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.
The vertical grey strip is about 4 inches wide, extending from the left edge of the screen from top to bottom. It is not completely opaque, as you can see the picture a little behind the strip. The color doesn’t change or flicker, and it’s a definite strip of pixels affected. We haven’t used a cleaner and I don’t know that it’s been hit or touched etc, it just seemed to appear suddenly one day. Let me know if you need more info, thanks for your help.
Alex,
Where on the screen is this 4″ vert strip located, top left, bottom right? Was the TV screen recently sprayed with a glass cleaner? Sometimes a cleaner on the screen can penetrate behind the screen and create a temporary opaque strip as you are describing. If this is the case leave the TV on for as long as possible and the TVs heat will eventually evaporate the issue. If this is not caused by a cleaner, was the screen recently hit, touched, or pushed? We are trying to figure out if this just started happening or something recently came into contact with the screen? Please describe further.
-RR
My 47″ LG TV model LX6900 has a 4 inch vertical almost opaque but not quite grey strip on the screen – we can still see the picture behind the screen. Is there a way we could fix this?
Corey,
It is most likely a damaged screen and not a component. Replacement screens are available for a 50″ LED Magnavox. Have you taken the TV apart to check to see if the screen is cracked outside, internally, from the inside, or if possibly a board or component in the TV is making contact with the screen since it was hit?
-RR
I have a 50″ Magnavox flat screen 1080p led. My son threw his hat at the TV and a black spot with colored lines going across both up and down, and side to side became the picture. I have had it turned off, but I think it went full black before I put it away. Is there any way to fix this?
Les Roediger,
You need to first find the generic panel and be sure the size is the exact same, obviously. Then, make sure the panel you are looking at says COMPATIBLE with your model and size TV. Not all generic screens are made the same. Be sure the different cable connections match yours and the areas where it slides into your TV match up. The word COMPATIBLE is what you need to read. If you have a Vizio 55″ 4k M series TV, then make sure the generic replacement screen says COMPATIBLE with Vizio 55″ 4k M series TV.
-RR
How would I identify the correct generic one?
Les Roediger,
A screen will cost more than your TV is worth unless you get a generic from China on a site like Alibaba. The best way for you to find a screen is find one on Craigslist that has a bad board and use that TV for the replacement screen.
-RR
Can you get tell me where to get a replacement TV screen for my two week old 28″ Vizio E28h C1? I have fixed many, but can’t seem to source a part for this.
Megan,
You may have a bad board in the TV causing the blue red horizontal line on the TV screen. If the TV was not hit or is not cracked, then a board may be causing the issue. This will involve unplugging the TV, removing the screws on the back, and visually examining the boards to see if you see one that is visually damaged. Look for popped or swelling little capacitors on the boards. If all boards are okay, you may have a screen issue. Is the screen cracked where the line is showing? Even a tiny crack can make that happen.
-RR