Weird TV behaviour

Richard53

I have a 22" flat screen TV made by Samsung (Tesco special, a couple of years old). Yesterday, it switched itself on (no-one within 6 feet of the remote) and first played BBC1 for a while, and then went into a kind of melt-down with the settings menu flashing on the screen for a few seconds on and off, refusing to respond to the remote etc. I managed to switch it off, and then 5 minutes later it switched itself on again. I unplugged it from the power, counted to ten, and plugged it in again. Same bizarre behaviour. So I left it unplugged overnight, and now it is apparently back to normal.


Is this just one of those things that digital TVs do now and again, or should I be saving up for a new one?

Oblivion

Could it perhaps be trying to carry out an automatic channel update or even an over the air firmware update?

eddddy

Sounds like it may be IR interference.

Something could be sending out bursts of IR signals (like those sent by a remote control), and the TV is receiving them and trying to interpret them.

I think this happened to my TV for a while.

If the TV starts going mad again, cover the TV's IR receiver tightly (e.g. with your hand) and see if it stops.

Richard53

It's bizarre. I came home from work this morning, and the TV was on. I assumed my wife had got up early and got bored, but no, she was fast asleep in bed. I turned it off, and after 5 minutes it turned itself on again and then started flashing the menu on and off. Again, it stopped responding to the remote. This evening, watching a bit of TV before I went to work, it was switching itself on and off randomly.


We have a Panasonic DVR connected, and this has the ability to affect the TV (e.g. by switching to the HDMI channel when playback starts) so I took out the SCART lead from the back of the TV. All was well for a couple of hours, and then it started all over again. Next step is to move the aerial lead to the TV and take the DVR right out of the loop, as I suspect this may be the issue. (The DVR has behaved oddly on rare occasions over the last 6 months, making HDD-type noises when it is supposedly switched off.)


IR interference is a possible candidate, although there are no new devices in the house that might cause this, and we have no neighbours within IR range. I will try covering the receiver and see what happens.


When the TV turns on, there is a warning notice that the Freeview channels are due to be updated on Sept 3, which you have to cancel with the yellow button before you can watch the programmes. Might this be relevant? Might a forced scan and reset of the channels be the answer?


Thanks for the advice and suggestions; much appreciated.

Gillor

It appears that this is a common problem with certain Samsung TVs due to, amongst other things, incorrect/faulty capacitors.

A bit of a diatribe against Samsung but you might find some useful information here.

Norman_Castle

Try leaving the remote in another room or removing the batteries to rule out problems with it. I had a tv which would increase the volume to maximum because of a hair in the remote.
My PVR disc drive makes a noise when off every day at the same time. Might be looking for updates. I think its normal.

almillar

If you really want to discount IR interference, stick something thick over the remote sensor on the TV!

Richard53

Norman_Castle wrote: »

Try leaving the remote in another room or removing the batteries to rule out problems with it. I had a tv which would increase the volume to maximum because of a hair in the remote.

Funnily enough, I did this this morning after the TV started turning itself on and off during breakfast. I put the remotes in another room. It carried on doing it.

Norman_Castle wrote: »

My PVR disc drive makes a noise when off every day at the same time. Might be looking for updates. I think its normal.

Thanks for this - it would explain the DVR making noises all by itself in the night.

I have had a search of Google and came up with a guy who had similar problems and traced it to the panel behind the buttons on the side of the casing. He disconnected the panel and the problem went away. I have noticed that while the TV is playing up, the side buttons do not do anything, so this may be the problem with mine, too. I am going to take the back off and see what I can find. The TV is way out of warranty, so I have nothing to lose.

Richard53

Ok, I took the back off and disconnected the button panel on the side of the casing. About 20 hours later, and no rude behaviour from the TV. I'm pretty sure this has solved it. We never use the buttons anyway, so this is no great loss, and if it gives the TV another year or two of use, so much the better. The whole thing took me about 10 minutes.

Thanks to everyone for the help.

almillar

Excellent. To help others could you let us know the model number of the TV?

Ben84

Richard53 wrote: »

Ok, I took the back off and disconnected the button panel on the side of the casing. About 20 hours later, and no rude behaviour from the TV. I'm pretty sure this has solved it. We never use the buttons anyway, so this is no great loss, and if it gives the TV another year or two of use, so much the better. The whole thing took me about 10 minutes.

Thanks to everyone for the help.

That's interesting, thank you for updating.

Although it sounds like you've found the fault, it may help other people who find this thread that similar erratic behaviour can be caused by interference other than IR. My mobile phone disrupts the TV whenever it's in 2G mode, which happens occasionally when the 3G signal is weak. It appears to cause the TV to respond as if the reset button has been pushed on the remote, so any adjustments to volume/picture made with the remote revert to the original settings, and if the set is in standby it turns itself on.