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TV Repair · Troubleshooting

How To Fix A Broken Flat Screen LCD LED TV With Lines or Cracks

If you have a broken LCD LED TV Screen that has any type of damage such as lines running vertically, spots or patches, cracks or breaks, this page will give you tips to get it fixed. Many TV’s nowadays (Plasma, LCD, LED) are large and delicate.

If a large flat screen TV is not attached to a wall, it has a higher chance of falling over and cracking the screen. If your flat screen LCD TV has fallen over, most likely the screen has taken a hit. See below for some ways to possibly fix this without having to buy a NEW TV.

How To Fix A Broken Flat Screen LCD LED Plasma TV

If your TV does not have a cracked screen and the problem has just appeared on its own, you may be able to fall back on the TV manufacturers warranty. If your TV screen has developed spots, vertical lines, small dots, unusually bright pixels, fading, distorted shading, or color issues, you may be able to use the warranty.

To make contacting your TV manufacturer easier, we have included links to most TV manufacturers below. Be sure to have your purchase receipt, and take note of the model number and serial number on the back of your TV.

TV brand links for warranty claims listed by popularity: Samsung, Vizio, LG, Sony, Sharp, Panasonic, Insignia, Toshiba, JVC, Philips, Magnavox, Sanyo, and Emerson. These links will help you to contact the manufacturer to file a warranty claim. If the TV has a been cracked or a hit to the screen has caused colorful vertical lines, then this is something that has happened from physical damage and is not covered under warranty.

If your flat screen TV has the dreaded vertical lines, half of the screen has turned darker, the screen is cracked, or the screen is broken, this can be repaired but may cost more than you paid for the complete TV. If your screen is cracked or broken, you can try replacing the Screen, LCD, Plasma, or LED part. On some flat screen TVs there is a glass panel on top of the actual screen. You need to determine which is broken before you attempt to order parts.

Repairing a Broken Flat Screen TV
If you are going to be repairing a flat screen TV there are certain problems you may encounter. The most likely issues on broken TV’s will be a cracked screen, picture lines or black spots, or image distortion problems. If the damage to the screen has NOT gone past the screen, and has NOT gone into the LCD, LED, or Plasma behind the screen, then fixing the flat screen TV is going to be possible if you get the parts you need cheap.

If your TV screen is severely cracked and the damage has penetrated beyond that, then it is deep enough to have damaged the LCD, LED or Plasma. If this is your case, then it may cost more to repair your TV than to replace it.

There may be some LCD LED PLASMA TV repair shops near you that can answer some questions for you. Some flat screen repair shops do not repair broken screens as the cost is not worth it. They will however replace different internal parts in the TV that may have failed. These failed parts in the TV may have caused the TV to not display the screen correctly, ghosting, or a screen that is not turning on.

lcd tv parts identification

If the screen is not broken but the screen does not come on but your warranty is no longer valid, here are some things you can do. One single part has probably failed in your flat screen TV. There are many circuit boards and wiring harnesses inside your flat panel TV. Some of the parts in an LCD or LED TV are power supplies, t-con boards, capacitors, inverters, controller boards, IR sensors, signal inputs, and more.

One of the best places to purchase TV replacement screens is on eBay. If you need parts like control circuit boards and wire harnesses, useful parts online has LED, LCD, and Plasma TV replacement parts at good prices.

led lcd tv partsCheap TV replacement parts are available to fix your TV.
If you need a main board, T-CON, LED driver, or signal input board.

One of the parts may have failed in your TV therefore causing the screen to not turn on. Determining which part that may be bad inside your TV may be difficult. It can be done but is not recommended if you have no knowledge of using a multimeter or have no electronic repair experience. However if this is your situation, you can take the TV to a repair shop and they can troubleshoot the issue for you.

Have them tell you the part that has gone bad, pay them the $40 or so bucks it cost to troubleshoot, and go home and buy the part online yourself. This will save you money and your TV should work like new.

If your TV is NOT fixable, most people take out the circuit boards and part them out. Selling the audio and video components in your broken TV may be the only way to try and recoup the cost of the value of your TV. This is not recommended as some used TV parts are not worth very much. If you do decide to remove the parts, you could try selling them on eBay.

To see how to take apart and repair a flat screen TV or monitor, there are a few videos below which can guide you in the right direction. Be careful when taking apart a television as power may still be stored in some of the parts which can cause electrocution.



LED TV Repair Tutorial – Common Symptoms & Solutions


LED LCD TV FIX, How To For Double Image, Black Vertical Lines, Screen Problem


LCD TV fix: bad picture screen rainbow colors

4K Ultra HDTVsDiscount 4K Ultra HD TVs ON SALE!

If you have some advice to repair a broken flat screen TV or monitor, please help out our other readers with the same TV problems and leave a comment or a helpful tip below.

Keith Schneerer

Written by Keith Schneerer

Certified Appliance Tech · Founder, RemoveAndReplace.com

Keith has spent 30+ years repairing machines, starting as a military mechanic and later maintaining food processing equipment before moving into appliance repair. He founded RemoveAndReplace.com to share field-tested repair advice.

More about Keith →

348 thoughts on “How To Fix A Broken Flat Screen LCD LED TV With Lines or Cracks”

  1. DIY Project Help Tips

    Jay,
    You will have to check around online. It could cost more than a new TV. eBay has many at different prices. If you do find one cheap enough, yes a local TV repair shop should be willing to install it for you with labor charges tacked on. Call a few local TV repair shops and see what they are willing to do. If you find the TV replacement screen but the local shops will not replace it for you, you can do it yourself as it is not a difficult repair.
    -RR

  2. DIY Project Help Tips

    Jay,
    That means the screen is damaged in that particular area or it pushed in so far the screen made contact with a board or component in the TV. Usually in this case the complete screen will need replaced.
    -RR

  3. DIY Project Help Tips

    Joseph,
    You may have a bad board. If there are no cracks on the screen, a board could have shorted or become damaged. You will have to take the TV apart and check each individual board to see what may be causing the issue. Plan on trying to find a T-con board for your Samsung TV model. That is the board that controls the LCD’s lines and pixels.
    -RR

  4. DIY Project Help Tips

    Kevin,
    Most likely the screen needs replaced. Does the TV turn on and display a picture?
    -RR

  5. My TV fell to the ground and the screen cracked. What do you think needs to be fixed. I have a 32 inch LG TV.

  6. My Samsung LED TV 32′ series 4 fell over but there is no visible crack on the screen. It just shows colored lines and no picture on the screen but it has sound. What part might be damaged and how will it cost to repair?

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