Common problems
TV has sound but no picture
The programme is playing. You can hear the dialogue, the adverts, the menu beeping as you press buttons. The screen stays black. It is a strange fault to live with, because everything tells you the television is working except the one part you actually use. It is also a fault worth understanding before anyone quotes you, because there is a ten-second test you can do yourself that splits it into two completely different jobs. We give that test away below. If it turns out to be the repairable kind, the diagnosis is free, you get one fixed price before any work, and if we cannot fix it you do not pay.
- No fix, no fee
- We come to you
- The diagnosis is always free
- A real person who does the work, not a call centre
What it usually means
The likely causes, most common first
- The backlight has failed, so the picture is being drawn correctly and there is simply nothing lighting it from behind, which is the commonest cause and on many sets a repairable one
- A power fault on the board that feeds the backlight, where the rest of the set runs normally because the fault sits downstream of everything else
- A ribbon cable to the panel has worked loose or torn, so the panel receives sound and instructions but not a picture
- The panel itself has failed, which is the answer nobody wants because the panel is most of what a television costs
- The source rather than the set, a box or a stick or a cable, which is worth ruling out in ten seconds before anything else
Not sure which is yours? That is what the free diagnosis is for. Call and describe it.
What we do
How we find the real fault
- You tell us on the phone what you see and hear, and crucially whether the television's own menu appears when you press the menu button on its remote, because a menu never travels down an HDMI cable
- We ask you to run the torch test before we set off, so you already know whether the panel is alive and we already know what to bring
- We come to you across Leeds and Yorkshire, because a television is the one thing nobody can reasonably carry to a repair shop
- We open the set properly and test the backlight, the boards that feed it, and the ribbon connections into the panel
- You get one fixed price before any work begins, and if the honest answer is that a cracked or failed panel makes it uneconomic, we tell you that instead of taking your money to find out
Is it worth fixing?
An honest answer, before you spend anything
Often, yes, and the torch test tells you before anyone charges you anything. If a faint image appears under the torch, the panel is alive and the fault is in the lighting or the boards behind it, which on a good number of sets is a sensible repair. If nothing appears at all, it is more likely the panel, and a panel is most of what a television is worth, so replacing the set is usually the better answer. We will say so plainly rather than sell you a repair that costs more than the television.
This is a tv & smart tv help job. The diagnosis is free, then you get one fixed quote before any work starts. If we cannot fix it, there is nothing to pay.
Call 0113 460 2103 for a free diagnosisWhere we work
We come to you across Leeds, West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire
Home or work, Monday to Saturday, 9am to 7pm. There is no walk-in shop, so we come to the machine, or you can arrange to drop it to us. Start at computer repair in Leeds, or pick your area.
Questions
The things people ask
How do I do the torch test?
Darken the room and draw the curtains, because what you are looking for is genuinely faint. Press the menu button on the television's own remote so the set has to draw something bright. Hold a torch, a phone torch is fine, two or three inches from the glass and rake the light across the screen at an angle rather than shining it straight in. Move it slowly and look for shapes rather than brightness. If you can make out the ghost of a menu or an outline, the panel is alive.
Could it be my Sky box or Fire Stick rather than the television?
Worth ruling out, and it takes a moment. Press the menu or home button on the television's own remote, not the box's, so the set has to draw something itself. If the menu is invisible too, the fault is in the television, because a menu never travels down an HDMI cable. If the menu appears perfectly and only the box's picture is black, the television is fine and the problem is the box, the cable or the input.
Should I take the back off and have a look?
No, please do not. There are components inside a television that hold a charge well after it has been unplugged, which is a genuine risk rather than a disclaimer, and the back panel is also where most accidental damage to a set happens. Do the ten-second torch test with everything as it is, then stop.
Is it worth repairing, or should I just buy a new one?
It depends on what the torch test showed and on the set itself, so we will not pretend to know before looking. What decides it is whether the right part for your exact make and model can still be had, how the set is built and how safely it opens, and what the television is worth to you. We find that out at no charge and then give you one fixed quote, and if the honest answer is that your money is better kept, you will hear that instead.
Do you come out to televisions, or do I have to bring it in?
We come to you. A television is the one device a customer genuinely cannot carry to a shop, which is a large part of why we work this way. We open it where it stands, on your own floor, and you can watch the whole thing if you want to.
Other problems
Sound more like one of these?
Tell us what is wrong.
Call and describe the fault. We will diagnose it for free, give you a fixed quote before any work, and if we cannot fix it there is nothing to pay. A real person who does the work, not a call centre.