Philips 42" Plasma TV Problems - Blue Dots Randomly Appear

[Methious]

Seen a lot of Plasma sets with longevity problems. Some it seems to be a heat problem. I was looking at them a while back, but next go around I'm thinking LCD high def. Hard to find a regular TV these days even though my Sat box takes care of the HD changeover.

[pvmaton]

That is nothing big, it's just a pixel saturation..

You have to use a "pixel protector dvd" I had the same problem with 2 of my tv's and they are even better now than wew...

You can download it from:

http://www.daleya.com/?query=pixelprote ... d%5B%5D=12

the page is from daleya, and it's the second... AvaxHome

Burn it , and play it on your dvd player...

It takes about 5 hours in total, but it's worth it...

[DemonicDerek]

Hmm, well... that really has to suck! your TV only lasting 1 year is not good!... You should have gotten an extended warranty! I do, I have a 4 year extended warrenty from best buy on my HDTV Purchase (46" 3LCD Rear Projection 1080p HDTV From Sony... the model is no longer sold though so if it breaks I might just be able to get a different TV at the cost I paid for that one ($1200)... goes and breaks TV....).

[jklillibridge]

I also have a Philips 42" Plasma and I am experiencing the same problem. The TV is about 20 months old...just starting happening the last 4 or 5 months or so. The TV usually has to be on for at least 30 minutes before it starts showing up. it only appears when certain colors are displayed on the screen, meaning it's not always there. I'm hoping it can be something I can fix on my own rather than pay hundreds of dollars to some tv technician that will fix it easily in minutes!

bluedots.jpg (100.09 KiB) Viewed 23358 times

[Apoptosis]

jklillibridge,

Mine is still doing the exact same thing and no one has told me a fix yet... if you figure it out PLEASE post what you did to fix it or what part had to be replaced.

[Apoptosis]

I just wanted to give everyone an update on the Blue Dots problem... I found out that since I bought the TV on my MasterCard that they will double the warranty from one year to two years and told me to get an estimate as they will pay for up to the cost of the TV for the repairs, but no more. I found a local television repair guy that would come out to my house and he charged me $100 to come out for an in-house estimate. He shows up says yup I see the dots and pulls off the back panel. He then turns the unit back on and checks all the voltages and all are good he says. There is a sticker on the upper right hand side of the back panel that tell you what the VE, Vset and VS settings should be. So he used a voltmeter to take the various voltages off the label on the inside of the computer... No brainer so far... When looking inside the Philips TV I started seeing Samsung labels every where, so all the PCB boards and the plasma panel itself are all Samsung:

philips_inside.jpg (80.73 KiB) Viewed 23108 times

I usually think that Samsung makes pretty good panels, so no worries so far... About 30-45 minutes later the blue dots don't appear again, but the internal components aren't getting as hot as the back panel is installed. He then calls a Philips service support hotline and gives them a numeric password. He then gives them my model number and tells them it has blue dots. I hear him say that he checked the voltages and confirmed the voltages with them. He then said that isn't what the inside of the TV shows... It turns out Philips/Samsung has lowered the voltages on the Television in a service bulletin.

The label inside my TV set shows

VE- 110v
VS- 198v
Vset- 195v

The new factory voltages should be

VE- 100v
VS- 190v
Vset- 188v

He used a voltmeter to set/check them and adjusted the pots on panels... He put the cover back on and that was it... I got charged $100 for a service call and $100 for the adjustment, so $200 to re-adjust my TV because it wasn't properly set from the factory... what a bunch of crap. I wonder how many people are having this issue as I'd love to see a class action lawsuit on this. You call the consumer support line and they make no mention of the voltage change. When the repair guy called the repair service line they were well aware of the problem and knew the fix right away. I hope me peaking over his shoulder and copying down the correct settings helps out someone else with this problem and will save them the $200 service fee that I just paid. Remember these settings are for a 42PF7321D/37 model Philips TV, so if you have a different version you will need to get a service tech to call and get the right voltages from Philips.

If you were helped by this thread be sure to join the forums and post, I know it was tough to find information about the problem when I was suffering the blue dot virus! All is fixed now!

[camaroguy1998]

I'd seriously consider contacting Phillips and lodge a formal complaint!
With that said, Glad to hear it wasn't anything major! Well except the BILL!


I Love My Samsung Plasma!

[martini161]

wow! that's outrageous! did Philips cover the repair fee?

[Apoptosis]

no it's out of warranty, but I'm trying to get mastercard to warranty it as I bought it on my Gold card and they double the factory warranty. I hope to get my $200 back by doing that.

[Sporg]

That's just disgusting. Glad you got it fixed, and hopefully MC takes care of you.

[vicaphit]

Was there a firmware setting that adjusted the voltage? or did the tech have to attach a special device?

My Polaroid was having a problem, which I think was overheating, and I bet it is the same issue. Now the damn thing won't even turn on, and it will cost me $90 to ship the thing across the country to CA just to get the warrantee to cover it.

[Sporg]

From the description it sounds like he manually adjusted some pots while reading voltage.

[Apoptosis]

From the description it sounds like he manually adjusted some pots while reading voltage.

Yeah that's all he did do... Something I could have done in ten minutes if I knew the setting, but Philips won't tell consumers the settings and the notice is only for authorized service personal that call and specifically ask about the issue.

[martini161]

wow that kinda stuff really pisses me off. i can understand them not wanting every one to think they can adjust something like that but anyone who is smart enough to look for fixes online instead of calling a tech i think could do it. IMO they should just tell the public AT LEAST what to set the volts to. what pots to adjust would be nice but i think the volts at least. especially when for something like this thats out of warranty. what do they care? hmm maybe we should google bomb this to get it out in the public

[Alathald]

And this is why [5min OSS rant] j/k but seriously, stuff like this should be illegal, it's a basic service that a semi-intelligent person could do on their own if the basic information was published. It doesn't even make financial sense for Samsung to withhold the info, it's not like they get a cut of what you pay a service person to do it so it shouldn't matter to them if you do it yourself.

[jklillibridge]

I actually tryed to take the panel off a few weeks back to investigate this some more, but the back of the TV was fastened by a bunch of star shaped scews it seemed. A regular hex wrench would not do the trick. Anyone know what tool I need to use?

Thanks!

[Alathald]

It's probably a standard torx head screw, you should be able to pick up a set of driver bits out of the bargain bin at most hardware stores (I got mine at TSC for $2). If not, here is a somewhat definitive list of screw 'drive' types. [link]

[Apoptosis]

They are Torx and they are a size T10, which is pretty common.

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/search_10153 ... 0&sLevel=0

[jklillibridge]

I'm a bit of a novice so I appreciate everyone's help. I have a voltmeter, which terminals am I pointing to and how exactly do I do it? Here is a photob below. I see the white screws to adjust each, just having difficult reading voltage. Also, what settings should my voltmeter be on, AC 200V?

inside.jpg (152.87 KiB) Viewed 22720 times

[martini161]

is it possible to get a higher resolution photo? and what are the availible settings on your voltemeter?