Polaroid flm-373b lcd tv black screen control box no power fix

Thank you! My husband followed your instructions and fixed our TV. No more annoying high-pitched buzzing sounds.

I tried this and my set totally blew up. Don’t risk ruining your set to save a few bucks, call a qualified repair shop!

The wife found this fix last night and I'm happy to report that our FLM 3732 is back up and running after replacing the two capacitors following these directions.

Amazing that 2 $1.50 capacitors found at the local Radio Shack can put a 37" LCD television back in business.

Another THANK YOU VERY MUCH for taking the time to post your fix.

For me, the only thing that took any length of time was desoldering. I'd done a bit of soldering a few years back, but only new circuits (crossover networks for loudspeakers). If you haven't desoldered before take a few minutes and read up on it, and be patient with this step of the procedure.

My TV stopped working last night nothing just won't come on.....I am going to try this fix tonight will let you know how it turns out tomorrow.

This was the best solution I've read on the internet. The pictures were very helpful. I could find 10V capacitors, but found 35V ones. They were bigger, but still fit the space. I completed the task in 20 minutes and it cost me $3. Thanks Stev0

stivo,
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. And a few more thank you's from my wife. You really are the man. the wife was all bummed thinking that we would have to go out and buy another $800 television!! I knew it was something different (not dead).
i have absolutely NO soldering experience whatsoever, but this was a simple fun and nail-biting adventure! After a trip to 2 Radio Shacks (the first didn't have the capacitors).... and a quick stop into Modells to look at some Phillies World series gear... came home, sweated a little(lot) and was able to get it working in no time!! what an awesome solution stivo, you are the man!!!!!!
if you are ever in philadelphia, i owe you a round of beers!

I

I have same problem. I have different insides as you. I have a polaroid flm-3232 model 3200.
I don't know where the capacitors are . Can any one look and see if the can locate them and let me know which ones to replace. I need big time help please, can't afford a new tv at this time.

Oh my gosh thank you so much we are going to try this...what a detailed post! I had my Polaroid for less than a year and it just turned off one day and wouldn't come on except for the dumb blinking light. Polaroid apparently sold part of their company to another company so basically their label is slapped on someone else's crappy tv...they don't take responsibility for ther product failing...I understand their may be defects in products but they should at least offer to fix the problem for a reasonable price and not charge people for shipping the product to them!

Anyways....THANKYOU we are very hopeful this will work!

iam having the same problem as all of you guys but the only problem is that my tv is a FLM 3232 and the inside looks like the picture below. It looks like none of my components are bubbled but it has the same problem as you guys. i have sound but no picture . if there is anyone with a little advice or help please let me know.

Yes dude. Yes! Worked like a charm. You da man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi all.
I am looking for some help.
My Polaroid is a different model (TLU 03711C) with a related problem. The power supply unit looks exactly the same in the guide with the solution to the common problem.
The problem: When the TV is switched on, the screen goes on displaying the Polaroid name and then the screen goes blue indicating "no input". However no matter how or what input I give, the TV goes off within 1 second after displaying the infamous Polaroid name on the screen.
The similarity of this problem is that the TV does not go to stand by mode (orange light) but remains to show the blue light.
I have replaced the capacitors just as indicated hoping for it to work - even though mine was not bulged in any way. I have enough electronic experience to know how to replace these, but unfortunately it did not fix my problem. Nothing changed.
I am now left at square one with an expensive TV with a probable inexpensive fix.
Any help will be appreciated.
Thank You!

Thanks Stiv0 for the help! We were just about to buy the new TV and throw out the Polaroid, when my wife found your post. We followed the directions, and now it works great.
The fix was just as descibed. It was easy and fun to do.
So happy!!!

Stiv0-- YOU ARE THE MAN!!!!! My POS Polaroid (the TV my wife bought, against my better judgement) died 2 yrs almost to the DAY! Your insight saved us a grip of money but cost me my upgrade. DAMN IT. probably better this way though with christmas so close. My upgrade TV or kids christmas?? Hmmmmmm...
Well just wanted to say your cure worked like a dream. All for under $20, and i got a soldering gun outta it. I cant express my gratitude enough.
Thanks
CDS

Another success story here. It only took me an hour and that included driving to the store to pick up some Caps. Thanks for posting this very hepful information!!!!! I'm glad that I knew how to solder....

Brandon

Thank you!

I did as you said and it worked.
: )

Thank you Stivo, I love you with all my heart.

Our TV would shut off intermittently so we eventually bought a new one but did not want to get rid of our $1300 TV! We moved it into the bedroom for the kids, but it was getting to be more of a pain. My wife and I both searched the internet and also got a quote for a new power supply, about $250. I finally decided to stop at radio shack on the way home, for $11 bought 2 capacitors and a solder kit. The only difficult part was holding the soldering iron still enough, i had too much coffee apparently. In about 30 minutes had it apart and back together and working. One capacitor was bulged out, the other looked ok, but i replaced both anyway. turned it on and it stayed on! Also it felt great to brag i fixed our LCD TV by myself! Perfect instructions, but I marked the negative side on the board although it is marked + which you can see after removing the capacitors, and also marked the small rectangular plugs, as two of them are identical. THANKS!!!!! I owe you a beer or two or more!

Hi Stiv0:
I`m writting from El Salvador, Central America....I had the same problem with my TV, and i found out trough the internet your comment/solution, and i just wanna thank you because you just saved me a lot of money and time...I did exactly what you explained here and it worked !!!! so i`m very happy and hope that God bless you for all this help you`ve given us in a few words!!!
Best regards and thank you once again!!!!,
Omar A.

STIV0 POSTE ONE MORE THING. CAPACITORS MAX TEMPERATURE HAS TO BE 105' ,NOT 85'.
IF YOU GUYS WILL INSTALL 85, YOU'LL NEED TO REPLACE THEM AGAIN.

Did the caps, have sound but no pic. more that i had before...any more ideas or suggestions?

stiv0, just wanted to thank you for the information. The info you gave was right on the money. Just wanted to give you a bog pat on the back that you so richly deserve.

Just did this worked great ty so much. 3bucks and change to fix. 20 min job priceless :)

I have the exact same model just manufactured one month earlier. I've seen the exact same Caps in Dell OptiPlex 270s that we've seen destroy about half of our systems back a couple years ago at a college I worked at. I used 1000uf 35v caps and it fixed the problem with my Polaroid TV. I noticed the LED light appears brighter, I'm worried maybe too much juice is being put into the power supply, but I'm sure one of the dozens of people that have used 35v caps here would have posted a follow up had there been an issue with it. I was afraid RadioShack had stopped selling components around here in Central Florida but luckily they still do. Cost me $3 plus tax. I’ve been very satisfied with my TV till now. If these new caps can really give me 5 times what I’ve already had the TV for I’d be happy. I’ve had my TV for close to three years now. Bought it at CircuitCity with a 2 year extended warrantee which would still be in effect had they not tanked. But that’s my luck.

Thank you SOOO much! I also used radio shack 35 volt caps. A little crowded on the PC board. TV working fine again. The construction looks really good - and the picture and features are nice. What a shame they used cheap capacitors on this. Thank you again - the pictures and instructions were wonderful.

stiv0,

Thank You very much for the knowledge. I was able to repair my Television for $11.00 total. I had to buy a soldiering iron. This was my first time soldering but your information greatly helpred. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You.

pastorbutch

ok another wonderful success story thanks to this gentleman stiv0 this man should really be awarded with all the credit for Polaroids mistakes and defects ,this common problem that happens after 2 years is the easiest fix a person or my 2 yr old maltese could fix it ,these days it might evan be harder to pump gasoline if you live in nyc the easiest possible way to get a hold of the CAPACITOR are Anchor Electronic 116 01 101 Ave, Jamaica ny (718) 846-2420 the are located in queens after i got the part this whole process took around 12 min to completely fix my television now it works thanks to stiv0 i was really almost ready to throw this oversize paper weight in the garbage, supposedly if you replace the old caps with the 1000 uf 35v caps you will get 5000 hours withyour set the total price of the fix was $ 4 dollars

I'm having the same exact problem. Only had this tv for less than 2 years as well. I'm running to radio shack on my luch break and gonna give your fix a try tonight. pray for me. i have no idea what i'm doing. lol

Hey guys.......I read lots of success stories but unfortunately is not my model........I have model 3200 FLM 3232. I have the same problem with the changing LED colors and no visual and audio. None of the capacitor seems to have a bulge in them, can someone please help me.

This was GREAT!!! Very helpful information. Saved $800!
We have fixed the FLM-373B in 30 minutes with new capacitors 1000uf 10v from ebay.

Thanks!!!!!

http://logantaxi.com

Thanks STIV0, you just saved me $1,000.00 because I followed your instructions and now my Polaroid 37 in tv works just fine., and my wife is happy which is the most important thing!!!!!!!!! Your Great!!!!

I went to Radioshack this mornign and spent $16.00 and bought a soldering likt and the capacitors. I went home and 20 minutes later I had the tv back together and working 100%. Where was this post 6 months ago before I went out and boguht a new tv and spent $1,800? This guy is amazing and deserves 100 % of the credit. Thanks man I appreciate it. I will be trying this on many other tvs in the near future.

I took a shot in the dark and hit up google to see if anyone had a similar problem. Took less than 30 seconds to have an answer. Thank you ALGore for the Internets!!

Thanks for posting this Stiv0, I'll be stopping in at Frys tomorrow for caps, can't wait to try it out. Amazing how a large corp can bang consumers so hard with no fear of recourse or responsibility. Shame on Polaroid.

Thanks for the tip and instructions. Bought a solder kit and two 1000uf 35v capacitors at Radio Shack. I followed the instructions today and after about 30-40 minutes of work (rookie solderer) I turned the TV and it works. Thanks for the step by step instructions. Polaroid needs to admit they made a mistake as it seems this has happened to a lot of people with these TVs.

Thanks again,

Ken

muchisimas!!! gracias!!! fue una estupenda ayuda la que nos diste atodos en el foro realmente el problema con nuestras TVs era el mismo y tan facil que fue cambian el par de capacitores, to poe eso no confio en los servicios de los centros de reparacion que solo te sacan el dinero de manera descarada y no te dan el servicio que uno espera en micaso a mi el tecnico me comento que tenia que cambiar toda la placa y me saldrian entre 180 y 240 Dlls mas la mano de obra...

gracias, de nuevo...

Worked for me! I thought this might also solve my "sparkling" problems with the higher resolutions, which also really sucks. Might be my HDMI port though. At least I can watch it again!

This TV is on its Second control box I managed to get the second one free from Poloroid when it was 2 months past its warranty. Today it went out again I almost through my fist through the screen, im glad I didnt after comming across this site. I followed your directions and the TV works again! I had a old computer motherboard laying around and managed to find two 1000uF 16v capacitors. Other than a slight image burned into the screen Its playing like new.

Thanks.

Thanks stevo YOU DA MAN!!!
quick simple fix tv works fine now

Want to chime in that I too had this issue and performed the surgery in less than an hour. I had my 7 year old do half of the work as I thought it was a good time for him to learn to use the soldering iron. 3 capacitors later, back in business.

I also noticed that when using the Input 1 with our Xbox, it seems brighter than before. This is a good thing as I also complained that the games seemed a bit dark......

Thanks a ton for the write-up as I was about to buy a new TV until I saw this!

YOU ROCK!!!! I just did this fix after my 2 year old Poloroid 373b wouldn't work- it's back up and running just in time for football season. I love ya man!!

We bought the 1000uh 35 v at Radio Shack and spent 15 minutes soldering them in and it works like BRAND NEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for sharing your experience!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It saved us alot of money! Total cost was $3.41. Our tv viewing.......Priceless!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey! You can count us in with the gang of those who successfully corrected the buzzing sound on their Polaroid TV, model 373B!! We followed your suggestions and pics and voila, it worked. We were so nervous abt. trying to 'do it ourselves', but since so many before us said it was a 'cinch' we took the back off our tv, got everything all prepped on it, went to Wal Mart for a soldering kit, went to Radio Shack for our 2 capacitor's and a wrist band and for $4 for the capacitors, $8 for the soldering tool and $6 for the wrist band and a few hours later (from unplugging our tv to hooking it all back up again) we turned on our tv, held our breaths, and No More Buzzing!!!! Talk abt. 2 happy people!! I was still in shock nearly an hour later as I was afraid we had ruined it so I could hardly believe we could do it. When we told the guy working at Radio Shack what we were hoping to accomplish he said "I wish I had met you a year ago because my Mom had that same model tv and we threw it in the trash!" I felt badly for him, but we are so grateful for being able to get helpful information on the internet. THANK YOU SO MUCH for helping us save at least $250 and a lot of time waiting on the repair--unbelievable!

I think I have the same problem on a model flx 374, not the 373b. Has anyone tried this yet on a 374?

Why would Polaroid even sell TV's knowing that screen would burn out in 2 years time. I'm pretty annoyed that this could happen and they didnt even mention this in the manual as a potential fault, I would never of bought the HDTV if I had known. Unlike many on this site, I am a complete novice and would not even know how and where to start in fear of breaking the TV, any suggestions on whether I should claim against household insurance, noticed that Dixons no longer stock Polaroid HDTV's. Does anyone know of any repair guys in central London or whether PC world would fix new capicitors

I just replaced my caps (1000uf 16v) and the buzz is gone!!! My old caps were "ballooned". Thank you very much! Just wonder if I will have to do this again in 2 years! Also, the Youtube video was helpful too!
Cheers!!

This is awesome. I fixed my FLM-3201 tv by changing 8 capacitors. Overall it was not bad to do, I would say a total time of 20 minutes. I found the capacitors that I needed at http://www.mcmelectronics.com/

Thank you!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My husband was ready to put a baseball bat through it when I found your post. And, we called Polaroid with no result jus like everyone else. We used the 35v that radio shack had and everything works perfectly.

So our TV was doing the exact same things that all of the other TV's, we contacted polaroid (knowing that our TV was out of warrenty) just to find out if we were doomed and had to buy a new TV (next TV will be a Sony) they informed me that they could fix it by replacing he entire power box this would cost me $225.00 installed... I thought to myself what if this is not the problem so I asked what if this didn't work...she assured me that it was the control box and it would fix it. So we were gonna get it fixed thinking $225.00 for a new TV wasn't bad. Called a local repair guy to see if he could do it any cheaper and not really, he told me that Polaroid aka the worst TV manufacture I know of... put all components of the TV in this Control Box, so basically they make money by replacing the whole unit verses repairing one panel with I now understand most TV have separating things like Color, Audio, Connections for other devices...and so on, he told me that 6 months ago he called Polaroid about repairing a customers TV and the quoted him $650.00 for the control box...so the price has gone down...but upon reading reviews we found this site telling us how to fix it ourselves, we thought "WHY NOT" it's already broken and if it doesn't work we would put it back together and order the new control box from Polaroid... IT TOTALLY WORKED!!!!!!! YEAH, YEAH, YEAH...my husband and I were a little nervous about taking apart a TV, but just followed you directions and pictures and WE PULLED IT OFF...THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR HOOKING ALL OF US UP...UR THE BEST YOU SAVED US $225.00 OR $1000.00 PLUS FOR A NEW ONE...THANKS AGAIN...

Thank you, stivO. This is still Good INFO. I just now started having this same problem with my tv since the digital tv change over and have been looking for a solution for weeks. I tried the www.polaroid.com web site about a month ago with no help and today found that polaroid has removed the section for tv.s from the website. I too feel that polaroid is to bame and will not buy another polaroid tv.

stiv0 u rock! this post has helped alot of people and thats what is great. I read most of the posts and alot of people work hard for extra cash to get some highend toys. Without this post myself and others would have been out alot of money. ALL THE INTERNET BEER IS NOW YOURS..... thanks again. If i can also make a suggestion..... a desolder gun at radio shack is about 11 bucks. Just makes it easier and cleaner to use one. CHEERS!!!

Thanks Stiv0!!! You just saved me several hundred dollars! Your instructions were perfect and after spending less than 4 dollars and 15 minutes of work, the TV works great!

stiv0!!! Outstanding instructions!!! I'm a former Navy Aviation Electronic Tech, haven't solder in YEARS!!!! The wife bought a new TV waiting for me to fix this one, only took me 3 months to get aorund to it........Anyhow just $5 and 1/2 an hour.....I now have an HDTV to put some place else in the house!!!

THANKS !!!!!

Dear Stiv0, i do not know how to thank you enough! you save me so much money!!!! I really appreciate what you did! I wish there will be more people like you out there! You are so great! Many, many...many thanks!!

Over a year later - and this post is still gold! Our TV decided it was too tired to turn on. Hit the power switch the light turns blue and before a picture has time to appear, it would go back to red. Followed your directions to a 'T' and now it works again! THANK YOU!!!!

thank you for sharing this tip! I wonder how many Polariods are stuffing the landfills because of a couple of capacitors? thanks to you, there's one less! And my wife is happy to have her TV working again.

We have been having a problem with my LCD screen for acouple days. Finally she went, no picture but would still turn on with the blue light. So I looked online for maybe a possiable answer of why, not thinking i could accually fix a LCD TV. So i find Stevo on this site. I look at his good detailed info. on fixing the same problem I have been having. For only 3 dollars and some change, I fixed the TV! it works better then it did to be honest! Thank you so much Stevo!!!!!!!! You saved my family alot of money. :)

Thank you for the great tip. I got the caps from a old computer monitor so the fix was free for me. Thank you again for the great tip.

Unbelievable!!! I took a chance at a garage sale and bought this tv for $5 ! I came home and googled the model and found this blog. A TV repair company sold me the 16v caps for $1 each and I did it. really easy, great instructions, and the tv works like new. I love my $7 TV.

We just fixed our TV using these instructions. If this didn't work, I was ready to find the baseball bat to smash the LEMON Polaroid TV. Thank you!!!

I can not believe this actually worked! My family is on a very strict budget and can't afford a new tv. I decided to just look online to see what it would take to be fixed and came upon this site. I went to a local electronic store and bought the caps for $3.50. I followed the instructions and 30 minutes later my tv is like new again! Thank you so much!

Figured I would add my thanks as well. Followed the steps and 45 min later was up and running again. So glad I came across this guide. Thanks Stivo!!!

Thank You so very much!! I tried your fix on the Polaroid TV. Down to Radio Shack I went. I was only able to get the 1000-35V caps,soldered them in place,put my cover back on and what do ya know? Plugged that pile of **** in and my TV has been working great ever since! Your advice was worth it's weight in gold! Man,thank you so much,Stevo! Mark@www.kreaturistix.com

Thanks for the help and the foto's were a big help. Got my tv on trash day someone got rid of it ,me and my daughter carried the tv home about two blocks. Everyone told me that its a waist of time and that i just picked up a peace of junk. But like always i want to fix everything so i searched on google and found your post. I had a hard time getting the caps but had a old computer screen that someone gave me took it apart and found two 25 volts and they worked same size just longer. So thanks again i have a big screen tv in my room and no cost to me free thanks to who ever got rid of it and your post.

Thank you so much!!! You saved me hundreds of dollars. Luckily I don't have a disposable income, so I actually searched on google and came across your post. I was pretty darn easy and cheap to fix. Thanks again.

Wow!! Just wanted to add another HUGE THANKS!!! Ditto everyone else! This worked like a charm....I am so glad we don't have to spends 100s of $$ to have this fixed.
Great Job!

Thank you stiv0, never done any electrical work but your walk through was great. If I can do it any body can. Thanks again.

Unbelievable. You have no idea how UN-handy I am...a grown man that doesn't even own a hammer! I found the precise caps needed for my model at a local TV repair shop, borrowed a solder rod from my brother. Exactly $5 and 30 minutes...working as good as new. Thanks so much for providing the info. Let me know where to ship the beer! :)

My Polaroid FLM 373b has developed start up problems over the past 3 weeks - the red LED turns blue, a loud buzzing noise starts, the back emits crackling noises, then a partial and blinking display turns steady and perfect - taking about 30 seconds. Then the loud buzzing sound fades over a two-minute period. Is this the same problem likely to be fixed by replacing the caps as suggested by stev0 or something else? If I leave the TV on to tuned to a blank-screen-station for a week or so until I attempt a fix, will that harm the TV even more? Any help will be much appreciated.

I have a FLM-2632, no red light and fuse blown, when I replace fuse, new one blows right away.  Any idea if this could fix that problem or am I screwed?  Polaroid says for $225 they'll send me a new part and have someone come out and install it, but they can't do that until after July 1st and there is no guaranty that it will fix the problem (although if it doesn't they'll rebate me $100, whoopee).  

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Had the Polaroid for 2 1/2 years (had 2 year extended warranty). Same problem. I checked the caps and sure enough, the same two were bad. I replaced them with two from Radio Shack which were 35V. The only problem with them was that they were bigger in size physically than the original, but they just fit. Powered it up and no smoke so far. Looks real good. The caps cost $3 and change. TV shop wanted $60 to solder in the caps if I took the board to him. Once again for a great job in diagnosing and documenting the problem.

JH

This is really worth trying. It is very simple and straight forward. It took my 13 year old son and I less than a half hour to fix our 37" Polariod. I will never by another Polariod product again but, it great to fix this one. It was well worth the $4.00 in parts I purchased at Fry's. If you are having any second thoughts on trying this repair. Check out the clips on YouTube. It is a very easy process!!! Thanks Stiv0 for taking the time to put this fix onto Fixya.com!!!!!!!!

Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!!!
I am a stay at home mommy that couldn't afford a new tv right now when our **** a roid tv went out on us! I cracked it open with absolutely NO experience and followed the instructions above. I never had even held a solder iron! My hubby thought I couldn't do it!
But, with a little patience and time and about $20 for the parts since I didn't have any of the actual tools to fix it I saved us hundreds of dollars!
I got this fixed in as little as an hour including drive time! YAY

Cheers mate, you are the man. Was looking at spending £650.00 on a new TV, instead spent £2. Many Many thanks

Steve

Add me to the list of people singing praises to you. Wife and I went out shopping for new TV's (looking in the $600.00 range now) Repairman told me $500.00 (including labor) to fix this. (For this price, I'll just buy the brand new one!) Online guy said I could ship him the board and for $70.00 (plus return shipping charges), he'd get it taken care of. Total cost to repair myself: $3.52 @ RadioShack for the Caps and a toal of 30 minuites (including reading article). One thing though - I jumped mine up a tad to a 32V as they were out of the 16s. I noticed that this affects shut-down time too (takes about 4 seconds for these to drain to properly shut-down - blue light stays on the whole time, but eventually it gets there). Going to pickup the right ones Monday when they get their new shipment in, but for now, I cna watch TV again!

Stivo,
You are the man!!!, I have been flipping the breakers for about 2 weeks, (my tv is mounted to the wall and I couldn't get to the plug.) I was progressively going to the box from 2 times up to 8 in a two week period. I knew it was a matter of time before it would no longer work. I came across this site a week ago and it took me that long to work up the courage to try. I am a single mother with absolutely no experience working with electronics, solder, or anything else related to this project. When I told my friends I was going to do it, they laughed and said good luck!. Well Guess what? IT WORKED LIKE A CHARM. I was skeptical as the soldering was a little messy, my eyesight isn't what it used to be. But it worked!!! and I owe you big time. total cost was 21.00 and the guy at Radio shack said it couldn't be done! Shows how much they know!

Thanks alot man. I had to use the 1000uf 35v also thats the smallest that radio shack carried. All in all this was a very simple task to complete. It only took me about 30 min to fix the hardest part was trying to get the black cover to slide into place.Thanks again

I have the Polaroid FLM-3734B, and though I tried this solution, it did nothing.

Well, almost nothing. Before when I'd try to turn it on, the power light would go from red to blue and then nothing further would change that short of unplugging it.

For a little while, after changing those capacitors, it would go blue then back to red (still with no picture or anything else).

The capacitors didn't look like they were bulging to me-- so this was a questionable fix as that might not have been the problem.

But it was very fun to try! Never done anything like that before. I just have a 100 pound, 37" paperweight... sigh.

Polaroid sucks. They tell me I can order a new "brain box" and they'll take my old one back in for trade and $100 credit/refund... but there is absolutely NO guarantee that this will fix the problem!

You are the MAN stivo !! Everyone at home was looking at me as if I had lost it - opening up the TV, buying an iron solder, capacitors, etc. But when the TV actually worked I got an ovation. YESS!!
Thanks for the good deed and helping others without asking anything in return. I know you will be blessed for it.

Thank you so much stiv0, It is like I have a new tv. I have been trying to figure out how to fix this tv for almost 9 months and $15.00 and 20 minutes this afternoon and its done. Thanks again for the fix.

 cliffp6 

Stiv0 you are the man! 1 hour of my time and $12 for parts and a soder gun and Shazammmmm! My TV works again!
Thank you so much for the fix! it saved me $225.00!! (Polariod's quote to fix the unit with refurbished parts... nice!)

Thanks stiv0. I had the same problem on a set I bought at Circuit City (double whammy) 2 years ago. I had an 3-year extended warranty and the warranty company (yes, they're still in business) sent out a local repair service. I told them what the set was doing and they said that was a common problem with that set. They knew what board to order and said they'd be back in a week to install the new board. The next day I got a call from the warranty company letting me know they decided the set was not repairable and they would send me a check for the full purchase price, which they did! In the meantime, I found your excellent post about repairing the set, went to Radio Shack and got the capacitors for a total of $3.18 and this afternoon my set is working like new (probably better).
Thanks again!

Another success story, thanks very much for sharing. Fixed a Samsung 40" LCD as well as this Polaroid, needed 4 caps vs the 2 for this TV.

It's Alive! Worked as described. Hopefully I can get another 2 years+ out of this bad investment. Thank you for the information.

I would buy this man many beers. I am not handy, my father passed on no skills to me in the fix it world. I had never seen a soldering iron and followed these instructions along with a few youtube links and in about 45 minutes my t.v. is working as good as new. Anyone can do this, do not be afraid of the soldering even if you have never done it. I had some problems getting the first capacitor off, I think I pulled too hard with the plyers and there was still some solder there and I tore off the capicator but the negative connector wire stayed. Eventually got the wire off with needle nose plyers and by desoldering a bit more with a desoldering braid. My total cost was about $16 and that included a soldering iron and desoldering braid. Thank you for saving me from buying a new t.v. If you want to know anything about buying a house let me know.

I too had the same problem as most others that have commented...blue light no picture...unplug then plug in...the noise and heat and finally complete failure...never done anything whatsoever with electronics or soldering...but this easy inexpensive repair worked. Cant thank you enough

What an absolute LEGEND.
About to send this off to Polaroid, and pay upwards of $300 in repair bills, when I came across this site, and this post.
$24 dollars for 2 caps, soldering iron, solder and some wick, and my TV is working again.
I cannot thank you enough.
Griff

Yet another success, parts $3.48 after getting a $250 quote on repair. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you . . .

I had this exact problem. I followed stiv0's fix directions, and worked GREAT !!!! Thank you very much stiv0.

StivO your the man !!!!! i was thinking in a new tv already and you save my life, lol i own you a beer man

Thank you so much your a life saver! Polaroid should seriously do something about this tv. My dad works for a company that owned an old Circuit City building and he got to renovate it and there was some stuff left behind and there was 2 Polaroid FLM-3732 tv's that had this same problem one is fixed which is now in my room... and we just have to buy capictators for the other one... thanks alot :)

Thanks to all at Fixya for posting such useful information. Truly a great service to consumers and enthusiasts.
I am going through the same process with this TV, and received the caps today. I ordered them from Parts Express (www.parts-express.com) via Amazon. I bought 1000uf 16V High-Temp caps (http://www.amazon.com/1000uF-High-Temp-Radial-Capacitor/dp/B0002ZP922/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1241653708&sr=8-1) which will be better suited in terms of rating and temperature tolerance. They are also lower profile. I tried to get the same as made by Panasonic via Digikey, but there is a lead time on them that I didn't care to enter into. (10V will only fail again due to the spike when turning the TV off).
Before jumping in deeper, and having read the other fine posts here, a couple of tips:
*Purchase a Anti ESD wriststrap, or at very least, don't perform any of the work while standing on carpet. Static and dust are not friends of electronics. You'll use the strap again, should you ever replace a harddrive, RAM, or video card in your PC...
*Use a very hot soldering iron. The solder used on the PCBs is RoHS Compliant, meaning it's lead-free. It takes quite a bit more heat to get the job done.*Using leaded solder for the repair is fine, since your TV is now a US resident.*
*For removal of thru-hole type caps (the type where the stems go all the way through the PCB, making contacts through several layers), spend an extra buck or so for a solder-******. It looks like a tiny turkey baster or big eye dropper. **** the solder up with it as you melt it. This saves time and reduces the risk of solder splashing over onto other components, causing them to short to each other or internally.
Thanks again to Fixya! With your help, we will defeat the Polaroid Pandemic!

I too had this problem and this solved it! One suggestion I would like to add is that if your solder iron has a large tip Grind, file, or dremel it to a fine point. This helped in both the removal of the old caps as well as with re-soldering in the new ones!
Thanks Stiv0!!!!

Stiv0 you are officially my husband's hero. We bought this piece of junk on black friday in 2006. We experienced the same problems that everyone else has probably a month after the warranty had ran out. First the screen would go blank and we would have to unplug it, wait, and plug it back in in-order for the picture to come back. Then there was the screeching sound coming from the TV and the screen would go blank, and then finally one day nothing. We then went on line to see if we could find out it others had any problems with their sets and boy were were shocked to see a plethera of complains (from that day since we have researched products online and read reviews prior to purchasing anything electronic.) So we drug out the old RCA tube TV and watched that until one day it just died and then we purchased a Phillips LCD and it's been working good thus far. We put the Polaroid in our study and it's been a beautiful decorative item ever since. We contemplated putting it on the trash heap but my husband couldn't bring himself to throw it out because he figured that maybe one day he'd be able to fix it or find a repair shop to that could fix it. As I was sitting in the study this week looking at the TV (blank screen and all) I decided to search the net again to read all of the complaints from people who also bought this piece of ****, all the while fuming and thinking that everyone has had the same thing happen to their TV and Polariod hasn't done and won't do a thing about this defective product they've sold. But then I came across your posting and I read it and then read how everyone else had tried replacing the capacitors as you suggested and were able to get their TV's working again. So I bookmarked the page and I told my husband about it. He was too thrilled and the next day he went to Radio Shack and Fry's to get the parts which I think cost less than $10 all together and 20 minutes later our TV was working like new. And yes we have Cursed Polaroid numerous times and have vowed to never ever buy anything from them again. Thanks a million!!!!!

My husband and I just got finished fixing the tv the way you posted..... IT WORKS!! Thank You sooo very much for posting this solution. We will never buy polaroid again. I found your solution in January of this year but couldn't find the right voltage caps. We finally just got 35v at Radio Shack and figured what do we have to loose, the tv aready doesn't work. Thanks again! The whole family can enjoy the big tv again.

Here is another satisfied polaroid TV user ????, cheers stiv0, two capacitors bought and installed, TV performing brilliant,I only wish and hope that the polaroid company can see what has happened, and comment like the rest of us.We should all get at least a free bottle of beer or a small sum paid to a charity ???, some automobile manufacturers call back there products for servicing when faulty parts have been installed, but i suppose Polaroid are different, anyway thanks again stiv0.

This worked GREAT!! I am very happy with the solution presented. I don't have much experience fixing electronics, and I got it done in 30 to 40 minutes. I have had my tv for nearly 2 years. I have already had to deal with Polaroid to get the replacement parts a year ago. Thankfully it was under waranty at that point so they replace it then for nothing. It took 6 weeks to get it done, however. I picked the capacitors up from Radio Shack yesterday and the lady there commented about how 3 or 4 people in the last week came for the same part for the same tv. Thank you again for a much less expensive solution.

Thank you so much Stivo,I did what you show us and it work perfect,the T.V repair people just tried to rip us off al the time,suppossed to be 500 dllrs and only spend 3
thank you so much

I just want to add my thanks and comments about my experience and I have posted a video of my experience at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-4T-PNaXC8&feature=channel_page . I had been told by the t.v. repair people that I probably needed a new control box and just the part would be over four hundred dollars and then there would be labor on top of that. We had only owned our Polaroid flm-3732 for less than three years and had paid about $950 for it. I was surprised at how many people on the internet were complaining about this t.v.. I was glad to stumble onto the Fixya website and find steveo's instructions. Although others on the website commented that it only took them twenty minutes or an hour or so to repair their sets, that was not my experience. First, I left it unplugged for about 24 hours since I was afraid there may be some residual electricity in the t.v,?? Then, when I actually started working on it, I was at it for most of the day and had to open it up twice. The first capacitors I bought were from Radio Shack and were 35 v but then didn't look right to me as the wires came out from each end rather than just one end. They also looked bigger than the pic. Since they are less that two dollars, I didn't stress taking them back. I found the 16 v right ones at Fry's Electronics. I laid the t.v. down on a couple pillows in my living room. Getting the plastic and metal covers off was pretty easy although the screws are so tiny and my fingers are so big, it was a little awkward. The first set came up with the plastic cover. You have to be careful they don't drop into one of the slots though. When I finally got down to the guts of it, I was a little intimidated but proceeded on. I did accidentally drop the screws that held down the controller board. There was no way I could figure out how to detach the wires on the lower left side of the controller board so I ended up doing all the soldering with the controller board still attached there. The piece of plastic on the back side of the controller board was harder to pull off than I thought it would be but then later, it was even harder to get back on. I used the point of a pencil to try and stretch out the hold just slightly so I could get the plastic back on the peg. The de-soldering took way longer than I had anticipated. My soldering iron was 35-40 watts and not sure if that was hot enough? It took at LEAST thirty minutes just to de-solder and even then, I had to pull pretty hard to get those old capicitors out. Then the holes left by the old capicitors were too small for the wires from the new ones and so I used a push pin to clear the old solder from the holes. Then I soldered the new ones in but I was way to cautious and apparently didn't use enough solder. I was paranoid about everything being so close together though and was afraid of getting too much solder on the board. When I put everything back together and plugged it it, I was worried it would burn the house down and so i took it outside. I was very disappointed when I only got a black screen. Frustrated, I tried to take a nap but was too determined and so I went back at it and opened it up again and re-soldered all the points of the capacitors. This time, when I put it back together and plugged it in, I was amazed that when I got picture. I was like a miracle or something. Besides steveo's original instructions, I found the comments of others very helpful too. Thanks to all! 

Unfortunately this didn't work for me, my capacitors were blown though, guessing I couldnt solder it correctly. now I get a blinking red light on the circuit board, next to it it reads (+/-) anybody know what this means or what I should try?

Buy a beer for Stiv0, just returned from a business trip and the wife goes the LCD IS

Just finished fixing the same problem on a friends TV. Kids are putting it through a stress test now playing playstation. Total time maybe 30-40 minutes. Cost a little over $7. Thank you Stiv0.

This site rocks

I have a Polaroid TLA-04011C 40" LCD.It had the same problem as everyone else.when you plugged it in the blue and red leds would alternate,but the tv would'nt come on unless you unplugged it for a while...then maybe it would come on for 5 to 10 minutes.I tried the cap-fix.That did'nt work so I replaced the power control board with a new one from (shopjimmy.com)$152.When that did'nt work I went to JustAsk.com and told them my problem.They're solution was to replace the power control board,or have it fixed by a professional(replacing caps,or MosFets.Which made me investigate the components on the board.Apparently there are several MosFets on the board,to inspect them I removed the 5 screw aluminum plate from the right side of the board.I then plugged the TV in so I could hear where the popping sound was coming from,guess what no popping sound,the tv came on and worked like it did the day I bought it.What me and the (Flat panel guru)came up with is the board had a short in it direct from the factory.Eliminating the plate eliminated the short,thus allowing the TV to work properly....Crazy huh?..I replaced the back panels and remounted my tv to the wall and it's worked perfect for the last week.He told me that this could work for weeks,months,or even years,and leaving the aluminum plate off the board would not hurt the tv.So long story short ...try removing the aluminum plate from the right side of the power control board.It has 5 screws that hold it to 3 rails on the board.Take that off and close the tv back up.Be sure you unplug the set before you do anything.....I hope this helps.

Thanks stiv0,

I'm an electrician but not a TV repairman (I work on things that go boom), so I figured what the heck...
30 minutes later and $3.15 well spent at Radio Shack, my TV is working like a champ!
I ended up using 35WVDC 1,000uf capacitors.
People might want to know that when prying up the vented cover, there are four catch tabs on the sides of the cover. If you use a common screwdriver or butter knife to slightly bend the cover sides slightly inward, your tabs won't break. It's not a big deal if they do break, because the screws secure the cover well.
Thanks again, and oh yeah, I will never buy a Polarhemorrhoid (It's correct, I spell checked it) product again!

MSgt Nukembig, USAF

I followed your instructions on repairing my two year old piece of sh...... 20 minutes later my t.v. worked again. It was simple and very inexpensive. Thanks a lot for the nearly freen t.v. repair.

Hi Stiv0,

I did this last weekend with my Polariod and it worked like a charm! I don't have much soldering experience but doing this is not difficult. I truly want to thank you. Alot of people would take it to the shop and be charged hundreds of dollars for this small problem. I called a shop previously to ask what the labor would be and he told me HDTVs are really not worth fixing. (?)
Anyway I have a question for the panel: this is my second polariod of the same model and the first time (had replaced on warranty) I connected my output from my conputer (VGA) to this TV. Apparently, the TV couldn't take it, the sound went out and the TV 'died'. No light nr nothing. does anyone else use a VGA connection with this TV? Does it work fine or do you have any problems? I don't want to use VGA with this TV because of that last experience.

And thanks and STIV0 you are the man!!!!!!!!!!!!

cgmurphy1924

Thanks stev0. Fixed my free tv for 4.00. I have seen several comments about different models, and my particular modes is FLM-3232 and this worked great for me!!!!

It happens because when you turn you TV off the voltage callapses and spikes. Itis higher than the capacitor is rated. to keep this from happening again put the same value cap with a higher volt rating. Use 20v or 25v caps. It is ok to use a higher volt rating cap . It will not damage anything.

Has anyone stopped to figure out why the old caps failed to begin with? That power supply gets HOT! The passive cooling they have in place sucks, I am going to try and figure out a way to increase ventilation so the replacement caps won't fail too...

Alas, my set is also dead but slighly different. I have no LED light at all, no blue, no red; and once it died it has never responded in any way - just dead. Checked fuse- its ok, still dead. I took it apart and replaced the capacitors as instructed... Still dead. I appreciate the help, it may have worked, just not for me. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears! I'll try calling Polaroid for the pleasure of the misery. Mine was 27 months young. Curses to polaroid!

Thanks add me to another satisfied customer this site is awesome!

Will the same procedure work for a different model? I have the 40" polaroid tla-04011c. I opened up the back and mines does not look the same as the pic you posted.

YOU ARE AWESOME. I followed the instructions carefully and was able to fix my tv in less than an hour and supplies cost was approx. $10.00-you saved me lots of money. My tv is less than 3 years old and i really did not want to go and buy another one.

Mine died the same death last year I had it for 14 months, I called them and they offered to send a refurbished one for 300 dollars I would have to send the broken one back, I gave them a fake name and when they followed up I told them I had already sent it. They sent me another one and I never sent the old one back!! haha FK them! so I now fixed the broken one and basically ended up getting another tv for 300 not too bad :) Thanks!!!

Dude you rock I fixed my Polaroid or better yet Polar-Avoid TV for under $30.00. I was unable to get the 1000uF 10V or 16V in my area but I was able to use some 1000uF 35V which works perfectly. The TV sounds better than it did new and it goes from being completely off to full on in only 9 seconds, about. With the Polaroid dying like it did I used that as an excuse to buy a new 52 inch Sony Bravia and a Sony Surround Sound system with a 5 Disk DVD changer for my house without any argument from my wife. The next day I fixed the Polaroid and I now have it mounted in my office.

STIV0!!!! YOU ARE THE MAN!!!! Listen bro, I just want to thank you for saving me $200. For the last couple of weeks, my 37" Polaroid blue light indicating the TV was on lit but I wasn't getting picture or sound. I would have to plug it out and back in several times before it came on. I became so frustrated I started puching it before I decided to do some research and then I ran into your easy-to-follow directions to get the caps changed. I drove to my local radio shack (got the 1000uf 35v, closest one) for $1.52 each. Came home changed them and my TV works fine. Some companies were charging $150 - $300 to do this which cost me under 5 bucks and 15 minutes of my time. I'll never buy another Polariod pruduct but you saved my sanity with this one. Thanks again.

I just tried everything and it powers up fine with the Polaroid logo, but my picture is basically in blue and white. This was the final problem I was having before it stopped turning it on at all. Any suggestions?

I want to thank you, very much. you sound like me fix the neighborhood computer just because at no charge, we are little fish in this big ocean you know what I mean. But Polaroid is not forgiving.

I had a Polaroid FLM3732 for the 2.5 years, it has been worry free. Last week, power it on, nothing will happen, but if I unplug the power cord, power it back up, it will work but it will make a hissing sound for about 30 seconds before going away, and it is getting worse. I searched the web for this problem, and found your post. Decided to open the cover of the TV and see if the caps are bad. Surely enough, those two caps were bad. I went to the local radio shack, purchased the 2 of the 1000uF capacitor with 35V limit, swapped it, fixed it in less than 30 minutes. Thank you for your detailed remedy.

stiv0

I owe you a steak dinner!!! Followed your directions, had my brother in law do the soldering and I have a TV !
Polaroid will never get any of my money ever again!!!


Thanks !!!!

rls62

This guide was a lifesaver. I didn't wear the bracelet, didn't use the right caps, and did the world's worst soldering job, and IT WORKED! I finally have my steaming pile back! Screw Polaroid...but man I'm glad I got my set working again. Thanks a million!

Thank you! As a former copier tech that has experience with board level repairs it was a snap. FLM 3732 piece of s!*t.

HOLY **** my mom was gonna throw the tv out and said I could have it if i could fix it. Just bought the parts yesterday 6 bucks with the desoldering copper braid did it in 10 min and now i have a HDTV sittin in my bedroom. Thanks so much this is awesome!

Thank you stiv0.

I repaired my father-in-law's 22'' Polaroid tv which was only 15 months old using your instructions. I replaced around 5 capacitors in total that weren't right. I have seen Polaroid in a whole new light - seems they're using cheap Chinese parts to assemble tvs that will be lucky to last 2 years. The fix-it forums are littered with angry customers who have experienced similar problems. I used Panasonic capacitors - which are arguably the best on the market. Hopefully he'll get a few more years from it - as he simply couldn't afford to replace it.

Great Great job Stivo , i fixed my tv for about $11 and ten minutes worth of work. this post is awesome and really a life saver. we were already looking to purchase a new unit. i cant thank you enough.the local repair shop had quoted me a 150 service fee plus parts,lol i bet they use the same repair procedures.

$3.18 for parts
$7.99 for soldering kit
10 minutes of work
about $1500 saved !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Thank you thank you!!! I am a 40 year old single mom. I've never done anything like this before and was so depressed when my TV stopped working about a week ago. Buying that TV was a big deal for me and I couldn't believe I was f***d-- being out of warranty and purchasing from Circuit City which is now gone...I thought I had no recourse. I didn't have the $ for repair or replacement..so I decided.."what do I have to lose?"
Your solution was brilliant. Took me a week to work up the confidence, I watched soldering tutorials on youtube and went through the steps...$30 later my TV is better than ever.
Screw Polaroid! Thanks to you my 14 year old son is even really impressed with his girly girl Mom!!!

I had a similar problem - my speakers started beeping whenever the TV was turned on (Polaroid TLU-03711C). Your guide really helped me out and saved me so much money - it only cost me £1 to fix!
I wrote my own guide about how to change the capacitors relating to the speakers. You can download, view and print it here http://www.scribd.com/doc/13515584/Polaroid-TLU03711C-Replace-Capacitors-Guide.

Thank you so much. I'm a 15 year old who thought i broke it with my xbox but after reading and doing your easy steps it worked. Way to go man. 

Parts cost under 4 bucks. Worked like a charm!
Thanks alot

Thanks for posting this
Our TV crapped out on us after a year and a half (maybe two) and this fixed the problem.
A side note, our burned out capacitors were a little rusty or brown on the very top. Thats a good way to see if your capacitors are the real problem.

Thanks a million, it worked great. Took about an hour. I did have to use a 1000uf 35v capacitor, that is all my local radio shack had. So far so good.

Same damn problem with a Polaroid 3732. Losing picture and sound after a few minutes of watching, unplug, replug, few more minutes--nada. Your fix was GREAT!! Cost me around $30.00, took a few minutes to fix...Presto!! Again, THANK-YOU!!!!!!

I hope Stiv0 still checks these boards because his post has saved my family...and OBVIOUSLY HUNDREDS of others!!...Soooo much time, money and hassle and we want to THANK HIM from the bottom of our hearts (and wallets!).
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for taking the time to take pictures and describe In Such Great Detail the step-by-step procedure in fixing our Polaroid TV.  AWESOME!!
I described your post to the guy at Radio Shack and He Thanks You Too!! :)
God Bless people like Stiv0.  Hey, Stiv0...have you ever thought about running for office?!?  
The Moran Family

Well I have had the same problems as everyone else and my cousin had a samsung that had the same problem and fixed it with capacitors. the only difference is now mine wont go off the red light and the capacitors seem to not be damaged but one is extremely lose. do you think it could still be the same problem. guess its worth a try for 5-10 bucks.

stiv0,
Thanks for the tip. This worked perfectly for us. I can't take credit for doing the actual repairs, I handed that off to my Marine Sgt. son, who just happens to be home on leave, but who also happens to be an Aviation Electronics Calibrator. Says he does this type of repair everyday just on a 'little more sophisticated' gear. lol. Parts (caps) costs less than $3 !!!!! at Radio Shack. This tv is used primarlily by my wife and she is very pleased as am I that it is working again. Thank you so much for your tip. Saved us big bucks.

John

Still CANNOT BELIEVE IT! My husband and I actually worked together on this. We were so anxious to test the theory but started last night and Radio Shack was closed. Found the part today in electronics store 16v not the 10v. Followed the instructions above and it was so simple when you are actually doing it (30 minutes top including remounting on the wall). At first we were a afraid and realized nothing to be afraid of TV was not working anyway what harm could it be to try. THANK YOU!!!! It was my mothers TV and she offered to pay for parts - we told her it was our gift no need to repay and finally admitted we spent $4.27 to fix it.
THANKS SO MUCH - I would have never have guessed it could be done by us!!!

same problem as everyone else was about to buy me a new one and i didnt have anything to fix it so went out to buy everything
2 1000m16v $1.88ea
solder iron $5.99
rosin core $3.49
hey $12.00 dollars hell of a deal thanks to you wish there was a way we could all give you something in return because after all you saved us all hundreds thanks again it works great now
THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS THANKS :) :):):):):):)

This worked perfectly for me. My FLM-3732 is back to operating perfectly!!! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!! I had to repace the caps with 1000uf - 35V caps. That was all they had. Man is it nice to fix it for just $3.44 for the caps at Radio Shack.

Thank you so much Stiv0. I had the exact same problem as you had, and your solution fixed my tv. I couldn't find any of the 1000uf 10v or 16v capacitors, but according to the other threads I purchased the 35v. I had my brother put them in for me, and the TV works perfect. The sound is better and the picture is a little brighter. I've had this TV, which is the same exact model as yours except that it was a December 2006 model for a little over 2 years before it started having problems. First the remote quick responding to the tv. Had to unplug it then plug it back in before it worked again. After about two weeks of this, go to turn on the tv and nothing but a blue light. Had to unplug then replug it back in to get it to come on. This only worked for a couple of days, until it finally quit working at all. Still got the blue light but that was it. I don't have the money to go out and purchase another one of these tv's, so thanks. You saved me a bunch of money. I can't imagine having to go back to my 20 yr old Sanyo tube tv (which still works without ever having a problem by the way.) This new Hi Def stuff has spoiled me.

Just like thonderz succeeded with fixing his Polaroid 37" LCD model TLU-03711C (comment 46) due to your procedure, I also fixed my TLU-03711C.

Soldering iron: 7 GBP
2m Lead Free Solder: 3.45 GBP
2 x 1000uF 16V capacitors: 1 GBP
Total cost: 11.45 GBP

My wife did the soldering since she used had previous experience working for Alps, Yamaha, Hays and Chemigraphic Limited (she is now just a fat old housewife). :D

Cheers bud

Jim

I purchased my Polaroid FLM-373B at Walmart in November 2006. It was manufactured in September of 2006. It started having problems about a week ago, exhibiting all the same symptoms as mentioned by others. I was about to go out and buy a new HDTV when I found your fix on Fixya.com! Replaced the two capacitors and now watching HDTV again. Thank you! I wonder how many of these TV’s have cost people big money in repairs and/or replacement. Or how many of the units have been trashed for lack of knowing about this $3 repair.

This fix worked like a charm. I've never soldered/desoldered before but it wasn't that hard. desoldering was a snap using a desoldering braid though soldering was a little more tricky since I was having trouble getting the solder to come off the iron and on to the contact but it worked out. if you have no expertise in solering or repairing electronics don't assume this job is above you and just try it. it really wasn't that hard.

I saw a bunch of people used 35V caps and a guy at a repair shop told me not to use higher voltage caps because it can damage the circuit board or shorten the life of the set. so I ordered the 10V caps off the internet. had to wait a little longer to fix it but it will probably be better in the long run.

Stiv0,

Saved my A$$ on this one, had my TV for right at a year when it started acting up. I started looking around trying to find a solution because Polaroid told me $300 or $600 for replacement. Thanks to you I found these exact ones on an old motherboard in my garage. Fix for me was free.Took me all off about 15 minutes to have it working again. My TV was down for that long once I found the capacitors. Well for all those having trouble finding the capacitor here is a web link to someone that has them and price is good.

Thanks again

http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail?name=493-1746-ND

Stivo, you and Google are wonderful. Thanks to your instructions, my tv was down for only 12 hours. It took more time to get around to fixing it than it did to actually do the fix. Add me to your long list of supporters.

Thanks so much Fix worked great Tv has sitting in garage as a oversize paper wieght, now I cant believe we are watching it once again great job Stivo

Thank you stiv0. You have saved another family a lot of money. My husband replaced the caps you suggested and it worked. Thanks for sharing your knowlege with the rest of the world!! THANK YOU AGAIN!!!

Count me in owing you dinner! If this keeps up all your meals will be free. Same tv, mine was manufactured in May 2006, purchased from Wal-Mart. Same problem, 3 capacitors ballooned and thanks to you the same fix. I did not contact the vendor, found the fix on Google right off the bat. I went both Radio Shacks in town here and ended up with 3 of the 35v caps which cost $1.59 ea. repair took about 20 minutes once I sat down to it. It's back on the wall working fine. We'll see how long it lasts. Once again thank you very much.

Just wanted to say thank your for the info on how to fix my wonderful tv. It worked like a charm. It cost me 8.51 for the parts because I bought 5 just in case. Then 30.00 for the labor to fix it. So,now I have my tv back. Now all I can ask is that each and every person that reads this now post a note to everyone that they know on your facebook, my-space and to all of your email friends out there and tell them to please pass it on........ That way we can all get out to everyone how Polaroid it trying to rip everyone off by selling crappy merchandise and then trying to rip the public off with thier solution to fix it. And everyone of you on here needs to report this to the BBB. Lets make them suffer ripping us off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is there anyone in the Seattle / Des Moines area who can help me with this I am concerned I am doing to mess something up! Please contact me at Badu72@msn.com

This fix also worked for me.  It was the same model and same production month November 2006.  Thanks again for the help.

You are da BOMB !!!!
No experience soldering, bought the stuff at Radio Shack.
The TV repair shop wanted $200 just for the parts!!! said we'd have to replace the entire board, cause mfrs. update components(b.s.).

Thanks again....Boot

I too have encountered the same problem with the same tv. My tv would get a blue light but no picture or sound.I called polaroid and was put through a multisep diagnostic check to see if it was the control box or the lcd lamp. They determined it was the contol box. They wanted $225 for the part and would credit me $100.00 upton return of defective part. Told me that I might receive a rebuilt box.
I decided to check the web for the part. I found this web site and couldn't believe how many other people had the same problem. I went to radio shack and got the 1000uf 35v capacitors. I was nervous with the cap. because they were alot bigger and didn't quite fit the board. I made them fit and to my surprise the tv started right up when I plugged it in. This was huge ! Thanks so much! My husband didn't know just what I am capable of.

Thank a million, same story, $7.50 TV works great!!!!!!!!!

Worked like a charm!!! Thanks SOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!

Stiv0:
Thank you. This problem could not have come at a worse financial time for me. Polaroid wanted $500.00 for the part ($250.00) and $250.00 to have someone come out to my apartment to see if it could be fixed. They would not even guarantee that the TV could be fixed. Only $100.00 of the minimum $500.00 could be refunded to me if the TV couldn't be fixed. This set is only 2 months out of warranty!
I followed your very easy instructions and fixed the set for $3.40. That right! Three dollars and forty cents! However, I did have to buy a soldering kit for $8.00. I never soldered before and was nervious about it. But found it was easy. Now, I have a new soldering skill and resolve to NEVER be ripped off by the cost of service again.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Tom

thanks a bunch.....my tv started making the buzzing sound and ive had it for 14 months. the first info i found on it is that it was just going to get worse and finally fail completely.....i am having fiancial trouble like the vast majority of this country and my tv was my excape through my xbox360.......long story short i went to radio shack, followed directions, and soddered for the first time........it works wonderfully,........you are th man thanks.....

We got this TV about a year ago, and in the last two days it started to not turn on, even though the power light was green. So I would unplug the tv and it would turn on, but with a loud buzzing noise that would slowly go away. Over the last 4 months there would be these strange boxes of numbers and letters that would pop up as well but always went away after a few seconds. I figured it was our cable service and didnt think much of it. Clearly its been the tv all along. SO, I followed the instructions as best I could. I could only find one 1000/35v Electrolytic capacitor, that was larger in diameter that the one on the tv, and I also got two 470/35v Electrolyltic capacators because that is all they had. So, I used the 1000 one and a 470 one. The part I missed was the process for soldering... I had no direction on this, and just folded the metal down to the board. So, put it all back together and sure enough the tv turns on!! Now the color is all weird and wont show reds or green very well, so I'm sure that has something to do with the soldering aspect or the difference in what I bought? I dont know, I still need help on this to make it right. Help!
Stacey
srt78@msn.com

HEY stiv0 and everyone thanks for this info... Yes this fixed my tv also.. Didn't take long at all. I would say to all.. Follow Blake's instructions (comment #114) very close and you will have no trouble. ALSO I mail ordered my caps from Digi-Key in MN. they are on the net at www.digikey.com or call there order line @ 1-800-344-4539 they also provide tech support for your order. So that being said I orderd a ten pack (just in case) of part no. P5555-ND cap 1000uf 35v Also de-solder braid part no. EB1108-ND total cost before shippping $10. USD, I'm told their caps are better quality than from the shack..?? Their tech guy helped me make to correct choice of caps.

terry~

P.S. I barrowed a wrist band ,, for free!!

Thanks a million. (more like $750)
I really thought I was going to have to buy another TV. Replaced all 3 capacitors with 1000uF 35V and it works great. I had plugged head phones into the TV and ran the audio through our stereo to avoid the buzz. Now its gone. Polaroid owes StivO a couple hundred grand at least for all of the TVs he has helped fix.

Same exact story as all the others. Very thankful to you!!!! It's been a tough year for us financially and the tv going out seemed to be icing on the cake. So nice that you put the time into sharing this info! We used 25v caps (all we could find) and our TV is working great! So are awesome dude!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You are awesome! My stupid tv sat collecting dust for 6 months and I almost spent my income tax sending my POS tv off to get fixed, but instead I spent $12.00, soldered for the first time and turned in to a hero. I can't thankyou enough!

I have a FLM-3732 Polaroid. The control box has gone out and we got it fix with a cost ($225 with a 90 day warrenty from Polaroid) The next day we started to get a humming noise from the tv that has gotten worse with every week. By the way this all started the beginning of Jan. 2009. It is now Feb. 12, 2009 and Polaroid now says they cannot fix the problem and will only refund us $100. We have bent over backwards doing everything Polaroid has told us to do and know nothing. I have a $1000 decoration in my livingroom. If anyone has any suggestion on how I can fix this problem or anything else we can try please let me know. Thanks

Ok guys and gals...Feb 10, 2009, going down to the Radio Shack to get these capacitors. Stiv0, you are already a great person in my opinion from the help and savings that you have provided to numerous people in such a short time by using the internet for good...supplying people to information so they can make informed choices. I am about the go buy my solution (fingers crossed) but I wanted to tell you either way it turns out...you're one helluva person. So thanks...I'll report back my findings...little nervous about chagning a 10V part with a 35V part...but I have faith, it seems to have worked on the 37"s so far.

My tv works like a charm again (at least as well as it has ever worked) after this quick & easy fix. Thanks Stivo!

Polaroid should take some responsiblity for such a widespread problem. I too will never buy anything Polaroid again.

I have a TV again......this was an easy fix, the hardest part was trying to locate some new caps. Took about 45 minutes to remove and replace the old caps, 3 dollars vs buying a new tv, you saved me a lot of money man, thanks a million.

Super job Stive0,
Followed the instructions to the letter, worked perfectly !!!! Subbed the 1000uf 10 volt with 35 volt that's all R Shack had, no problem KOODOO's to you my friend. Took one hour to do the job.
Thanks again...

stiv0....Man, I gotta hand it to ya. I have a TLA-04011C Pola-roid, and it developed the Bluebutton/Black screen problem...shuts off after 8 seconds. Found this fix and even though it's a different model, I figured "what the heck". Pulled the back off, and the power supply is different. But, the things you said to look for, the ease of fixing it encouraged me on. Trip to Radioshack, got the 1000uf 35v caps. Problem, my board has seven or eight caps! And, they're soldered TIGHT onto the board. Figured, what the heck, replace the ones with marker on the top (from the factory like that). Put it back together, musta got lucky....TV is working again! Thanks man! Got to watch a pretty good super bowl on the 40" LCD inch screen instead of a an older/smaller tv. Even if this thing dies tomorrow, I have the insane pleasure of having successfully fixing it myself.

Thanks Man!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!  As soon as I got the back off, I could see the pregnant caps.  I also had to use the 16v caps as no one had 10v.  The TV is back and my kids are thrilled to death.  This is an EASY fix for anyone with the most basic knowledge of soldering.  The hardest part was finding the new capacitors.  Thanks again!

You can most definitely add my name to the thank you ever so much list. Its a shame there are not more people like yourself in the world. Your information has been most grateful received and most helpful. i will be recommending this information to others. Many thanks Mart

Honestly this works.

My local tv repair store wanted £125 in order to do this (4 bits of solder, joke) and it only cost me £5.20 what a difference in price and a massive saving, which is needed at this present time.

Honestly i can not thank you enough.

i did exactly as you said, and now i have a 1000.00 tv working again, i was going to throw it in the trash, but thanks to your help, its now working, alsome job, glad to know there are some real honest good people in this world that can help others, i hope you are rewarded for you help. thanks again

You can add my name to the list of thankful readers. In today's disposable society, the natual impulse would be to throw away something that is broken and buy a new one. But because someone like stiv0 took the time to post helpful information like this, you can see the proof that not everything that is broken is worthless. With a little research, time, and money (in my case, less than $15), I was able to perform the same procedure to fix my TV. Thank you for sharing this information, stiv0. The internet is not all bad!

Thank you so much! My TV's been dead for about a month now after a power outage we had. Same problem everyone here is having, blue light comes on but no picture or sound. I opened it up, the same two capacitors were blown as in the picture. A trip to Radio Shack and $16 later, and now I have a TV again, plus a soldering tool and some solder in case I see anyone throwing away their Polaroid. I've never soldered anything in my life until today and it was a piece of cake. Thank you so much for taking the time to post this with pictures.

Hey stivo glad i found ur link. followed your instructions and it worked great.never solder before and it was easy. thanks alot.

Stivo, great fix, worked like a charm. My old capacitors were bulging top and bottom and had grey goo leaking out. Local electronics store had the right spec caps that are about 50% bigger size so I expect them to last longer. Total cost $2. Thanks for the very clear instructions.

I followed your advice about replacing the caps and it worked like perfect. The television sat in my closet for nearly a year. When we moved we decided to bring it with us (as a paper weight) just in case it decided to work again on it's own. I stumbled across this website and thought what the hell? I can't make it any worsethan what it is. So, I decided to take a trip to our local Radio Shack. I bought the following.

2721032 1000MFD 35VDC PC
1 @ 1.59 2 3.18

6400002 1.5oz SOLDER .062 1 3.49


6402060 DESOLDERING IRON 1 10.99

Total: 18.90

30 Minutes later and my television was running like new. Thank you for sharing your information with the rest of us. I truly thought that I was going to have to throw the TV away and accept the fact that I bought a piece of junk. Your instructions are flawless and on point. The bold numbers above are the part numbers for the parts that I obtained at Radio Shack for those who are interested.

Thank you for the pictures and advice. My TV is working like new! I decided to give this a try and still can't believe it works... you are a true angel of mercy.
Thanks sooooooooooooo much!!!!!!!!!!

I sent my control box UPS to Mike@mikecamagna.com. he sent it back fixed and I payed him through Paypal $70.00.

It works!

If you don't want to do it yourself contact him. 2 week turn around.

Thanks Mike!

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Stiv0, you have saved the day!

Hey stiv0, I had the same problem with my polaroid tv. I followed your walkthrough, but found that my capacitors look and feel fine still. Are the circled capacitors in your guide the only possible capacitors that would fail in this situation? Or am I not examining them closely enough as I am expecting them to be severely bulged out like an air conditioning capacitor?

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I actually found the 10v cap at a TV repair place when I couldn't find one at Radio Shack, and in 15 minutes we had it fixed. We had to go to the menu and return the TV to default condition to get a clear picture, but that was minor deal. Last Polariod I ever buy!!!!

If their failure rate is better than industry standards, their customer service still stinks.

Back up and running in about an hour! And that's only because I never soldered prior to this. It was very easy - actually kind of fun. My wife and I laughed and cheered each other on. Thank you so much for saving our TV. Our TV had all the same symptoms - a squealing sound when the volume was turned higher than 15, problems with the picture, problems with the sound, never coming on, then not shutting off, etc etc.
As I mentioned, I never soldered in my life. For those of you out there who think they can't follow this man's directions and fix your tv yourself, believe me, you can!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

I'VE

Gracias, por sus comentarios. Tengo una TV LCD FLM373B con el mismo problema. Navegando en internet encontré este caso. Nunca me imaginé que sea tan sencillo ya que en Polaroid no me dieron asesoría, solo se limitan a mandar la PCB Power, o les envíes la dañada, para reparación, devolviendola ya reparada, con la pérdida de tiempo y elevación del costo de reparación.

Muchos saludos......

Thank you so much for the advice and great directions. The caps and soldering tool cost $12 at Radio Shack and less than an hour my set was up and running. At first there was no volume but I turned it off and on again and everything is working. I hope it last. I also noticed one of the plastic connectors was not installed correctly and started to melt. I had a hard time putting it back together. I will never buy Polaroid again after seeing all these defects and nothing done about it! Again thank you so much for your help.

Great job for this fix. It was exactly like you said and it as wasn't as hard to fix as i thought it was. Thank you

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

My TV has been making a buzzing sound that has been getting worse and worse for months, it started to affect the picture too. But after reading this i checked the capacitors and they were bulged on top and so after a couple minutes on ebay i bourght the capacitors and solder for under a fiver and fixed the TV in about half an hour.

I have a Polaroid TLU-03711C 37" HD LCD Television which is similar to the Polaroid flm-373b LCD Television and this fix worked perfectly.

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
The internet is good for some things!!
I am proud to say that I fixed out Polaroid TV,
I have never soldered anything in my life, I appreciate your help and my wallet thanks
you also, I hope it lasts awhile!!!

Man, You the Man you iz the Man....fix the Pz of Shiet TV with the 1000uf 16v Caps it works good the hard part was taking the plastic off of the board. How long will this last? I got extra caps just in case. Pol_avoid should just stick with cameras....and go out of business with the rest of the economy......Singhayz!!!!

Just found this article, found a couple of caps in some junk parts I had, switched them out, and now have a working TV again. Thanks!

Can't wait to get off work, go to Radio Shack, and fix my T.V. When I came across this article, I LMAO. As a tech, I've been dealing with these crappy capacitors for about 4 years in Dell and Lenovo PC's. Unlike polaroid, Dell and Lenovo have declared it a known issue and extended the warranties. While Dell stopped replacing their boards about a year ago (I personally replaced about 75 of them), Lenovo is still honoring the replacements. Curious that no one has gone after polaroid.....

Thank you very much, we had the same problem and whoooolaaaaa, it's fix. Thank you very much.

stivo...you are the dude!!!! I hav had my Polaroid TV for 2 years now and it just crapped out without warning. The unplug trick worked for one day only and the next day I had no picture or sound. I googled my tv and found this site and your solution. I spent $20.51 to get everything I needed to do the repairs. My cousin is more electronically sound than I, so he did the repairs while I watched. Took him 30 minutes tops to repair the tv and it works like new. Just in time for the football game that I had friends coming over to watch. THANKS!!!!! Saved the game and saved me the money for a new tv as I had no intention of giving Polaroid any more money.

Thank You, Thank You and my Mother Thanks You!!! Like everyone else my 37 Inch TV blue light would come on but nothing happened. Funny thing I just got a 15 inch and on the same day it did the same thing. Took it back and Never Again will I get another one. But got my caps and followed along and my mothers TV is up and running. This place is the best for finding ways to Fix rather buy new. Happy Holidays. Mark

I had the same problems as everyone else. Set was about 15 moths old and then unplyug and plug worked for a while. I found these setps and decided to try today. Trip to RadioShack for caps and soldering iron, and back in business in kless than an hour including the trip.

Thanks a bunch. Mybe I can get a few months out of it before I scrap this piece of %&*#...

Polaroid Sucks...

Thanks for the easy to follow instructions as I had never soldered electronics before, but this was a easy as pie...

your awsome. saved me $300. thanks

stiv0, I think you be president.  Fix was easy.  Thanks a million

Six months ago my Polaroid 373b failed after 13 months of use. I discovered the "Plug/Unplug" method and it worked for about 30 days. I went out and bought a Sanyo 42" LCD and put the Polaroid back in the box. I was about to give it to the Goodwill store when I ran across this article. I thought to myself "WTH" and went and bought 2 1000uf 25v caps. It took me about 45 mins total and the TV works like NEW again. It is a nice to have a 37" LCD in the basement that cost me $5.45 in parts and 45 mins of my time. KUDOS to the author. This fix DOES WORK!!

A few years ago my brother and I purchased my parents a computer. It has taken way to long for them to start using it, but recently they have begun using it more and more. Today my mother called me because she looked up a problem with this particular tv and having no idea what to do was able to figure it out thanks to you. We appreciate you sharing your knowledge with everyone and helping many people save money.

I tried to replace the capacitors for the 32'' polaroid tda-03211c with 2 1000uf 35v capacitors..and still no luck my tv still wont turn on..not even a blue light..just a red light the whole time..im screwed now i have the option of getting a repair man to fix it for 300 or getting polaroid to fix it for 300 or throw it out..any suggestions? i used a anti shock wrist strap while working on it

Hey I have to admit that I was Hot after my Polaroid FLM 3732 went down. I bought it from Circuit City around November 2006. I guess compared to some of the comments, I should be thankful it lasted two years. I spent around $1200 and for two years of service, That is simply is unacceptable. I did like most above by going to Radio shack and got 2-35 volt caps because they were sold out of the 16 volt probably because of other polaroid disappointments. I simply followed the instructions and presto. It is back on. I want to thank you for this website and for faith in the good of the common man. Sorry Polaroid ..this was a chance to restore faith in quality customer service. I am with the others in vowing to never buy a polaroid product. My total cost was $ 30, Saving at a mininium of $ 200. Circuit city ... I include you in this category as well...

Up and running again. Polariod was a bit more helpful in my case but only a little. They have sent me 3 different control boxes, all of which bit the dust. (No charges for any of them) This last time I came across this post and decided to try it and see if the fix last better then getting another POS control box from Polaroid. The woman I spoke with on the phone said that they put the wrong size caps in some of the boxes. Seems like there must be a lot of them with wrong caps due to this happening to me to often. Thanks stiv0 for taking the time to help us out here. Looks like you have made a lot of friends here, me included. Everytime we turn our Polaroid LCD's on and we see a picture, we can all say within ourselves "THANKS stivO!!!!!!!!!!!! Greatly appreciated.

Hey Stiv0,
My landlord had his 3732 stop working last week, he was going to have a repairman come out like last time but I told him to wait a few days while I take a look at it. I found your post, fixed his TV, and had two weeks shaved off my rent. It could have not come at a better time since I was laid off about two months ago and money is tight.
I have since found out that he has 4 more of these in his house, all bought from CC at the same time so I am just waiting for the other 3 to fail soon... and they will.

I am donating two Christmas hams to the local food pantry under the name stiv0. Thanks for being so generous with your information!

stiv0 I can not thank you enough for this information! It cost me just over $16 since I had to buy a new soldering iron but that's nothing compared to what Polaroid would have charged me. With the time it took me to drive to Radio Shack get the iron, solder wick, and make the repairs I was watching TV again in less than an hour!!! Your my Hero (my Son's too since we just got him a Wii for Christmas)! I still can not believe Polaroid knows this is a problem and is doing nothing about it. Even Microsoft knows of the problems with the XBox 360 and extends their warranty to repair the 360. So if your reading this im sure you can tell from the posts above DONT BUY POLAROID!!!!!!!!!!!!!

stiv0 Thanks again!!!

I have the 32" version, the FLM-323B & just performed this repair last night. I didn't work! Replaced all three capacitors with the same uf & voltage 1000uf 35v, still no power. Any other suggestions?

Man, you are a lifesaver. Followed your instuctions and replaced those 2 caps with the radio shack 1000 uf 35v ones and problem solved. You saved me a lot of money and many others. I will admit I was a bit nervous to do the work myself, so I contacted a friend who did the soldering part for me. Many thanks for the great info.

Stiv0 - You rock! I had the same problem. Polaroid charged me $250 for a new control panel. Which I am sending back to them. The bastards! I followed your directions and my TV is working great. I had never even soldered before and I did it! My cost for capacitors, soldering iron, desoldering braid, and solder was less than $20 from Radio Shack. Thank you for this post! You saved me a boat load of money!

"So shines a good deed in a weary world!" (Willy Wonka) I cannot thank you enough. Spent $26 total for parts and equipment and took me about an hour to fix. TV is working great again. THANK YOU AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

The capacitors in my FLM 3732 say "1000uf 10v." The Radio Shack replacement capacitors are marked "1000uf 35 v dc." Are the RS replacements OK? Are these interchangeable? Please advise.

Stiv0:Thanks a million for posting this tip! I was nervous too, but $3.18 for parts and $10.00 for some supplies and WOWIE! We're back in business! Thank you for your tip to save a thousand dollar paper weight. We bought our polaroid (small spelling for a small minded company) November 2006 and it made it 2 whole years without failing, (probably the record!) but it was progressively getting worse till the time I could not turn it on. The light would turn blue, and then revert to red. It's a 37" like most of the problems, manufactured in June, 2006. I would join a class action suit against this company for (I believe) they knew the crappy workmanship on this set and failing to acknowledging the problem. What would it cost them in repairs compared to the bad advertising they are getting??? Yeah, curse polaroid and their products; and also curse walmart for still selling this brand!!

Hello all! Wow, amazing how many people actually had problems with Polaroid TV's! My wife and I had ours for 2.5 years and this noise started buzzing when the TV turned on! Man, after speaking with Polaroid and getting the run around they said that it was...you guessed it, the control box! However they said they would send me the box for $225 and send a technician out. I than realized that if it is not the control box that I would be out the money for the television! Yes, they would not refund the money ven though it is THEIR manufactured problem.

Now the fix here sounds complicated but I could and will try it soon. Has anyone experienced the buzzing noise in addition to their screen turning off? Did Polaroid mention anything about a panel' going out! Thanks

((applause)) - thanks much stiv0 - this is an absolutely fantastic set of instructions. I bought my 3732 37" from Circuit City in February 2007 and a week or so ago (just before Thanksgiving) it started to do the "blue light but no Polaroid logo" thing. I thought it may be a dodgy power supply, but after searching on the web and finding your info, I went straight out to RadioShack and bought 2 of the 1000uf 35v caps (mentioned in an earlier post), a reel of desolder braid, a $7 soldering iron kit and splashed out $10 on an antistatic wristband *just in case.

Within 30 minutes, I had replaced the caps, turned on the TV and saw the lovely (??) Polaroid logo.

It's plugged back in to the Comcast box and the AV switching unit now and everything is fine :-)

You've restored my faith in human kind. Thanks again man.

Stiv0,
Thanks for posting the "fix" for the Polaroid FLM 3201. It worked! I included my kids in the repair experience and they are now wiser for it. You did a good thing here and we appreciate you.
- The Brandons

Mine didnt work... :(

I have gone round and round with this tv. about 6 months ago, it turned off and never came back on. the blue light would come on but thas it. it was under warranty and polaroid had it fixed for me. it worked for about 2 months and then half the screen got distorted. They fixed it again(seems like that control box is their solution for everything). worked for about a month and a distorted bar was across the screen so they sent another(#3) and had it fixed but this time, it didnt fix it at all. in fact, then and there, it was back at step one... blue light comes on but no sound or picture so they sent yet another control box, still same outcome. it never came on but i got the blue light. They now refuse to help me. I just tried to replace the caps, i bought the wrong ones, they were only 420 uf so i went back and got the 1000 uf 35v and replaced them but still no luck. i guess i got a 700 dollar paperweight. thanks for the info tho and its really cool that a lot of people were able to repair their tv's... if anyone has any more advice email me if you dont mind at plumcrazebody@aol.com

keith

Same TV... Today started exhibiting the same symptoms I've seen others post (blue light comes on but nothing else). Already went to Radiio Shack, got two 1000Uf 35V capacitors, a solder remover, soldering iron, & silver solder for under $30. Already did the capacitor replacement and back to watching tv in under two hours. Thank you for the illustrated instructions, practically anyone could follow along and do the repair successfully.

Thanks stiv0, I'm sure you've heard it enough by now, but I just used your solution for the same problem, plugged the tv in and it works great. I actually used a 16v and a 25v, because the distributor I went to only had one 16v left, and that seems to have worked just fine. My father bought a Polaroid about a year ago so now I'll know how to fix his too when it breaks!. Thanks again.

Thank You! We were getting so tired of turning our t.v on and only sometimes it would work... it's nice to know we can come home and know that when we press the power button we'll actually have a picture. =)

StivO,

Thanks for your GREAT fix, it worked like a charm! Good old American curiousity and know how at its finest. One thing is for sure, I too will never buy another Polaroid product.

you are the man! i just found your post last night. my tv is 23 months old and started not turning on 3 days ago. i followed your instructions and went to radio shack and bought the parts. got home ripped the tv open and went to town. got it all back together in about 20 minutes, plugged it in and it worked!! i've never soldered anything before. you just saved me $1200. you should set up a paypal account, i'd leave a donation. thanks alot man!!!!

I just wanted to let you know that as a woman, this was the best thing that I could have ever come across! I followed the directions and now that $1000 paperweight is working again! I am somewhat electronically inclined, but had never soldered before, however, this turned out great!

I had called around and as soon as they heard I was a woman, they started quoting these large fees for bringing this thing in...you would have thought it was an auto repair shop!

Anyway, at least I know what to do if it happens again. Thanks again for this very helpful post!

Oh yeah...and the 1000uf 35v part number at Radio Shack is 2721032.

Excellent advice and so far it has worked wonderfully! Thanks for posting this, I am completely disenchanted with Polaroid for refusing to correct such a seemingly simple problem- the fact that they don't even acknowledge this problem exists is reason enough to buy elsewhere. According to Polaroid, we are the 5% that have problems and that is a low number- Your information was very beneficial and I urge anyone experiencing these problems to try it.
Thanks again!

My tv is only two years old and i was bummed when it started acting up because i am stupid and did not buy the extended warranty. but when i came across this page i was so excited to see a solution to my problem that it seems so many people are having with this brand I went to radio shack to day and got the caps and borrowed my cousins solder equip and i was up in running in minutes. thanks so much for posting this info i had never done this kinda stuff before and it was a sinch...thanks again....and i will probably buy lg next time...haha

I was looking for some help with our Polaroid product and found these post and I had the same symtoms as everyone else. Sprung for the Radio Shack Capacitors and WOW our TV works again. I cannot express my graditude and Thanks for this help. I really didn't need to spend 1K on a new TV this year since this set is only 18 months old. Again thanks and this is proof some of the best things in life are free.

Another satisfied stiv0 customer here! Thanks so much. I was just about to toss this TV and buy another.

In my particular case, the TV picture and sound were fine... sort of. What happened to me was a very loud high-pitched whine sound that lasted for about 10 minutes until the unit heated up. Then everything was OK. Until you turned the set off and turned it back on again.

I bought a couple of 1000 uF 35V capacitors from Radio Shack on my way home from work. Followed the instructions and was back up and running with a like-new TV in about 30 minutes. I have quite an extensive electronics background so the replacement was easy for me but should be doable by just about anyone. A slightly higher voltage threshold on the caps (35V vs. 10V) shouldn't cause much of a problem in the long run. The transformers on the board do the power regulation anyway. You really wouldn't want to go any higher than that (35V) however.

What is interesting and turned me on to this site in my search was that Dell had a very similar problem on the motherboards of some of their Optiplex systems a couple of years ago. I wouldn't have stumbled on this except my workplace had 10 or more of the defective Dell units and lo and behold when I went to take a look at one of the units having problems, there was the exact same high-pitched whine coming from the computer. I wonder if Polaroid used the same cheap Chinese capacitor manufacturer? It cost Dell millions in repair costs because of their superior warranty contract.

Either way, I'll never buy another Polaroid product.

stiv0, you rock!  Thanks so much for the repair guide.
I bought 10 high-quality capacitors for $5.94 (shipped) from DigiKey (Part number: EEU-FC1A102; Description: CAP 1000UF 10V ELECT FC RADIAL).  Installation went smoothly and the set works great again!
Mine is a 37" Polaroid FLM-3732 (manufactured Nov 2006/purchased Jan 2007) that started exhibiting the same symptoms (no picture, distorted sound, unplugging/plugging worked for a week) in mid October 2008.  It's really sad to think that someone would throw a $900 set away because of two $0.60 capacitors.  I can only imagine how many of these sets will end up in landfills soon.

Doesn't matter what voltage rating capacitors you put back in, over time the heat generated in the switched mode power supply will "cook" the caps again. Using larger physical size caps helps, as they dissipate more heat over the larger surface area.

Hi Stiv0:

I have a Polaroid 4641-TLXB that seems to have the identical problems as you described--just happened tonight, although it seemed to have been leading up to it for a while.

Do you think that the same approach would work? Should I be looking for "bulging" capacitors, and then follow the same replacement process?

Given that I am a complete noob, any suggestion/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Okay I am a believer ! went to radio shack, picked up two 35 volt capacitors, $2.76 for both, followed stivo instructions. My polaroid was a 20 inch, two year old piece of junk. My picture would not appear, turned off ,then on, picture was there. Lasted about two weeks, finally would not come on anymore, had no choice but to try the internet fix, I'm slow, took about two hours, plugged back in and wallah she's fixed. thank you all for your help. I had one problem. didn't really know which capacitors were bad, looked for bulge on capacitors, exchanged two that I thought for bad, I got lucky . thanks again!

Thanks so much, stiv0! I bought this TV in December 2006, and this past May 2008 it had the same symptoms as you describe before it died about 2 weeks later. I paid $100 for a repairman to come out to tell me that it would cost $800 to repair!! I called Polaroid, and they didn't want to know anything...very upsetting when a company won't even work a little with you!

I ended up buying a new TV thinking that this TV was beyond repair for a reasonable price! Then, back in September, I saw your posting. A friend of mine was able to come over 2 weeks ago, and discovered, just as you said, that the caps were bad. He bought 2 of them for 53 cents each, and soldered them in the board. Then, last night, he came back over and installed the board again, and I now have a "brand new" TV!!

I am so glad I saw this posting before I had someone help me carry the TV out to the dumpster at my apartment complex for someone else to take!

I will never buy a Polaroid again...terrible customer service, and for this many TV's to break down, at about the same time frame after the purchase...they should have done something to satisfy their customers.

Thanks again, stiv0...YOU ARE THE BEST!!

Stiv0 - Definitely THE MAN!!.. Same problem here with my 37" Polaroid. The "unplugging" only worked for 3 or 4 days - then nothing. But after adding $3.44 to the Radio Shack coffers for a couple of 35v caps and enlisting a good friend who knew how to solder, my 21 month old, $997.00 paper weight was miraculously transformed back into a working television. I now have new found respect from my wife and even the cats now look at me with a wary eye since before they thought I was clueless. I know it's been said before.. but this really works - and you can do it. I'm going out to buy a soldering gun and hope something else breaks.

Thankfully our tv was only out for a few days before we found this fix. Thank you so much! Just as everybody else we will never buy another polaroid product again. We bought our tv from Walmart, I am going to contact them as well to let them know what **** they are carrying in their stores. (as if they aren't already aware) Something needs to be done about this company tryin to rip off us poor folks. Thanks for your help it worked like a charm. The cost for us was $0. We have about 3 dvd players that have not worked in several years. My husband opened one up and took out two good caps and we borrowed a solder iron from my dad. He also watched some youtube videos to learn how to solder and desolder. I better watch out now he thinks he can fix all of our electronics around the house lol. Thanks a bunch!

I have two of the FLM373bs in my restaurant, they both also went out and within 2 weeks of each other. I performed the aboved operation for 18.00 total from radio shack with the 35 volt caps and they are working GREAT ! I run these tvs 10-12 hours a day 7 days a week and so far the fix is working like a charm!!

WOW Just had this happen and I ordered the parts. When I took the panels off the back it turned out only the 2 large caps were bad so I replaced them and wellah the set now works again. When I ordered the parts I order the highes temp caps they made which were for 105 deg F instead of the ones that were in the unit that were rated at 85 I think.

Again thanks for this tip on fixing the problem. I highly recommend it as it did the job for me.

can i use a 35v cap? is the bigger the volt bad or ok?

Thanks for the info on bad caps , my wife and I recently had the same problem with our tv . (problem) tv powers on but nothing on screen. my wife followed the easy steps and replaced 10volt caps with 25 volt caps I bought on ebay for .99 cents + $4.00 shipping and It now is working perfect as new. can't thank you enough for this info, thank you very much. $5.00 fix and POLARIOD IS OUT OF THERE F***ING MIND.

You are a FREAKIN' GENIUS!!!! Thank you! My husband was on the internet yesterday looking for a replacement TV due to our polaroid crapping out on us, I was sick to think that we would have to buy another new TV this year. I typed in polaroid and the model # and your instructions came up. Thank you again, everything worked like a charm!!!!!!!!

Hi Stiv0,
Like all the rest My FLM-373B tv is doing the samething. But here is something new. I spoke with Polaroid today and they will cover the repairs for One year and three months. Unfortunateley I purchased my on July 9th 2007. I asked they would still cover it since I was so close to the purchase date, they said no.

Since I use to work on tv's for living, I asked for the scematic so I could replace all the caps on that board without removing the board first. They said and I quote "We do not have any paperwork on the service of our tvs". I then asked are you just a parts dealer or do you technicians that have info on the tv? "Our technicians only replace board level parts". And she went on to say, "Right now we do not have that bord so you have to exchange the TV. What a crock.

Anyway hers is some useful inforamtion. If you have to unplug and wait, then plug it back in more than one time you should do the following. If you have a computer hooked up to it like I do. You can set your computer to screen saver on blank, just leave it on, or buy a video black generator and plug it into the corresponding input. Use your remote to slect that input and leave your set on all the time until you get the parts to fix it. That is what I did.

Speaking of parts.
Buy your parts from MCM Electronincs. 1-800-543-4330 or on the web at http://www.mcmelectronics.com
Part number 31-5335 For the 1000uf (Micro ferrad Capacitor). 10v, Low ESR, Hi Temp to 105 degrees celcius (This is an exact replacemnt except these caps ar high quality parts by Panasonic}
Cost $2.10 ea QTY 2.
They also carry solder guns, solder, and desolder wick if you need it.
Solder Gun; part No. 21-8120, 30 watt @ $6.95 ea.
Solder; Part No. 21-1050 60/40 solder @ $2.05 ea.
Desolder Wick; Part No. 21-3760 5" roll @ $2.99 ea
I have been doing business with this company for years. For those of you who hate Radio Shack or you can't find the parts, Ihope this helps.

By the way my tv works great.

When I turn on the TV, it shows image for 1 second or less, and then shuts off, black but is showing th eimages it just no backlight, can you confirm if you have the same issue before changing the capacitors??

Thanks

great tip stivo my polaroid model flm 323b had the same issue did the unplug replug for about 3 weeks then it died. sat in a spare bedroom for three months before I found this tip. You saved me a lot of money. the only thing I bought was a desolder gun and two caps.at radioshack 13.00 total. I put in 35 volt caps. works great. my set was 16 months old when the problem started. I had the same responce from Polariod as the rest, it is upsetting that as soon as you give them yhe modle no. they tell you the card is bad. if they new this why not a recall. That is not an issue anymore.will never buy anouther Polariod product.
Thank you again

stiv0  thank you so much.  I know that you have been told this so many times but I had to say it again.  I am just an old lady and have never thought about doing anything with electronics.  I do craft a lot so I figured maybe that talent would help me with this.  Besides I didn't have any thing to lose as I no longer had a TV and had no money to fix it anyways.  I have to admit that I was scared to death to even try it.  So to all you who are scared just thinking about it.  Try it.  If I can do it, you can too.  It did take about 4 hours for me to fix it.  (I'm including the time I took to drive to radio shack, and then I had to stop at a couple more stores.  Figured while I was out I better do a little shopping.)  So I got to radio shack and explained to Jose (what a nice young man) what I wanted to do.  Just so happens he has the same TV and had just fixed his.  So he hooked me right up.  I bought the 2 caps for $1.29 apiece and a solder gun kit for $7.99.  I gave him this web address and he brought it right up on his computer and while we looked at the pictures he talked me thru the instructions.  Told me not to be scared and by the time I was done I would feel like I was an electrician.  Ok that is a little over the top.  But he was correct.  I unscrewed the screws and pulled the plugs out of my way and solder my little heart out and wow I did it all by myself.   I have to admit one other thing.  I did go to you tube and watched this video  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=on_2CP52cW4 It is a video on replacing a capacitor on a pcb.  Not really sure what a pcb is but it was the same concept.  When I did get home it only took me maybe 20 minutes from start to finish.  I didn't lay the television down to heavy for me.  So I just took it apart right where it was and took the board with the capacitors on it to the kitchen.  Did my thing.  Put everything back together and crossed my fingers.  I plug the TV back in and within seconds I had a Polaroid screen, a few seconds more and I was watching my favorite show.  So thank you Stiv0 for making this little ole lady feel like I can do anything.  Does any one have another television they want fixed?  I can fix yours too.  lol  Ok I am not electrician now but maybe I have a new calling.  

Thanks again Stiv0 and you can come by anytime and I'll fix you dinner.
Shame on you Polaroid for taking advantage of consumers.  I will never buy Polaroid again!

Same problem, same solution. Thanks so much.....We need to figure out how to start a class action suit against Polaroid. That is criminal what they are doing.. They never did call me back. I have been telling everyone about this so they can boycot this gutless compay.

We own the 3732. I found this site using Google when my tv started a high pitched humming sound last week. It was louder on HD stations. Furthermore, the tv wouldn't turn on at times! Polaroid was no help at all either on the phone or via email.

My wife works for a company that refused to use parts from the same company that has its parts in these Polaroid HDTVs. My wife's manager said they found the company did shoddy work. Polaroid can't even get the parts to fix some of these TVs anymore!! When people sent back their TVs for repair, the now defunct factory wasn't there to get parts from!

I think a class action lawsuit is in order here. This is not a 1 in a million problem. This is a manufacturer's defect that Polaroid refuses to fix. Their parts are ****. They know this is a problem yet they refuse to recall the product and fix it.

We intend to file a claim with the Better Business Bereau AND call Circuit City to let them know what's going on. That's a shame because the tv is really nice. Good features, affordable, and a great picture! Polaroid should be leading the way here, not ignoring this issue!

I received stiv0's email over the weekend and I was thrilled. Just today, I went to Radio Shack and bought two 1000uf 35v capicators for $3.38 and solder for $5. My buddy had a solder gun and he did the work in about 10 minutes. From start to finish, including a run to Radio Shack, unplugging all the s**t from the back of the HDTV, and waiting for the solder gun to heat up, took about 60 minutes.

I plugged everything back in and the tv was PERFECT! No purple and green horizontal lines, no loud hum, no white dots crawling all over the screen. We turned it off, turned it on, then turned it off and on again. It was like Christmas!

Then we watched the baseball playoffs! For just over $8, I fixed a $900 tv and saved it from the trash bin! THANK YOU, stiv0... you are AWESOME!!

HOLY ****. I was in the middle of listing my FLM-373B on Ebay when I was direct to this site by another ebayer. I sent the link to this page to my borther and he though I wrote it. The description of the problem was exactly what I had told him weeks ago. I killed my auction and with the help of my borther (who is an electrical tech for a large company) we were able to fix my TV like new in less then 15 minutes. We even salvages the CAPS from a bad power supply he had in his basement. Total cost to fix $0.00. We used 25v caps and they worked fine. When my brother was looking over the circuit board, he commented 'Why the HELL are they using such small caps?' I know my brother and he knows his electronics. Polaroid has a MAJOR design issue with this board and they must know it. When I talked to tech support, they offered me a $300 replacement unit if I payed to return mine. Screw Polaroid!!!! Boradcast this far and wide! Don't buy Polaroid any more!!!! Thanks Stiv0

Our TV was making a annoying humming noise, so I went to Google and this site popped up. When I first showed my wife the site and told her my intentions, she was like oh $h!t !!! Our TV is working again! We saved big time bucks.Wow! I'm glad I found this site! I followed the instructions precisely. I have our TV working like new (as far as we know unless Polaroid has other hidden issues we're not yet aware of). We bought off brand 1000uf 35v caps- couldn't find the 10v or 16v caps. Right now it's working like a charm. Polaroid has to be aware of the cheap/lousy caps installed. stiv0 Thank you so much! I am recommending this site to my friends for all their electronic issues. For the time being, I am the hero of the house. Will keep you all posted on how long it will be working. Thanks again.

Hi,

thanks a lot for the glimmer of hope you are giving to me (Polaroid told me it would cost at least $600 to get a working TV ... ).

Nevertheless I have a polaroid 4034B with exactly the same symptom but a circuit board slightly different. It contains several identical capacitors and I don't know which ones i should change. Every capacitor seems fine, anybody has performed this operation on a FLM 4034B ? I will buy a multimeter in order to test the capacitor in the meantime.



I think about changing the two isolated ones on the left but i think i'll get a multimeter before that.

It would be nice if anybody had an advice but i'm already really grateful for the helpful lead.

Alex

I can't believe it, I am the most mechanically inclined person and was successfully able to replace on my 37" FLM-373b, the 2 capacitors with 25V and works as the first day I got it.. Your right, that was the longest 8 sec. of my life.. It's funny, I notice myself turning the T.V. on and off just to hear that sweet sound of audio the way it should be, along with having a crystal clear picture.. The funniest part is they wanted me to pay like everyone else $300 some bucks along with shipping, and it only cost me $3.00 bucks witch is probably better than the refurbished one they would of sent me.. Well, hopefully it'll make it another 1 1/2 yr. and the Hell with Polaroid!!

I was at my wits end with Polaroid. same story as all the rest.I see here. You are an angel in the computer. Thank you so much. I never thought I would be able to do it. Then I thought, "why not". can't get any more broken. I did have a problem getting the capacitors. The radio shacks around here didn't seem to have them but a tv repair shop offered this web site. www.mouser.com they have all the capacitors anyone could need. They cost more because of the shipping. Still beats the price of the repair or a new tv. The shipping was the same for 2 or 4 so I ordered 4. ($10.00) Thats for items and shipping. still got in under $20.00 for the whole fix cause I had to buy the soldering iron.
THANK YOU SO MUCH

THANK YOU!!!! Of course I had the same issue that you and all the other people on this page had. I was amazed that it was something that was this easy to fix. I told the wife about it and she didn't think I should try it. Well she was out of the house today so I did it and it worked like a charm. I guess she owes me around $400 for a repair bill. I will split it with you stiv0 if i can cash in on it. It only cost me about 55 cents, I went to the radio supply company near me and was able to pick up a 12 pack of the caps for 3.34. Now I know I wont buy a stupid Polaroid TV ever again.

Your fix worked perfectly. That was very nice of you to share it.

Thank You Sooo Much!!! Your remedy solved our TV issues.

Mega-thanks for the help!!! Another blue light victim here after 18 months after purchase of Polaroid 37 inch LCD.

Fixed it by replacing the 2 capacitors as you posted. A friend who does electronic work had the capacitors so it was a zero dollar fix!

I had the blue light problem with my 32" plat panel. I followed Stivo's instructions and now my tv is working great. I used caps from an old Linksys router that bit the dust a while back. Total cost $0. Total time to repair: Less than 30 minutes. Thanks again!!!

Thank you Thank you Thank you. I was very upset when I was reading about all the people with the same problem but sure am happy that I found your advice. My kids now think I am just oh so smart. By the way the radio shack people were impressed because I am a woman who fixed her tv.

Thank you so much! It solved my problem. The only comment I have is that to get the plastic cover off you only need to remove the 3 screws then slide the plastic down about 3/8 inch. It then lifts of easliy instead of trying to pry it off.

Howdy, my father recently retired and 2 years prior purchased one of these piece of s#&t televisions. 18 months later like clockwork it stopped working. Had a repairman out who wanted to charge 500$, contacted Polaroid and was told basically "tuff s#&t". I almost forgot to mention, that the repairman ask if my father was going to throw the tv away, if he could have it..... (probably has one of these tv's in every room, that he suckered out of people). Anyway to make a long story short, I found this site and this particular thread, followed the steps that was posted and sure enough my father now has his tv working again. Thanks, for the help.

Hi Guy's

Another blue light special victim here. I have the exact same problems blue light comes on somtimes you get a blank screen or a yellow or blue screen or it will not power on at all. Also there is no sound.

I have the 32 inch FML 323B which has 3 caps, I followed your very good instructions and have the
board pulled out. But these are 35v 1000uf and they look fine. Since this is Sunday and to late to get
parts anyway I was wondering if anyone has seen this and replaced the caps succesfully or is it
possible that I may have something else going on.

Any help would be great, before a throw this over a cliff.

Thanks in advance,
Bill

I was very encouraged by the comments to your fix but no luck. I now get a red led light when plugged in but nothing comes on after replacing the capacitors. Any other ideas?

Just wanted to express my thanks also. I called Circuit City and Polaroid just like everyone else, with no help. I was to the point I was going to call the service repair man on Monday or send off the $310, but decided I would do some research on the web. Thats when I found this site, and showed my husband. He said ok we will give it a try. After a trip to Radio Shack and a few minutes following your directions we are enjoying the NASCAR race. Thanks alot.......:)

Awesome, thanks stivO

Way back in January the same thing happened to my Polaroid 3732 and like everyone else has said Polaroid was no help what so ever. Back in January I looked but didn't find any help online, so I boxed up my TV and it sat in my closet until this week.

Well on Monday my PC's power supply went up and I had to use my sisters laptop to figure out how to change it. So on Tuesday my computer was up and running again, sweet. This got me a little ambitious so I thought I'd look into my broken TV again and came across this fix. So with stivo's article and a youtube video on replacing capacitors I fixed my TV for $23 in about 10 minutes. I used Radio Shack's desoldering iron to remove the faulty capacitors and my old pos soldering iron to put the new ones on. I didn't even need the new soldering iron I bought so I'll return that. The desoldering iron is awesome, I had the bad capacitors off in about 30 seconds.

It literally takes longer for the irons to heat up than to do the actual repair.

If you are worried about ruining your TV, that's ok I was too but I just did it antway. This is the second time I've ever used a soldering iron, the first was to repair my Rock Band drums. Anyone can do this.

Poalroid may make nice cameras but I'll never know. After this debacle and their total lack of help

AWESOME! My TV had the same problems reported above. I bought a Sony Bravia and was going to throw away the Polaroid. BUT, I saw this post and figured - give it a shot - nothing to lose. Well, I replaced the two caps and now it is good as new. UNBELIEVABLE. So, I took the Sony back to Walmart that night and I haven't had a problem since. Thanks for saving me $750 bucks.

Thank you for posting this!!!

After 15 months my tv also stopped working and the problem is as decribed by stiv0.

After reading this post i opened the back side of the tv to find out the defective caps..but so far i couldn't find a capacitor defective...

Is there any way i can find that...i couldn't notice any swollen caps..

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Neha

Oh my gosh! We were having the same problems with our polaroid tv. My husband and I have been up and down with Walmart and the company to get no help whatsoever. So, I got on the internet to see if I could find if anyone else was having problems and sure enough, I ran across this website by chance. We followed the directions on here and it costs us 10 bucks to fix our tv as all we had to do was buy a solder gun and found some parts off something else.

stiv0,

THANK YOU so much for posting this. It was so helpful and the directions were so easy to follow. We have our TV back!!!!! You are awesome!!!!!!

We will NEVER buy from Polaroid again! And I will make sure that I tell everyone including strangers what I know now!

You're awsome stiv0, thanks alot!

I just had this happen to me after two years of good performance with the occasional loud shrieking vibrating noise when turning on through the speakers. the noise when turning on might have happened a dozen times but really was not an issue, i own a home theater system so the speakers are never needed they sound like puke anyway!

so the past two days i been doing the unplug and plug back in method it worked until this afternoon. i went to Wal-mart where it was purchased(two years ago) to do a buy a new TV and return old TV switch (i do this only @ Wal-mart they deserve it!). anyway they no longer carry this model so i bought a 32" with built in DVD player and was upset to find out when playing a DVD the optical out does not broadcast in Dolby Digital to my home theater what!? that is extremely stupid IMO!

Doing some googling i happened to find this site with the same product and issue as your describing. i took it off the wall and removed the panels and to my surprise the tops of the capacitors are ballooned upward. I'm going to Radio shack first thing in the morning to get these parts and re solder them back in. I really hope this is the only problem, other than the noise the picture is the best i have seen compared to other expensive name brands. working for a company that makes custom thin film circuitry i can always bring the boards in to test them to find further issues if there are any i will post them here.

Add me to the list!!! We bought our Polaroid 37" P.O.S in Feb 2007, worked fine until April 2008! We called customer support and was told that they would gladly do an out of warranty exchange... send them my TV and they would send me a refurb for 500.00. Ummmm, NO! Needless to say we were very upset, as all of you fully understand. Also, we had done some research BEFORE calling customer support. We already knew that A LOT of people were having problems like us. When we mentioned that to the customer service rep he wanted to argue that 1 out of a million were having problems and that people don't post when they are happy with a prodcut only when they aren't... WHAT?!??!! Anyway... We searched and searched for a while... we were told the main board was the problem. We were told we could take it and have it looked at for 60.00 then the cost of repairs. SO, the tv sat here for 5 months, in a matter of 5 months I had thought of many ways to get rid of this P.O.S! Throw it in the river, burn it, sell it for parts... anything to get rid of it! We have been unable to buy another tv so we have been watching the 26" Polaroid that we bought just after buying the 37"... so far it is still working.. BUT it is only 14 months old right now... Our 37" went out at 14 months!!!

Well, to the morale of the story.... Night before last my boyfriend decided to look again for any information on this P.O.S sitting here. He found this site! He wanted to surprise me so he worked on it while I was at work, he went and bought 2 16v caps (.70 each) and went through the steps... as he was inspecting the board before putting it back in he said that he found that the 35v cap on the same board was also blown... so there went the surprise... I came through the door yesterday afternoon to my tv all over the living room and kitchen. My first though, OMG he finally lost it! LOL!!! Anyway.. we went back to the store and bought a new 35v cap (.97) and after we got home took him all of 15 minutes and we hit the power button.... We saw Polaroid come up and IT IS FIXED!!! Fixed for under 4.00!!!!

Thank you SOOOOOO much for saving us $1000.00+ There really aren't words to express how thankful we are!

DON'T buy Polaroid!!!! Even while at stores we tell people to steer clear!!!

I don't blame them for building a POS maybe they didn't know the parts were bad... I blame them for NOT standing behind their product and recalling something they now KNOW is defective! Look at all the money they are making off this!

Thank you again!
louplou and wesb007 - B'ham Alabama

Worked Perfect Thanks stiv0

StivO for PRESIDENT !!!

Yes, you ARE the MAN!!! Fixed my piece of S@%T Polariod last night, in about an hour, following your instructions to the T. I've never soldered electric parts before, but it really wasn't bad at all, I am so happy to have learned something new, and save a TON O' Dough !!!

Spent ~ $34 at Radio Shack on soldering equip and capacitors (got the last 2 capacitors, whew !!!), but am going to return all of the items I purchased (except of course capacitors) and get my money back, so total cost will be around $4.00.

Thanks again StivO, you've helped quite a few people, you are AWESOME !!!

stiv0 is definitely the man!!

First my speakers started making this high-pitched shrill noise, so I disconnected the speaker wires. Then on resolutions 1080i and 1080p, horizontal lines would run through my picture and then the picture would just fail and become a multicolored mess of lines.

I am in grad school, and I really don't have a grand to throw away on a new HDTV. This fix cost me $37.50 at Radio Shack for everything. I found the LAST TWO 35v 1000uF capacitors that they had, and so far it has worked like a charm. I was most nervous about making it worse, but stiv0 had great instructions....follow them to a Tee.

StiveO,

I see why you are the master. Great advice. I had already bought a different TV from Best Buy as a replacment, but hadn't decided if it would be worth $310 plus freight to have this one repaired. If it had more than a 90 day warranty, it probably would have been sent back a couple of weeks ago. I stumbled on your artitcle last night. I made a trip to Radio Shack today and put in 2- 35 v caps. I have never atempted soldering electrical components, but I bought the wrist band and rosin core solder and gave it a shot. Your instructions worked perfect. I probably needed a finer tip on my soldering gun. I did get it to work. I spent about $3 on caps, and another $18 on the wrist band, solder, and de-solder braid. It was well worth it. Now I hope it lasts at least another 18 months. I spent about an hour from start to finish. Thanks again.

I would like to chime in with everyone else and thank you for your thoughtfulness in posting these instructions.  Our tv is working great now and we would have been s.o.l. if it wasn't for your help.  

Thanks so much!
I couldn't find the right caps so I stole 2 1000uf @ 35v out of my sons broken car audio amp. Our TV now works great!

Thank you stivO

I just want to thank you stivO, we had the same problem and with your help our tv it's working again!!!! Yeyyyyyyyyyyy stivo you are the best!
Obrigado
Claudia and Rodrigo

Okay, I'll be number 62. Your fix worked great, steve0, and my TV is up and running thanks to you bro!!!

There are a couple of things I would like to add to help out the folks that are reading up on how to fix their TVs. I have borrowed steve0's pictures to help illustrate my repair method (steve0, I hope you don't mind me using your pics!!!):

Items needed for repair:
# 2 Phillips head (cross-tip) screw driver
Needle-Nose pliers
De-soldering wick (or bulb- wick is best)
Rosin core solder
Soldering iron (30 - 45 watt)
Wire cutters (to clip off the new capacitor leads once installed)

NOTE: Get yourself a pair of needle-nose pliers (see picture), it will help you when you're taking off the # 2 connector in the circuit board picture (but be careful not to break them--remember use slight pressure and wiggle gently to loosen up the connectors. NEVER pull the wires to remove a connector or you'll have a repair nightmare). Also, I did not lay my TV down to open it up, rather I did the repairs with my TV upright on it's stand.
Needle-Nose Pliers

1- I didn't have to pry any of the panels loose on my TV. I think the main reason for this was because I had my TV upright during the repair, so gravity helped me out. On the first/outer panel, when you remove the three screws, the panel may slide down by itself about 1/8 inch (from the weight of the panel itself). If the panel doesn't slide down by itself, go up to the top edge of the panel where it meets the rest of the enclosure and use your fingernails to slide the panel down just about 1/8 inch (the top edge is not visible in the picture below, but rather it's just out of sight- about another couple of inches out of the picture). When this procedure is done as I have described, you will notice that the screw holes are now mis-aligned by about 1/8 inch. Next pull the bottom of the panel straight out and allow it to swing up slightly from the bottom edge (grab it with both hands just underneath the # 2 screw in steve0's picture below). When you do this correctly, the panel should rotate up and out towards you. Once you have the panel out to about 45 degrees, you will see 3 tabs on the top of the panel, spaced out across the top- left, center, right. Rotate the panel up a little more and slip the tabs out gently and you're done with the outer panel.



2- On the second panel (the metal one), do pretty much the same thing as you did in # 1 above. If you gently wiggle this panel it will easily release without having to pry it. Next rotate it up and out towards you and remove.

3- Unplugging the connectors: Taking your time here may be the difference between a cheap fix or a costly repair bill, so go slow. The cable connector circled on the far left of the picture below was too tricky for me. I couldn't get it out of it's metal enclosure so I X'd it out in the picture and renumbered the connectors in the order I removed them. I traced the wires of the now X'd out connector and subsequently removed the two connectors on the other end of the wires (these 2 connectors are just below the circled connector now marked # 1). If you are using my method and not taking off the far left connector that I X'd out, then you should remove the connectors in the order I have them now, 1, 2, 3. Once you remove # 1, the second connectors marked # 2 can now be easily (and gently) removed with the help of the pliers I mentioned earlier. NOTE- use a fine tipped Sharpie or other type pen to mark these 2 connectors L-for left and R-for right BEFORE you remove them. The large power supply connector marked # 3 on the bottom right of the circuit board had some gummy glue/silicone goo on it. Carefully cut away the glue from the connector with a small pocket knife, but only just enough to get the connector off the circuit board. Once you get the connector free you can pull the rest of it off with your needle-nose pliers. ANOTHER NOTE- connectors # 1 and # 3 have a small clip that holds the connectors together. You must depress these clips in order to separate the connectors- be very careful not to pull the wires out of the connectors or you'll have a really BAD day!



4- When you remove the circuit board's screws, remove one of the top screws last, this will hold the circuit board up and keep it from sliding down until you get the last screw free. I loosened the last screw slowly and pulled the board out with the screw still in the board, then took the screw out once I had cleared the other boards and wires. NOTE: There is a plastic backing on this circuit board that MUST go back in when you've finished up your repair, and on my set it had a single plastic pin that fit into a hole of the circuit board. When my repair was complete, I placed the plastic back onto the back of the circuit board and pushed the plastic pin back in place, and then put them back into the TV together as one piece.

So, that's pretty much the process I used for opening up the panels and removing the circuit board. Once I finished removing and replacing the capacitors, I put it all back in reverse order.

A note about handling your electronic circuit board and soldering: First of all, you already know that you have 2 swollen capacitors that have stopped working, so damage has been done to the board. What you may not know is that if you touch any of the wire runs or component connections (the shiny metal stuff you see on the back of the board) and discharge static electricity from your body to the board, you can do the same or worse damage internally to the integrated circuit (IC) chips that reside on your board. You should always use a wrist strap to ensure you do not discharge static electricity from your body onto the circuit board's components. The IC's have "dielectric" material inside them made of layers of silicone, and when an IC takes a direct "hit" from a static discharge, the dielectric will get burn holes completely through the layers and that will render the IC useless. It's easy to look at the capacitors and see that they're bad, but you cannot see any damage to an IC. So, when you're at your local electronics store, buy a wrist strap. Make sure you get one with an alligator clip on the end so you can clip it to the shiny corner of your circuit board while performing your remove/replace of the capacitors. I clipped mine onto the top right corner where there was a large shiny area around one of the mounting holes of the board. Once I clipped it on, I applied pressure on the clip's teeth and wiggled it back and forth causing it to "bite into" the shiny solder, thereby making good contact with the board, much like when you use jumper cables on a car battery- you wiggle the clip back and forth causing it to bite into the terminal lug for a good connection.

Buy some de-soldering "wick" instead of a de-soldering bulb, it's just better in my opinion. Wick is a flat braided bundle of copper wires that soaks up the wet solder. You place the wick on top of the solder joint that you want to remove, then place the tip of you soldering iron directly on top of the wick, kinda making a "wick sandwich". As soon as the heat from the iron gets through the wick onto the solder joint, the solder will melt and the wick will soak up the wet solder quickly. Make sure you watch for the wicking process and remove the heat quickly to avoid doing any damage to the surrounding solder joints. BUY ROSIN CORE SOLDER for your repair. The rosin that is inside the solder, when heated with the solder itself causes a de-ionizing effect on all the metal in contact with it, thereby ensuring a clean and solid joint that will last forever and not become a "cold solder joint" that will cause you to have to repeat your repair.

5- Once you have removed the old capacitors, place the new ones through the holes and bend the leads out slightly to hold them in place. MAKE SURE that you observe the correct polarity (+ / -). Apply a small amount of solder onto the tip, then touch the now "wet" tip onto the hole on the back of the circuit board and the capacitor lead. As the wet solder makes contact with the capacitor lead and the silver wire run, it will cover the metal. Now quickly feed in another 1/8 inch of solder onto the hot connection and remove the iron. Clip off the excess of the leads. Go to YouTube for a tutorial.

When you put it all back together and hit the power button, don't be alarmed when it doesn't come on right away. The circuit that the new capacitors are in will take a few seconds to charge back up. Since capacitors hold and electric charge, and the new capacitors have no charge in them, it takes a few seconds for them to charge up and begin doing their job of regulating a constant voltage of the circuit they are in. Mine took about 8 seconds...the longest 8 seconds of my recent life I might add! Then up popped the Polaroid name and all was good.

So, don't be shy, this is the same repair that any TV technician would perform. The big difference is that this will cost you less than $10. My celebration actually came when I removed the 2nd panel and saw those swollen capacitors, sweet!

If you need help or clarification, let me know. I'll be glad to help you out.

what happens if u accidentally put the capacitors in backwards??? cause now im getting no power at all?

STIV0, STIV0, All hats off to you my friend, HURRAY!! This is unbelievable that my dads tv works again, after following your troublshooting. for ANYONE out there with the same problem.. IT IS FIXABLE AND DOES WORK, by following Stiv0's exact steps.. I came across your information on here. shared it with my father (his tv quit) and VOILA!! we all danced a jig after hitting the power button and it came on..we took the extra step (F.Y.I.) to put a small fan in the back of the armoire to let air circulate on the whole tv from behind (can't be seen or heard), to keep the insides of the tv from getting kinda warm as it appeared to before we replaced the capacitors..wondering if the heat is what made it go bad to begin with.... on another note about POLAROID and the real manufacturer (chinese) of these tvs.. makes u kinda wonder how the warranty runs out, capacitor quit workin right after, they wanna charge you $400 + to send u a refurbished tv , u ship yours at your cost, so they can fix the $6.00 part and send it to someone else charging them $400 +.. sounds like a scam these chinese are running!! there needs to be a civil action lawsuit since so many are affected by it!! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU! "STIV0" !! My $1000 Tv has been born again!!!!! P.S dont purchase a polaroid tv if your out looking for one.find another brand!!!!!

This post saved the day!  I have never soldered anything in my life before and this was my first opportunity... went to Radio Shack, spent $12 on 2 1000uf 35v caps and my first soldering kit.
Got home and followed the directions exactly... hardest part for me was actually getting the solder to drop onto the board... it kept going up the iron.
My advice... go slow, keep it clean and you'll save a very nice tv from going into the trash by following the directions on this site.
damn you polaroid!
bless you stiv0... my family thanks me and i thank you.

I was given a FLM 3732 by a friend's father who was going to throw it out. I have had some success (and failures) with my tinkering in years past, so all I expected was a couple nifty little shocks until reading your post. Your directions were simple, and the photos showed EXACTLY what needed to be done. It is nice to know there are still kind people who are not driven by greed, but the desire to help others. You rock!!

Thank God for the internet. As soon as I was having issues with my 1 year old tv I hit the internet found this fix, spent less than $4.00 at Radio Shack and I'm back in business. Thanks stiv0 from my entire family.

Has anyone successfully tried this fix on the smaller FLM 3232/323B model? I took out the (three in this case) capacitors and installed three new ones but have had no luck getting a picture. There is definitely juice flowing through the system as I got quite a shock on accident.

I've never had a problem with this set (besides the really crappy sound) but when I tried to turn it on this morning nothing happened. The LED light isn't on at all when the power plug is inserted, and there is a small blackish smudge (or smoke stain) on the top right hand side of the control box although it looks like it has been there since its initial build.

had the same problem and it worked! does anyone know if the temp number on the side of the cap is important? old caps say 105 degrees c.
my new ones say 85 degrees c.

thanks
gmg

I just had same prob and went with the 35v caps works great! Thanx, had my doubts at first only took bout an hour after got the parts at radio shack.

Paul

Oh my god you saved us. We did everything you said to do and it cost us only 24 bucks (I bought a sweet soldering kit) . When we turned it on, it took like 3 or 4 seconds and when we saw the white letters of Faileroid, we screamed and danced and went crazy because our TV is working!!! Thank you SOO much for being smart ^___^

our tv had the same problem. ripped the back open, followed these steps, and now we have a tv that is working perfectly. we spent $20 at Radio Shack. stiv0 should be getting paid for this information because god knows polaroid doesn't deserve another dime. i'm not upset because they made a crappy tv, i'm upset because they're not helping people fix the problem. to those of you who are skeptical about this fix, "DO IT", it works. Before you accept polaroid's "trade-in policy", try this. You will save yourself lots of money.

The 35v capacitor going into a 24 volt system could shorten the life of your system faster. We found the same caps 1000uf 10v caps in an intel P5B motherboard and the quality of the picture is better with the Japanese parts than it ever was with the junk from CHINA!!! Obviuosly we had the same problem and were ready to chuck the thing but were first going to bring it to a local repair shop but fortunately it was closed today and decided that I was going to give this a try myself after reading the blogs here and voila I'M JUMPING FOR JOY THAT I HAVE MY TV back even if it's just for a little while but hopefully not! At least I get to watch Jr drive tomorrow on my big screen. Thanks for posting a solution.

Okay folks, this is the ANSWER. I went to Radio Shack and bought a solder gun and the capacitors. I have to admit I was very nervous about doing this but it WORKED! I have my TV back! I can't thank you enough stiv0.

And now for a nice even 50... we usually don't reply to posts, but you saved us about a grand too. We were pretty pissed of when we came home and our tv wouldnt come on, and when i found this post, my boyfriend was skeptical, but sure enough, a few dollars on the capacitors, about $10 for a soldering iron, and about 30 minutes work, and it's better than ever! the 35v actually do make the picture better. Thanks stiv0! You saved alot of people ALOT of money and time dealing with the idiots at polaroid!! The pictures helped a bunch! You're the man!

Let's make it 49 comments. I have never used a soldering iron before, and I never knew those things were called capacitor. My TV stopped working 24 hours ago - same problem as all of you - and I'm now watching my TV, as if it never happened.

Like everyone else, I am grateful for you taking the time to share your fix with all of us. It cost me $20 for the capacitors, solder, soldering iron and the little suction thing I didn't need... but that's much better than any other option I was considering yesterday.

You're the man! Now I don't miss the first college football games this week!

I can't believe it. My husband keeps turning it off and on again to make sure it really worked. I just found your instructions today and we fixed it in less than 45 minutes. We had all the same problems listed and were so disgusted. Our Polaroid 37" LCD FLM-3732 is only 18 months old and after two weeks of unplugging and plugging back in to get it to turn on, if finally stopped coming on. Thank you so much for posting this. There are obviously lots of people who can take advantage of this. Polaroid is making lots of money with these so called "Out of Warranty exchanges", fixing this problem and sending it back out refurbished to someone else for the exact same problem. What a scam? Thanks again! You're a life saver. We really appreciate you sharing this information. God Bless!

best replacement parts for these caps are panasonic fm series.availible from digikey.com
general purpose radioshack grade parts will not last!
they need to be low esr type since they are on the secondary of an smps.
replace all the caps on the secondary side.
capxon,samxon are known junk parts.
problem is agravated by the heat in these sets.

OMG!!! This helped us out immensely! Took about 45 minutes, following directions above, a lot of praying, and voila-the Polaroid name came across the screen. Caps were 1.59 ea.(we got the 35v), solder gun about 7 bucks. The only problem we encountered was that infernal GLUE they used on one of the connectors, and by one of the caps. Watch for that! This has saved us a great deal on having to buy a new tv after only 15 months. Picture looks a lot better by using the 35v caps as well.

THANK YOU stiv0!!! You ROCK!!!

WOW thank you so much! you ROCK!! my husband fixed our tv last night with your instructions, and the pictures you provided helped alot too!! I can't believe we were about to go buy a brand new tv last week, and you just saved us about 900 bucks!!!!
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you rock bro you just got me a 1000 dollar tv for 20 bucks... thanks man

stiv(), Thanks for sharing! For a 20 minute and $2.18 investment (plus tax), I've got a wonderful $999 LCD TV.

AWSOME FIX- I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS REALLY WORKS. I WAS SO ANGRY THAT I HAD SPENT SO MUCH MONEY ON THIS TV AND HAD THIS PROBLEM AFTER 18 MONTHS. NO SUPPORT FROM POLAROID. I'M THINKING THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN AN AUTOMATIC RECALL FOR THIS MODEL. I WAS TOTALLY AMAZED AT HOW MANY FOLKS HAD THE SAME PROBLEM. SO GLAD THAT I FOUND THIS SITE. THE FIX INSTRUCTIONS WERE PERFECT. THANKS SO MUCH AND HATS OFF TO STIVO..........