Samsung TV suddenly... stopped working?

[CrabHead]

So in my room i have this really good and reliable Samsung UE32F5300AW TV (weird ass name i know lol), which served my relatives and me for a pretty long time (if you consider 5-7 years to be long). But today i came from school to just relax and watch something on my tv (with an nvidia shield), only to be surprised, the TV isnt turning on. When you connect it to any power source, it starts booting up (as usual) but instead of screen lighting up, the small LED blinks 5 times before it goes completely away.

Of course you can still press buttons on the remote and the light will light up for a second but besides that... absolute nothingness. I tried leaving it unplugged for a while, plugging it to an other outlet but the issue still remains.

can someone tell me what it means? I can't find anything good on the internet, despite of a few mentions it could be a power supply issue.

[SONIC122]

yeah it might be a backlight issue. try holding a bright flashlight up to it and see if you can see and image (this will make an artificial backlight) if you can see an image when you do this you might need a new power supply/ motherboard, depending on where the backlight connects to. try looking up the 5 blink error code you mentioned. see if you can connect a computer to it and see if the computer can grab any name/ size/ resolution info. if it can then its probably a backlight issue.
try finding a new power supply/ capacitors cuz those fail often in old electronics.

*edit: if it uses an external power supply (doubtful) try replacing it. TV power supplies are a huge point of failure and if you can find a replacement online, but if it is low resolution, and is that old it might just be easier to buy a whole new TV cuz replacement parts for electronics can cost mad amounts of money, and then if thats not even the problem, you just wasted more money that you needed to. (Walmart has better 32 inch TVs for about $110 with (probably) a better port selection and more energy efficient (if you care)

[MattKC]

The 5 blinking LEDs are interesting, it suggests the TV has actually detected a problem and is trying to communicate it. A quick search seems to find what you found - it indicates some kind of power issue.

As SONIC122 says, backlight feels very likely. It's generally the biggest power draw in an LCD screen and is therefore most susceptible to power issues. What it reminds me of most is this monitor I fixed, which also seemed dead, but it was actually just the capacitors powering the backlight that had failed. If you're interested in opening it up to check the power supply/capacitors, that's probably your best bet.

[CrabHead]

Would you know it! It's actually a backlight issue. I did the flashlight thing and i could very faintly see youtube thumbnails (as it was the last thing i launched before the tv broke). I had a similiar theory that something is wrong with the screen, as when the light blinked 5 times, my nvidia shield launched like it always did when the tv launched. I figured the "brain" of the tv is still working, but something is wrong with the display.

Ah well, after the exams ill disassemble it and look at the PSU. Large thank you!

[flatrute]

Half related to the subject, thanks to my dad just binging on YouTube recommendations I came across a channel owned by a local TV repairman who just casually open a very large flat screen and replace its LED backlight strips like nothing The videos are all in Vietnamese of course but you do not need to understand the language to get what they do.

[SONIC122]

Would you know it! It's actually a backlight issue. I did the flashlight thing and i could very faintly see youtube thumbnails (as it was the last thing i launched before the tv broke). I had a similiar theory that something is wrong with the screen, as when the light blinked 5 times, my nvidia shield launched like it always did when the tv launched. I figured the "brain" of the tv is still working, but something is wrong with the display.

Ah well, after the exams ill disassemble it and look at the PSU. Large thank you!

could be capacitors on the power supply, could be chip type components on the PSU, if it is not an LED backlight (some older TVs use fluorescent bulb style backlight) it might just be burned out. my recommendation is if a new PSU / component is dead and needs replacing, try to replace it, however if it is over about $70, just buy a new TV. glad I was able to acutally contribute to a discussion for once
good luck and keep us updated!

Edit: a few sites say "try power cycling it" or "dont use a surge protector and just plug it directly into the wall" and see if that works.
if not some other websites say that the PSU could be dead and need repair.

[SONIC122]

The 5 blinking LEDs are interesting, it suggests the TV has actually detected a problem and is trying to communicate it. A quick search seems to find what you found - it indicates some kind of power issue.

As SONIC122 says, backlight feels very likely. It's generally the biggest power draw in an LCD screen and is therefore most susceptible to power issues. What it reminds me of most is this monitor I fixed, which also seemed dead, but it was actually just the capacitors powering the backlight that had failed. If you're interested in opening it up to check the power supply/capacitors, that's probably your best bet.

yeah my mom's work monitor (MFG date is 2004) died a few months back, she had 2 of them, now just one. her work was kind enough to send her a new monitor though. it had PSU related issues with the backlight not actually initializing until you turned it off and back on about 20 times. it now sits in her closet... unused. F.

[CrabHead]

Didn't mention it, but i tried power cycling. But that doesnt matter since i know the core issue.

[SONIC122]

Didn't mention it, but i tried power cycling. But that doesnt matter since i know the core issue.

I didnt think it would help, but its good to try. good luck, keep us updated on the topic!

[CrabHead]

just a small update, im getting around to disassembling the tv

[CrabHead]

well i've disassembled the tv. A big surprise is that it had only a few plastic tabs and a lot of screws. Definetely a big plus for accessibility. but that's not the point.

i had a hunch it could be a PSU issue, so i've gone ahead and ordered a new one. Another surprising thing, those things are cheap. Only 5 bucks.

So i replaced the psu's launched up the tv and...

nothing.

now you could make an argument the psu i ordered was broken too but it's so unlikely (the seller tested it and it was packaged very well, i spent 5 minutes opening up the box) that i won't risk any other purchase of the PSU. But not like nothing was fixed. The sound started working again. I haven't mentioned this in the original post, but the sound appeared to be broken too, turning the volume up and down did nothing (usually it does a sound when you increase/decrease the volume).

So can't say i've wasted money. but that also says that the issue is more deeper than the PSU, and it's likely somewhere in the backlight area. I'll keep you guys updated.

[CrabHead]

Happy to report that it was a thing with the LEDs. Had to replace them and buy new ones. Hopefully this tv serves me more years.