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Bhusharn's avatar
Bhusharn
New Contributor

Arris XG1v* - Blew TV Main Circuit board via HDMI connection?

I had an interesting event happen recently. I am mostly looking to see if anyone else had a blown TV that fits my symptoms.  Not suggesting at all that ARRIS XG1V* has issues.

We had a recent power outage due to some electrical issues OUTSIDE of our place.  Our neighborhood lost  power  for about 4 hours.  Our Utility company (VA DOM) did some outside work on poles and underground to fix it.

After this was fixed, I had two things happen inside.  First was that my Cox ARRIS XG1V* lost its front panel display. I powered it on multiple times, but all lights on front stayed off. It was completely non-functional because my 2nd slave Cable box that runs off of the primary box, but now now blown, couldn't talk to the primary box anymore.   I got a replacement for it from local cox store

The more interesting part is that my TV stopped working too. I can turn it on, I can see he screen light up, but nothing beyond it. I can't change input, or watch Blue-ray or chormecast, built-in Netflix/Youtube or anything at all on any of the inputs.

I had a TV guy come over and diagnose that the Main TV Video board (LG 60PB6900) is blown. It is going to cost me about $365 to get it rebuild. New ones are on back order, and likely discontinued.

During our conversation, he happened to mention that we should be careful about connecting LIVE HDMI cables because they carry 5V current and that 5V pin could accidentally contact neighboring pins frying things. Now this was an interesting point that lead me to write this post.  If the power surge was as bad as it was, my TVs power supply likely would have blown too.  So I suspect the event that caused the main circuit board to get blown came from somewhere else. The ARRIS box getting blown might not be a co-incident if I apply non-scientific relative logic. 

So my question to all of you is that have you heard any other issues with ARRIS box similar to this? Also, what are the possibilities of ARRIS blowing up my TV main board via HDMI?

And the most important question of all this is that what are chances COX would buy this as a defective equipment and reimburse me to get my TV Fixed? All I have is a co-incidental event and a fairly confident TV fix guy.

I  am going to be definitely putting in an HDMI surge protector. But there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of awareness around HDMI surges.  I love my 60inch plasma and I would like to hang on to it as long as possible!

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  • Andrew_Wees's avatar
    Andrew_Wees
    Contributor III

    were you the only house to loose power?  if not it might have happen because the surge or the hdmi cable could have caused it.

  • Bhusharn's avatar
    Bhusharn
    New Contributor

    Thanks Andrew for quick reply!

    Our entire neighborhood, 129 Customers according to VA DOM outage tracker, had lost the power.

  • BrianM's avatar
    BrianM
    Moderator
    We can have this looked into, please email our team at Cox.Help@Cox.com with your home address and a link to this thread for reference.

    Brian
    Cox Support Forums Moderator

  • Bhusharn's avatar
    Bhusharn
    New Contributor

    Thanks BrianM! I have sent an email as you have recommended.

  • Andrew_Wees's avatar
    Andrew_Wees
    Contributor III

    have you tried different hdmi cables and a different power outlet?   that repairman just might be looking for a quick repair job.

  • Bruce's avatar
    Bruce
    Honored Contributor III

    The ARRIS didn't fry your TV.  The power surge fried your TV.  However, you're probably correct the surge flowed through the ARRIS to the LG via the HDMI cable.  Apparently, that was the least resistant path for the surge to flow.  Was your LG connected to a power source different than the ARRIS, such as a surge protector or power strip?

    Scientific logic is electricity takes the path of least resistance.  The ARRIS offered that path, but Cox isn't responsible for the paths of least impedance in your household.

    You should protect all your A/V components.  Connect everything to a surge protector.  A surge protector for the HDMI port on a cable box may be a good idea if a surge were to travel on the coaxial cable coming out from the wall.

  • Bhusharn's avatar
    Bhusharn
    New Contributor

    We are on same page, almost.  

    What I am trying to figure out is if this ARRIS box somehow has a flawed design that lets it pass surge thru HDMI.  If HDMI surges were as common as other usual surges, we would have a lot more awareness about it. Don't believe me? Here is a simple test.  Has Bestbuy ever tried to sell you an expensive Monster brand HDMI surge protector? I suspect the answer is no.  The reason I suspect we don't have much awareness is that the formal HDMI specs probably has good enough protections built in to it already.  All "defect free" HDMI implementations should have built in protections around passing surges to the receiving equipment.  Do you see where I am going with it??

    Anyways, I got a canned response from the helpdesk about power surges and blah blah blah.  I don't blame them. I understand their point. However, I need a few more people to experience same thing I did before someone at cox would seriously look at this. I know, it appears that I am hoping a few hundred other people get their TVs fried. However, if my hypothesis is correct, it is destined to happen already if this box has design flow. I just want to throw a thread out there for people to come and relate to.

  • Bhusharn's avatar
    Bhusharn
    New Contributor

    Yes. I tried it all. Nothing worked.

    About the TV guy trying to con me, I say I am not a good judge of a character .  However, http://pwselectronics.com/ I think is pretty reliable. They walked me thru multiple troubleshooting steps over the phone without charging me a dime.  They sent someone over after all basic troubleshooting like what you had mentioned had failed. The home tech guy was able to use TV's built in pattern generator to confirm the screen itself was working, but just the main video board was fried. 

  • Andrew_Wees's avatar
    Andrew_Wees
    Contributor III

    why are you even using live HDMI cables why don't you use regular hdmi cables

  • Bruce's avatar
    Bruce
    Honored Contributor III

    Common HDMI surges?  An HDMI cable is just a set of conductors.  It merely passes digital signals from one component to another.  It doesn't generate voltage or cause a surge.  Either a transformer blew or lightening caused the surge...and it dissipated to your TV.  You need to protect your gear from the wall outlet...not in between your connected components.  Even if an HDMI cable absorbed a surge, I'm sure it would then have problems passing a high-speed signal.

    Nothing is designed to safely pass a surge.  Nor would any manufacturer design a component to safely pass or even protect itself from a surge.  Engineers don't design gear to absorb and dissipate electrical power spikes.  Even if they did include surge protection...which they wouldn't...what would you do after you've reached your joules hits?  Throw it out and buy a new receiver?

    No, there is no design flaw with the ARRIS.  It took a power spike and dissipated through the conductors of its HDMI port.  You should have connected it to a surge protector.  Now, if the power supply in the ARRIS blew-up and it fried your TV, you may have a case.  But you already said outside power issues.