P50HDM ... pop of death again

PLEASE READ THIS. I bought my P50HDM back in December 2005 at Costco. The 'Pop of death' hit last night. I called Vizio today and the tech person told me the warranty had expired. Nothing they could do except set up an appointment for a service call for which I would be responsible. When searching the web today I saw a post in which someone reported that they had also bought there P50 at Costco and that after calling the Costco concierge program @ 1-866-861-0450, they found out their TV was still in warranty even though it was also several years old. I called Costco, excellent people to deal with, and told them my problem. They entered Model# and Serial# into their system and informed me my set was still under warranty. From here the Costco technician calls Vizio direct and puts you on a three way call. In my case it took 25 minutes of waiting, I did not mind, and the Costco tech told she had to go through three levels of Vizio techs to get the correct person. I spoke directly with the Vizio representative as the Costco tech listened in. The Vizio tech apologized and said "YES, THIS IS A KNOWN PROBLEM" with th P50 and it is still under warranty and they will repair it for FREE. This is for real. If you bought through Costco call the above number and let them handle the Vizio people. If not, call Vizio and insist on speaking with a supervisor until they admit there is a problem with the P50 and they agree to repair it. They are apparently taught to reply that your warranty has expired, but when this amount of money is on the line you should push until they agree to fix at their cost. Please do not let Vizio tell you the warranty has expired bit, they have to fix it because it is a defective design. Call and do not let up, you will save a small fortune.

Replace the Z Sustainer Board, Part # 6871QZH044B and replace the Y Sustainter Board, Part # 6871QYH039B at the same time. If you replace one and not the other the bad one will end up shorting the good one and you’ll lose your picture within a week. You can do this work yourself by unplugging the unit and placing it face down on carpet (put down a soft blanket to protect the screen) and unscrewing the back of the unit (a power screw driver works great for this job because there are a few screws involved). The cheapest place to buy these two parts are: www.discount-merchant.com , or www.avextra.net, or www.ebay.com

There are two additional Y Sustainer supporting Boards called the Upper and Lower Y Boards in the P50HDM that can also be replaced at the time of the Z and Y Replacement. There part numbers are: 6871QDH088A and 6871QDH089A. Although some techies prefer to replace them at the same time as the main Z & Y Boards they probably weren’t the cause of the problem and most likely don’t need to be replaced. However, if you decide to replace them along with the Z & Y then it’s additional insurance that it won’t happen again, plus these boards are actually pretty cheap unlike the Z and Y which are a bit more expensive. It’s also popular to add two additional CPU fans to the unit for additional cooling. Apparently the POD (Pop of Death) has something to do with the main Z and Y overheating. To add additional CPU Fans, which are also pretty cheap, you’ll need a 3 Pin Y-Splitter (M-F) and a 4 Pin Y-Splitter (M-F) for extra plugs to connect to the additional fans but be sure to purchase a super quiet fans since the additional fans will be running along with the two 5 inch super quiet fans that came with the unit.

The problem is not fixed yet, however, it appears the Y-sus board is dead again. Parts are on order. Two responses from a different source said this is an inherent problem with Vizio (and Zenith). There is insufficient airflow on the boards causing them to overheat and then the "pop of death". They suggested adding a small fan over each board to blow cooling air over them. This will supposedly solve the problem for good. My question is why doesn't Vizio do this???

Chris

With the Vizio unit almost 3 years old I called Costco to complain and they told me to return the unit for full credit toward any new unit of my choice. I could not believe my ears. I swapped it for a Philips 52" for $400 plus tax. Costco!

That sounds like a good idea. But keep in mind that their is a power supply board as well. The Y pcb is the most commond problem but I have seen the Z go bad as well.