I have an old Zenith A1920W TV from 1984 that works great except for
one small problem.

When I first turn it on, I will get nothing but static on all
channels, and then it will suddenly clear up and work fine. It will
alternate between working and static for a little while and eventually
work normally. After that I can watch for hours with no issues.

Is it an overheating component? Or something expanding/contracting and
making intermittent contact? If anyone can point me in the right
direction I'd appreciate it.


Tim

On Thu, 12 Jun 2008 20:02:59 -0700 (PDT), "Tim R."
wrote:

I have an old Zenith A1920W TV from 1984 that works great except for
one small problem.

When I first turn it on, I will get nothing but static on all
channels, and then it will suddenly clear up and work fine. It will
alternate between working and static for a little while and eventually
work normally. After that I can watch for hours with no issues.

Is it an overheating component? Or something expanding/contracting and
making intermittent contact? If anyone can point me in the right
direction I'd appreciate it.


Tim

It is most likely a cold solder joint that is affected by heat. A
good slap on the cabinet usually restores the video. Open up the
cover and use a long wood dowel to move the cables around with the TV
switched on. You might get lucky and the problem will appear. From
there it is easy enough to trace the cable to where the cold solder
joint is. Otherwise just reflow the solder on the pin connectors on
the motherboard. This is faster and easier than trying to
troubleshoot.

On Jun 12, 10:54*pm, PaPaPeng wrote:
On Thu, 12 Jun 2008 20:02:59 -0700 (PDT), "Tim R."

wrote:
I have an old Zenith A1920W TV from 1984 that works great except for
one small problem.

When I first turn it on, I will get nothing but static on all
channels, and then it will suddenly clear up and work fine. It will
alternate between working and static for a little while and eventually
work normally. After that I can watch for hours with no issues.

Is it an overheating component? Or something expanding/contracting and
making intermittent contact? If anyone can point me in the right
direction I'd appreciate it.

Tim

It is most likely a cold solder joint that is affected by heat. *A
good slap on the cabinet usually restores the video. *Open up the
cover and use a long wood dowel to move the cables around with the TV
switched on. *You might get lucky and the problem will appear. *From
there it is easy enough to trace the cable to where the cold solder
joint is. *Otherwise just reflow the solder on the pin connectors on
the motherboard. *This is faster and easier than trying to
troubleshoot. *

Trouble is, it may not be a cold solder joint to a connector, but ANY
component that is soldered. Probing the entire board quickly when
first turned on may find the problem area, but the OP will need to
probe everything, not just in the vicinity of connectors..

Bob Hofmann

On Thu, 12 Jun 2008 20:02:59 -0700 (PDT), "Tim R."
wrote:

I have an old Zenith A1920W TV from 1984 that works great except for
one small problem.

When I first turn it on, I will get nothing but static on all
channels, and then it will suddenly clear up and work fine. It will
alternate between working and static for a little while and eventually
work normally. After that I can watch for hours with no issues.

Is it an overheating component? Or something expanding/contracting and
making intermittent contact? If anyone can point me in the right
direction I'd appreciate it.


Tim


The tuner in this set usually will have broken solder connections,
particularly at the sockets where the wire bundles run back to the
main board.. The shield on the tuner will need to be removed. I
think it needs to be desoldered, resolder all socket pins, touch up
poor ground connections and it should work ok. Chuck

"Chuck" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 12 Jun 2008 20:02:59 -0700 (PDT), "Tim R."
wrote:

I have an old Zenith A1920W TV from 1984 that works great except for
one small problem.

When I first turn it on, I will get nothing but static on all
channels, and then it will suddenly clear up and work fine. It will
alternate between working and static for a little while and eventually
work normally. After that I can watch for hours with no issues.

Is it an overheating component? Or something expanding/contracting and
making intermittent contact? If anyone can point me in the right
direction I'd appreciate it.


Tim


The tuner in this set usually will have broken solder connections,
particularly at the sockets where the wire bundles run back to the
main board.. The shield on the tuner will need to be removed. I
think it needs to be desoldered, resolder all socket pins, touch up
poor ground connections and it should work ok. Chuck
Could be anything from the tuner through to the video processing, however
having snow indicates that most of the circuitry is operational excepting
the tuner. Suspect voltage sources to the tuner also, dried up electrolytic
can cause a very slow rise, and poor regulations in power supply voltages.
Suggest ESR the caps in the power supply and any circuits directly related
to the supplies for the tuner.