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UN40C500 almost bricked. Help please?

Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2013 4:15 am
by bbob
I've been lurking on the forum on and off for a year or so, hoping for some fun and useful hacks for my UN40C5000. I have a working EX link cable and have explored the service menu and EX link outputs a few times, but last night I must've done somthing wrong :cry: because now I get no video or audio from the tuner and the HDMI and DLNA inputs give very distorted pictures. The HDMI and DLNA audio is ok. I can change channels on the tuner, but "weak or no signal" message always appears on the screen. Scanning for channels found zero results. My antenna connection is fine, tested with another TV. Screen text and icons are not clear, with colour flecks and horizontal lines through them. And the debug output on the EX link has LOTS of error messages, the most common being [DRX_12C]error=[-1]. Two factory resets (by holding the Exit button for 12 seconds, and through the Service Menu) yielded no results. However, test patterns through the SVC option in the Service Menu look perfect, so I don't think I have a problem with the display.

TV Model code: UN40C5000QFXZC
Verion No: FB04
Firmware: T-MSX5AUSC-2006
T-MSX5AUSS-1003

I didn't think I changed anything in the Service Menu, but not being bright enough to record the settings before hand :oops: , I can't be sure. Or is it possible that I messed something up through the EX link port?

Any help in restoring my TV to usable conditon would be most appreciated!

Re: UN40C5000 almost bricked. Help please?

Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2013 1:32 am
by bbob
attaching a log file from EX link port in case it contains helpful info.

Re: UN40C500 almost bricked. Help please?

Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2013 12:29 pm
by juusso
I think you have messed something in service menu (wrong tuner/model is chosen?). Best solution could be comparing service menu options from another same model TV (diagonal size doesnt matter).

Re: UN40C500 almost bricked. Help please?

Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2013 5:20 am
by bbob
Thank you for your reply juuso.

Yes, I believe I messed up the model code. I found a copy of the service manual online (www.tradebit.com) which shows all possible values and the default value for each service menu setting for every UNxxC5000 model, including both T and M firmwares. I have made that correction, followed by a factory reset, but still no luck.

The tuner setting matches the default value in the manual for my model so my guess is that's not the problem.

Unfortunately I don't know anyone else with a UNxxC5000 to check.

I've been looking at the posts about restoring factory defaults by shorting pins on IC401 (if memory serves correctly) but that seems like a last resort if all else fails.

Do you think re-flashing the firmware might help? I'm afraid to try it for fear it might compound my problems.

Re: UN40C500 almost bricked. Help please?

Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2013 7:00 am
by bbob
I have some progress to report! I found this dicussion in another section of the forum,
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=4031.

It told me to change the Lvds Option setting in the Control>Sub Option menu to VESA. I got my clear picture back!

So I guess the service manual isnt 100% reliable, because it tells me the setting is JEIDA.

That's good enough progress for today. I'll work on my tuner problem tomorrow.

Re: UN40C500 almost bricked. Help please?

Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2013 7:58 am
by bbob
juuso, based on your suggestion that I might have the wrong tuner setting, and my experience with the service manual misleading me, I tried different tuner setting options until I found the one that worked, SN761640. My tv is fixed :-)

Thanks for the tip!

Re: UN40C500 almost bricked. Help please?

Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2013 8:28 am
by juusso
well, congratulations :-)