How can I fix horizontal lines on my Philips screen?

Hi @oldturkey03, thanks for your input!

Post is updated with photos!

If it wasn’t the tcon board, how do you explain the image freeze problem completely being resolved by replacing it, and the lines problem going away for a good month or two?

I suspect what you say be true, and the lcd panel itself might have a short. I’ve been trying to locate the clock signal pins on the board so that I block them with tape and test, but I have no clue where they are. I don’t have the right instruments to test voltage.

In any case, I did what you told me. When the right ribbon cable is disconnected from the display board and the left cable is connected then the tv is plugged in and turned on, the right half of the image is bright white and the left half is completely normal and blemish free.

However, when the right cable is connected and the left one is not, then the left half of the image is white and the right half is playing the start up logo and animations but with horizontal lines across the entire screen.

@samershaheen the issue is with your right driver board. those are the long skinny boards that are connected to the LCD. You know that this is a panel issue since it is bright white. Now, You can go ahead and try a tape off and see if that changes anything. We need to try to block the row signals. Something like this video or this one (Lots of Blah, Blah, blah,) but it'll give you an idea.

I have seen issues like the original ones on your TV, related to the memory. I have seen slow motion caused by a bad T-con board. That is usually caused by missing (or low VGH) but I only experienced that across the whole display, not broken in half like yours. I'd be interested to hear if you have "CKV" datalines on your T-con and the driver board. Those are the Gate driver lines.

@samershaheen I just checked the T-con board image. The data lines to tape of for the Right board oare on the connector that is shown at the top on your image (the one that has the VCOM_R testpoint. the data lines start where the white tape ends. you can tell because those are the thinner traces. The thick phones are power.

@oldturkey03 I tried taping the pins on the ribbon cable connected to the right panel. I used your tips about the thinner lines, and thankfully it helped a lot.

I couldn’t get the picture perfect even after a lot of experimenting with which pins to cover. In the end I settled with taping over two pins which I thought gave me the best image and called it a success.

There are still very unnoticeable horizontal lines that can only be seen up close to the screen, but not visible from normal watching distance.

The color on the right side of the tv (left from the viewer’s perspective) is a bit dull compared to the other side of the tv, and certain color contrasts are a bit patchy and not too smooth, like certain light reflections in some scenes.

Finally, very bottom of the image has a strip of horizontal lines, but it doesn’t ruin viewing experience too much.

All in all, it’s far from 100% fix and I expect it won’t last more than few months, but acceptable for now.

Thanks for your help!

@samershaheen Thise tape-off's have about an 80% success rate. Ultimately it just bypasses the broken circuit and receives the signal from somewhere else. I still suspect that there are issues with your GATE drivers who are responsible for the horizontal lines. Those are more difficult to fix etc. Sometimes it's okay to leave well enough alone, if you are okay with the result. It may not be perfect but perfect is the enemy of good :-)

Repair is War on Entropy!