Hisense is a popular electronics brand due to its above-average quality TVs for affordable prices. Though they are a great value alternative, Hisense TVs may encounter issues less likely to crop up when using more reputable (but more expensive) cutting-edge models from other brands like Samsung and LG.
One particular issue that can be especially infuriating is when your Hisense TV won’t turn on, and the only sign of life it displays is a blinking red light. This blinking light doesn’t really tell you much, so without some kind of user guide, it can be very hard to know what’s wrong.
In this article, we’ll discuss why your Hisense TV has a blinking red light, and what you can do to fix it, whether the screen turns on or not!
Table of Contents
Why Your Hisense TV Has a Blinking Red Light
When you see a blinking red light on your Hisense TV, it means something has gone wrong. This should be evident by the fact that the blinking light is normally accompanied by a blank screen.
Hisense uses different blinking ‘codes’ to indicate different errors. These codes are differentiated by the number of blinks, so by counting how many times the red light flashes, you should be able to glean some info as to what exactly the problem is. From there, you can get a better idea of what you might need to do to fix it.
Generally, if the red light is blinking once (per blinking cycle), it means that your TV is in standby mode. This isn’t really a cause for concern, and simply pressing the power button to turn your TV on will take it out of standby mode.
Two blinks indicate an issue with the power supply, and three blinks mean you have an inverter or backlight issue.
Four or five blinks indicate a problem with the video processing board, main board, or T-CON (timing controller) board.
Six blinks signal an issue with the internal temperature of your TV – it’s either overheating or the sensor is bust.
Seven or eight blinks signify a problem with the backlight itself, and nine blinks is a backlight voltage issue.
Finally, ten blinks mean you’ve got a faulty powerboard, mainboard, or LED driver/LED strips.
So there you go! It’s a lot to remember, and a fairly dense and confusing list to ascertain any real meaning from. Especially when certain blink amounts can mean multiple things.
You’ll also have to figure out how many blinks of the light constitute a ‘cycle’ to be able to determine the issue. And, as official Hisense user manuals are themselves pretty vague, it’s suspected that some models don’t even follow the ‘number of blinks = specific issue’ pattern!
The best thing you can do to figure out what’s wrong is to try the most common fixes to all these issues in the hopes that one of them works. You might not know the exact cause of the problem, but at least you’ll have solved it!
Hisense Roku TV Blinking Red Light
To complicate matters further, Hisense also manufactures a line of TVs with inbuilt Roku capabilities. This is a type of Smart TV – your Hisense Roku TV will be able to access the internet, and a whole range of streaming services will be available without you needing to buy an external top box or plug-in device.
The problem with this is that the blinking red light (and all its associated meanings – if you can decipher them!) now means something else. In the case of a Hisense Roku TV, a red light that blinks twice relates to a network connectivity problem.
It’s also worth noting that this blinking pattern may only signal a connection problem if your TV is still turning on and appears to be working. If you’re faced with a black screen and a blinking red light, it’s likely that the blinking indicates a different issue – most likely one outlined above.
To fix this, you’ll want to focus on your Wi-Fi router first. Power cycle it, check any wireless and wired connections, and try using an ethernet cable to get your Roku Hisense TV online.
Hisense TV Won’t Turn On – Fixed!
Now let’s get down to the real reason you’re here, and figure out how to fix your Hisense TV so you can actually use it again.
Power Cycle Your TV
The first thing to try in this instance is the trusty power cycle. It’s simple, anyone can do it, and for a lot of issues across all kinds of electronic devices, it fixes the issue.
Before you try this, you can try the even simpler restart, which just involves turning your TV off and on again. In this instance, I’d imagine it won’t do much, which is why I recommend the power cycle first.
Here’s how to carry out a proper power cycle on your Hisense TV:
- Turn the TV off using power button on the front of the TV screen
- Unplug the power cable from the wall socket
- Press and hold the power button on your TV to drain all residual power
- Wait for fifteen to 30 minutes – the longer the better
- Plug your TV back in and turn it on
Hopefully, this does the trick! If it does work, then your Hisense TV will be up and running again with all your customized settings and preferences saved. If not, move on to the next fix.
Check Power Supply
It is possible that despite the blinking pattern your Hisense TV is displaying, in actual fact, nothing is wrong with it.
If your TV is failing to draw enough power from the wall socket to turn on, then it might not have enough power to correctly identify what (if anything) is wrong with it, and then properly display that with a blinking light.
To know if this is the case, we need to verify that the socket the TV is plugged into, and the cables used to plug it in, are all working correctly.
Unplug your TV from the wall and try some other devices in the same socket. If they work, then we know the wall socket is not to blame. If not, try the TV in a different wall socket, to eliminate the chance that it may be a house-wide electrical issue.
If your TV is plugged into a power strip, the power strip may be fitted with a surge protector which is limiting the flow of electricity to the TV. Try bypassing the power strip and see if that makes a difference.
If all the wall sockets and power strips seem ok, then try using a different power cable between the main electricity supply and the TV, if you have a spare. If the cable seems to be the problem, then you can purchase a replacement relatively cheaply.
Update Firmware
For the next few fixes, you’ll need to access your TV’s menus. Obviously, if your TV won’t turn on at all, that’s impossible, but if the screen is visible and your TV seems to be responding to remote input, even if it’s not working in other ways, then this is worth a go.
The first thing to try is to update the firmware. To do this, head to Settings > Support or About. Select System Update > Check Firmware Upgrade.
If there is an upgrade available, click Upgrade to update your TV’s firmware to the latest version. This update will hopefully include patches for bugs and fixes for any errors that may be leading to poor functionality or performance.
Factory Reset
For this fix, you’ll need your TV screen to turn on and be able to access the menus.
The factory reset is similar to a power cycle, but it goes one step farther, and removes all your customized settings and preferences. Although this can be annoying when it comes to setting up your TV again, it’s more likely to clear out any bugs or errors that these settings may have inadvertently caused.
Different Hisense TV models will all have slightly different menus, so navigate them as close to these instructions as you can:
- Press the Menu button on your remote
- Select Support > Enter
- Select Self-Diagnosis > Enter > Reset
- You may need to enter your TV’s PIN to continue
- Your TV will now reset to factory default settings
In many cases, a factory reset, or ‘hard’ reset will do the trick, especially when it comes to software quirks and runtime errors.
Technical Issues
As I’m sure you’ve noticed, the fixes listed so far in this article are more general in nature, and none of them really address some of the scarier-sounding issues listed in the first section.
The reason for this is that we generally advise against people taking apart their TVs and fiddling around with delicate internal parts because it’s so easy to get that stuff wrong. And the last thing we want is for you to make your problem worse.
Plus, the chances are, if you already know what you’re doing inside a TV, you probably won’t need to look online to find out and this article is unlikely to ever find you.
However, if you’re feeling brave enough to take the back off your TV, you can attempt to give the circuitry a light cleaning. This can help with conduction, and if your TV is showing an internal temperature error, it can help with ventilation and cooling too.
Use a can of pressurized air to blow dust away, and never get too close to the circuit boards, as a quick blast of air at the wrong angle could easily dislodge a key component.
Aside from this, I recommend contacting a professional for more in-depth repairs or part replacements. Some Hisense parts, such as mainboards, can be tricky to get a hold of, and in some cases, it may be easier and cheaper to replace the whole TV.
Final Thoughts
Error codes are difficult to understand at the best of times, and even then they tend to use letters and numbers, not just a blinking light! Hopefully, this guide has shed some light on what your problem may be, and more importantly, I hope one of the fixes listed above has helped you remedy it!
Remember, leave the fiddly internal work to a professional, and if you really can’t get it fixed, see if your warranty is still active and get your TV replaced!
Good luck!
