By Refitec Kenya | Expert TV Repair & Electronics Service
Common Smart TV Problems & What’s Causing Them
My Smart TV won’t turn on. Most likely a faulty power supply board. The power board converts mains electricity into voltages the TV needs. A failed capacitor or blown fuse on this board is the most common culprit.
My screen is black but I can hear sound. This points to a failed backlight system — either the LED backlight strips behind the panel or the T-CON board that drives the display. The main board may be fine.
I have lines or patches on my screen. Vertical or horizontal lines usually indicate a damaged T-CON board or a cracked/damaged LCD panel. If the lines appeared after a physical impact, the panel itself may need replacement.
My TV turns on but the picture is distorted or has wrong colours. The T-CON (Timing Controller) board or ribbon cable connections between the main board and the panel are likely at fault.
My Smart TV won’t connect to Wi-Fi or apps crash constantly. The main board (or specifically its Wi-Fi module) is responsible. Firmware corruption or a failing processor on the main board can also cause this.
I can’t control my TV with the remote and buttons don’t work either. The IR receiver on the main board or a software/firmware issue is to blame. In some cases, the main board itself needs replacing or reflashing.
My TV makes a clicking or popping sound and won’t stay on. This is a classic sign of a failing power supply board — often with bulging capacitors — or a faulty main board that keeps requesting a restart.
The TV has sound but no backlight (screen completely dark in light too). LED backlight strips have failed. A simple backlight test with a torch can confirm this. Refitec Kenya stocks replacement LED strips for most major brands.
The Full Picture: What’s Inside a Smart TV and How Each Part Can Fail
Most people think of their Smart TV as a single device. In reality, it is a collection of specialised electronic boards and components, each responsible for a specific function. When your TV develops a fault, the repair starts with identifying which component has failed — not replacing the whole screen unnecessarily.
Here is a detailed breakdown of every major component inside a Smart TV, what it does, how it fails, and what repair looks like.
1. The Power Supply Board
The power supply board (PSU) is the heartbeat of any Smart TV. It takes the 220–240V alternating current from your wall socket and converts it into multiple low-voltage direct current outputs — typically 5V, 12V, and 24V — that the rest of the TV’s components need to operate.
What it contains: Capacitors, transistors, diodes, transformers, fuses, and voltage regulators.
How it fails: Capacitors are the most vulnerable component. Over time — especially in Kenya’s warm climate — electrolytic capacitors swell and leak, losing their ability to smooth out voltage. When this happens, the TV may refuse to turn on, cycle on and off repeatedly, or produce a clicking sound as the protection circuit trips. A blown fuse on the power board will cause a completely dead TV with no standby light at all.
How Refitec Kenya repairs it: Our technicians test the output voltages on the PSU using a multimeter. If voltages are absent or out of spec, we identify the faulty components — often just a set of capacitors — and replace them. In many cases, this costs a fraction of what a new TV would cost. Full board replacement is done only where component-level repair is not viable.
Warning signs: Clicking on startup, TV dying after a few minutes of use, no power at all, standby light blinking in a pattern.
2. The Main Board (Motherboard / System Board)
If the power supply is the heart of a Smart TV, the main board is the brain. This is where all the intelligence lives: the processor, RAM, flash storage (eMMC), Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chips, HDMI processing, audio processing, and the Smart TV operating system (Android TV, Tizen, webOS, and others).
What it contains: Application processor (similar to a smartphone chip), RAM chips, NAND flash storage, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth module, HDMI input chips, audio decoder, tuner module, and dozens of smaller support components.
How it fails: The main board can fail in several ways. Physical damage from power surges — common in Kenya due to unstable power supply — can destroy the processor or RAM. The Wi-Fi chip may fail, cutting off all internet-based features. The eMMC flash storage can become corrupted, causing the TV to boot loop, freeze on the logo screen, or fail to load its operating system. HDMI ports on the board can also burn out from faulty external devices.
How Refitec Kenya repairs it: We begin with diagnostics to isolate whether the fault is software (firmware corruption, which we can reflash) or hardware. Component-level repairs such as BGA reball and chip replacement are performed for processor and RAM faults. Where the eMMC is corrupted, we can reflash the firmware using donor data specific to your TV model. Full board swaps are done when necessary, using compatible boards sourced from our parts inventory.
Warning signs: TV freezes on logo, apps crash constantly, Wi-Fi won’t work even after factory reset, no HDMI signal from any source, remote and buttons unresponsive.
3. The T-CON Board (Timing Controller Board)
The T-CON board is the link between the main board and the LCD/OLED panel. It receives digital video signals from the main board and converts them into the precise timing signals that tell each row and column of pixels on the panel what to display and when.
What it contains: Timing controller IC, buffers, and ribbon cable connectors (LVDS or V-by-One interface).
How it fails: The T-CON board fails when its timing IC overheats or when the delicate ribbon cables connecting it to the panel become loose, bent, or torn. The result is always visible on screen: vertical or horizontal lines, half the screen being dark or discoloured, a completely white or black screen, or patches of wrong colour.
How Refitec Kenya repairs it: We reseat the ribbon cables first, as a loose cable is often the entire problem. If the T-CON IC has failed, we replace the board. We stock T-CON boards compatible with Samsung, LG, Sony, TCL, Hisense, Skyworth, and many other brands commonly sold in Kenya.
Warning signs: Vertical lines running top to bottom, horizontal bands across the screen, one half of the screen dark, irregular patches of discolouration, white screen with sound.
4. The LED Backlight System
LCD Smart TVs do not produce their own light — the LCD panel is a light-modulating layer, and behind it sits a bank of LED strips that provide the actual illumination. These strips run horizontally or vertically across the full width of the panel.
What it contains: Multiple LED strips mounted on reflective backing, a light diffusion layer, and a driver circuit on the power or main board that controls backlight brightness.
How it fails: Individual LEDs on the strips can burn out. Because the strips are wired in series, when one LED fails, the entire strip or section goes dark. In Kenya, voltage fluctuations accelerate LED degradation. The result is a TV where the screen appears completely dark but you can faintly see an image when you shine a torch at the screen — a definitive sign of backlight failure.
How Refitec Kenya repairs it: After confirming backlight failure with the torch test, we disassemble the TV and replace the faulty LED strips. This requires careful panel handling to avoid cracking the LCD. Refitec Kenya keeps a wide inventory of LED strips for popular TV sizes and brands in the Kenyan market.
Warning signs: Screen appears completely black but audio works, faint image visible under torchlight, one section of the screen is darker than the rest.
5. The LCD / OLED Panel
The panel is the display layer itself — the component that most people think of when they imagine the screen. In LCD TVs, this is a liquid crystal display sandwiched between polarising filters. In OLED TVs (such as LG OLED models), each pixel produces its own light and does not need a backlight.
What it contains: Two glass substrates with liquid crystal material between them, polarising filters, and a bonded driver IC layer at the edges.
How it fails: Physical cracks from impacts are the most common cause of panel failure. Internal cracks can also occur from thermal stress. A cracked or shattered panel is almost always identifiable by irregular spider-web patterns, black ink-like blotches spreading from a corner or point of impact, or a completely black screen with no torch image.
How Refitec Kenya repairs it: Panel replacement is the most expensive repair in a Smart TV. We assess whether replacement is economically viable given the age and market value of the TV. For some popular mid-range models, replacement panels are available and the repair makes economic sense. We provide honest, transparent advice: if repair costs exceed replacement value, we will tell you clearly.
Warning signs: Visible crack lines, black ink blotch spreading from a corner, spider-web pattern visible on the screen.
6. The Speakers and Audio Board
Smart TVs include built-in speakers connected either directly to the main board or via a dedicated audio amplifier board. The audio section handles decoding of Dolby, DTS, and other audio formats and drives the speaker outputs.
How it fails: Speaker cones can tear — particularly after high volume use or accidental impact. The audio amplifier IC on the main board can fail due to overheating, resulting in distorted, crackling, or absent sound.
How Refitec Kenya repairs it: Speaker replacement is straightforward. Audio IC faults require component-level repair on the main board.
Warning signs: Crackling, distorted or no sound while picture is fine.
7. IR Receiver and User Interface Board
The IR (Infrared) receiver picks up signals from your remote control. On most modern Smart TVs, this sits on a small daughterboard connected to the main board, alongside the TV’s physical buttons and sometimes the power LED indicator.
How it fails: The IR receiver diode can burn out, making the TV completely unresponsive to remote commands. Physical button contacts can wear out too.
How Refitec Kenya repairs it: IR receiver replacement is a minor repair. We replace the component or the entire small daughterboard if needed.
Warning signs: Remote control not working even with new batteries, physical buttons on TV not responding.
Why Repair Rather Than Replace? The Refitec Kenya Perspective
Smart TVs are engineered with sophisticated, repairable components. In most fault scenarios, only one board or component has failed. A 55-inch Smart TV that won’t power on may need only a set of capacitors worth a few hundred shillings replaced on its power board.
At Refitec Kenya, we operate on the principle that electronics deserve a second life. We provide honest diagnostics, clear repair quotations, and quality parts. We serve customers across Nairobi and Kenya with both in-shop and on-site repair services for all major Smart TV brands including Samsung, LG, Sony, Hisense, TCL, Skyworth, Amtec, Vision, Vitron, and more.
Contact Refitec Kenya today for a free diagnosis and quotation on your Smart TV repair.
Refitec Kenya — Electronics Repair Specialists | Nairobi, Kenya