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LG TV Won’t Turn On (Quick & Easy Fix)

By Author Smart Haus Tips Staff

Posted on Last updated:

Are you struggling to turn your LG TV on? Before buying a new TV, try these nine methods to get it working again. 

There are nine reasons your LG TV won’t turn on:

  1. Flat batteries.
  2. Obstructed sensors.
  3. The TV requires a reboot.
  4. The TV needs a hard reboot.
  5. Faulty wall plugs.
  6. Loose cables.
  7. The TV is in power-saving mode.
  8. A broken backlight.
  9. It needs to have a factory reset.

Let’s take a slightly more in-depth look at exactly what these problems are, how we can deal with them, and some other problems you may face with your LG TV.

1. Check The Batteries Of Your Remote Control

The first thing you have to do if your LG TV doesn’t turn on is to replace the batteries in your TV remote. Often if your TV isn’t turning on when you are using the remote, it is due to the batteries not having sufficient energy left in the cells.

2. Make Sure That The TV Sensor Isn’t Obstructed

Suppose the batteries in the TV remote are new and the remote is functioning. You need to check if there is anything in front of the receiver that could potentially interrupt or block the signal from making it to the sensor.

If something is interfering with the signal coming from the remote, the TV won’t be able to receive the command to turn on, leaving the screen off and black.

3. Unplug The TV To Allow For A Reset

Unplug your LG TV at the power outlet on the wall and leave it unglued for one minute, don’t get impatient. You have to wait a full minute. Once you are done waiting, you can plug the TV back into the wall socket and switch the TV on with the power button. 

4. Perform A Hard Reboot Of Your TV

Unplug your LG TV at the power outlet on the wall while holding the power button down for 15 seconds (doing this will drain all of the remaining power from the TV). You will then have to leave the TV unplugged for one minute. You mustn’t get impatient; you must wait for the full minute. 

Once you are done waiting, you can plug the TV back into the wall and turn the TV on with the power button.

5. Change the Power Outlet Of The TV

Suppose none of the previous methods have worked thus far; you need to rule out the possibility that there is a problem with the power outlet. You can do this by plugging the TV into a different outlet in the room or even in a separate room to make sure that it’s not the power supply.

6. Check The TV Cable Connections

Ensure that all the cables on the back of the TV are plugged in correctly and properly seated in the socket. These cables include the signal cable or cables such as an HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) and the power cable, which can come loose when moving the TV or if it gets nudged accidentally.

7. Establish If The TV Is In Power-saving Mode

Most of the time, LG TVs come with a power-saving mode that needs to be activated. When an LG TV is in power-saving mode, it uses a significantly lower amount of electricity. The power-saving setting on an LG TV can turn your TV off when not being used.

This means that you can’t turn the TV back on unless you deactivate the power-saving mode. If this is the case, and the TV is in power-saving mode, you will need to turn the power-saving setting off.

You can go about turning the power-saving mode off by locating the off button on the TV remote. Once you have found the power button, you must press and hold the power button for five seconds. After holding the power button, you have to use the directional arrows to navigate toward the main menu.

After you have gone to the main menu, you have to go to the settings menu, find the general settings page, navigate to the power settings page, scroll to the standby mode option, and then set it to off.

You can then reboot your LG TV by unplugging the TV by the wall, waiting one minute, then plugging the TV back into the wall and pressing the power button on the TV.

8. Check The Backlight Function Of Your TV

If your LG TV uses an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) screen, you will need to check to see if the backlight is working because LCD screens require a backlight to display an image. The way you can check to see if your backlight is working is by doing the following:

First, you need to check and make sure that your LG TV has power and is turned on. Once you have confirmed that the TV has power and is turned on, you have to get the room where the TV is in as dark as possible.

Then you have to take a high-powered flashlight and hold it close to the screen, roughly 1 to 2 inches away from the screen. Now while holding the light to the screen, check to see if you can see any images where you are shining the light.

If you see something on the screen, this means that there is something wrong with the monitor’s backlight.

Unless the LG TV you have is an extremely high-end model, there is no real reason to go and get it fixed, as the reapers would cost about as much as getting a brand-new LG TV.

9. Perform A Factory Reset On The TV

If all the previous methods fail, you can try performing a factory reset on your LG TV. In some scenarios, you can still access the TV settings when you are struggling with a black screen problem.

Suppose your TV is functional enough for you to access the settings; you can try to perform a factory reset. Note that if you have a smart TV, you will need to back up all of the data saved on your TV to a different device before doing a factory reset.

You have to work through the following steps to do a factory reset:

  • You have to navigate your way to the setting menu by holding the power button down for five seconds. Doing this will take you to the main settings menu.
  • You have to scroll down to settings and then press the OK button.
  • Once you have gone to settings, you have to scroll to all settings and press the OK button.
  • After you are in, you have to scroll down to general settings.
  • Once in general settings, you have to scroll down to the option -reset to initial settings.
  • You now need to go on the TV remote and press the OK button, then wait for the factory reset to finish.

Other Common Problems With LG TVs

Let’s go over three additional common problems you may face when using an LG TV.

1. False Contouring Of The Image On The TV

False contouring is a rather complicated name for the following problem. This name refers to when your LG TV has a solid stripe of color going across the entire image.

Unfortunately, there’s nothing that can do to fix this problem once it happens, meaning that if your TV is one or two years old and it does land up getting false contouring, sadly, there is no way of fixing or counteracting it.

However, you can be proactive when purchasing a new LG TV by inspecting the unit you will be taking home. You have to turn the TV on and test its functionality when inspecting.

2. Faulty Sound Output Of Your LG TV

Occasionally, the speakers on your LG TV may not produce any sound. Sometimes this problem can be fixed by rebooting the TV. There are two options you can utilize when trying to reboot your TV, and they are as follows:

  • You can do a manual reboot by turning the TV off at the power button and then unplugging the TV from the wall. You will need to leave the TV off for one or two minutes, then plug it back in and turn it on.
  • Alternatively, you can hold the power button and the volume down button on the remote until you see the LG start-up screen; then, you can release the buttons.

3. Inconsistencies In Colors On Your LG

Problems with color consistency start when your TV suddenly turns itself off. Often this is followed by a popping sound coming from the TV. after this happens, you will start to note changes in the consistency of the colors.

Sadly, the cause of this problem is overuse of the TV and is linked to the TV’s power supply. Often this is due to a faulty capacitor in the TV.

If this is the case, the fix is rather simple. You can fix this problem by taking the TV to a registered and authorized repair shop to get the damaged TV parts repaired or replaced and make sure to ask for a repair warranty when applicable.

Conclusion

In total, we have gone over nine possible reasons why your LG TV may not be turning on, including dead batteries, sensor obstruction, TV needs a reboot, the TV needs a hard reboot, faulty wall plugs, loose cables, the TV is in power saving mode, the TV has a broken backlight, or the TV needs a factory reset.

We have also learned how to deal with all nine of these problems and addressed three other common problems that LG users experience.