Chosen Solution
My 42" Samsung TV is ageing but still produces a good picture. However it currently takes 5-7 minutes to warm up. During this time the power light flashes 5 times every 20 or so seconds. When it is about to come on there is a click, like maybe a contact is being closed. Moreover, every once in a while, the new picture appears severely pixilated and I need to turn it off for a few seconds and restart it. I’ve taken to leaving the TV on if I know I’ll be back in an hour or so. My question is whether it is harmful to leave it on permanently. I do turn off the cable box but the set displays a “no signal” box which jumps around to prevent burn-in. tcebob Update (12/01/2016) Update (Sorry I’ve been slow to get back). I found a replacement board http://www.samsungparts.com/Products/Par… for $140, which seems to me to be easier and safer than doing amateur electronics. (Though I once put together a Heathkit color tv kit with only one small fire. It worked.) I do appreciate your help and please let me know if replacing the board is a bad idea.
Robert, To answer your question quite simply, yes you can leave TV on to prevent long warm up.
@tcebob yes you can do that, but it is definitely not a fix:-). This " 5-7 minutes to warm up." makes me think that you have some bad caps on the power board. It should be a straight forward repair top replace those. Samsung had issues with cheap subpar caps that caused a lot of those problems. Post some images of your boards with your question so we can see what you see. Use this guide for that.
