" bravely wrote to "All" (03 Jan 06 18:26:35)
--- on the heady topic of "Funny repeat problem with a 60 inch RCA PTK195AC
(model P60812BL)"

eg From:
eg Xref: core-easynews sci.electronics.repair:353850

eg This is a continuing saga of a 60 inch rear projection RCA TV. It has
eg a chassis number of
eg PTK195AC and is model P60812BL. I have now had a repair technician
eg over and it worked like a charm while he was here and for a couple of
eg hours after he left. Then it returned to the absolutely black picture
eg it had when the problem first surfaced a few days ago. The repair
eg technician feels he should change the EPROM. Can an EPROM problem
eg result in NO output from a projection tube?

eg This is the sequence of events.

eg The other day one minute it was working perfectly (as it has for 8
eg years). All of a sudden I walked into the room and the screen is
eg black (none of the projection tubes are putting out any light).
eg Turning it off, using the DVD and many other attempts to get a picture
eg failed. I let it stay off for a while, then turned it on. It would
eg have a
eg picture for a short time that looked like an old 60's horizontal hold
eg problem with a partial, shrunken picture. After a while the picture
eg would be stable enough to be able to read letters, but totally
eg distorted. I was afraid to leave it on long figuring I might stress
eg the conditon. I called a repair technician and he came over today.

eg The repair technician went into the service mode of the TV and changed
eg a number of parameters stored in the EPROM and finally got it looking
eg as good a new. He also used an external alignment generator and the
eg grid looked straight and proper. Colors were true and bright. As I
eg said, this lasted about a couple of hours after he left and then the
eg screen went black (non of the projection tubes are generating any
eg output) which is exactly the condition that happened when the problem
eg first started. The filaments in the projection tubes glow and the
eg sound and power-on sequence is just as it should be. So far I have
eg not been able to get any type of picture back. I tried to get into a
eg service mode per the instructions to push the menu power and +vol
eg button. I have no picture and that did not give me one to be able to
eg see any setup procedure. Again, would a bad EPROM result in NO
eg output from the projection tubes?


eg Anyone have any ideas where to start?


Could be the tuner shield ground problem where the solder cracks along
the edge of the PCB. This has many different symptoms. Some people
were being waken in the middle of the night with the TV blasting at
full volume on a blank channel. Some had the sound muted permanently.
For some the tv would turn itself off. They thought their tv was
possessed. Others had the HOT fail repeatedly. Still others had a
corrupted eprom. There is a FAQ for the GE/RCA/Thompson bad tuner
shield ground problem. Good luck.

A*s*i*m*o*v

.... This message transmitted on 100% recycled photons.