TV Repair: Can a Damaged LCD be Fixed?

Damaging a flat-screen these days is a bit more difficult than you would think, but it is still the worst feeling when you realize that your thousand plus dollar investment might not work again. That being said, there are some forms of damage that can be fixed without too much problem. Let’s talk about how your flat screen could potentially be repaired depending on the kind of damage it has sustained.

This is probably the least worrisome type of damage that your flat-screen can withstand. If you manage to only crack the glass panel on the front of the TV without damaging the LCD pixels or the plasma layer behind it, then a good repairman can get it fixed for a couple of hundred dollars at the most.

The same way a window that’s broken just needs fresh glass, a TV with a broken screen that’s been hit superficially can be replaced, although far less easily.

However, if your screen damage extends past the glass layer of the screen, you are looking at a much heavier repair cost to fix the pixels behind the screen, possibly even replacing the whole pixel layer behind the glass screen. This will cost you close to two times as much as just the glass repair.

However, let’s say that your TV was not destroyed by your hubris while playing the new Wii Sports game; let’s say a short circuit instead caused it during a nasty lightning storm. Being a rebel, you decided that you did not need that surge protector everyone tried to throw at you. What do you do then?

If this is the case, there is still a chance that the circuit board inside the TV can be replaced. Of course, that is assuming the repairman can get to the board without damaging anything else. Even then, between circuit board repair and the cost of the specialty board itself, your wallet is going to be the next one to take a hit.

Let’s say you are particularly unlucky though – after having thrown your Wii Remote at the TV and having forgotten a handy-dandy surge protector during a nasty storm, your girlfriend decides she has had enough of you and throws the TV down a five-story drop onto the street. This is the worst kind of damage your TV can sustain.

Damage sustained while falling can cause a number of problems for the delicate inner workings of your LCD or plasma TV. This structural damage can crack the screen, damage the circuit board, shatter the glass layer of the screen and destroy pixels. If your TV is thrown or dropped from a significant enough height for whatever reason, there is no repairman skilled enough to fix it.

But hey, look on the bright side; you have been meaning to get a bigger TV, right?

Got TV damage horror stories? Let us know in the comments.

For more help and how-to tips, check out the Bright Hub articles How to Clean a Flat Screen TV or Monitor and How to Troubleshoot a DVD Player.