Worth fixing old XBR?
 

Hello,
my 1992 27 inch XBR shows a plain, bright blue screen when
it's first turned on. Usually, after about 5 minutes, the normal
image returns. The picture, although the TV is old, is still good
having good color balance, and (seemingly) full or
near to full range of contrast and brightness.

I have noticed that if I wiggle the jungle board, the
picture will be restored if it's currently blue and vice versa.

I took off the metal shield from this board, took the board out,
resoldered some of the components and put it back.
No change. I can't do any more myself because it's
impossible to work on this board in place, there's
no access and/or very limited visibility.

I have a feeling it might be quite expensive to
get it professionally repaired. Is it worth it?
Thanks,
Dave

Is it worth fixing? Probably. You will be best served to take it into
a Sony experienced servicer for an estimate of repair. Since the tv
does have good color and works otherwise, the total repair should not
be excessive. Try and find a tv set of that quality today.

"da_test" wrote in message
...
Hello,
my 1992 27 inch XBR shows a plain, bright blue screen when
it's first turned on. Usually, after about 5 minutes, the normal
image returns. The picture, although the TV is old, is still good
having good color balance, and (seemingly) full or
near to full range of contrast and brightness.

I have noticed that if I wiggle the jungle board, the
picture will be restored if it's currently blue and vice versa.

I took off the metal shield from this board, took the board out,
resoldered some of the components and put it back.
No change. I can't do any more myself because it's
impossible to work on this board in place, there's
no access and/or very limited visibility.

I have a feeling it might be quite expensive to
get it professionally repaired. Is it worth it?
Thanks,
Dave

Personally I'd certainly fix it, while you could probably get a cheapo from
WalMart for about the same cost as having it fixed, even an old XBR is far
better than a new cheapie.

I suspect that the cracked soldering is not on that board, but on the one it
plugs into, try resoldering those connections, otherwise find a tech and let
them know that wiggling that board makes the picture go normal, it shouldn't
be a terribly expensive repair.

The only person that knows if its worth fixing is
YOU after you have gotten an estimate of costs.

kip

"da_test" wrote in message
...
Hello,
my 1992 27 inch XBR shows a plain, bright blue screen when
it's first turned on. Usually, after about 5 minutes, the normal
image returns. The picture, although the TV is old, is still good
having good color balance, and (seemingly) full or
near to full range of contrast and brightness.

I have noticed that if I wiggle the jungle board, the
picture will be restored if it's currently blue and vice versa.

I took off the metal shield from this board, took the board out,
resoldered some of the components and put it back.
No change. I can't do any more myself because it's
impossible to work on this board in place, there's
no access and/or very limited visibility.

I have a feeling it might be quite expensive to
get it professionally repaired. Is it worth it?
Thanks,
Dave

On Sun, 24 Jul 2005 15:37:47 -0400, "kip" wrote:

The only person that knows if its worth fixing is
YOU after you have gotten an estimate of costs.

kip
Yes, of course, you're right. The only reason I haven't
done that yet is that I have to physically get it
to the shop - it weighs a ton!

Regarding any further soldering on that board,
it's full of tiny, on surface components - looks like
a job for someone more experienced. These things
are rectangular and very small - 1/8 by 1/16 of an
inch or so.

I did try soldering on the main board
close by this board. No further luck. Perhaps
some traces are intermittent and I just can't see it.

Thanks for all the comments.
Dave

Do you have a digital camera?
Can you post some good quality pictures of the inside of the chassis on
a personal web page?
I remember things by visual clues and need to see the chassis to know
the common points of interest.
There are some common solder points of interest on many different Sony
models, with a good indication of the chassis I can probably give you
pretty specific hints on where to start.

On 24 Jul 2005 15:47:10 -0700, "
wrote:

Do you have a digital camera?
Can you post some good quality pictures of the inside of the chassis on
a personal web page?
I remember things by visual clues and need to see the chassis to know
the common points of interest.
There are some common solder points of interest on many different Sony
models, with a good indication of the chassis I can probably give you
pretty specific hints on where to start.
Yes, I do have one. The chassis is currently back in the TV, but I
might be able to get something. If it doesn't look good, I'll find
an image from the workshop manual.
Thanks for the offer!
Dave

wrote in message
ups.com...
You have done a good job of localizing the likely problem. I would try
resoldering every component on that board. If the traces are exposed,
you might even try "painting" them with solder, but watch out for
solder bridges. All three of my Sony TVs (purchased from the TV-500U
in the late 1960s to the KV27XBR55 in the 1990s) have had cold solder
joints. They finally became reliable sets only after I fixed the bad
solder joints.

You might have to do this yourself. If I were in the repair business,
I would be very reluctant to take on an intermittent problem like this,
evne though your detective work has improved the chances of success.


If I were in the repair business I'd be all over a problem like this, he's
tracked it down to within a very small area, sounds like it'd be a fairly
straightforward repair with little chance of blowing up a bunch of expensive
parts trying to track down the problem.

If I were in the repair business I'd be all over a problem like this

I think you just found a volunteer.

On Sun, 24 Jul 2005 16:21:19 -0700, da_test
wrote:

On 24 Jul 2005 15:47:10 -0700, "
wrote:

Do you have a digital camera?
Can you post some good quality pictures of the inside of the chassis on
a personal web page?
I remember things by visual clues and need to see the chassis to know
the common points of interest.
There are some common solder points of interest on many different Sony
models, with a good indication of the chassis I can probably give you
pretty specific hints on where to start.
Yes, I do have one. The chassis is currently back in the TV, but I
might be able to get something. If it doesn't look good, I'll find
an image from the workshop manual.
Thanks for the offer!
Dave
hello,
here's a chassis drawing from the book.
Any area's interesting in particular?
The suspect y/c jungle board is E1.
You can see why it's difficult to work on!
http://home.comcast.net/~davetest/27xbr.jpg

Dave

That image does not really help much as it is not descriptive of what
we would really see when the back is off the tv set.

In any case I think that is the chassis that has a row of regulators
along the center of the main board and those get bad solder
connections. Some are difficult to get at without completely removing
the board.

Add solder connection problems in the if can and tuner, as well as to
the Y-delay line.

Still may be best to find someone with lots of experience on the older
XBR Sony models as they will know the problem areas once inside the set.

On Sun, 24 Jul 2005 11:37:00 -0700 da_test
wrote:

I have noticed that if I wiggle the jungle board, the
picture will be restored if it's currently blue and vice versa.

From what you've discovered, I'd look very closely at the connectors
between the board and whatever it plugs into. Clean the pins, make
sure that there is good tension between each pin and its mate, and
make sure that the soldered connections on each side of each
connection are sound.

-
-----------------------------------------------
Jim Adney
Madison, WI 53711 USA
-----------------------------------------------

On Mon, 25 Jul 2005 21:21:00 -0500, Jim Adney
wrote:

On Sun, 24 Jul 2005 11:37:00 -0700 da_test
wrote:

I have noticed that if I wiggle the jungle board, the
picture will be restored if it's currently blue and vice versa.

From what you've discovered, I'd look very closely at the connectors
between the board and whatever it plugs into. Clean the pins, make
sure that there is good tension between each pin and its mate, and
make sure that the soldered connections on each side of each
connection are sound.

-
-----------------------------------------------
Jim Adney
Madison, WI 53711 USA
-----------------------------------------------
H Jim,
This board is actually soldered directly
to the main board, not "plugged in".
It's vertical board E1 he
http://home.comcast.net/~davetest/27xbr.jpg

I unsoldered all 50 pins and removed it completely,
checked for anything loose near the lower part of the board,
and same on the main "A" board. resoldered it back
but problem remains.

Because of it's location when it's operational
there's very little access to the board. It's hard to
*see* the components let alone do anything else.
Dave

On Mon, 25 Jul 2005 22:59:13 -0700 da_test
wrote:

This board is actually soldered directly
to the main board, not "plugged in".
It's vertical board E1 he
http://home.comcast.net/~davetest/27xbr.jpg

Then I'd just try to find a way to poke individual components or areas
on that board to narrow down the problem area. Or just resolder
everything.

I unsoldered all 50 pins and removed it completely,
checked for anything loose near the lower part of the board,
and same on the main "A" board. resoldered it back
but problem remains.

Wow, that's dedication!

Because of it's location when it's operational
there's very little access to the board. It's hard to
*see* the components let alone do anything else.

Can you get a plastic stick of some kind in there? That's about all I
can suggest, or try poking the A board underneath. This sounds like a
real hard one.

Best of luck.

-
-----------------------------------------------
Jim Adney
Madison, WI 53711 USA
-----------------------------------------------

On Wed, 27 Jul 2005 00:48:24 -0500, Jim Adney
wrote:

On Mon, 25 Jul 2005 22:59:13 -0700 da_test
wrote:

This board is actually soldered directly
to the main board, not "plugged in".
It's vertical board E1 he
http://home.comcast.net/~davetest/27xbr.jpg

Then I'd just try to find a way to poke individual components or areas
on that board to narrow down the problem area. Or just resolder
everything.

I unsoldered all 50 pins and removed it completely,
checked for anything loose near the lower part of the board,
and same on the main "A" board. resoldered it back
but problem remains.

Wow, that's dedication!

Because of it's location when it's operational
there's very little access to the board. It's hard to
*see* the components let alone do anything else.

Can you get a plastic stick of some kind in there? That's about all I
can suggest, or try poking the A board underneath. This sounds like a
real hard one.

Best of luck.

-
-----------------------------------------------
Jim Adney
Madison, WI 53711 USA
-----------------------------------------------
Thanks for the feedback. I had attempted to probe the
E1 board with a wooden chopstick but I wasn't producing anything.
Even a freeze spray failed to yield results.
I ended up reinstalling the metal shield for the E1 board, that I had
left off earlier. Put it all back, problem remains.
The A board is held in by 2 screws at the front. The back of the A
board is free to move up and down slightly (until the case is put
back)
Flexing the A board from the back up and down also affcted the
picture, causing it to disappear to blue screen and back again.
IF the fault is on the A board, theoretically, it should be easier
to find.
Thanks,
Dave

"da_test" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 27 Jul 2005 00:48:24 -0500, Jim Adney
wrote:

On Mon, 25 Jul 2005 22:59:13 -0700 da_test
wrote:

This board is actually soldered directly
to the main board, not "plugged in".
It's vertical board E1 he
http://home.comcast.net/~davetest/27xbr.jpg

Then I'd just try to find a way to poke individual components or areas
on that board to narrow down the problem area. Or just resolder
everything.

I unsoldered all 50 pins and removed it completely,
checked for anything loose near the lower part of the board,
and same on the main "A" board. resoldered it back
but problem remains.

Wow, that's dedication!

Because of it's location when it's operational
there's very little access to the board. It's hard to
*see* the components let alone do anything else.

Can you get a plastic stick of some kind in there? That's about all I
can suggest, or try poking the A board underneath. This sounds like a
real hard one.

Best of luck.

-
-----------------------------------------------
Jim Adney
Madison, WI 53711 USA
-----------------------------------------------
Thanks for the feedback. I had attempted to probe the
E1 board with a wooden chopstick but I wasn't producing anything.
Even a freeze spray failed to yield results.
I ended up reinstalling the metal shield for the E1 board, that I had
left off earlier. Put it all back, problem remains.
The A board is held in by 2 screws at the front. The back of the A
board is free to move up and down slightly (until the case is put
back)
Flexing the A board from the back up and down also affcted the
picture, causing it to disappear to blue screen and back again.
IF the fault is on the A board, theoretically, it should be easier
to find.
Thanks,
Dave

Sounds like it's not, it's probably on the main board.