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Another VIZIO turns off randomly

I have a VIZIO 42" LED TV, model E422AR, about 3 yrs old (out of warranty). The TV is wall mounted in my bedroom. A few months ago it started randomly 'turning itself off'. By random I mean it might not happen for a few days, then happen several times in the course of a minute. The usual pattern is it happens a few times each evening.

When it happens, there is no picture or sound, the same as if I had manually turned off the TV via the remote, but with one exception: the VIZIO logo on the bezel beneath the screen remains lit, and is 'brighter' than it is normally when the TV is on. Other than the brightly lit logo, the TV appears to be in its normal off/standby state. In fact, if I then press the power button on the remote, the TV turns back on and all is well again (picture and sound) until the next time it decides to randomly turn itself off again.

After doing some hunting around online, I found many other VIZIO customers complaining of similar symptoms, although in most of those cases I the TV either failed completely (wouldn't turn back on), or the user had to unplug the TV, wait 10 or 15 secs, then plug it back in to get the TV working again (I've never had to do that). And no one described their TV's logo as still being lit when the TV failed.

Since most of the failed cases I read about turned out to be a bad power supply board, I went ahead and purchased one online. It was an exact match to mine, right down to the board's manufacturer, part number and rev letter. I went ahead and swapped the boards, powered the TV back on, and within a couple of minutes it failed again with exactly the same symptoms. %#*@.

So at this point I can safely assume that either the problem is *not* the power supply board, or the replacement power supply board I bought online has exactly the same problem as mine (certainly a possibility; I'm sure the board I purchased was used).

I have a hunch that the TV's hardware is ok, that this is some sort of glitch in the firmware. I can imagine there are points in the code where the default action in response to some error condition is to put the TV into the exact same state I'm seeing now. I could test out that theory by reverting back to an earlier firmware level and see if the problem disappears or the symptoms change, but it appears VIZIO offers no way to do that -- not only is there nothing in the TV's menus for loading firmware, but there are no firmware downloads offered on VIZIO's own support site.

I have no service manual or schematics for the TV, so I'm pretty much stuck at the moment.

The problem of course is that I have no way to capture the TV's state at the instant it fails. So checking voltage levels after unplugging the TV and plugging it back in will likely be futile, unless a component is 'on the edge' or out of spec. I could try operating the TV with its back off and, after it fails, leave it plugged in and measure voltages then, but that would be hard to do as the TV is still in daily use.

Because the TV is still in use, any 'try this, try that' type troubleshooting will be painful, as it would mean pulling the TV off the wall, removing the 10,000 screws from the back, testing whatever new steps are suggested, then, short of coming up with an actual fix, reassembling it and remounting it on the wall. So I'm hoping I can get a bit closer to the source of this problem without having to continually open up the TV.

Update (09/28/2017)

Just an update to my original post:

I was able to locate online a replacement power supply board for my Vizio 42" LED TV (model E422AR). I pulled the back off the TV, removed the old PS board and installed the new one. Everything worked as well as it did before, but the random shutting off problem still occurred. The company I purchased the PS board from were great to work with. They offered me a full refund, or would send me a second board to try, just in case there was something wrong with the one they sent me. I picked option 2 A week later I repeated the process of swapping out my TV's PS board for the new one. Sadly, the problem still occurs.

Here's the thing. I haven't see this problem show up now for almost two months, even though the TV is typically on several hours each day. I don't believe the problem is heat related; there's been plenty of days when the temperature of the room the TV is in topped 80 degrees F. (the vent ports are clean and there's plenty of air flow behind the TV.) I thought this problem might be related to variations in the power line voltage, but my TV is plugged into a UPS (battery), so I doubt that's the cause. I still think this is some sort of firmware bug, but without a way to track firmware updates, there's no way for me to be sure.

Update (11/22/2017)

Another update to my original post...

It's now been four months since I’ve seen a single reoccurrence of my Vizio TV randomly turning itself off.

Given how frequently this was happening to me before - sometimes several times an hour - it is hard to believe this is simply good luck. I continue to use the TV daily, no less frequently than before.

I’m happy to have the problem gone, but have the uneasy feeling it will be back again eventually.

My only explanation for the problem’s disappearance is that Vizio downloaded and installed a new firmware update on my TV that corrected the problem (I’ve always suspected this problem was either a bug in the firmware or could be corrected in the firmware). I hadn’t been keeping a close watch on my TV’s firmware version number, so it might have changed without me knowing it. Too bad Vizio doesn’t inform you when it installs a new firmware update, or makes visible on the Info screen when the last firmware update was installed. Not such a smart TV after all.

Has anyone else had this or a similar problem simply disappear after a while?

Answered! View the answer I have this problem too

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I too have Vizio with the same problem. XVT553SV purchased in Feb 2011 and has done this randomly from the 1st week I had it. Besides being very limited in what capabilities it has, compared to newer updated models, and a couple of hdmi ports that quit working, it has served me well so far. I have it attached to a APC 1400 UPS for protection. Usually this happens out of the blue with no pattern I can discern once every few weeks to a month and lasts for 5 min. I originally was told by Visio it was updating firmware and of course I drank that cool aid. As it is now going on 6 years old I count it as lucky it still works from what I read and hear from others regarding Vizio televisions so I guess I got my moneys worth at this point.

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Ohhh, that is really bad....

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My TV will stay on for day's but then cut off and stay off for day's. SMMFH

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From below:

Ok, so i bought my Vizio d40-d1 one year ago. Dang it. This mind reading weirdo TV shuts off if i get up from chair and move two feet sometimes. This TV is about 14 feet from chair. Laptop nearby. The Vizio is set for no tracking and is not connected to internet. I do sometimes connect laptop to TV via hdmi cord, but not often.

What makes it shut off like that ? No light either. Is something causing that phenomena in anyway related to the router in other room , TV, then laptop, in a line like that. Right, i know it makes no sense but my moving a few feet must disturb something, waves? , in the space around. I was dumb when i bought a smart TV. Miss my old square 700lb bulky TV. O, back in the good 'ol days - yea whatever.

So, anyone notice Vizio turn off when they move in room ?

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I have the exact problem obviously on other web sites people have said that Visio has sent people the box to update tvs then u send it back to them and it's all fixed! If it's shutting off for awhile like mine did it for about a week then today it went off entirely. It comes on but shuts off tried all the little tricks but nothing but I did notice that as it turns on the logo comes off and it immediately shuts off even tho the Visio light in front stays on but no power light I've noticed. So seeing how I'm in the middle of a blizzard I am going to call Visio tell them what I read on other web site and see what happens keep u posted!

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18 Answers

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I have a Firestick and realized my Vizio was intermittently powering off and on when I was trying to control my television using the T.V.’s remote or buttons and not the firestick remote. I also tape off the I.R. sensor on the firestick remote or move it so the T.V.’s I.R. sensor doesn’t detect the remote. Problem solved. I don’t know if you’ve got a Firestick or not, but this is how I solved my issue.

I found the answer in this ifixit post: TV randomly turns on and off repeatedly

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I don't know about anyone else, but I do have a Firestick. I'll have to give it a try. Thanks!

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Was the same problem for me! Thank you!

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I had the same problem. I just replaced the batteries in the remote. Problem solved.

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I rolled over the remotes getting out of bed one morning and Vizio smart tv started this off/on crap! Had no idea which remote cuz all 3 were in same pile I rolled over. After googling it I found your post. Took the batteries out of the fire stick remote and boom! Fixed it! Thank you so much for sharing this. Very helpful!

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TL;DR Take out the batteries in your firestick remote, it could be turning on/off your tv!

We have a 55 inch vizio tv and this power cycling issue was happening to us. We tried all the button holding and unplugging methods suggested in numerous posts, to no avail.

We are fix-it types, so we decided to disassemble the tv down to every last screw to check for a possible fried hardware issue. Nothing there either. We were considering replacing the power board until we read this post…Finally came across someone in this thread saying it could be an issue with the firestick remote and EUREKA! Taking out the batteries of the remote and putting them back in fixed the problem! Not sure how long this quick fix will work, but glad to know this was the solution before we spent money on a (or many) powerboard(s) or even a new TV. Thank you to those who suggested it! Hope it helps others!

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Under Settings you will see CEC Settings. Turn off the CEC Function. This will be the root cause off the problem for many people as one of the connected devices is sending an improper CEC signal and causing the TV to turn off.

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I've had this option turned off the entire time I've owned my tv and my tv still shuts off occasionally

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I tried that ,i only have speaker and dvd player hooked up.tried turning CEC to disable -it still hapoens unhooked chromecast -still happens ,different plug in entirely different grid in home -still happens... WHAT ELSE CAN WE TRY????

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This worked for me. My TV kept losing picture due to conflict arisen with hdmi connection to PC. Thank you for the help!

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I have been all over these forums trying to figure out what could possibly be wrong with my tv and nothing seemed to work. House 1 i was on a bottom floor mounted on my wall over a year no issues. House 2 on a wall lots of sunlight with no ac I had issues all day long as soon as spring hit. House 3 I had ac but my tv was between 2 windows I would have problems at certain times of the day and just before sunset. It finally hit me that every time my tv shut off I was also getting up to turn on my ac. I bought a little fan that I keep angled at my tv during the day since the heat/sun seemed to be what was causing it. I did that 6 months ago and I have only had the same issue on days where I forget to turn on the ac and it’s 80-90 outside.

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So I took mine to a TV Repair shop and it acted just fine but when I got hit home and hooked it up again it started all over. So next time I took it the guy asked me what I was hooking up to the TV and we found that by replacing the HDMI Cable it worked fine.

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Mine was the power button on the back that was sticking. I cleaned it up, and pushed it a few times and it was fixed.

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i did a factory reset and put in my zip code and it works now

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How do you do a factory reset?

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Hmm i will try that ...

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How do you do you factory reset if it keeps shutting off? Most of these comments make no sense since it SHUTS OFF!

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Check the back of your TV. Are the vent ports clean and free of lint? Lint build up will impede the airflow necessary for the interiors components. Clean them using a dust wand or a can of air. At some point it'll lead to a blown capacitor. That's noted either by a bulge at the top or a brownish substance. If you're handy with a soldering gun is a relatively easy fix. If not, then you would need to replace the board with the blown capacitor.

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I want to thank everyone for their comments - whether true or false ,i finally figured out the fix for us...

Factory Reset... it was a bummer to have to reapply my apps and so on ..but so worth NOT having tv shut off randomly...been 3hrs -keeping my fingers crossed for a few days!

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The person who suggested a wi-fi conflict was right on. We recently had a power outage due to a thunderstorm and the surge completely reset my tp-link router. We finally realized that the problem appeared after the outage. We have ROKU and do not use the smart tv features of the tv, so I disconnected it completely from the network and did a factory reset and, voila, the problem is gone. Everything is back to normal. Hallelujah!

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We recently had a small power surge -the condos are replacing power boards ,and after thst a chromecast symbol smfor someone elses kitchen radio started to show up ,i changed those setting....maybe i need to factory reset tv ?????

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I have found that if an HDMI port is bad, or going bad, the tv will turn off. When my cable box was connected to the bad port, the tv would turn off and could not be turned back on easily. Today, I moved the HDMI cable to the only remaining HDMI port that is good. No further problems. I plugged the PlayStation into the port that the tv formerly was plugged. When I select the bad port the tv turns off

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My vizio has this same issue my HDMI ports are going out but I found 1 that still works and the TV works fine so I switch back and forth between the directv and the playstation until I could replace HDMI only my port 5 works when i plug in to a different one TV blacks out and it has sound

Hope this help….

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My thanks to everyone who posted above. I've had my Visio for about 8 years, use it every day, and never had the power problem until the past few months. I suspected it had something to do with the fact that I'd cut the cord on cable about a year ago. When we were on Comcast cable it never happened, but now I'm using Roku. My other set (a Panasonic) is also on a Roku and it's fine, no problems.

So, based on the advice in several posts, I:

  • Unplugged everything, and pulled the Roku out of the HDMI port.
  • Plugged the Visio back in, then did the factory rest (picked Menu on the remote, System 》Reset&Admin, then skipped all steps that involved connecting the tv to a network)
  • Plugged the Roku power back in on the same extension cord (limited outlets available) and then plugged it into the HDMI port
  • Used the Visio remote to select the Roku as Input

It's now been running for several hours with no shutdown! YEAH!

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I had the same problem, but I figured it out for myself. So before you spend money on repairs here’s what I did.

If you tried uplugging your TV and holding the power button down for 10 - 30 seconds and plugging it back in the wall and that didnt work, try this method that I discovered on my own:

1). Hold the ON button in on your Vizio TV. Do not release it

2). Press the menu button on the remote control and select SETTINGS

3). Select RESET

4). Follow the steps to reset your TV.

This should work. Mine works just fine.

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I have a Vizio E55-F0/1. It would randomly just turn off. It wasn’t very often, but it happened and was annoying. I started to try different things. Someone mentioned the CEC setting and that it should be disabled. When I disabled it, it shut off more often. But I noticed that there were three options, enabled, disabled and ARC. When I looked at the back of my TV, my cable (actually Google Fiber) was plugged into the HDMI 1, which was also labeled [ARC]. So, I went back to the CEC setting and selected the ARC option. It’s been several days now and it (knock on wood) hasn’t shut off on it’s own yet. Since I’m a little OCD, I always put my cable/Google Fiber or whatever in HDMI 1. I have 4 Vizio TVs and this is the only one with CEC and the only one that shuts off by itself. I hope this is the solution and that it helps others!

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It's been a while since I posted the above suggestion. That helped my problem but I noticed that at some point I got a software update and I started having trouble with my TV coming on by itself. I enabled the shutoff timer (shuts off after 10 minutes if there's no picture) and I haven't had a problem with my TV for a very long time. Good luck!

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Ok I’m not impressed with this Visio but that being said it happened when my fire stick was in port 4.

i replaced hdmi cord

i detached fire stick extension for hdmi that’s the little piece if your hdmi is hard to access.

Disconnected the newer voice remote and went back to the firetv app.

turned off Bluetooth speaker

ok so now it works. Wow this is such bleep bleep.

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Also changed the ports a few times Vizio in my Opinion is junk

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Just did this after trying everyone else’s advice and taking the batteries out of the fire stick and replacing them actually worked!!!!

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Seems like a lot affects this tv. Mine had that same problem. I had it set to WiFi and it kept powering off. I Plugged the internet in with an Ethernet cable and it seems to be working now.

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I have a Vizio 65” TV and have been dealing with powering off issues for 2 years. I've searched Google and YouTube for solutions with no luck. Finally one day, it's like the fix just fell in my lap. Here's the solution that has worked for me. My TV has worked fine with no shutoffs for the last month. First, unplug your TV from your surge protector and hold the physical power but on the TV down for 20 seconds and then plug it directly into the wall socket. Next, do a factory reset. Now you enjoy your Vizio TV until we leave Vizio for good because I will NEVER EVER buy Vizio again in my life!

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I have the same issues turn on then will shut off even when a DVD is playing.

after shutting off the Screen is light gray just to the right side of tv then totally goes black. Not even 1 1/2 hrs old! Never Again a Visio Tv.

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Hi . Go to settings. Drop down to power. Change from Eco mode to quick . This will fix the problem.

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Ran into an issue with my m701d-a3 this morning. Have had it since December 2013, 7 years of trouble free TV watching. The cat woke my wife up at 4am… needed food. She went to the living room and noticed the entertainment system was off, yet the light by the remote sensor on the tv was on. She tried powering the system on to watch cable (xfinity/comcast X1 dvr), but it didn’t work.

She tried unplugging the TV and plugging it back in, still didn’t work. Then she came in and woke me up “THE TV IS BUSTED!”… good morning to you too. Just how I wanted to start a vacation day…

We have a A/V receiver that everything is ran through. The only cable to the TV is power and a HDMI cable from the Yamaha RX-V681 output port. It has a roku box (not the stick), PS3, Sony bluray player and a media PC ran into it. All using HDMI, the media pc uses Toslink for audio. We use a logitech One remote to control everything. All the original remotes are in a drawer in another room.

I looked online for stuff about the issue for a few hours, tried the tricks of unplugging, holding power button, etc, but it wouldn’t turn on. I had an USB light plugged into one of the USB ports as a test since I was behind the TV (which only have power when the TV is on), but it never turned on either. I couldn’t do anything like resetting the thing to factory or shutting off wifi because it would not turn on.

Defeated, I then spent a couple hours online looking for a new TV… Not knowing how to get rid of the old one and not wanting to go to 10 different stores in a 100 mile radius to look at TV’s amidst the pandemic, was pretty annoyed. Seems TV’s have changed a bit since 2013. Used to be able to get decent TV’s with local dimming arrays as a mid-grade TV, but seems those are now only higher end units that cost twice as much. So now I have to pay $2-3K for a 70” TV to get the features I bought in 2013 for $1600… nice… and I have to wait 4 weeks for it to be delivered… WHY DO I NOT KNOW ANYONE WITH A TRUCK ANYMORE?!?!?

So, in desperation, I decided to try and take the back off the TV. Not easy to do with a 70” TV when your alone and your wife is at work. Figured at the very least I could check the fuse on the PSU board and get the serial numbers off the boards. I also reseated all the molex type cables while leaving the CPU board’s ribbon cables alone, other than wiggling the ribbon cable connections for the power button. With it face down on my couch with the back off and cats trying to climb on it, I thought I’d check the voltages of the PSU per some videos I saw on youtube. Plug it in… the LED light I put in the USB port flickered… press the power button… it turns on and stays on. Huh. Try pressing the power button to shut it off, it wouldn’t shut off. Get the remote, press the power button and it shuts off. Using the remote, turn it back on and it comes on and stays on. I shut it off again and unplugged it, waited a bit, plugged it in (light flickered upon plug in), turned it on and it seemed to be working.

Put it all back together. Move it back across the room to the TV stand and plug it back in. Press the system “on” on my remote like normal to power everything up and I have TV again! Congratulated myself on accidental success… watched TV for a bit and shut it off, then went online to try and read more about it.

An hour or so later, I go to turn it back on and switch to Roku to watch a movie on my network via DLNA. I get about 3 folders deep, then the TV shuts itself off… I power it on and it lasts about 3 minutes and shuts off again… I power everything down and switch to the DVR/comcast box as the input instead (keep in mind, this is all handled via the receiver, not the TV, it’s always just using HDMI1). Seems fine, watch TV for 20 minutes, then switch to Roku. Try my movie again and it’s fine. TV was on for 8 hours straight, not a single blip. Half of it via comcast/cable and half via the Roku.

Regardless… I think it’s time to start researching a new TV. Not something I want to be forced into making a kneejerk purchase on since it’s something I have to live with for the hopefully the next decade…

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Go to e bay and Buy an operating board for it ! That will fix it for less than a Hundred bucks. U can usually get all the Guts from a Broken screen TV off the Same TV as Yours. Lay the TV down on a bed face down. to repair it!

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I've done it to Two already!!

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And it's dead again this morning. The remote doesn't turn it back on. I have to unplug the power, press the power button for 10+ seconds, plug it back in, then the remote turns it back on. But then it shut off again within a few minutes on it's own and doesn't come back on.

Going to try to reset to factory defaults in a bit, but had to log into work.

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I replaced it with a sony... kind of bummed about it as when I upgraded the living room TV, I wanted to move the old one to the bedroom to replace the old 55" LG LG55LH40 that's in there. I've had that TV since 03/23/2010. It's still working fine.

The Vizio M701D lasted 7 years, got it 11/27/2013 and it died 12/04/2020.

Hope the Sony XBR75X900H lasts as long.

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Hey guys, I was want to help those guys who are still facing the black screen issue on their vizio smart tv because last week my brother also encounter this type of issue on his Vizio (Model Number - E500i-b1) tv . His tv kept on crashing and turning off. He told me that whenever he tried to turn it on, the tv shows startup screen and then turn back to off. So when he couldn’t fix this out by himself he called me up, I searched on web and after sometime I got the right page to fix this issue and we follow all the steps as mentioned there, some of steps weren’t useful but we managed to fix the issue by resetting our vizio tv. You can also try resetting your tv to fix your issue and if resetting the doesn’t help you at all then I will leave their for you guys here

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Go to settings. Drop down to power, switch from Eco mode to quick start. This will fix the problem.

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