RCA TV Won’t Turn On: No Red Light

TV’s nowadays are very popular despite the obvious decrease in the television audience – large screens are still used widely to watch videos from streaming services and playing console games. And RCA, being the pioneer of the television industry, still manufactures TVs of highly reliable quality as the sub-brand of Sony Corporation. But there are cases when even the most reliable devices don’t work as intended due to various circumstances. For instance, sometimes RCA TV wont turn on no red light showing on the TV. And taking into account that there are devices from RCA with Roku TV or Web OS firmware and without it, it’s vital to know how to do the troubleshooting and how to fix such issues by yourself.

RCA TV: Clarification

As it was said, there are RCA TV devices that work under Roku TV and Web OS firmware as well as devices without it, but generally there are no visual differences between them. All of them are made in the same design with the power indicator as a small LED light in the lower-right corner of the frontal panel. That’s basically the first thing you should look at whenever you have issues with your TV not switching on.

Power indication on RCA TV devices should be red whenever the device is connected to the power outlet and its internal power supply works as it should.

And whenever you don’t see a red light there, it means that either it’s not connected to the power source or one of the device’s critical components is unusable.

And there are two components you should worry about:

• Power supply controller. An internal unit responsible for distribution and delivery of the energy from the power supply to other TV components through the motherboard. Without it, no device could work.
• Central unit of any device, TVs included. Basically, it contains all internal components responsible for device’s core functionality and connects them with other internal units from.

If one of the above components has serious issues, TV won’t turn on no matter what you do. And the power indicator, too, won’t light.

Also, it’s worth mentioning that those are not all reasons for red light not showing on the front panel of your TV. In rare cases, the indicator itself, or rather its LED light is fried and the device itself is working fine. But it won’t even be worth serious troubleshooting.

Common Causes for RCA TV Power Issues

Taking into account what was said above, there are 3 main causes for RCA TV not turning on and its red light indicator not showing. All of them include sub-cases that will become understandable as soon as you conduct a thorough diagnostics.

• Power supply problems. This group includes every cause that depends on the power supply, including power outages, power surges, power source instabilities and so on. In other words, such problems are all about issues not directly related to the TV or its connection to the power source.
• Electrical connection issues. All problems related to the connection belong to this category. Inoperable electric outlets, unusable power plug, damaged power cords – all of this could cause issues and your TV won’t turn on.
• Internal component failures. The most troublesome kind of issues that could happen are damaged internal components like the motherboard or power supply controller. If they’re in inoperable state, then the only thing you can actually do is to contact the support and issue repairs if your warranty is not expired.

 

Before you find out what caused your RCA TV not turning on, you obviously should do troubleshooting. So don’t panic before you conduct all checks and tests – solving your particular issue could be easier than you think.

Initial Troubleshooting Steps

To do the troubleshooting of your TV, you should first be prepared to spend time on it. Because you should do it as thoroughly as possible, without missing anything. And whenever you’re ready, follow the guide below step by step.

• First, thoroughly check your TV’s power cable. It could be damaged for some reason, so make sure that it’s intact, at least externally. And don’t forget to check the plug – it could be damaged, too.
• If the cable and the plug are fine, check whether your outlet is in working condition. Try to plug in some other device and check if it will work or not. If you’re using the surge protector, then check if it’s turned on – sometimes it happens when you just didn’t notice that you’ve accidentally turned it off.
• If you’ve found that it seems like the outlet is not working, try to connect your TV to another one. Don’t cross the possibility of such a situation off your list of possible sources of issues.

If you’re sure that your RCA TV is connected to the functional outlet, its power cable and its plug are without any signs of damage, do a power cycle (soft reset) for a TV:

• Hold the ‘Power’ button on the control panel of your TV.
• Disconnect your device from the power source while still holding the button.
• Wait for 60 minutes.
• Hold the ‘Power’ button and plug the TV back into the outlet.

Sometimes it helps with various issues, including cases when malfunctioning firmware prevents the device from booting up.

Advanced Troubleshooting Techniques

If you’ve followed the basic troubleshooting and your TV is still not turning on, you should prepare for more complex testing and checking. But this step is advisable only if you’re sure you can do it and only when your warranty is expired. Because following actions will make your TV’s warranty null and void.

• WARNING! Read instructions first before you proceed, and ask for professional assistance if you’re not sure that you can actually follow the procedure. And if you’re sure that you can do it, then proceed with utmost caution.
• Completely power off the TV while holding the ‘Power’ button and wait for 10 minutes. This is required before you proceed to remove all static electricity from internal components of the device.
• Carefully remove the back cover from the device. Do it with caution, watch for ports and wires that could be connected to the cover itself. Some models have the wire from the internal speakers attached to the back cover.
• Visually check the overall condition of all internal components of the device. Do not touch anything, just look for various abnormalities like small burn marks or bulging capacitors.
• Thoroughly look at the power supply controller and power board. Just follow the power cable down to the point where it connects to internal components of your device. Usually, in RCA TVs it’s on the left side.
• Check capacitors and fuses on each and every component separately. Do not touch anything, just look for various abnormalities like small burn marks or bulging capacitors.

If you’ve found abnormalities or something that looks like those, then it’s advisable to ask the community for help if you’re not a professional. To do that, take several high-quality close-up pictures of the insides of your TV so you can show the condition of your device’s internal components and abnormalities you’ve found. This’ll help you with specifying the source of issues with internal components.

Basically, all of the internal components of your TV could be replaced separately. Because you actually can buy the replacement and fix the issue yourself. But only if you know what you’re doing, you’re doing it cautiously and after thorough troubleshooting checks. And if you don’t know how to do the replacement or you’re not sure you can do it properly, it’s better to ask for professional help from RCA Customer Support. Even if your warranty is expired.

RCA’s Customer Support

As it was said above, you should contact the support whenever you encounter a problem that you can’t solve yourself because you’re not able to diagnose the source of problems with your TV not turning on or you’re not able to fix it yourself after diagnostics. That said, all issues with internal components, whether you’re not sure you can replace them or you couldn’t find the replacement, should be addressed to experts from Customer Support of the RCA brand.

RCA’s warranty is valid for 1 year after the purchase and covers all issues that are not related to the user’s actions or external physical damage. Therefore, malfunctioning internal components are covered by the warranty and you can contact the manufacturer and request help. Moreover, you can contact Customer Support even after your warranty has expired and ask for help.

As an alternative, you can find professional help from technicians who work with RCA TVs. Look for a reliable repair shop that works with brand’s devices, but ask for pricings beforehand and after you’ve ended all troubleshooting. And don’t go for the first repair shop – ask 3-5 of them, compare prices and conditions before picking one you want to ask for help.

Upgrade and Replacement Options

All things considered, if your RCA TV is old, it’d be way better to replace the device itself instead of fixing it. Moreover, the price of the new device could be actually compared to the cost of the repairs. Therefore, you should look into what devices RCA has to offer in their current lineup:

• Roku TV lineup. The most versatile series of the TVs manufactured by RCA. This lineup has 32″ 720p devices, 43″ and 50″ 1080p devices and 32-65″ 4K devices with Smart functionality powered by well-known user-friendly Roku TV firmware intended for streaming platforms.
• WebOS lineup. 50-75″ series of 4K TVs powered by WebOS firmware that works with a wide range of apps and services including voice control with Google Assistant.
• Non-Smart lineup. 43-75″ series of 4K devices that will do a good job for everyone who wants to play games or watch movies without any additional Smart software. Just like on classic TVs.

Taking into account that RCA offers a very, very wide range of devices that’ll suit anyone’s taste, and for a reasonable price, buying a new TV instead of fixing the old one will be a good idea. Especially if you take the price of repairs into account and compare it with under $300 prices of modern RCA TVs.

Wrap Up

Every device can malfunction, and it will, sooner or later. Even reliable TVs made by television pioneers like RCA are not an exception. That’s why when you’ve encountered the situation when your RCA TV won’t turn on and even its red LED indicator won’t react, it’s important to do a thorough diagnostics. Taking everything that was mentioned in the guide by LACWebServices, it’s vital not to panic, cautiously and carefully check everything, troubleshoot all possible sources of the issue and then either fix the problem or contact the support for help.