TV Not Working After Power Outage – What To Do

Evan Gower June 5, 2021

A power outage is a minor but still very unpleasant inconvenience of modern life. Unfortunately, if you live in an area with poor power grid infrastructure or stormy climate, you might experience power outages more frequently than people living in other areas.

TV Not Working After Power Outage – What To Do

The biggest risk of a power outage is the potential harm it can do to your electronic devices. Your TV, fridge, laundry machine, and other home appliances might experience problems turning back on after an outage. In this article, we’ll take a look at what to do when your TV fails to start after a power outage.

Types of Power Outages

A power outage could happen for a myriad of reasons, most likely due to the failure of one or more components along the power line. It might be due to a failure in the power plant or somewhere closer to you.

Basically, the causes of an outage can be grouped in two categories, a loss of power (permanent fault, brownout, blackout) and an overwhelming power surge. A permanent fault happens due to a fault along the power line and the power would come back on automatically when the situation is cleared. Brownout is characterized by a drop in voltage. If the voltage drops completely, then it is a blackout – total loss of power.

A surge happens when the voltage spikes in one of the elements on the grid and overloads it, thus breaking the supply chain.

What to Do After an Outage?

In case your TV doesn’t function properly or won’t turn on at all following a power outage, there are a few things that you could try before calling the repairman or going online to shop for a new TV.

Unplug Your TV and Perform a Power Drain

The first course of action you should try is a power drain cycle on your TV.

Unplug your TV from the power source.
Press and hold the power button for 10-30 seconds, this will drain all residual power from your TV.
Now, reconnect the TV to the power source and try turning it on. If this doesn’t work, you can try repeating the above steps and then leaving the TV unplugged for several hours. Some electronic components can reset themselves after awhile.
This will hopefully resolve your issues, if the TV is working, but not properly, it is time to proceed to the second course of action.

Reset to the Factory Default Settings

The TV came off the production line with factory default settings. Before you start the reset process, detach the coaxial cable from your TV if you’re using that connection (it is most likely plugged into the “Coax” or “Ant” port).

After you’ve disconnected your cable box/satellite receiver, press the Power button to turn the TV on.
Now, press the Menu button to open the TV’s main menu.
Once you get in the main menu, navigate to Settings or System Settings. The actual name of the option varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, but the procedure is largely the same.
Next, choose Options or Advanced Options. Again, the name of the option depends on the make and model of the TV.
Then, navigate to the Factory Reset/Factory Default option and select it.
The menu will show you a Yes/No prompt; select Yes.
If needed, confirm the factory default restore by pressing the OK or Enter button on your TV.
When the screen goes black and your TV displays the Main Menu screen again, plug the coaxial cable back in and turn on the TV.

What If the TV Doesn’t Turn on at All?

If the TV won’t turn on after a power outage, even after you disconnected and reconnected it, it is most likely that the power supply regulation section has failed. If you’re handy with electric circuit boards, you can take a look at it yourself. You’ll find it either on the main board or a separate one in the power supply.

The most common way to go about it is to replace the entire board, as most people aren’t too handy with a soldering iron and a multimeter. Given that some of the spare parts are difficult to find on the open market, even if you take it to a service center, what they’ll most likely do is replace the whole board instead and send off the faulty one to be refurbished elsewhere.

If you’re confident in your abilities to diagnose and repair the electrical components on a circuit board, then start by inspecting the capacitors for telltale signs of wear, such as bulging tops, they should be flat, signs of leakage, or burn marks on the board. Inspect both sides of the circuit board for damage or poor solder connections, such as cracking, discoloration, or other signs of wear.

After a visual examination of the capacitors on your circuit board, check the transistors on the heatsinks for continuity, this is done with a multimeter. Given the extreme heat they’re exposed to and produce themselves, transistors are a likely culprit for causing a faulty power supply for your TV.

How to Prevent This in the Future?

Power outages are a nuisance and could potentially damage or destroy your home appliances. If you live in an area with unstable voltage or frequent power outages, you might consider investing in a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) unit.

Conclusion

Though very unpleasant, power outages can be dealt with in a number of ways. Most of the times, your TV will just need to be reconnected or reset to its factory settings. Hopefully, this article can help you kick-start your TV after an outage, or at least point you in the right direction. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to leave them in the comments section below.