My wife was on a local Facebook group and heard of someone getting rid of a broken 60″ led tv. She asked me if I wanted it. Because I like to fix everything or at least figure out how it works, I immediately said, “Yes!” So in not too short of time I had a Vizio E601i-A3 opened up for inspection.
The common problem on these models is that the T-con (timing control) board goes bad which results in a blank screen (no picture) but yet there is sound. The backlight is on but since the Timing Control board has a problem it can not send the proper signal to the pixels on the lcd panel.
Since I know this is a common failure on the E601i-A3, I took it out to take a closer look. The internet tells me to test one particular transistor on that board and guess what, that transistor is fried. So I ordered a new one, it cost $.54. After soldering in the new part the TV fired up great and has been working great since.
If you want to watch the video and see exactly how I did all of this for under a $1 check it out here: