Vizio proximity sensor prob

Djinn

Djinn

New member
Ok... Here's an obscure question for audiophiles. My new Vizio VM230XVT HD-LED is a great piece of hardware, with few flaws.

One of those flaws, IMO, is the bright power button that remains illuminated at all times, including when the unit is turned off. Since I'm using this in a bedroom, and I enjoy sleeping with as little light as possible, this annoyed the hell out of me. No problem; I carved myself a tiny piece of electrical tape - no bigger than necessary - and blocked the power button.

I did this fairly early on, so I don't know if this next problem is related... The VM230XVT has "proximity sensitive" pop-up controls. In other words, if you wave your hand next to the bottom-left side of the screen, a pop-up menu is displayed. Unfortunately, the proximity sensor is being tripped by false positives, when no one is anywhere near the screen. I'll be watching a show from across the room, the pop-up menu comes into view, and then scrolls out of view again a few seconds later.

I don't know whether this is related to the tiny piece of electrical tape, but I'd really like to supress the pop-up somehow.

Any ideas? I'm thinking that maybe there's a "secret" service menu that will allow me to disable, or somehow desensitize the proximity sensor.

I searched online... This is the only post I found that describes the problem.
 
curio said:
I've not heard of such a thing but I was wondering if you thought of a fix...
Click to expand...
Kinda... I just did my best to move all objects away from that part of the dresser. My wife had a large candle nearby... I can't imagine how such a material could trigger it... maybe it was the tinfoil that I'd put beneath it.

Whatever the case, it seems to help. I would have preferred if I could just turn off the bloody thing though.
 
Just put some black tape over it. Thats what I do with surge protect lights and electronics in my room. :lol:
 
Qb2k5 said:
Just put some black tape over it. Thats what I do with surge protect lights and electronics in my room. :lol:
Click to expand...
Won't help... It's a proximity sensor; not a light sensor. I think it's triggered by electrical conductivity.
 
my new bedroom tv (hannsprey) has a light that lfades on and off. its creepy. i searched online for a solution and the best i got was unplug it.
 
We just bought my daughter one of these to double as a monitor and TV and are encountering the exact same issue. The workaround that seems to be working is to put a piece of the metallic "features" tape that was on the TV to cover the menu light and the one next to it. If we cut the tape down, it stops, though. We originally took one back and exchanged it after a phone call to Vizio, where he said the sensors were set too high. We tested the next one in the store and didn't have the issue, but as soon as we set it up at home it started again. We tried moving the TV to no avail. The only sure fix is to cover those two lights, which disables the entire front panel.

Odd. I'd much rather just have the touch portion work without the "cool" proximity detector, but that doesn't seem to be an accessible option.

Any other options available?
 
I'm having the same issue. First time, I called Vizio and they said the sensor was set too high and it needed to be exchanged. Back at the store, we tested the other TV and everything was fine, but when we got home, it started repeating - bringing up the menu a few seconds after it disappeared. I thought I found a fix by covering two of the buttons with the metallic tape that had the features listed, but eventually it came back. Right now, I've got that piece of tape covering all of the menu buttons. It seems to be working, but it's a really annoying workaround. It'd be better for it to just work.

I love everything else about this TV, but this might be a reason to take it back. I'm not sure yet if I'll live with it. Has anyone found anything that fixed it? I did see there's a firmware upgrade (2.17). Does anyone know if that corrects it?
 
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And...no...now it's doing it again. Must be something in the house or something, but it's going out of state with my daughter and I can't afford it to do this once she's away from me. Even with the firmware upgrade it's exhibiting the same behavior. Any ideas?
 
Your guess is as good as mine... My 23" set is still doing it. Didn't know about the firmware upgrade - I'll investigate. Although I like the image quality, there's no way I'll buy another Vizio unless I know this problem is fixable.
 
Well I think I found the right kludge. Tape over all the small lights, but not the power button, seems to do it. Covering the power button seemed to be confusing it.he volume would turn itself down and the bouncing menu continued. By moving the tape right, I got it to stop the bouncing, but the power button doesn't. Work, either. My guess is that it dissipated any charges enough to keep it form detecting anything.
 
GeoJunkie said:
Well I think I found the right kludge. Tape over all the small lights, but not the power button, seems to do it. Covering the power button seemed to be confusing it.he volume would turn itself down and the bouncing menu continued. By moving the tape right, I got it to stop the bouncing, but the power button doesn't. Work, either. My guess is that it dissipated any charges enough to keep it form detecting anything.
Click to expand...
Heh... I covered the power button because the "off light" bothered me.
 
Quick fix that works for me.

Quick fix that works for me.

I upgraded to the latest firmware and now have the same problem + 1 other issue. But for solving the popup issue, I raise the TV an additional 5 inches about the desk top. It is sensing the surface of the table. White smooth surface is worse than wood grain surface. Same idea as a mouse infrared sensor.

Now I just need to find an older firmware. Anyone?
 
Yeah, the surface it's on is a dresser-top, covered with a protective glass pane. Still haven't found a solution to the problem. Wish I could help with the firmware - I never upgraded mine, but I've no idea how to extract it to a file.

So why'd you upgrade your firmware? I found the link, but there's no changelog explaining what it does.
 
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partial solution to proximity sensor problem (Vizio)

partial solution to proximity sensor problem (Vizio)

Apologies if this is digging up an old topic, I ended up getting the 23 inch TV in April of 2010. Just recently has the 'random pop-up' started occurring in a rampant manner. Since I'm out of warranty, I was safety able to open the TV without fear of voiding anything -standard disclaimer: Use common sense. We are responsible adults who know what our capabilities are and are not. In the center of the TV housing contains the power electronics that can include Capacitors, which may contain hazardous amounts of charge even if disconnected from mains. If done properly, you should have no problem avoiding this area. ---end of standard disclaimer-- What this will do: -disable the proximity sensor -disable the illumination of the Power light and the other 5 buttons -NOTE: this will disable the ability to use the touch buttons to access the menu options, and has a weird effect of increasing the turn-on time/ input source switching time (upwards of 30 seconds) the base of the Vizio TV where the pedestal screws in, there is a plastic housing with two notches for the metal bracket and four Philips head screws. Undo the screws, and with some light force, undo the notches. Pull the metal bracket and the plastic housing out. This will expose another bracket held in by three screws. Again undo the screws. The main body of the TV is two piece plastic clam shell that uses a snap connection around the entire bottom. In the top corners, there are two grooves. With a blunt object (ie butter knife), you should be able to with minimal force used and insertion distance pry open the tv along the edge. Note that the bottom part the shell contours around the trapezoid plastic grille. Just take your time no need to rush it. Once the interior is exposed, you want to look for a long green PCB board with white components (the LED used for the touch menu) and follow that board towards the center of the TV. The connection should be labeled '0181'. To disconnect this, again use a blunt narrow object to carefully spread the plastic notches. If done properly there should no problem pulling the plug from the connection. -Ensure all the components are in the right place, line up everything, and you should have no problem snapping the shell together and re-placing the pedestal bracket -When turning on the TV, it is normal for it to take longer to boot and during input switching. To access the menu, hit the 'Ok' button on the remote As a side note. Another component that was close to the PCB board connected by '0181', labeled as '01F1' is the IR sensor. Hope this helps Joe
 
Djinn said:
Ok... Here's an obscure question for audiophiles. My new Vizio VM230XVT HD-LED is a great piece of hardware, with few flaws.

One of those flaws, IMO, is the bright power button that remains illuminated at all times, including when the unit is turned off. Since I'm using this in a bedroom, and I enjoy sleeping with as little light as possible, this annoyed the hell out of me. No problem; I carved myself a tiny piece of electrical tape - no bigger than necessary - and blocked the power button.

I did this fairly early on, so I don't know if this next problem is related... The VM230XVT has "proximity sensitive" pop-up controls. In other words, if you wave your hand next to the bottom-left side of the screen, a pop-up menu is displayed. Unfortunately, the proximity sensor is being tripped by false positives, when no one is anywhere near the screen. I'll be watching a show from across the room, the pop-up menu comes into view, and then scrolls out of view again a few seconds later.

I don't know whether this is related to the tiny piece of electrical tape, but I'd really like to supress the pop-up somehow.

Any ideas? I'm thinking that maybe there's a "secret" service menu that will allow me to disable, or somehow desensitize the proximity sensor.

I searched online... This is the only post I found that describes the problem.
Click to expand...
It has been very frustrating for the Vizio response for the last three years to be "Problem? What problem?"

I suspected the undesired menu activation was some kind of sensitivity to electromagnetic radiation. Many owners had already tried covering the bottom left corner of the screen frame with black electrical tape without success. I decided to try metallic shielding. I used a 2" by 4" strip of thin aluminum foil to cover the lower left corner of the screen frame, wrapping it around the bottom of the frame as well. Then I covered it with black electrical tape to hold it in place and hide the silver color. Several forum participants had already tried this with little or no success. The secret turned out to be using a short cliplead from the foil to the shell of the nearby coaxial cable connector on the back of the set. This made the foil an effective ground plane, shielding the sensitive popup electronics. I have run the TV for several days now, without a single false trigger. Previously, it would trigger dozens of times whenever the set was turned on. The touch controls are not needed, as I use the remote control for all TV functions.

I hope this solution will benefit other frustrated VM230XVT model owners.
 
DeanLar said:
... The secret turned out to be using a short cliplead from the foil to the shell of the nearby coaxial cable connector on the back of the set. This made the foil an effective ground plane, shielding the sensitive popup electronics. I have run the TV for several days now, without a single false trigger. Previously, it would trigger dozens of times whenever the set was turned on. The touch controls are not needed, as I use the remote control for all TV functions.

I hope this solution will benefit other frustrated VM230XVT model owners.
Click to expand...
Many thanks ... Yes, it's been years since I posted the problem, but I'm still using the set, and I'm game to try nearly any solution that doesn't involve opening the hardware. I'll give this a shot!
 
Their customer service was worthless when my set quit working a week after I bought the thing.

Piece of garbage. Glad I was able to return it to the retailer for a refund.
 
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