Hello. My television began shutting itself off. I could turn it back on, but then it shut down again a short time later. After about 3 or 4 days of that, it quit working at all. After about a week of no tv, I pushed the on button and shazam, it worked again. I've been watching it for about a week now, but it just went out again. Any idea's about what's going on? The set was manufactured in Feb of '98. Thanks.
Problems like this tend to be caused by bad solder joints or other bad connections. They are affected by environmental conditions like temperature so tend to come and go. Gently whacking the TV would probably make it come or go as well.
It's repairable but continuing to use it in this state may result in more serious and expensive problems.
-- sam | Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ:
Important: Anything sent to the email address in the message header above is ignored unless my full name AND either lasers or electronics is included in the subject line. Or, you can contact me via the Feedback Form in the FAQs.
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Problem most likely in on-board tuner assembly, under shield where cable connector is. Various connections tend to go bad and cause varied symptons.
Sam, Your whacking solution worked great. I took the set outside and blew 8 or 9 years of dirt out of the inside, but now the picture is whiter. It's far from unwatchable, but I found the difference interesting. Any ideas what happened? Thanks.
-- J Wald
On Wed, 13 Aug 2008 21:58:12 -0500, "J Wald" put finger to keyboard and composed:
This is only an interim solution:
A more permanent fix would involve reflowing the solder at dry joints, probably in the power supply and line stage.
- Franc Zabkar
The whacking is just a diagnostic tool, the problems will come back and it needs to be repaired properly to avoid further damage.
It's possible you accidently touched an internal pot, perhaps SCREEN/G2 on the flyback.
Since you will still have the intermittent problem, have it looked at by a professional. They can touch up adjustments.
Else, if you want to try yourself, more in the TV repair FAQ.
sam | Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ:
Important: Anything sent to the email address in the message header above is ignored unless my full name AND either lasers or electronics is included in the subject line. Or, you can contact me via the Feedback Form in the FAQs.
When you took the back off, the screen control on the flyback got turned slightly clockwise. The set will need to be repaired because the bad connection will eventually corrupt the eeprom and then it won't power up. Chuck
r 9
Chuck has the exact answer. Iv'e probably repaired 75 to 100 of thos sets, RCA and GE, same thing. If the eeprom craps out, all settings are corrupted.
Tom1954, Do you remember what the approximate repair charges were? I'm trying to weigh repair vs replacement. Thanks.
-- J Wald
Chuck has the exact answer. Iv'e probably repaired 75 to 100 of thos sets, RCA and GE, same thing. If the eeprom craps out, all settings are corrupted.
This probably won't be much help, but 7 years ago we charged between $50.00 to $60.00 U.S. for the repair that RCA specified. They had us use a special solder that would stretch and contract with temperature swings so the connections wouldn't break again. Chuck
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