wrote in message
ups.com...
I have a 60 inch rear projection RCA TV. It has a chassis number of
PTK195AC and is model P60812BL.

The day before yesterday it was working perfectly (as it has for 8
years). All of a sudden I walked into the room and it is black.
Turning it off, using the DVD and many other attempts to get a picture
failed.

I let it stay off for a while, then turned it on. It would have a
picture for a short time that looked like an old 60's horizontal hold
problem with a partial, shrunken picture. I would suspect some sort of
voltage problem. I have not had a TV problem in 30 years. I have not
called a TV repair man in memory. I have the user's manual AND a
service manual because I thought it would come in handy some day.

I called a TV repair fellow and he said he was familiar with this model
of RCA and that the typical repair bill was $250. I am pretty handy
with this type of thing (and an electrical engineer), so I thought that
before he came over and found that it was a simple thing like a fuse, I
would try to look at it myself.

Anyone have any ideas where to start?


Get someone in who is familiar with RPTVs. If the tubes are sound and it
worked well before it failed, it's probably worth fixing. If the tubes were
obviously ageing, scrap it. These are not easy appliances to work on, and
it's going to save you a lot of grief if you get a proper estimate and get
the work done properly.

Dave