Sony TV Red Light Blinking 4 Times? (Every Fix)

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Your Sony TV red light blinking 4 times usually means that you have an overheating issue with components on either the T-Con or Main Board, but the meaning of the number of blinks does vary with the model of TV.

Nonetheless, it’s straightforward to fix this at home, without the need for an expensive replacement TV or technician visit.

Because the red light flashing 4 times can have a few different but related causes, there’s a few different possible fixes, all of which I’ve covered in this guide.

Folllow each step to get your TV back up and running again.

Sony TV Red Light Blinking 4 Times

Your Sony TV red light blinking 4 times means that there is an overheating issue with the T-Con or main board of your TV, and this usually precedes the failure of a logic chip.

Overheating problems are the most usual suspect if your red light is blinking 4 times when you try to turn your Sony TV on.

We’ll go over detailed steps for how to fix this below, starting with the easiest fixes before moving onto hardware fixes if none of those work.

1. Sony Bravia TV Hard Reset

You can hard reset an Android or Google Sony TV using only the buttons on the TV itself. This does not work for non Google / Android Sony TVs, and depends on the number of buttons that your TV has.

To hard reset your Sony TV if it only has a power button:

Unplug your TV.
Hold down the power button and plug your TV back in.
Wait for a white light to appear, then release the power button.
Your TV will now reset itself.

To hard reset your Sony TV if it has a power button and volume buttons:

Unplug your TV.
Hold down the power button and volume down button, and plug your TV back in.
A white light will appear, which will change to green within 30 seconds.
Release the buttons.
Your TV will now reset itself.

To hard reset your Sony TV if it has more than three buttons:

Unplug your TV.
Hold down the power button and volume down button, and plug your TV back in.
A white light will appear, which will change to green within 30 seconds.
Release the buttons.
Your TV will now restart.
You now need to navigate to the factory reset menu. Go to Home -> Settings -> Storage & reset -> Factory data reset -> Erase everything and choose Yes.
Your TV will now reset itself.

2. Soft Reset Your Sony TV

A red light blinking 4 times with the TV not responding to your remote is a potential sign that it is updating via WiFi or Ethernet.

This should only last for a few minutes, but if the red light is still blinking after you have waited 10 minutes and tried to turn it on, then it’s possible that the software update has encountered a problem and is stuck in a loop.

In this case, it’s sensible to try to power cycle your Sony TV to reset it.

Resetting your TV will clear out any issues with non-permanent memory and reset your main board without losing your personal settings.

This is quick and painless and won’t cause you to lose any of your saved settings.

Make sure your TV is switched off and unplug it.
Hold down the physical power button on the TV for at least 15 seconds.

sony tv power button — The power button is usually beneath the Sony logo or on the side of the TV

Wait for at least 2 minutes for any residual power to drain from the TV’s capacitors (which are capable of storing charge for several minutes).
Plug your TV back in and try switching it on. You should see a red light if you have been successful.

Make sure you do wait for the full 2 minutes before plugging your TV back in – you would be surpised how long the components within your TV can hold charge, and you want to make sure it has fully reset.

Although this seems a very basic step, don’t overlook it because in the vast majority of cases a simple soft reset fixes most issues.

3. Check Your Wall Sockets

It might seem obvious, but the most common reason why your Sony TV red light is blinking 4 times is because of a household power issue, rather than a problem with the TV itself.

First, you need to confirm that your wall socket is supplying enough power, and there is no interruption of supply during use.

There’s a few methods that you can use:

Unplug your Sony TV from your wall socket.
Remove any surge interruptors or smart plugs so that you have a direct line to your wall socket.
Plug another large device that you know works into the same socket and check that the new device works as normal. (It’s important that this device draws approximately as much power as your TV, to confirm the socket is fully working).
Remove the other device and plug your TV back into this socket.
Switch on the power and switch on your TV using the physical power button located somewhere on its case (usually beneath the Sony logo).
See if the red light is solid. If so, this means your TV is getting sufficient voltage.
If your Sony TV’s red light is blinking, then repeat these steps with another wall socket to confirm your household electricity supply isn’t a problem.

You also need to confirm that the power cord has no kinks and knots, which can damage the copper wires both mechanically and from increasing the electrical resistance, which generates heat, causing damage that may not necessarily be obvious.

Because of potential damage within the cable that you cannot see due to the protective sheath, it can be a good idea to use a new power cable, if you have one or can borrow one.

Also, be sure to carefully look at the power connector on your TV to confirm that the port is free from corrosion, dirt and dust.

4. Turn Off Bravia Sync

There’s a strong possibility that a poorly seated cable is automatically switching inputs on your TV, but as it’s not fully connected, it isn’t able to supply a signal and so it looks like your TV isn’t working, with the red standby light flashing 4 times.

This comes down to either a:

Faulty HDMI cable with a break in it
Damaged HDMI port with broken pins
Poor HDMI connection where the cable and connector are not fully making contact

To check your HDMI and other cables:

Switch off your TV.
Remove any HDMI or other physical cables connected to the back of your TV.
If you have any compressed air, use that to clean the contacts both of the cable and in the connector on the TV. If you don’t have compressed air, then blow gently on them.
Firmly push the cables back into their slots on the TV.
Switch your TV back on again.

It that hasn’t fixed the problem, then try using a different HDMI input. Most TVs have 3 or 4 HDMI ports.

If you have one that is on a different part of the TV then that would be the best one to try, as it this should have a separate connection to the TV’s main board.

Plug you HDMI cable into the new port, note the number next to it, then choose this HDMI input on your TV, by using the Input or Source button on your TV remote or the Input or Menu button on your TV itself.

You can also try removing all external devices, including those connected by Bluetooth and any coaxial or signal cables, so that the TV only has a power cable going into it.

This is because a flaw with the HDMI-CEC settings can stop your TV coming on properly if you have other devices, particularly games consoles, plugged into your TV.

HDMI-CEC allows two-way communication between your TV and console, allowing your console to switch your TV on automatically.

The problem is that if you do not switch inputs on your TV away from your console’s input before switching off your TV, then your TV will not “listen” to your remote, and will instead just blink its red lights.

Unplugging all cables will temporarily solve this, so if your TV’s red lights are no longer blinking and your TV is working as normal, then try switching off HDMI-CEC before re-instating the cables.

To switch off HDMI-CEC on a Sony TV, look in the Settings -> Watching TV -> External Inputs -> BRAVIA Sync Settings menu for BRAVIA Sync/Link, which is Sony’s name for HDMI-CEC.

5. Update Your Sony TV’s Firmware

Software and firmware issues can often be the source of Sony Bravia TV problems.

As with any product, you should ensure that you have updated your Sony TV’s firmware to the latest version, even if it is new.

To update firmware on most Sony TVs:

Press Settings on your remote control.

Go to Customer Support, Product Support or Setup.
If available, select Automatic Software Update or Automatic Software Download and check that this is switched on. (Note that you must agree to the Privacy Policy to receive automatic updates – go to Help -> Privacy Policy to find it).
Otherwise, select Software Update.
Choose your Network, then press Yes or OK to start the update process.

For Sony Android TVs:

Press Home on your remote.
Go to Help.
Choose Status & Diagnostics.
Then System software update.
You can check that Automatically check for updates is switched on, and manually check for updates using the Software Update button.

For Sony Google TVs:

Press Settings on your remote control.
Go to System.
Then About.
And System Software Update.
Confirm that Automatically check for update is On. You can also manually check for updates using the Software Update button.

Sony Android and Google TVs will automatically update firmware if connected to the Internet. If your connection is not stable, then your Sony TV may not have the latest firmware, which you will have to install manually via USB.

Go to the Sony support site on your computer.
In the Search box, enter your TV’s model name. (Take a look at Sony’s help page if you can’t find it).

Go to the Downloads tab and click the most recent Firmware update and download it to your computer.

The update process varies depending on your TV, but full instructions for each model are provided on the firmware update screen. Follow these to complete the update process.

6. Check for Internal Component Burn Out

A more serious issue, but one that is still easily fixable at home, is a failure caused by overheating of the internal components.

This is almost certainly the cause if your TV works for some time, then goes off with the red light flashing 4 times.

Wait for your TV to go off, then move your hand around the back panel of your TV and see if you can find any hotspots.

If any area is nearly too hot to touch, then you have likely found your overheating chip. Mark this location and we can take a look at it in more detail.

If there are no hotspots, then there could be capacitor damage, which we will also need to take off the back panel to investigate.

To check this, you will need to remove the back panel of your TV, which will invalidate its warranty, so this is only practical for older TVs.

To remove your TV’s back panel:

Unplug your TV, hold down the power button and wait for at least 30 minutes. There are large capacitors in the power board for the backlight and these can hold charge for an extended period of time.
Place your TV face down on a large table or workbench. Make sure there is nothing that can scratch the screen on your work surface.
Ground yourself.
Open your TV by unscrewing the screws in the backpanel. It should come apart in two pieces: front and back.
Put the back panel somewhere out of the way and take a look at the circuit boards that have been revealed.
You will see a T-Con panel for translating the signal into a TV picture, a power board and a main board.

The Timing Control (T-Con) board is a small PCB board that drives your TV’s panel, sending the signal to each pixel row of your screen using internal clocks to keep each row in sync.

The Main Board is a larger PCB where you plug your HDMI and other connectors into. This does a lot of the work of translating the input into signal, which then goes to the T-Con board.

The Power Board is where you plug in your power cable, and which converts your home electricity supply into a voltage and current that your TV can use.

There may also be a number of additional boards, such as a backlight inverter.

If you found a hotspot earlier, find the chip that corresponds with the hotspot’s location. These can be replaced with a soldering iron, but given the difficulty of finding an identical logic chip, you might want to replace the entire board that it is connected to.

Both Power and Main Boards can be replaced for around $30 – 50 from eBay.

To get the correct board, note the Power / Main Board model number written on the label on the board, and put this into eBay. You can also search for the specific chip if you are confident you have identified it.

See how to replace the board in the video below.

If you don’t want to replace the board, you can instead try directing a small fan through the grill of your TV, or even cutting a small hole over the chip and pointing the fan in there.

You can also reduce the brightness of the backlight, as powering this requires a large drain on some of the TV’s chips and so causes a lot of the heat.

If you did not find a hotspot earlier, then look at the capacitors on the power and main boards for signs of bulging or damage. Capacitors are particularly prone to damage if subjected to power surges.

If you see any damaged capacitors, they can be easily replaced with a soldering iron and new components costing a few cents each, or by entirely replacing the board.

If the T-Con and main boards seem OK, then there is a possibility that your problem is caused by either a failure in your backlight or backlight voltage inverter.

The inverter powers the backlight of your TV by uprating the standard voltage and current of your home supply to the higher levels required by the backlight.

It’s a very small board in most TV models (although in some is integrated onto the power board). Check this board with your voltmeter, and don’t forget to also look at the cable. These boards are only around $10-15 on eBay, so are very cheap to replace if they have failed.

The final thing to check is if your backlight itself has failed.

If the inverter and cable are working normally, with normal voltages shown on your voltmeter, then it’s possible that your backlights themselves need replacing.

Many models of Sony TV will fail to come on with the red light blinking four times if there is a failed individual backlight or backlight strip.

Backlights on modern Sony TVs come in LED strips of varying lengths. Older models used lengths that spanned the entire frame of the TV, but due to cost savings, more recent TVs use a set 16″ LED strip which is connected in series for each row to span your TV.

These cold soldered connectors are a notorious failure point on Sony TVs, but can be easily fixed if you are willing to re-solder a joint yourself.

Equally commonly, the LED backlights themselves can fail. This is due to repeated current over powering, which over time causes thermal degradation of the LEDs leading to burnout.

You can replace any failed LEDs by just removing the entire strip and replacing it.

The problem with fixing the LEDs is that they are located in the most difficult to access part of your TV. So if you are not comfortable with a larger repair job, then now is a good time to seek help from a professional.

You need to remove the back panel, remove all of the circuit boards and connectors, then another layer of screws for the front panel, and only when you have fully removed the LCD panel can you get to the backlights.

You will also need a multimeter or TV backlight tester to test the backlight strips to find out where the problem lies.

Assuming you have followed the steps to check the Power and Main Boards:

Any wires or ribbons that are near the edge of the TV should be disconnected.
Then remove the screws around the edge that hold the bezel of the TV.
With some care, you should be able to remove the bezel, panel and reveal the TV backlight underneath, which will be in strips of LED lights.
Use a multimeter or TV backlight tester to check whether they are working, and replace any failures.

If you have a Sony Bravia plasma TV, you cannot change the backlights.

In this case, your only option is to ground the BL_ERR cable which is causing your red light to blink 4 times, although this will only ever be a temporary fix. Follow the steps in the below video to do this.

Sony TV Support & Warranty

It goes without saying that if your TV is under one year old, then you should contact Sony customer support to get it replaced under warranty.

You can call Sony directly on:

239-245-6354 (Mon – Fri, 9am – 9pm ET, Sat – Sun, 10am – 8pm ET)

Or text them on 239-245-6354, or ask for a callback.

Even if Sony won’t fix your TV, they might still offer you a discount off a future model if you pester them hard enough! This is always worth a try in my experience.

Sony Red Light Flashing 4 Times: How to Fix

To wrap up, if your Sony Bravia TV red light is flashing 4 times, then to fix it you can:

Hard reset your TV.
Check your TV isn’t running a software update.
Check your HDMI cables are firmly connected.
Check your TV is receiving power by testing your wall sockets.
Update your TV’s firmware.
Test for main board and t-con failure.

If you haven’t been able to fix your problem using the steps above, then your next port of call should be customer support, who can advise you if they are able to fix it.

If not, then you can try a local TV repair technician, but if they are unable to help, then unfortunately you are most probably looking at having to get a new TV.