 bucks. Thanks again
Many Thanks to all who contributed to this, a great fix, well explained and patient advice given. this fix saved me a fortune in repairs. thanks to all
Paul
I’ve got the same problem.
I got a TV repair company to look at it and they’ve quoted me £46 just for the capacitors!
i complained and they changed it to £25.99! Which is still too much but I didn’t want to argue anymore.
bought the capacitors from RS Components for 44p but I suppose £46 is a good price as the guy has to make some money from his skill/trade. getting it down to £25.99 was extremly good of them. Cost that to the price of a plumber, electrician or joiner etc. most will charge £45+ for first hour alone. I was quoted £272 for the power board alone then would have had to pay to have it fitted. £26 is a very low cost repair, after tax, nat ins and other expenses the guy probably made a tenner. not a good profit concidering he had to listen to you complain adam.
They already charged me £108 for labour. They quoted additional £46 for the parts!
I would just like to say a big thanks cost me under £6 and that includes petrol so saved me £100’s so i am happy
here there im being real dumb but could some-one please list order numbers etc for each Capacitor required not sure which ones to order from site reccomended, any advice would be much obliged.
The components I ordered from RS, were as follows
RS Stock No. Qty Unit Price Goods Value Description
526-1109P 5 £0.31 £1.56 Al Electrolytic Cap 105C 10V 1000uF
526-1446P 5 £0.60 £3.02 Al Electrolytic Cap 105C 25V 1000uF
224-4353P 5 £0.17 £0.87 YXF Al electro cap,47uF 50V 105deg C
Different Samsung TV’s will of course require different components. If you are still unsure it may be easier to remove the capacitor and take it in to a local electronics stores and talk to someone (In the UK Maplin is pretty good) – just make sure you make a note of where each capacitor came from.
I have an LN46A650, almost a year old to this day and thursday I started having this problem. I have a 3 year warranty with a 3rd party company so I am going to call them and file a claim monday and hopefully get a local repair company out to my house asap before it stops turning on entirely. I am mechanically inclined for sure but I’m not that comfortable taking apart my tv and soldering parts on.
It definitely sucks because the picture is great and its funny how companies go cheap in the worst places to save a penny. By the way, I call them Friday and they’re trying to tell me its not the tv and that its the surge protector that I have, which is b.s., especially since its a really good monster surge protector.
Unreal….
MiKe
TV wont turn on at all today. Im bugging out. I may go out on a limb and try replacing the blown capacitors. I have soldered before I just hope its not a tough job and I dont screw anything up. It could be a while before they get a service guy out to me….
My samsung lns4051dz/xaa will not turn on and is also making the clicking noises I am going to try and fix it by replacing the capicitors I hope its easy and I dont break my tv lol.
my samsung LE40R88BD LCD is doing the same thing not switching on, stand-by light flashing and the dreaded clicking. three capaicitors looked blown but i changed seven, unfortunately this hasnt worked, the only problem that i think could be is, mapline only had 16v instead of 10v capicitors i understand this is maximum voltage but could this cause a problem could it also be the relay faulty help !!!
HOW CAN SAMSUNG DENY THAT THIS IS A DEFECT?!!!!!
I shouldn’t think that 16v instead of 10V would cause any problems, (like you said this is the max voltage, so going over shouldn’t do any harm), I’m afraid if you’ve changed all the capacitors I don’t really have any more experience to offer you.
the 3rd party company that I have a warranty with (CPS) picked up the tv on thursday and they said it could take 2 weeks to a month to get back to me depending on how long it takes to get the parts since they aren’t kept in house. I assume in this case it wont take that long because its a common part. Why not just take a walk to radio shack and make life easy instead of replacing the probably blown capacitors with the same crappy ones….
thanks chris, i managed to contact currys where i got the telly, they were quite helpful, i mentioned the sale of goods act to them and they agreed. i have got to get a report from a t.v. technician to see what is faulty then get it fixed and only then they will see if they will part pay or pay the full amount but i dont really want to pay double the money if i can get the power board and fit it myself its a bit long winded.
do you know were i can get a BN44-00167A board from ?
cheers chris
Everyone with this problem, and its worldwide, should e-mail samsung to complain, i did yesterday just waiting for a reply, its a disgrace, a £1000 for an t.v. that packs in after 18 months,
@Carl
A google of the part # BN44-00167A shows quite a few UK companies, that seem to stock it.
http://www.chsinteractive.co.uk
http://flattvparts.co.uk
I agree with you about complaining, I was thinking of sending a letter to BBC consumer program “Watchdog” as its the sort of thing they could probably help with.
I just went to http://weblogs.wpix.com/news/helpmehoward/
This is a link to a tv station, WPIX, in which a man, named Howard, who has a segment called “Help Me Howard” hears from people about ways that companies have screwed them over and he looks into it, confronts the company and trys to get a good outcome for the customer, or everyday joe.
Check it out, and if you’d like to, post your experience with samsung, as I have just done.
Cant hurt.
Maybe 1 voice wont be heard, but 1000 sure will be.
thanks chris, i e-mailed watchdog on sunday so i will check my mail.
thanks again chris for your help
p.s. i have just tried to re-solder the capacitors incase of any shorting out between circuits but the darn thing is just clicking in my ear. lol
i will keep you all updated cheers carl
This is quality youve just saved me a fortune, thank god for the internet, email me and i’ll post you a tenner for such a good walk through, thank you Chris Morris
Thats great to hear it helped. There is something really satisfying about this type of DIY repair job.
I’ve put a link at the end of the post which allows you to easily make a donation by paypal, also here is another copy of the link: Buy me a coffee
I ordered from radio shack 1000 uf 35v is that too strong of a capacitor? When I opened the back of my tv i can clearly see three capacitors that are blown. I bought all the tools need but I m not sure now if i got the right capcacitors.
I have the exact same problem with my LE40 Samsung. I’ve followed your guide and identified 3 blown capacitors. I’ve hit a problem however in that i can’t seem to get the solder around the capacitors legs to melt and therefor remove. I’ve not got much soldering experience…. am i doing something wrong? Thanks, Mark
@Kerry
The new capacitor must have the same μF (micro Farads) value, whereas the V (voltage) must be equal or greater.
So if there is a capacitor in the TV with values
1000μF at 10V
You CAN replace it with a capacitor such as
1000μF at 35v
As it has the same μF (micro Farads) value and the V (Voltage) is equal or greater.
@Sparkby
Try to get as much contact with the solder as possible, if the tip has a flat edge try and get that flat against the area to be melted and leave it in contact for 10 seconds. The solder will set back to a solid within seconds of removing the heat, so you will need to remove the component, or remove the solder very quickly.
If it still isnt’t working you may need a higher wattage soldering iron. They range from about 15w upwards, 25watts would be a good general purpose power.
Just got tv back from the 3rd party warranty company and the diagnosis I was given when they returns the tv to me was “failed power supply”. That was a surprise wasn’t it. Anyway, its fixed now so thats good. I appreciate the walkthough in case I ever had to do it myself.
This has to be addressed and taken care of by Samsung.
Ok I m feeling really depressed right now I searched all aroung for a desoldering iron and the only one I could find was a 45 watt with a bulb attatched to suck up the solder well its not melting the solder and I dont know how else to remove the solder now. This stupied gun unfortunately is not gonna work how did everyone else accomplish removing the capacitors I need to fix my tv so bad and purchased everything thing I need but I just cannot melt the solder. um can u tell Im very frustrated at this point. Chris what watt desoldering gun did u use or please help me with other methods I could try that I wont mess up my tv with.