LG OLED TV reboots randomly - does webOS v 6.00.20 help?

[RobLGSucks]

Hi,

I have an LG OLED55B7A that has been rebooting randomly ever since I updated it to webOS 6.00.05 about 6 months ago.  I have noted there is a new webOS version 6.00.20 available.   Has anyone here had the same rebooting problem, and if so, did the latest webOS correct the issue?

In general, my setup has the LG tv doing as little as possible - it is simply a display for my Roku box via my AVR, as the TV's interface and apps slowly became completely unusable about a year after purchase.  So, no ethernet, no WiFi, all services turned off, etc., and this helped with all of the performance issues, except the rebooting. 

 

@ LG :  if you ever read this - you have done a TERRIBLE job of managing the software on these TVs.  webOS started off as a real alternative to all of the external set top boxes, but now, I will *never* *ever* buy another LG TV again, and I tell everyone I know to avoid them.  Worst product management in the consumer electronics industry in the past 10 years.

Thanks fellow sufferers for any tips.

Rob

Edited November 19, 2021 by RobLGSucks
Changed tag to address LG directly, if they ever read these forums.

[AlanD]

Same issue for me with the same model. It may have started with webOS 6.00.05, but I am not sure. It was very infrequent when it first started and recently it has become much worse. I had it reboot 5 times within the span of 20 minutes a few nights ago, so I started trying some things, including upgrading the software to 6.00.20. The latest software did NOT fix the problem. I did a factory reset after the update, which was one of the suggestions I saw online for this issue, and that seemed to fix it initially. I went 3 or 4 hours without a reboot, but the next day it started again. I have a similar setup. Not using the terrible webOS apps, just using it as a display with my inputs coming through an AV receiver to HDMI 1. A new thing I have noticed, when trying to update the software and changing some settings to see if they helped, is that the Settings menus are slow and become unresponsive, right before it reboots. I read on one of the forums that this is a main board failure, but I am not convinced. I think it is a software issue, but I may decide to order a main board and replace it, as this issue is starting to make the TV unwatchable. 

Correction. I upgraded to 6.00.25, not 6.00.20. I also called LG support. They had my try some troubleshooting, but 5 minutes after we hung up, the TV rebooted again. Considering a Sony OLED, but might try replacing the main board first.

Edited November 4, 2021 by AlanD
Updated version of webOS I am on.

[Henrique Carvalho]

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[AlanD]

Just wanted to provide an update for anyone following this or with a similar issue. I replaced the main board and it did not fix the problem. As a matter of fact, it got worse. I thought about trying a power board, but decided I was done putting money into this set. I ordered a Sony OLED and the LG is going to the e-waste recycle center. Done with LG TVs.

[RobLGSucks]

AlanD,

Thanks so much for sharing your (painful) insights.  I wanted to share one more thing before you trash your LG TV - have you tried swapping out different HDMI cables?  A week ago my TV did the same sort of rebooting you described (about 5 times in 10 minutes), and I realized I had not tried out a different cable, as the one I was using was new (when I bought the TV 4 years ago).  So, I swapped the old one out and the rebooting frequency has (thus far) gone down quite a bit - maybe once per 7 or 8 hours of viewing.  To further explore this solution I have ordered a brand new HDMI cable ("Monoprice 8K Ultra High Speed HDMI Cable 6ft - 48Gbps Black") from Monoprice that will arrive here tomorrow, and I have hope that this will further reduce or even eliminate the rebooting.   Either way, I will report back here when I have done the swap, which should be in the next few days.

Let me know if there is anything else you'd like me to try on my set - it's great to connect to someone else with the same problem.  Fingers crossed.

Rob

[RobLGSucks]

AlanD,

A few more things:

1. Can you provide the part numbers and a source for the main board?  I'm just curious as I was not able to find this information easily online.

2. My setup is as follows:

[Roku Ultra] <-- HDMI --> [Sony AVR] <-- HDMI --> [LG TV's HDMI2 (ARC) Input]

thanks,

Rob

[AlanD]

Rob,

Yes, I tried a different HDMI cable. I have a similar setup (Roku Ultra / Tivo Edge -> Onkyo AVR -> LG TV on HDMI1) and I was able to see the problem with nothing but an antenna connected and tuned to a local OTA channel, so that pretty much eliminated everything but the TV. I was able to get it to go a few hours without a reboot, usually after a factory reset, but it would eventually go back to rebooting more often.

I got the main board from Encompass, which was the company that LG referred me to for parts. Other companies sell the main board, but their price was OK and figured I had a better chance of getting a new factory board from them. The part number is EBT65053201 and it was $133 plus tax and shipping. I thought for sure that would fix it, since I noticed that if I was navigating the Setup menus, they would get slow and unresponsive, right before the TV would reboot. Good luck with your issue. 

[RobLGSucks]

AlanD,

Thanks for the details on the thorough testing - that seems conclusive then.  Argh.  Good luck with your new Sony OLED; that is likely my next move too.

best,

Rob

@ LG : Please note how terribly your products are performing.

[RobLGSucks]

Update:

After experiencing way fewer reboots with a different HDMI cable than the one that was being used during the problematic stage, I obtained a brand new HDMI cable (specs noted above) and so far have not experienced any rebooting over the course of 4 days of usage.  Will report performance again after a week or so.

[RobLGSucks]

FINAL:

Two weeks after replacing an older HDMI cable (7 years old?) with a new and higher spec’d one, and not a single reboot.  The native UI is still unusable due to poor software development by LG, but combined with a Roku Ultra I am still able to get the best out of this 4 year old TV.

[RobLGSucks]

Update 2: Six weeks later and I’ve had my first reboot!  A huge improvement over rebooting several times a day - but what would cause this?  Anyone have insights?  Can some sort of capacitance build up between the AVR and TV along the HDMI cable that could cause a faulty signal that causes the TV to reboot?  Any EEs out there that may have an insight?