Sony Bravia TV Red Light Blinking? (Try These Fixes!)
Unfortunately, if you’re currently seeing your Sony Bravia TV red light blinking, this is not a good sign.
The red blinking light on Sony Bravia TVs indicates a serious problem, and in most cases, it’s related to a major hardware failure.
However, according to numerous reports and recent evidence, the red blinking light also shows up on completely operational Bravia TVs.
It’s sometimes indicating a power deficiency; in other cases, it’s just a software bug, so in this quick guide, we’ll try to get your Sony TV back on track.
Let’s get into it!
Sony Bravia TV Red Light Blinking – Ultimate Troubleshooting!
Note: Based on the blinking pattern of your Sony Bravia TV, follow the corresponding methods!
🔴2 Red Light Blinks
If the Sony Bravia TV blinks red twice, then stops and repeats the same pattern over and over with a black screen, that’s a main power board issue.
If we assume that the TV power board is not faulty, there is a possibility of a power deficiency that occurs shortly after a power outage.
Another possibility is a faulty piece of equipment in your setup, such as an A/C surge protector, divider/extender, smart plug, or faulty outlet.
Here’s what you can try:
Note: If nothing solves the problem, it’s probably a blown capacitor on the main power board, which you can check if you’re comfortable with opening the TV’s back panel.
🔴3 Red Light Blinks
If your Sony Bravia TV flashes red light 3 times, then stops and repeats, it means “DC_ALERT / AUD_PROT (Audio Protection / DC Alert)”.
Translated, this means a problem with the DC voltage in the audio amplifier of the Sony Bravia TV.
This may be caused by a defective amplifier circuit or a defect coming from a connected audio output device to your TV, such as a speaker, soundbar, or more…
Here’s what you can try:
Note: If you have nothing connected to your Sony Bravia TV, but the power cable, 3 red lights blink means that the amplifier circuit is defective.
🔴4 Red Light Blinks
If the Sony Bravia blinks four times in red, then stops and repeats, this shows that the balancer board can’t distribute voltage evenly to the backlight.
However, it has been proven that this may also be triggered by a software bug, and updating the operating system instantly fixes the issue.
However, if you can’t access the menus or settings because the Sony Bravia TV shows a back screen, you would need to update the Sony Bravia TV via a USB stick.
Here’s how to update a Sony Bravia TV via a USB stick:
- Acquire a USB flash drive with at least 4 GB of storage.
- Plug the USB drive into a PC connected to the internet.
- Then, format the flash drive to “FAT32” for compatibility.
- Get the latest firmware from the Sony Download Page.
- Copy and paste the update file into the empty USB drive.
- Connect the flash drive to the Sony Bravia TV and wait.
The Sony Bravia TV should start updating automatically.
If nothing happens, there is likely an actual problem with the balancer board, not a software issue.
🔴5 Red Light Blinks
If your Sony Bravia TV is blinking red light 5 times, then stops and repeats, it means “TCON_ERR / HFR_ERR / Panel ID Error”.
Translated, this means TCON (Timing Control Board) or panel communication errors, often due to a mismatch or failure in panel ID memory (NVM corruption).
Here’s what you can try:
Note: If you can’t fix the problem, it’s probably a TCON board failure.
🔴6 Red Light Blinks
If your Sony Bravia TV blinks 6 times, then stops and repeats, this means “BACKLIGHT Error (Inverter/Panel Power Issue)”.
In short, the backlight is not working, which is what illuminates the display.
Hence, the TV may be starting up normally, but nothing will be visible on the screen.
- There is only one thing you can do–the flashlight method!
If you darken the room and use a flashlight from close proximity to shine onto your TV screen, you can determine whether the backlight is faulty or the display shows nothing.
If you can see silhouettes, this means that the backlight has gone faulty.
Note: If you see absolutely nothing, there is an issue with the power that reaches the TV screen panel.
🔴7 Red Light Blinks
If your Sony Bravia TV blinks red 7 times, then stops and repeats, this means “TEMP_ERR / FAN_ERR”, which is often related to overheating.
This indicates thermal protection has been activated, either because the cooling fan is no longer working or just because the TV is overheating.
Here’s what you can try:
Note: If you can’t resolve the overheating, it’s likely that the internal fan of the TV is defective and can no longer efficiently cool down the hardware.
🔴8 Red Light Blinks
If your Sony Bravia TV blinks red 8 times, then stops and repeats, this is the best case that might happen to you–it’s a software issue.
It means that the TV can’t boot the operating system, which in turn also means that the TV hardware is intact and working properly.
You can fix the issue by performing a factory reset, which will ultimately erase everything from the TV permanently, but surely solve the problem.
Here’s how to factory reset your Sony Bravia TV:
- Turn on your TV and ensure the red light is blinking.
- Then, locate the Power and Volume Down buttons.
- Then, press and hold both buttons for ~15 seconds.
This should trigger a manual factory reset on your Sony Bravia TV, and soon you should see a picture with the instructions to initialize the TV.
We hope you’ve learned what’s wrong with your Sony Bravia TV.
If you’re facing further issues, get in touch with Sony Customer Service.
Finn Wheatley, a Master’s graduate in Computer Science from UCL, London, honed his skills at small data science consultancies. There, he helped large corporations enhance their data capabilities by deploying cutting-edge machine learning analytics and resolving technical hurdles.
