A TV that took me 4 hours to fix because of a single bad solder joint

So I had this Samsung from like 2015 come in last week, no picture but sound was fine. I figured it was a bad T-con board or maybe a ribbon cable, the usual suspects. I spent two whole afternoons swapping out panels and testing voltages, getting nowhere. Finally on day three I decided to reflow the main board just to cover my bases, and bam, the picture came back. Turns out it was one tiny cracked solder joint on a voltage regulator, looked fine to the naked eye. I felt like a total clown for not checking that first, you know? Has anyone else chased a ghost like that for way too many hours?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_morgan1mo ago

Sat there staring at a multimeter for 3 hours before finding a single cold joint on a $5 cap once. Nothing like feeling like a genius and a moron at the exact same time lol.

julia_lee1mo ago

WAIT A COLD JOINT? As in the solder wasn't melted all the way through? That's wild. Three hours of staring at a multimeter just to find a blob of unmelted solder on a capacitor that costs less than a coffee. I would have yeeted that board out the window on hour two. Your patience is legendary, seriously.