LVDS

and Scaler Testing

LVDS means Low Voltage Differential Signals, the only high voltage is LVDS supply which
can be either 3.3 volts (for small size led or lcd),it can be 5 volts or it can be 12 volts, the
other connections on LVDS connector is LVDS signal pairs which are 5 pairs for HD ready
and 10 pairs for Full HD panels, if you measure voltage on each LVDS pairs you will get
around 1.2 volts to 1.5 volts on every pairs, if you check the resistance of each pairs you will
get around 100 ohms, so every time you face problem like no display back light ok you need
to check LVDS supply, you need to check if every LVDS signal pairs you get low voltages and
most importantly you need to check every pairs resistance, if you speak about HD ready with
5 pairs,4 pairs are LVDS signal pairs and one pair is clock plus/minus, if there is any shorting
or open circuit on this clock pairs there would be no display, if another 4 pairs any one pair is
open or short there can be faults such as color problem or negative type picture with shades
on face, if there is no display you need to check those above parameters and if all testing is
ok you need to move on panel TCON/Scaler pcb, you need to check whether LVDS supply is
available on TCON/Scaler pcb if LVDS supply is ok you need to check straight away VGH
(VON) which is very important VGH should be around 22 to 32 volts which depends on the
size and make, you need to check VGL (VOFF) which is always minus and the normal
voltage should be around minus 5 to minus 13 (again it depends on size of panel),you need to
test AVDD (VDD) which should be around 13 volts (if LVDS supply is 5 volts ),it can be 16
volts if the LVDS supply is 12 volts, you need to check HAVDD which is exactly half of AVDD
(if AVDD is 16 volts HAVDD will be exactly half of AVDD which should be 8 volts ),for
brightness related problems you need to check HAVDD as well as VCOM voltages, if HAVDD
is 8 volts in that case VCOM would be around 1.5 volts lesser then HAVDD, for negative
picture you need to check all gamma points, if you talk about AS15 GAMMA IC (used in
AUO,CMO panels)there are 15 gamma out 14 plus one VCOM=15 gamma points, gamma is
very simple to test if for example we speak about AS15 if you test gma1 the voltage available
on gma1 should be equal to AVDD (if AVDD is 16 volts gma1 will be same 16 volts ),gma2
will be slightly lesser voltage then gma1 (gma2 voltage would be around 14.2 volts, gma3 will
be again lesser then gma2 which will be around 12.8 volts, so if we measure another gamma
which is gma4 it will be lesser then gma3, so the voltage should go lesser if you measure
those voltages further, if for example gma8 is 9 volts and gma9 is 12 volts then it is not
normal you need to check gamma section IC and associated components, in small size
panels gamma is picked up from voltage divider resistors network, i have come across
symptoms in small size panels where the gamma reference are A1,A2,A3,A4 etc. and it can
also be written as V1,V2,V3 etc., it can be printed as gm1,gm2,gm3 etc., speaking about
negative picture in small size panels when you measure gamma flow voltages you will see
that gamma 1 is normal, gamma 2 is normal, gamma 3 is normal but gamma 4 there is no
voltage in that case normally I have seen pf capacitor gets short,

For no display where you get normal LVDS supply but no boost voltages
(VGH,VGL,AVDD,HAVDD, VCOM) in such case cold test is very important, you need to keep
your meter on highest resistance range and keep the negative probe on common panel
ground and you need to test resistance of VGH, VGL, AVDD, HAVDD, VCOM (all should
show you high value resistance in Kohms ),if any one point resistance is showing low ohms
(example 200 ohms on VGH line)in that case the boost IC will go into protection mode and
there will be no boost outputs ),once you test all those points mentioned above you need to
check resistance between VGH and VGL ( again in normal case it will show Kohms ),in many
panels i came across the resistance between VGH and VGL go low ohms due to shorting
inside the panel or due to gate short, in that case what i do if external gate pad is available, i
take 12 volts adapter 5 amps and keep the negative on common ground and with positive
point i give jerk on VGH and VGL (as VGH and VGL are close prints which goes from scaler
COF to inside the panel towards gate)as in many cases when i gave jerk to VGH and VGL the
inside shorting is removed means the print goes open. In that case if external gate pad is
available you can remove the gate pad details and you can bypass VGH and VGL directly
from scaler PCB to side gate pad service dots available on gate pad.