Baking Electronics

[Richard S.]

Parents TV went bad, it's only about 7 years old and a very expensive model when they bought it. The thing is it would come on and all the panel lights would work. You'd get the welcome screen with the LG logo but that's it. Has to be something pretty simple if the screen comes on. Pressing any buttons would not bring up any menus etc. I was figuring corrupted firmware but trying to reflash it with a USB stick didn't produce any results and trying the various other suggestions on how to get to the service menu didn't work either.

Came across a post on another forum about baking the motherboard, made sense and with nothing to lose but a little time I gave it a try. Went to YouTube and found a video on it. The video I watched on Youtube suggested 385 for ten minutes but the toaster oven I used went from 375 to 400 so I settled on 375 and 400 for the last 2 minutes. Just did it on a baking sheet, the particular baking sheet I had was perfect sized with the edges of the motherboard just hitting the corners so it was raised off the baking sheet slightly. The guy in the video uses a regular sized baking sheet and it was flat on the baking sheet, I don't know if that is such a good idea.

Let the oven cool for about a minute and then I cracked the door a n let it sit for another 5 minutes, another 5 minutes on the counter. Slight smell of burned plastic.

It worked! LOL I'd imagine this would work with a lot of stuff if the problem is a bad solder joint. Another post on another forum suggested this may work if you have bad HDMI connector for example.

[top top]

Great job!! I think most of the newer stuff uses SMT where the parts are located on the board with a solder paste, then baked to set them permanently, so not too surprised this worked. I have seen a few things from the '80's & '90's that would work by putting a book or something under one corner. I assume it flexed the board enough to make contact. Question: did you remove and reset the connections before baking the board? I have fixed a couple tv's by just doing that. If you did not, just disconnecting and reconnecting the board may have solved the issue. At any rate, great job on a no cost repair.

[Richard S.]

Question: did you remove and reset the connections before baking the board?

No I didn't, I should know better.

[CapeCoaler]

same fix for some HP P Series main board...

Betty Crocker Job...

They had switched to a cold flow solder...

The quick oven treatment made the solder reflow slightly...

Making a repaired circuit...

[Sunny Boy]

Ha! I thought this was another post for the Cookin' With Coal thread.

Thanks Richard. We have several of the LG's. If they ever act up, I'll give this a try.

But, I'll likely be using a coal-fired oven.

Paul

[Richard S.]

Make sure you try all the other stuff first, reflash the firmware etc.

I also have LG home entertainment system here from about the same time. It will say "boot" and then switch to "please wait" and nothing happens. The "please wait" is normal but it should go to home menu afterward. Tried re-flashing that and some other things..... Considering throwing that in the frying pan at this point since there is nothing to lose.

[snuffy]

Wow, I just bought a LG OLED 48" and haven't taken it out of the box yet. Bought it at Costco now I'm sittin on the fence about returning it cuz it won't fit in the samsung oven or the harman.

[Freddy]

Interesting..... thanks for sharing the fix. Glad it worked for you.