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.
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.
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.
Cheap 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
Discount 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.
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 →
Steve-o,
If your LG TV has vertical lines that are changing colors and you heard a “popping” noise while watching the TV, then this is most likely the T-con board (Timing Control Board) has a bad cap or another board has a capacitor on it that is bad. Check to see if you can find an obvious sign of a bad cap on any board. If so, replace the cap. Also, check to be sure all ribbon cables are connected and they are not damaged. If you cannot find a popped cap, then the T-con is most likely causing your issue from what you have explained. As long as the LCD panel is not cracked or broken, then a board or bad cap is causing the issue.
FYI – The T-CON board is the part of the LCD screen, it relays messages between the device’s processor and the display. The T-CON board synchronizes different parts of the screen with the info it gets from the processor. If the T-CON board malfunctions then the timing between parts of the board is disrupted and this leads to both horizontal and vertical lines that will display on the screen. It can also cause pixelation issues on your TV screen.
-RR
I have an lg 55lv5500 LED LCD. I have power, sound and picture. However, the picture has vertical lines that are discolored over the whole screen (blacks are green, etc.). I have taken off the back and when I unplug the smaller LVD cable connected to the left of the TCon board, the picture clears but every other vertical line is black (meaning the vertical lines that are displayed when I do this appear to be the correct color). Is the LCD or the TCon board bad? Suggestions on how to further diagnose the problem? While I wasn’t present, my wife who was watching at the time said she heard a “pop” when the problem originated.
I really need advice and wondering to see if my TV can get repaired. My TV fell on the edge of my couch n now when its on doesn’t show picture but half black screen and colorful lines like it got hit with a dime size rock. Doesn’t show outside damage at all just only when the TV is on. I’m not around my TV now but I have all the info for it its a 50in Samsung 6500 4K Ultra HD have a picture.
Mainak Bhattacharjee,
The colored lines and horizontal and vertical lines issue with your Samsung TV could be caused by a cracked screen. If the screen is not cracked, it could be a bad inverter, bad ccfl, etc. You may also have bad capacitors on the main board. Check the main board and check the capacitors for bulging.
-RR
We have a Samsung LED TV, now its is showing colour lines, and black lines, both in horizontal and vertical, can the screen be replace, or make it correct, need some advice!
Yasir,
From the pictures you linked to us, we can see the screen is damaged. Need to replace. Honestly probably be cheaper and less hassle to buy a new one.
-RR
Thanks for your reply, the person who was supposed to lift the TV gently had pressed with his thumb on the last third of the right corner about 30 cm from right edge, which had resulted defective black triangle in that area, then from edges of the triangle vertical and horizontal lines appeared just as shown in the links below: Am not sure if this damage is fixable, if it can you please guide me to.