A few days ago my TV started having power-on problems. I would turn the power on and it would cycle itself on and off several times before finally coming on. Each day the process seemed to take longer and longer. Each cycle consisted of a relay click, the startup/shutdown sound, no image being displayed and would then repeat this process. The second to last cycle I would see an image briefly before it powered down again to return and stay on. The problem only seemed to happen if I turned the TV off for a period of time. Once the TV came on it seemed to otherwise work fine except for the clock loosing it’s setting each morning.
The TV was outside of the 1-year Samsung warranty. At the time I did purchase a 2-year extended warranty from Circuit City which is now being handled by Assurant Solutions. I still have 1 year left on the extended warranty so I wasn’t overly concerned. I did some searching on the net and found: How Do I Use My Circuit City Extended Warranty Now?
I decided to call Samsung first and I’m glad I did. As it turned out, my TV’s model, serial number, and symptoms happened to match certain criteria where they gave me a 1 time free of charge capacitor replacement repair. I got the impression that my TV must have been part of a “bad batch”.
Later that day, someone from Professional TV, Inc out of Oklahoma City contacted me to set up an appointment to come by the next morning (April 29, 2010) to work on the TV. The tech arrived as promised and commenced to repair the TV after showing him what it was doing. He agreed it was due to failed capacitors. After helping him take the TV down and laying it on the floor on top of a floor pad, he took the back and stand off and removed the circuit board with the failed components. Following is an image of the TV with the back removed, after the circuit board had been removed:
He then used a soldering iron to desolder the two bad capacitors that had failed with bulging caps and holes on top slowly leaking their contents. He also replaced two other capacitors that usually failed in these circumstances to be safe. All replacements had higher voltage specs. Here’s a pic of the two failed capacitors:
He then replaced the circuit board and plugged the TV back in while it was still on the floor to make sure it would power up which it did. Yay! After cleaning the dust that had accumulated in the TV and replacing the back cover, we placed the TV back on the stand and reconnected it to my home theater system. He also dusted off my stand while he was at it. Everything worked fine and has continued to since! 
So in the end, the complete process was painless, took less than 24 hours to have a working TV again, was free of charge, and everyone I spoke with was professional and understandable. I commend Samsung for ultimately standing behind their product even though it was outside the manufacturer’s warranty. I should also note that they offered the 1 time free repair to me after getting my information, rather than me asking or demanding it from them. This does give me the confidence to purchase future products from them.
I have searched the internet concerning this issue and realize that not everyone else has had the same experience. All I can say is that this was my experience with my TV.
Hello. My father has an LN52A650 that seems to have the same problem, I have a LN52B750 and have now started to worry about this issue occurring for me as well. What number or department did you call within Samsung to have the TV repaired? I’ve seen alot of other posts from people saying that Samsung told them they were basically out of luck.
Thanks.
OH and also, do you happen to know the specs of the caps they used for the repair. If Samsung tells us its our problem I think we are going to attempt the repair ourselves.
I just called Samsung’s Customer Care Center at 1-800-SAMSUNG (726-7864). Think I remember seeing an article that described a do-it-yourself repair when I was Googling around. Oh yeah, here it is: http://www.crovean.net/samsung-lcd-tv-power-up-problem
To anyone reading this: if you do this kind of DIY repair, you do so at your own risk. I do not take any responsibility for any kind of harm you may do to your TV or yourself.
I am having the same problem with my LN52A650 after 2 1/2 years without a problem. Read a lot of comments on various sites about the same problem on this TV and called Samsung today. They have it on their list as a model with a known problem at the time it was manufactured with bad capacitors. They referred me to an authorized service center. I called them and they will have a tech here next week to repair the TV free of charge. At the moment the TV will not work at all, it just clicks endlessly. For the past few days a picture would eventually appear after a few minutes of clicking on and off by itself but not today. So, we’ll have to go a week without that big, beautiful picture. I’m pleased that Samsung is covering the cost of this repair well after the warranty expired and both they and the service center have been pleasant to deal with. So, other than the inconvenience of not having our HD set for a week I have nothing to complain about and would consider another Samsung TV in the future.
Wow, my 3-year-old LN52A650 just started having this issue. The sound buzzes and the set resets itself. Now there’s no sound and frequent resets. I called Samsung customer service and was told someone will reach out to me to get it fixed for free, assuming it’s the capacitors (which, based on some web research, appears to be the issue.) Customer service was incredibly friendly and helpful, hopefully it doesn’t take too long to fix.
I have a 52 inch Samsung that fits this description and exact symptoms. Just got off the phone with Service. 2 things struck me – I only had to hit 2 voice menu items before I was speaking to a human (that is incredibly fast now-a-days), and they got me the information I needed to get the repair set up. You DO need to have the Serial number of the set available before you call.
I have the same exact tv, same exact symptoms, purchased in the same time frame as Proto but I was told mine didn’t qualify for free service…..what a joke.
This fixed my click of death. It started out with a couple of clicks and got worse over the course of a few weeks until it would not turn on and click, click…….
I replaced the two swollen 10v 1000uf caps with two 16v 1000uf and 1hr and 3bucks later I was back in business!!!! Thanks Mark
Thank you for the Info. I bought mine in Sept 2008. No problems until two days ago.Same as everyone else, power cycling. I called and was told that they would come out for a one time repair. Thanks to all, some good stuff. I will let everyone know if they do as they say.
Same here. Just off the phone with friendly CR. Didn’t even need a sn but I’ll be responsible if it’s not the pesky cap problem. I’m happy with Samsung stepping up to fix their bad component issues free of charge. Way to go!
JUST got off the phone with Samsung and one of their service reps. Overall, from start to finish, it only took about 15 minutes to diagnose and get a service order generated. I am very happy with the quickness of the response and now I have a local contracted repair shop coming out to fix the capacitors.
I have had this model since March of 2008 and had ZERO issues with it…I suppose I’m glad that if there’s going to be any issues with it, this is it (knock on wood). Obviously there has been a little TV-envy (as there always is with electronics) as newer, bigger, thinner HD/3DTV’s have made their way to the market, but I have always loved the quality and picture from my TV. Hopefully there will be many more years to come to enjoy this TV.
Kudos to Samsung!
I have the LN52A650 and like the rest of you ran into the same problem last march with it turning off and back on. Samsung was great about covering the problem and getting it fixed quickly.
HOWEVER, my TV is once again doing the same thing. I figure a quick call to Samsung will fix the issue. Its only been 9 months right? WRONG!
I told them I was willing to cover the cost if it was discovered to NOT be the capacitors. I’m not unreasonable in thinking the problem could be another part.
The rep was unwilling to change her stance. Hope the rest of you end up with better fixes then what was offered to me. Looking like its going to cost me $250-$300