Maybe someone here can help me with this issue, being I don't know much about TV's at all. A few nights ago we had a power surge do to a storm, and everything I had was hooked up through a surge protector. When the power came back on i was getting the blue "No Signal" screen for all my HDMI inputs. I tried resetting the TV, unhooking the power for 24hrs to all my electronics, powered it back on and hooked everything back up... still have the same issue. The TV works fine for everything except the HDMI inputs. If I hook my PS3 and Satellite receiver up through regular RCA cables then everything works fine. I've checked several forums and this seems to be an issue thats happened to alot of people, but I've never came across an actual solution to the problem. A local repair shop said they would fix it, but I was looking at a $400 repair bill. I've already pulled the back off the TV, nothing on any of the boards looks to be fried, but I don't have a DMM handy to check everything out. My first thought is just to replace the mainboard with all the inputs on it (can get it for $125+ship) and see if that helps, but thought I'd do a little more research first. Anyone have any input on this? Should replacing the mainboard repair it? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Is this forum dead here or what? I see a bunch of old posts that haven't been answered, and a whole bunch of first post questions. At the price of new LCD TVs today compared to throwing parts at a non-working unit....is why I'm picking up many of these units for $50 or less and fixing them. So far I've been spot on with fixing the Vizios. Matter of fact, I wish I kept finding them to work on. I'm into a Sony Bravia now that won't even power on and the power board is good and brand new. The power/indicator lights on the TV come from the main board or the one with the inputs and this board controls everything. Here is where the problem lies. To answer your actual question, I'll just give some advice. If you had this unit plugged into a surge protector, then I would ask the manufacturer of the surge protector for a replacement on the TV. Most cover up to a certain amount depending on the quality of the surge protector. Other than that, surges or lightning can also get through on your cable coax, and HDMI seems to be very sensitive to those magnetic fields and such. Those items are not protected unless they hook to the surge suppressor as well. Other components in between point of origin and the TV can also transfer damage even if they themselves remain unscathed from a disaster. Only you will decide how much money it's worth to try and fix your TV, leave it the way it is and work around the problem, or spend more than a new TV fixing it. Best of luck to you.
Another source of 'surge' to the set is thru the antenna or HDMI cable. IF the cable or settop box is not thru the surge protector, than start there. Also, my surge protector has input/output for both cable (F connector) and telephone. All must be used.
The ONLY sure fire way to protect against lightning surge is to simply unplug everything and either read or listen to a transistor radio until it blows over.
If I lived in a lightning prone area....say Florida, I'd have a whole house surge protector installed at the breaker box and STILL continue with point of use protection.
Don't forget that the active device in home surge protectors is an MOV...Metal Oxide Varistor, and it DOES wear out over time and lose its effectiveness.