Fixing an LG 55LV4400 LED TV that won’t power up

Here’s a nice little video on how to repair an LG LED television that refuses to turn on. The procedure was performed by the flat screen TV’s owner who also happens to be an electrical engineer and he found out about how to solve the problem online. It turns out the problem was pretty common for similar LG units and that it is usually caused by a faulty chip on the TV’s main board. The video suggests that you can either replace the main board itself or simply replace the busted chip with a new one. Since a brand new main board costs approximately $200, he chose to just replace the chip which only costs less than $20 online.

What’s interesting to note is that the unit is just a little over 1 year old from its manufacturing date so it’s relatively a young unit that went bonkers. Goes to show the quality (or lack thereof) of components manufacturing companies use for their products.

Also read: Learn How to Solder (9-Part Video Lesson)

2 IN 1 SMD HOT AIR REWORK SOLDERING IRON STATION with 2 iron handles

This repair will require a little bit of soldering skills so you will need a soldering equipment to achieve the results. In fact, you’ll need one that has a hot air blower like this 2-in-1 SMD Hot Air Rework Soldering Iron Station which you can get in Amazon as you will need the blower to remove the chip from its soldered mount. A replacement chip can be obtained online and the model name according to the video author is a Macronix MX25L6406 which is a flash chip that contains proprietary firmware/program required by the LED LCD television. You can buy a blank chip for a much cheaper price of just a little over $2 but you can also get ones that already contains the program needed by the TV for about $17. You may need to use an EEPROM programmer to backup the contents/program in the chip before you proceed as a backup. Other specialized equipment that you may need is a stereo microscope as the chip is really small and alignment is critical in the installation process.

Safety first, guys! Don’t do this repair if you’re not well-equipped and don’t know what you’re doing. Soldering equipment produce high amounts of heat and you can get yourself burned or electrocuted if you’re not careful.

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