I have lots of failed pixels on my Beo4 remote. Dealer can repair for £25 or therebouts? There are kits for a similar price on eBay.

Is a new display the only answer or could it be dirty connections needing cleaning with solvent?

Vikinguk

From experience, it will almost certainly be the LCD display needing replacement.  There isn't really any chance for the connection to get dirty.

Not sure why they fail so easily though - it's an extremely common fault. Anyone?

Lee

Missing pixels is almost certainly going to need a new screen.
£25 sounds about right, and I'm pretty sure that most dealers will replace it without a labour charge, as it's a five minute job.

Andy T.

9 LEE:

Not sure why they fail so easily though - it's an extremely common fault. Anyone?

Never having dissected one, this is purely speculative: but I would expect this to be because of the conductive rubber strip ("zebra rubber") shrinking with time. This is the part that carries the signals from the PCB to the display glass, and is simply squeezed in place. I've tried to fix problems like this in other equipment with LCD displays, but the "fix" will never last long.

Since the display is obviously a custom part designed for B&O (who else would be silly enough to use such a large area for a single line of text? ), I presume the quantities are so small that problems like this will not have time to get solved during the production run.

All,

Thanks for responses. Strangely enough, we've had repeated pixel failure in two other products: Saab dashboard computer display, and the control display on a Dyson washing machine. In the case of the washing machine, Dyson (under 5 year guarantee) replace the screen, only for it to start failing again almost immediately. In the case of the Saab display, there is a known fault where a wide ribbon is connected to the display using resin solder. The resin solder is not totally effective. This has been fixed in later productions (and can sometimes be DIY fixed by introducing foam or card pressure strips over the connections) but I suspect that they had so many made originally (in Wales I'm told) that they kept putting them into the cars even though failure was likely. As suggested above, maybe B&O had a lot of beo4 displays made at one go and ae now stuck with them. Worry is that you waste your £25 because the display will fail again in about 12 months.

Vikinguk

I cannot think why anyone would fit an LCD display to a washing machine. A well known problem with many washing machines is broken tracks on the PCB's caused by vibration during the spin cycle - how they thought an LCD would stand up to this is beyond me

£25 seems about right for a screen replacement, I've seen replacement screens sell for far more than this on ebay.

Chris.

vikinguk:

Worry is that you waste your £25 because the display will fail again in about 12 months.

I think you'd have to be quite unlucky for that to happen - the older Beo4 I have is from 1997 and has no problems. I disassembled it once to clean the face between the buttons, and was quite sure I was the first one to open it up. They must've had several batches of the displays now, so the current spares may be better than originals as well.

It can't hurt to try and clean the PCB contacts for the display first, especially if the remote has seen moisture - you'll have to go there anyway if you want to install a new display.

But, do you mean your Beo4 is just over a year old? In that case, I think you should press your dealer a little more. These things are supposed to work longer than that, under warranty or not. You might at least get a reduced price for the spare. If you try that route, don't open it up yourself.

Beo4 is about five years old (came with last year production of an Avant TV). Failure of the display started at about 12 months and has got progressively worse. Now at the point where you can only just make out about 30% of the text (and are more likely to  work out what's on the display by counting button presses than trying to read it!)

Vikinguk

In that case, I'd try the clean first and then a new display if required...

I believe the current interpretation of EU legislation - at least over here - is that electronic consumer products are supposed to work for two years

vikinguk:

Saab dashboard computer display

That is a fault on almost many SAABs. Even brand new cars could have a faulty display (like my brothers). They claimed the guarantee didn't cover the display as it was part of the radio and not the car. Even if the display also showed information from other systems in the car.

Daniel:

That is a fault on almost many SAABs. Even brand new cars could have a faulty display (like my brothers). They claimed the guarantee didn't cover the display as it was part of the radio and not the car. Even if the display also showed information from other systems in the car.

That's scandalous

Dealer fixed it today for £25. Couldn't have been more helpful.

Vikinguk

Just to add re Saab and Dyson:

The Dyson washing machine had its fourth display fitted 6 months before the 5 year guarantee ran out. To our surprise, this is the first of the displays that has not then started to fail again straight away. It's unlikely that Dyson ever produced a better version as they stopped making the washing machine some time ago.

The Saab  display was replaced with a £50 reconditioned/ exchange unit. Only one pixel has failed since.

When you take your Beo4 remote in for repair, you will get a demonstration of the all new all singing all dancing Beo5 remote.........................!

I found this thread after searching. My 5 year Beo4 just today appeared to lose a line of LED's. I tried to replace batteries but no luck. Does anyone know for sure if our dealer's have spare displays and the cost of it? Here is an image of it.

Both mine have a missing line, nice to know it's not just me destroying them.

Craig

DrDimitris:

I found this thread after searching. My 5 year Beo4 just today appeared to lose a line of LED's. I tried to replace batteries but no luck. Does anyone know for sure if our dealer's have spare displays and the cost of it? Here is an image of it.

 

Hi Dimitris,

My display has remained perfect since the dealer repair (see posts above). Mine was £25 and, if I'm not mistaken, I could have bought a new display on eBay for about £20 to do it myself. The dealer took only a few minutes to do the job and I thought it money well spent. Your picture is similar to the first stage of the faults that my display developed: after some time all but two lines of pixels eventually went.

Graham

vikinger:

All,

This has been fixed in later productions (and can sometimes be DIY fixed by introducing foam or card pressure strips over the connections) but I suspect that they had so many made originally (in Wales I'm told) that they kept putting them into the cars even though failure was likely.

Vikinguk

This is very common with automotive production these days. Production runs are completed and cars that are known to be affected are placed aside to be repaired individually by hand right there in the parking lots. I've even heard of huge tents being erected to house the bigger screw-ups.

I know its not B&O but hey, I cant sleep