A friend of mine gave me a TV for free. It is a TCL L40FHDF11TA (40 inch, FHD 1080p LCD, 60 Hz).

At first it appeared that the TV did not turn on, but it just happened that the power button on the TV was worn out, and also the remote had corroded battery contacts. This created the illusion that something was wrong with the TV itself, but it was a quick and easy fix. This just goes to show you that if you're going to throw out such a valuable device, it's worth taking it apart and giving it a shot.

Update: After using the TV for a few days, I discovered another issue. While using HDMI input, the screen would occasionally turn black. The TV was not rebooting; it didn't show the splash screen when it came back on. The video signal just seemed to cut out. This would sometimes not occur for several hours, yet in other instances it would happen several times intermittently within a period of minutes.

I tried to research the issue. I found very little information about this particular model, as it is a bit old. The TCL website doesn't even list it under legacy devices.

Some of the information that I found suggested that the issue could be the T-con board, which is the device that translates video data into the signals that drive the LCD screen itself.

I decided to shop for a replacement. I took apart the TV again and removed the shielding from the T-con board to be absolutely sure I knew which part I should buy. The model number on the board and a visual inspection of the board layout gave me reasonable certainty that I was purchasing the right product. The model number: SYNC60C4LV0.3.

I found a seller on eBay that was selling one for $20. If it was more expensive, I would have looked into other possible solutions first, but $20 is cheap enough that I just went ahead and bought it.

Once the board arrived, I replaced the one in the TV. I found that it did not solve the problem.

After researching further, I found an obscure link on an Amazon.com page that described my exact problem. It had a link to the TCL website for a firmware update, but the link was broken. It seemed that the file was no longer available.

I searched for the file in other places. I even abused the wget command to recursively search various websites.

I finally fired off a desperate email to TCL Support. Within 48 hours, they replied with the firmware files attached! I was not hopeful, but they delivered.

The files came with instructions.

Models affected: L24HDF11TA, L26HDF11TA, L32HDF11TA, L40FHDF11TA.

Instructions:
1) Verify your model number (model number located on back of TV). Only load this firmware update on an affected model
2) Load the firmware update file from this website onto a USB flash drive
3) Turn TV on
4) Take the USB flash drive and plug it into TV in the USB port of the TV
5) When the TV starts to read the update file, you will see a menu that asks if you want to update the firmware. Select "Yes" using arrows on your TCL remote control.
6) When "Yes" is highlighted, click OK on your TCL remote
7) After upgrade is complete, a message will appear that tells you the upgrade has been performed successfully
8) Pull USB drive OUT OF THE TV
9) Turn TV off
10) Wait 1 minute
11) Turn TV on

It wasn't clear what file system the USB drive should have, so I figured most devices can recognize FAT32. Indeed, it worked fine. I put the upgrade.pkg file on the drive, then plugged it into the USB port on the TV.

The message that displays before you confirm the firmware upgrade displays the old firmware version and the new version that you're about to install. With this particular patch, it appears to say that the new version is not different than the old version, but rest assured it is, in fact, installing a patch.

Pro tip: If the TV were to lose power during a firmware update, it could possibly ruin the TV. So if you have a UPS (uninterruptible power supply), then it's a good idea to use it.

After the firmware update, I was seeing a small yellow "P" flashing in the bottom-left corner of the screen. It turns out you need to unplug the TV, leave it unplugged for 2-3 minutes, then plug it in again. The instructions that came with the firmware only says turn the TV off and wait 1 minute; they doesn't say unplug it. So that's a bit of an oversight.

At the time of this writing, I have been using this TV for almost 2 months. The issue has been resolved!

Videos

File Downloads

Disclaimer: I am providing these files for convenience. These files were given to me by TCL. Typically, you should not trust software downloads from random web sites like mine. You can go ahead and trust me, or you can contact TCL directly.