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.
[Added 28th June 2010]
Before attempting repairs yourself it is probably worth trying to see if Samsung will repair the TV for you, Samsung seem to now accept (unofficially at least ) that there is a defect in these capacitors, and in an increasing number of cases will send out an engineer to fix them. Skim through the comments below to get more info.. A polite but assertive approach seems to yield best results, remember they are in the wrong and there is plenty of consumer law in most countries covering their liabilites and responsibilities.
If you fail to get Samsung to repair it, 100’s of people have had success with the replacement fix I describe above, a few of the failures are probably due to similar symptoms but a different fault. Again if you are unsure read some of the 100’s of comments below
If this has been useful to you, and you would like to buy me a coffee, or help towards my monthly server costs please click here to make a donation via paypal.
My 40″ Samsung LCD LN40A750R1 started taking longer and longer to power up then finally failed, after 10 months.
Since the factory warranty was still in effect the Store Tech came and without hesitation replaced the 4 10V capacitors with 16V 1000uF 105C, just as recommended herein. Worked perfectly.
In what can only be described as inscrutable American-Japanese logic, the Tech informed me that since this was a factory warranty repair (not a store service repair), he would have to return to replace the entire board with a new board. He didn’t know if the new factory board had the upgraded capacitors. Not sure if I’m going to let him back.
Does anyone know if the replacement factory boards have upgraded capacitors?
thanks for the great website.
Hello,
I My 52 inch Samsung LCD has over the last two weeks started with this switch on clicking fault (so it currently takes about 30 seconds before it will switch on).
The TV is just over 2.5 years old (LE52M88BDX/XEU).
Bought from Dixions over the web, and I have just spoken to their customer service department who have told me the first thing I need to do is to get an independant engineers report of the fault and send it to them.
Is this just them just trying to put me off progressing the claim? I an a Chartered electronics engineer so I am more than capable of producing a report but they want an independant one.
A fault report is going to cost a few hundred pounds, which I probably can’t claim back from them.
I really expected a £1900 telly to last more than 2.5 years.
I could just replace the caps myself (wife isn’t too keen) , but if there is a fault in the design then they should be liable.
Thanks for your help
Bruce
worked perfect thanks very much for the step by step instructions
@Bruce Benson it will cost £200 for a call out charge, so unless your rich get an engineer to repair it or if like me £200 is alot of money than repair the TV yourself, it’s not hard or if you want someone else to repair the TV than people on Ebay will repair the power board capacitors. just do a search for ‘Samsung Clicking’ I would personally repair yourself though will be cheaper and you could have the job completed in half hour if you have the replacement capacitors to hand.
Thanks Justin,
I will try to get the TV off the wall this weekend and back on it’s stand (I don’t like the idea of placing the tv display side down as I would be scared of either breaking the glass, or causing a pressure ’smear’).
Supporting the 52 inch glass from just the edges can only cause trouble.
I have seen mention of both 1000uf and 2200uf 10V caps being the problem. I have plenty of good replacement 1000uf caps (special low impedance ones) from old set top boxes that I used to design (Amino).
I will check if my local maplin has any 2200uf 16V’s in stock tomorrow just to have some in case.
Looking thorugh the web and service manuals it seems though the designers have used the 1000uF 10V caps on their 5V supply, and the 1000uf 25V ones on the 12V rail. That would normally give a safe margin so I can’t really understand why the caps are failing.
The fact that they use 105C rated parts shows that they were worried about the temperatures (right next to a heatsink), but the failure mode of bursting used to be linked to a faulty electrolyte (google faulty pc motherboard caps).
Thanks for all your help.
Bruce
@Bruce, when taking the TV apart place it on a double bed, this way the screen won’t get damaged, when I opened my TV there was only 1 capacitor which had black stuff coming out of it and some of the other capacitors were bulging but maplins only had 1 1000uf 16v Capacitor in stock so took my chances and just replaced the one capacitor to which it worked, I suspect in time I will have to change the other capacitors but I will cross that bridge when I come to it. Good Luck with the fix buddy, let us know how you get on.
Thanks for the help. I removed the back cover and the power supply cover and sure enough, the capacitors looked just like in your picture. I replaced the capacitors and the television works just like new. Larry’s repair, located in west duluth, mn was a great help with the capacitors. Total cost to me was $20.00 for parts and the time to do the repair. Thanks for the information.
took about 1 hour to do and cost about £3.00,parts from ebay.
thanks for the info
Hi, all. I wrote about two weeks ago to state that I had bought a new board from Samsungparts.com but was unable to fix the problem. Well this I weekend tried installing the new board one more time and presto, it works. Guess I didn’t have the plugs pushed in far enough. Just wanted to let you all know in case there were some readers who might be too intimidated to try soldering the capcitors, but still wanted to keep the TV.
btw, decided to keep the old board so I could teach myself and my kids how to solder…
Hello Everyone.
Tonight with the help of a friend (thanks Chris) I took the screen off the wall (52inch) and took the back off.
Three of my 1000uf 10V caps were bulging, with one of them visibly leaking liquid out of the top.
I replaced them by five quality Rubycon 1000uF 10V ZL series (105C low esr parts) and everything is working a treat.
I have taken a number of pictures and I will be writing a report to send through to Dixons (where I bought the TV). I am a Chartered electrical engineer so I will try to put some weight behind it.
I also bought some capacitors from maplins (1000uf 16V and 2200uf 16V), but they are a non main brand and only 85C rated, so I decided to use the Rubycons.
Thanks again to everyone for the info.
I will be posting the pics on my website.
Bruce
I’ve had the same problem with my Sam LNT4042HX/XAA Version SP01 and finally took it apart tonight and found about 4 caps puffed up. Will try Radio shack in the am for replacements. But, I have a bigger problem the relay that makes the clicking sound is bad and I need a replacement (doubt if RS will have one of those. Anybody got any suggestions where I might obtain one. Tried Parts Express but didn’t see any online,will call them tomorrow. Al
to Al Kravits. i beleive your relay is clicking because of the blown caps, relay is fine once you change the caps it should be good to go.
Hi all,
I live in Derbyshire in the Uk and am not confident to fix the problem myself, anyone know of a good local repair guy?
Hi Everybody; I am here to report another success story over the Samsung Clicking. Many THANKS to all on this Web Site and my wife who found it. I found some caps at a local electronics parts store, but not the relay.I tried alot of places and the internet, got close but no cigar. Had a couple check out availability from the mfg. Min. order was 100 from one,and 1000 from another. After the third or forth effort I was able to locate the tiny,tiny missing part thing in the carpet,put the relay back together, soldered it and the caps in the proper holes, put the TV back together and turned it on. Workes like new so far (12hours use). One point I would like to make is watch out after taking the back off, the table stand also is loose and the TV can falloff it,at least on my model. Again many THANKS for all the input and this Web Site.
hi guys, i had the same problem on my LE40R73BD clicking sound, wudent turn on anymore..so went down the way to fix it my self..found the bulged bad capacitors, replaced them with some new ones, but still no luck still clicking, ive red that u need to cut some wiring of from something called the eeprom chip??? ive been looking for about two days or so for this chip but cant find the damn thing…can somebody help me? or can somebody if he knows where this chip is located make a picture of it and post it on here…would be much appreciated..many tnx, regards syed.
The power of my Samsung LN46A500 can not be turn off except unpluging it. Only image looks ok, all other functions lost? 14 months old, could be also capacitors problem or other issue? Call 800, they are very rude to me ask myself pay about $330.
I am wondering should we submit commsumer complain to request recall because it is their design and manufacturing fault
Hi All, Have been reading these posts with great interest. My TV (40″) went the acid colour on Movie and the dynamic and standard picture are still there but the pic is not good – is this the same issue as tomorrow I am going to try it on with Curry’s under the sale of goods act as the tv is 2.5 years old. Or do I have another problem – is the picture problem a separate issue?
Cheers
Matt
Hello—I too had this clicking problem with my crappy Samsung LN-T4665f. The capacitors were replaced with the suggested upgrades (they were obviously blown). Now, the TV goes on for 1 second, then the screen goes blank. The sound still works, but no picture. Any ideas or suggestions as to what else could be wrong with it? Thanks! Luca
I had this clicking sound in my samsung 40in LCD, sometimes it would take an hour to turn on. After a while, it stopped to turn on. I had no choice but to fix it. I thought lets give it a try. i can’t believe that i fixed this problem myself. I just followed the steps suggested and bingo my tv works perfectly now. Thanks.
Thanks for your help! Spent 20 bucks and TV is now fixed!
The problem with Samsung tvs just made the front page of reddit.
http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/b5sgr/hi_reddit_i_just_fixed_my_lcd_tv_with_798_worth/
In the picture up the top.. what are the blue things next to the capacitors?? I replaced all of my caps as they were bulged on top and had click, dont know what those blue ones are though and if i need to replace them..? can any one help??
Hello Adam,
The blue things are inductors (just a length of wire wound around a ferrite core in this case).
The inductors on these boards are fine , they just help filter the supply rails.
As long as they arn’t physically damaged they will be fine.
Thanks
Bruce
My TV has just started “clicking”. Even as i sit here typing away, the TV is on standby and i hear it click now and again. I’m gobsmacked that there is no feedback from Samsung in relation to this. In the UK we are protected by the sales of goods act which essentially states that products must be fit for purpose and of a satifactory quality. Good old TV’s would last the best part of 20 years, what’s happening!!?
Once the TV goes, I will try this fix. It’s sods law as I ordered SKY HD last week and looks like the TV won’t make it that long… great posts guys thanks.
Not wishing to steal anyones thunder, here is a rather useful YouTube video of the work being carried out.
Can anyone post a picture of the capacitors and hwo they look when they are faulty and would you recommend replacing them all?
Thanks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNHHrgX_6cs&feature=related
Hi Mafo,
The picture at the top o fthis page is a good example of the bad caps.
I will be posting some pics of mine on my website whis weekend. I would reccommed replacing them all, as you just don’t know what the other capacitors are like.
Bruce
Cheers Bruce, replaced all my caps.. the 1000uF. 2200uF 47uF figured if one was up the creek may as well for the whol extra $5 it cost, cause i aint a tight ass prick like SAMSUNG!!!, i would replace all of them. Start a fresh.. But TV still clicks.. looking in to the eprom short but had a quick look and can not locate the eprom on my 40 inch m8 any one know where it is??
@ Adam I think I manually edited all my epromm setting by going into the engineers settings on the remote and I found on another site the settings that I had to enter. Maybe worth a search on epprom settings for your model. I did ours after replacing the caps and it works a dream now! Plus just got Sky HD so even happier!
Cheers
Matt
I called Samsung and they had a local technician come out and fix my TV. They covered the expense. They were very nice on the phone. I would try calling customer service first. You don’t want to run the risk of causing more damage if you can avoid it for free. Also, I think they now realize there is a problem with their TVs. As soon as we told them what was going on, they told us it was the capacitors without us saying anything. We already knew that was the problem given all of the web post we already read. So, give Samsung a call.
@rick,
No, you can’t use 2000uf instead of 1500uf (uF = microFarad) the value must be the same,
However The 50V instead of 30V part would be ok, as long as the (uF) is the same. (30V instead of 50V would not be OK)
Guys, to update you. I sent an email to samsung with words to the following effect:
Dear Sir/Madam,
I write with regard to the above order, made on and around the 19/09/2007, approximately 2 and a half years ago for one of your television sets namely model number LE40R88BD.
I am now experiencing issues with my television. Whilst outside of the warranty period, the fault which has developed is clearly due to substandard quality components. The inherent fault began when I turned it on as I usually do but instead of going from standby to on it began repeatedly flicking between on and standby for a few times and then powering up, this is gradually getting worse. Becoming concerned, I trawled the internet seeking advice and was dismayed to find that thousands of people across the UK are experiencing the same issues with their Samsung LCD televisions of all sizes and models.
These matters have been investigated by a chartered electronic engineer who found that the fault is due to poor quality capacitors on the main circuit board. I am furthermore advised that should I remove the back plate of the television I will be able to see that these are the root of the problem. I have not removed the back as I do not wish to disrupt any further investigation into this matter. Rest assured that the capacitors in question are not subject to unnecessary abuse or misuse as they are protected by the casing of the television set. These components are, therefore, not durable or fit for purpose and two and a half years falls well below what I , and anybody else, would expect an expensive television from a reputable manufacturer to last before becoming unusable.
Whilst you may deny responsibility given the fact that the item is no longer covered by your warranty, I remind you of your obligations under the sales of goods act. We were considering purchasing a further televisions for our home (and are very satisfied with the unique Samsung look), however I fear that such a disappointing experience may make us wary of Samsung products in the near future.
I look forward to your most prompt response as, soon, the television will become unusable.
I got an autoresponse back asking me to call them. I called them back and they arranged for a service engineer to attend, at no cost, to repair the fault. So, they perhaps are addressing this matter.
I’ve added the letter if anyone out there wants to cut and paste it.
Thanks for all your assistance on this one.
Have the same clicking issue on my TV which was purchased Jul 2007 a 40″LCD LNS 404 1D. Replaced 7 of the 8 capacitors four of them had visual signs of bulging, however stil clicking. Any ideas as to what else can be the problem. Thanks
Hello—I too had this clicking problem with my crappy 58″ Samsung Plasma FPT5884X/XAA and it wouldn’t turn on. I open the back panel and checked all 3 power boards inside and found none of the capacitors have a visual signs of bulging as suggestion . Any ideas or suggestions as to what else could be wrong with it? Thanks! Larry
Hello – I too think Samsung have the worst customer service ever. Our 42″ plasma ran out of warranty 4 months ago, and the TV just stopped working. The screen flickered a couple of times, made a clicking sound, and powered off (no stanby light, nothing). They have told me that it could be the psu or the main board, either way, a hefty $500 if psu is gone, and $800 if it’s the main board, and on top of that, $120 for an Engineer to come out and diagnose the fault. Is it worth it?
Had same problem with my Samsung LN46A650. Wouldn’t turn on 18 months after I gave them $1900. That’s about $105/month for a television.
Samsung didn’t care, despite the fact that it’s happening to a lot of people, so I joined this class-action lawsuit to try to get some relief.
http://www.lieffcabraser.com/defects/samsung-lcd.htm
If you’re fed up, you should too.
My TV a Samsung LE40M gave up the ghost this morning after a couple of weeks of Clicking. So i rang Samsung up this morning and imformed them of the situation and even though my TV was 16 months out of warrenty they are sending out a tech guy to repair it free of charge as it is now a known problem to them. So it looks like their is some hope for us
Im glad to see Im not alone here,Our tv is 1 month out of the warranty, and the tech that I spoke to told me after I explained what was wrong with the tv clicking off & on and nothing happening that there was a problem with the compassatator, so he said it was covered no problem until their repair service called and said it was not covered after a few more phone calls to samsung and the service center and even getting email confirmations from samsung,, They tell me Im screwed and it will cost approx $400.00 to fix the problem,,, total B>S>,,,There is nothing they can do!!!
Me again, my 40″ Samsung is still working great.When mine went out it took longer and longer to come on, I finally left it on all the time until I had the satelite receiver changed out and the power to the Tv got turned off and it never came back on after that.Until I followed this site instructions to switch out the caps.I think I would like to get in on the class action suit, how do we do that?? Thanks again
I have been monitoring this Samsung capacitor problem for awhile since I have a 40″ Samsung tv mod LNT4032h that failed with the clicking noise. I purchased this tv 05/2008. after I sent a e-mail on 02/15/10 to Samsung asking for a free repair, I was declined. On 02/26/10 I sent another complaint to Samsung and received an answer saying my tv may be covered under a recall. On 03/1/10 I called Samsung 800-726-7864 and they advised my model was covered for capacitor problems only and gave me recall #. On 03/04(today) i received a call reconfirming my tv was covered. They have scheduled a free repair for my tv…..
HI all, Samsung have rolled over finally I have a 46″ LE46F86BD Model bought Jan 2008 and they are comng out today to do a free repair you just need to call the UK Samsung number and I am sure they will come out to your LCD best of luck!
Samsung Fan NOT!!! 3 different Live Chat Samsung Representatives said Samsung would provide free service on my “clicking TV” that takes for ever to turn on — Their repairman said he would not come out because my TV was not covered. Samsung now says that I will have to pay for my repair. Even though I have transcripts from 2 of the Reps stating that if the issue is the capacitor issue
Samsung will repair for Free. Before YOU buy a Samsung product search You will see many people who have had to try to Replace their Capacitors themselves because their tv takes minutes to hours to turn on.
this is the 2nd time i am having a clicking issue. the first time the power capacitors blew and they were fixed, now as of this morning I just hear click, click, click, click, no attempt to turn on…….What the heck!!!!!
Good job on figuring this issue out.
Note that here in the USA the Capacitor values may vary.
My set used 2-2200uF, 10V caps, 2-1000uF, 25V caps and 1-1000uF, 10V cap.
Also note if you’re planning on buying the caps yourself that the OEM parts are 105C rated and not standard 85C.
http://www.digikey.com has all the parts.
Not sure if this makes a difference long term though.
Ken
Ive had the same problem with my 40″ samsung and was shocked when i typed in the words ‘my samsung tv is clicking’ to find all these people with the same thing. Luckily for me it seems mine started failing at the right time because i noticed posts dating back 2 years and samsung denying any responsbililty with people left with no choice but to fork out or try and repair themselves.
I have phoned samsung uk and although at first they were initially saying this clicking was unusual soon changed their minds when i said i thought they would be well aware of the problem considering how many people out there had exactly the same thing and it seems its to do with the capacitors failing. After this no more questions asked just engineer booked to come out and if it is the capacitors the repair is FOC if not i am chargable. Judging by all these posts im confident it shouldnt be costing me a penny as its quite clearly a manufacturers fault. Good luck everyone, dont give up samsung have got to take responsiblity!!!!!
A tech just came to look at mine after I experienced most of the aforementioned symptoms. One thing I hadn’t noticed until he pointed it out to me (with the room lights dimmed)was that the screen was actually “on,” but blank and in my opinion black. This, he explained before popping the back cover off, is an indication of a bad main board. He said blown capacitors would prevent the screen from even energizing. Removing the back cover verified this, for the most part, since the capacitors actually looked normal. Bad news for me, I guess, but said the board could be aquired and replaced for around $420.00 USD, labor included. I haven’t yet called Samsung but will, to see what they say about it. Didn’t know if anyone else here noticed if there screen was on or not during the clicking…
Would the gentleman who had some success with Samsung coming out to repair clicking problem (this was in the UK) if you have a reacal reference number would be greatly appreciated. So far Im not getting anywhere with Samsung “customer service” 1-800 in Canada Its just a merrygoround of excuses. When I mentioned about documentation on the Net she replied that “anyone could post comments”It took some effort to eaven locate an e mail on their website. I wrote a letter explainiing my predicament now the mail got returened by “postmaster” VERY FRUSTRATED.
Well folks, We got our tv fixed finally but not from samsung, We had calls confirmng repair from samsung even emails confirming our repair appt, the service company would not do it cause samnsung would not pay them after talking to samsung again and again,A woman from samsung informed me that they honor their warranty from the production date not your purchase date,,we were 1 month out of the warranty period, after thinking about realized we had bought the extended warranty,,Thank God,,,T.V. working great,No thanks to samsung…Sounds alot like the whole toyota coverup to me…Good Luck To you all!
Louis
I’m not sure if i am the person you are referring to, but i have had success with Samsung and my TV will be repaired on Friday (it has been over a week since i first contacted them) they just had to get the new board to my local Samsung approved dealer.
As to ” Reacal reference number” i have no idea what that is, sorry. I know that trading laws differ somewhat and vary Country to Country and we are quite lucky over here in England as to be well protected. But if i can help you in anyway i will do my utmost to give you assistants
Thanks Kev for the reply on Samsung repair. I did not give up as yet but calling their 1-800 no is a waste of time, the young lady is in a call center in the US and seems to have no idea of this capacitor failing problem, she eaven said when I mentioned that it is well documented on the Internet “anybody can post on the net”.Trying to get an e mail address is next to impossible, the one she suggested on the “legal” gets returned by the “postmaster”. Is seems that is a “top secret” so customers cannot formally complain. I finally located a fone no. here is Mississauga (Samsung Facility) and will try calling them tomorrow, hope I wont get the 1-800 connection again.Short of actually driving to this facility about a 45 min drive from here Im unable to contact a responsible person. Will post the results.
Hello Dan
Just read your comment again re Samsung covering your repair of clicking noise etc. under a recall. Im wondering if you could provide me with a recall no. so when I talk to a Samsung rep. I could provide this information otherwise the answer I been given is there is no recall listed???. Thanks LOUIS