Alex: Apologies accepted. As Leonard said, many of us rabid routers have
seen way too many of these nuisance effects and become a bit pointed as a
result. Many of the service techs have endured RCA (TCE) Thomson Consumer
Electronics fall from one of the better products in consumer electronics to
currently one of the worse, including very poor report with their service
and parts department. Also, since they have decided to have the products
produced in Mainland China, our supply of specific service parts from then
have almost totally dried up.
We all give advice on a per symptom basis, AFAIK, it is going to be used
by personnel capable of determining their best course of action; we get
spammed, splattd, and negative feedback just like Doctors, Lawyers, and
other professionals. Personally, after over 4 decades of doing this, I
still come up occasionally not knowing my derrière from a gopher hole.
Good Luck!! Cheers
"Alex Tsiboulski" wrote in message
...
Alright Leonard, thanks a lot for your help and quick replies. Greatly
appreciated.


"Leonard Caillouet" wrote in message
news8Z%f.1385$pi6.440@dukeread12...
If you need to ask about safety precautions, you need to go to Sam
Goldwasser's FAQ:

http://www.repairfaq.org/

If the lights dim, the set is likely drawing too much current and going
into shutdown. Something may be shorted. I am not an expert on this
chassis nor on similar ones. I would be quizzing other techs who are
after I checked the obvious stuff.

Leonard

"Alex Tsiboulski" wrote in message
...
You lose me a little on the TCE acronym, not quite sure what it means.

I'm willing to accept the learning curve. If I find that I can't
possibly do this, then I'll just send it into a shop, at least by then
I'll be comforted by the fact I tried my best.

So I guess first off, I'd like to know if you know what this symptom
means.

Every time I plug it into the wall it immediately does the following:

- light in room dims for half of a second.
- 1 very rapid green blink, followed immediately by the green light
coming back on and staying on for nearly a second.
- green light goes away for around a second, at this point a tweet sound
happens.
- green light comes back on and stays for 6 seconds, near the beginning
of this it makes a staticy sounding startup noise.

I downloaded a demo of WinSTIPS and they didn't have any info on the
ATC221 chassis, I suppose that it may be in the paid version.

Would using a Chip Checker II allow me to restore factory defaults?

If not, and the problem is rooted deeper. Then could you provide me with
some safety precautions on opening the back, as that's my main fear
right now.

I was actually planning on getting rid of that garbage mirror, it's
glare is horrendous. Would it be safe to leave it as is afterwards if
it's in a safe environment? without adding that surface glass mirror.
Thanks for the other tips as well.

Also, apologies to Art if my reply sounded hostile. Utter frustration
from dealing with the techs around my area left me in a grumpy mood.


Alex


"Leonard Caillouet" wrote in message
news:y3Y%f.1378$pi6.293@dukeread12...
The techs here help people like you all the time. Most of them know
that trying to DIY a repair on a TCE product is usually a waste of
time. The learning curve can be steep, and the problems can be many.
Just negotiating the service literature is a chore if you are not
familiar with it. Getting info out of Thomson is nearly impossible if
you are not an ASC. I work on nearly all brands and have been
servicing projection television nearly since the earliest consumer
products became available. I have access to several hundred knowlegable
techs on several forums and listserves, and have access to all of the
service literature. Still, I find that if I don't work on a lot of a
particular TCE chassis, it is problematic and wasteful for me to
attempt to service them. Art knows this, as do others here who would
tell you to take it to a tech who does a lot of them. He has helped
lots of folks here. Believe it or not, he was helping you. If it was
a simple problem like a convergence output or PS problem, you would
have received appropriate suggestions.

BTW, if you get it working, replace that cheesy mylar mirror with a
first surface glass mirror, do the mechanical and electrostatic
focusing, turn the contrast down to about 40% of what it is from the
factory, adjust the brightness and color appropriately, and you will
improve the pix more than anything you might do in the service menu.

Leonard

"Alex Tsiboulski" wrote in message
.. .
I agree with you that it's a POS. Especially for anything that isn't
being sent as an HD signal. I don't watch TV so until I got my 360 I
was disappointed with it. That's why I'm willing to risk fixing it
myself, cause if it breaks more, I'll have an incentive to go out and
buy a quality one.

This was my first HDTV, and it was an impulsive buy. As are most of my
major purchases.
Same thing happened with my first computer, and camera. Seeing as how
I'm now a photographer and can repair computers. I plan on going the
same route with this TV.

I'm sorry if it sounded like I was degrading all techs, I'm sure there
are the honest ones out there. I was simply venting because all the
ones I've called have been really condescending with me. Whenever I
asked them how much a certain service would cost, meaning I didn't
need an estimate. They would get very rude with me and insist I didn't
know anything.

I know the case is "Who's calling who". But It really sets me off when
any business treats their customers in a rude fashion.

As for the lousy picture, yup. That's why I'm in this mess to begin
with. That's what I was trying to adjust.


Alex



"Leonard Caillouet" wrote in message
...
While I think Art was a bit terse and condescending, you will get
little help if you go off generalizing that techs rip you off because
they charge $50 for an estimate. If you think you can figure it out,
buy the equipment, the manual and go about learning how to fix the
POS that you have. Frankly, I send them to the local TCE ASC because
they are more familiar with them and they can be a PITA to work on.
I know this because I have similar model that a client declined the
estimate on that I fixed as a learning experiment like you describe.
I find the sets to be less than worthy of my time and effort. It
also has a lousy pix.

Leonard

"Alex Tsiboulski" wrote in message
.. .
As if being permissive was such a bad thing.

I understand that I may be calling people for support, but that
doesn't mean they should be acting like assholes and treating me
like I am completely ignorant. Be it Thompson's customer service, or
any local repair shop, I've seriously had enough.

I'm better off buying a Chipper Check, some schematics, and maybe
WinSTIPS.
My time is better spent learning a new skill, than dealing with
assholes.

Much rather go that route than pay overcharging repairmen. $50 for
them to give me an estimate? It costs me the same amount to buy a
Chipper Check. Which might be all I need. Then from there they
charge me inflated labour and part replacement costs. No thanks. Why
bother when it might so happen that I need to send it back in. I
rather know how to fix it myself time and time again, if need be.

If my TV happens to break beyond repair during my attempts, then
boohoo. I'll buy a new one, and be happy with the fact that I picked
up some new skills and have a brand new TV.

My initial question was asking if anyone knew what the problem could
be.
I wouldn't have even bothered posting here if I wasn't considering
repairing it myself.


Alex



"Art" wrote in message
. ..

It is totally obvious that by your permissive actions you renedered
your product inoperable. Enough Said! Get the thing into a shop,
pay for the repair, and don't screw with it again. Clear enough
Alex??
"Alex Tsiboulski" wrote in message
...
Art,

though my knowledge in television electronics is not as far
reaching as it is in the PC realm, I'm far from an "average"
consumer. I know my hardware, and I knew the risk I was taking as
soon as I went into that menu. In my defense, curiosity did get
the best of me when I entered the geometry menu, but I did not
save any settings, I barely even moved a slider in any direction.
So I'd love to know how the same result wouldn't have happened to
a professional.

I'd appreciate some useful input from you, or none at all. Your
opinion had nothing to do with the current situation.

"Art" wrote in message
...
Too bad the average consumer does not read that disclaimer before
playing with the "Serviceman Menu"!!IMHO. Seen too many that have
almost been relegated to the junk status by Tweaking by the
un-informed.
"kip" wrote in message
.. .
Alex best call a shop who has the chipper checker and tell them
what you have done.


"Alex Tsiboulski" wrote in message
...
I've had the RCA D52W20 for over 2 years now. It's served me
well, amongst all the bad ratings it's gotten. Today I found
out about the service menu, so I decided to play with that.
190+points of convergence was a blessing. I then decided to see
what was in geomatry, so I shifted my screen to the left a
little to compensate for my PS2. All I remember after that was
I either went up or down and moved the slider on another option
and the TV turned off.

Now all it does is the power blinks green and it makes the
sound like it's trying to startup.
Please any help would be greatly appreciated.

--
Alex Tsiboulski