"DarkMatter" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 18 Oct 2003 02:44:08 GMT, Gave
us:

I have a ProScan 60" rear projection TV sold under the RCA brand name. It
has been professionally repaired once with a replacement of a "flyback"
and
a "capacitor set". It is 5 years old, and the former repairs were
performed
11 months ago. My current experience with the TV is as follows: The TV
will
work normally for about a week, and then it will stop responding to the
power button on the front control panel and the remote control. You also
do
not hear any of the telltale signs that power has been activated such as
components charging up and (I believe) a relay triggering. If you unplug
the
TV for approx. 24 hours and then plug it back in it will operate normally
for the next 1 to 7 days, then it will begin a similar cycle.
Intermittently, it will lose audio during its time of "normal" operations
(which I usually don't notice because I tend to use the TV for video
only).
I shy away from professional repair because the last professional repair
cost me over $450 and I don't think the TV is worth too much any longer.
Any
suggestions on repair (self or suggested service) are appreciated. I have
done basic circuit board soldering and de-soldering, but do not have any
skills in circuit tracing, etc


I would check the power supply for the entire unit. Soft on
switches and standby start-up circuitry keeps this power supply up,
and the only thing that changes on start up is the loading. If it
fails, and then requires a rest before working again, it sounds like
dried out electrolytics on the supply or perhaps the IR/soft on
circuitry. Electrolytics are always the first thing I check out on
older power supplies. I know that 5 years isn't very old, but there
have been some bad batches made over the years. I recall a
motherboard recall at one point where the electrolytics had bad paste
mixes in them.

Anyway, that is a likely culprit. Another might be enough dust on a
part that it doesn't give up its heat well, and eventually runs away.

Be careful of the anode leads on those guns. Projection sets have
some mean juice there.

Another alternative is to bypass the soft start altogether, and use
a hard switch on the unit. Some of the convenience takes a hike, but
it makes it a working unit again. Must fully power down (unplug) to
save juice in the interim times though.


Now I just knew that if only we could all be sufficiently patient, you (Dark
Matter) would and could rise to the occasion with a coherent answer
somewhere above the crude monosyllabic responses for which you have become
infamous. Keep up the good work; there may yet be a place for you in the
family homo erectus.