Interesting problem with KDL-55XBR8

[jehill]

FBU board "Repair & Return"

ModusLink PTS (http://www.moduslinkptstvboards.com/...MTk1IjoiNzEifQ), provides "Repair & Return" service for the Sony Part No. A1564793A FBU board. Today I removed the FBU board in preparation for shipment to ModusLink PTS. There may be a problem though. The part numbers appearing on the white tag at the top (refer to the photo below) are A1557719B (first) and A1557718B (second). The boards appear identical. I advised customer service of this late this PM. Hopefully, they will offer to "Repair & Return" the board I have.

Photo of FBU board with shield removed. The two jumpers at the bottom of the board pop right off.

[jehill]

An observant AVS forum member noticed that the HDMI 2 and 3 input jacks appear to be damaged. My response was:

Oh my! I blew it! The three HDMI connectors are attached to the FBU board shield at the top with Phillips screw. The HDMI 2 and 3 screw heads were jammed and destroyed during factory assembly. Rather then drill them off as I should have, I elected to grip the heads with a pair of pliers from the top and rotate to the left to loosen them to save time. My focus was on the screw heads at the time, not the connectors. The lesson learned is ALWAYS drill off screw heads that are jammed and destroyed! I will see if ModusLink PTS will replace them for me.

[jehill]

Today I received word from ModusLink PTS to "Please enter your repair and return order using part# A1564793A. The part numbers on your board are incorrect. We see this a lot." I have submitted my order and shipped the board. They should receive it Tuesday.

[jehill]

Temporary substitute for KDL55XBR8 during FBU repair

I mailed the FBU board to ModusLink PTS Friday. They should receive it Tuesday or Wednesday. Meanwhile, my son loaned me a 32" LCD TV to use until I get the FBU board back and installed. This temporary measure is necessary since my wife and I are TV addicts. I thought that you might get a kick out of the photo below:

[jehill]

I received bad news in the following exchange I had with ModusLink PTS:

3rd Oct 2014 @ 1:50 PM
I Said:

Did the technician(s) that checked out my FBU board initially observe every third line missing or were all lines there (indicating that source of the issue isn’t the FBU board)?


3rd Oct 2014 @ 4:04 PM
ModusLink PTS, Inc. Said:

Hello John,
It is still on the floor with the techs. From their notes they put it into the set and it is running good but they are going to let it run all day and see if they can duplicate your problem. Hope to have more information for you on Monday. Thank you

In other words, my FBU board works fine when it is connected to another LCD panel.

.

[jehill]

I had another message exchange with ModusLink PTS:

7th Oct 2014 @ 9:25 AM
You Said:
Did the symptoms ever appear? What parts have been replaced? When will the board be shipped back to me?

7th Oct 2014 @ 12:36 PM
ModusLink PTS, Inc. Said:
Hello John,
It does show that we finally got it to fail. According to the tech's notes they replaced some connectors and hdmi's. It is in the shipping dept now and will be shipped out today. You will be updated with a tracking number later today or tomorrow . Thank you

I'm not sure what to make of this. Did it fail so that every third line is missing? What did they do about it?

I am happy that they replaced the two HDMI jacks that I damaged. We're not going to know if their repairs restored normal operation until I have installed the board in my set and checked it out.

[jehill]

I received the "repaired" FBU board on Friday and installed it on Saturday. Apparently, all they did other than obseve operation was replace the two HDMI jacks that I damaged, because the set still has the same symptoms: every third line of video is missing and there is vertical smearing. Apparently, DC restoration is a LCD panel function. That's what is causing the vertical smearing. Now what I have to do is decide what model to replace my KDL55XBR8 with, because the picture is now unacceptable to me.

Here are a couple of photos after the FBU board was reinstalled:

[jehill]

Saturday I purchased a Sony KDL60W850B online from Sony with the assistance of a Sony parts person who was able to get me an additional $75 discount. The larger $500 additional discounts only apply to clearance items, which the KDL60W850B is not. For more information on the set, go to http://store.sony.com/60-diag-w850b-...pfm%3Dcategory.