Googling the symptoms pointed to the power supply. I ordered a new one-- if you can handle a screwdriver you can install a power supply. Helluva lot easier than taking all the tubes down down to Walgreens to test them.

Last edited Fri Sep 11, 2015, 03:22 PM - Edit history (3)

I Googled the usual newsgroups. It was notorious for capacitor failure. I mean, 91 days after you bought it, out they'd go. Its screen size, though, made fixing it a bad investment of my time. You fix a 12" set, and you've got a really swell paperweight. I could fix a bigger set in the same amount of time, for the same expense, and have something useful.

I should add that I plucked it off the curb where it had been left by its previous owner, who was unsuccessful at unloading it at a yard sale, so I had nothing in it to begin with.

Perfectly usable kindle but the port is screwed up.

Replacement costs couple bucks.

Special tool needed to open case and remove parts to get to it.

Soldering is impossible.

Laptop magnetic switch went out and laptop couldn't tell when the lid is up. Took the screen off with cutters and pliers and use it as a desktop.

A friend had this TV in their garage sitting dead for a couple years and asked if I wanted it. This would have been around 8 years ago, so it was still decent. I Googled this TV and found they had a bad run of capacitors, and it could be repaired with some new capacitors and a little soldering skill. I ordered 11 capacitors from Digi-Key, so $5.29 and an hour of soldering later I had it working. Still use it in my basement, but I'm thinking it's days are numbered since the new flat TV's are getting cheaper all the time.

I might have a hard time giving this TV away now, it is a monster!

that started, intermittently, switching to black and white. I replaced it with the same size flat screen (weighing less than 30 pounds). I got a couple people over to help me get the Sony out to the curb (had to weigh 200 lbs) the day before trash day. An hour later it was gone. There is scrap value for them, and if people cruise your neighborhood like they do mine, someone will take it off your hands.

My cell phone wants to be a camera but takes lousy pictures.

My tv wants to be an internet machine. So does my blueray player.

My camera wants to talk wifi when it would work much better with Bluetooth. In either case the only way to send a picture is to put it on the pc, then send it to the Verizon mother ship and pretend it came from my phone.

Each of the different corporate entities is trying very hard to make it impossible to use someone else's technology.

Size constraint is the main reason followed by the cost of the connector. In many cases the connector can be larger than the component. And at the moment there is no standard for the interconnect so we couldn't mix and match anyway.

Why not? There are RFCs that deal with all kinds of interchanges but why none when it comes to electronics after around the late 90's.

Oh we still have many RFC's but it seems like components should be modular.

Why pay for an internet comm system for your tv when the Blueray player plugged into it has the same capability? Or the PC that is linked into your audio system?

It seems like each gadget wants to do everything but ends up doing nothing well.

A QR code reader would be awesome for personal inventory control but you have to have proprietary software to use it.

Comms interface between devices is settling on a version of Ethernet with IoT devices. In the above if your BlueRay player needs to comm over the internet how would it do that thru the TV? Again I think Internet of Things (IoT) is going to drive each device being able to control it's own comms with the internet over a variation of Ethernet (wired or WiFi) within each home and business.

There are products out there in the Commercial market where plug in devices for various comm protocols are supported. But the people who implement them have a system with many nodes already on a different protocol or other technical/availability reasons for using other protocols such a Hartt or ModBus.

Why would the Blueray need to talk to the tv to get to the internet?

Why would the tv need to go thru the Blueray to get to the internet?

They are both essentially dumb boxes that get an input. Cost of each device will go down as soon as that module is no longer needed.

A router today provides an interface between multiple different function devices that provides peer-to-peer as well as connection to a modem -- whether it's a cable modem or a cell modem or a POTS modem.

The router includes software modules for each of those devices.

My camera does WiFi. My phone does WiFi. My phone will even function as a cell modem.

Cost comes down as soon as standardization is maintained because it ensures competition.

Long ago when consumer electrics was standardized at 115AC, we suddenly had thousands of devices. It meant people could mix and match and be confident of operability.

Same same.

It's a link between the Wide Area Network put up by your ISP and your Local Area Network. Since that usually means putting in two Ethernet ports, the cost to add a couple more is relatively low. And yes many add WiFi Transceivers although that could be done as a separate module that plugs into an open Ethernet port on your router, or a router with only WiFi could also be done. It is a bit cheaper to put it all in one box as that eliminates a second case and separate AC/DC power converter. The router itself does not need seperate software to talk to the various modems as their output is already on a standard comm protocol, usually Ethernet 10/100/1000t.


The promise of IoT is that of a cheap communications module which can be embedded into everyday items. That will allow your Smartphone to know that the Iron is still on, and if you have the right App it can tell you to go back and turn it off. Or combined with an actuator in a switch, allow you to turn it off remotely.

However that interface is not going to be cost effective to insert between a CCD and the Processor. At-least not on something the scale of a smartphone. There is a reason you are not buying a Car Chassis separately from the Coach anymore. Some things are still best done by connecting at the lowest possible layer.

you eliminate modularity.

Which means a change in the interface is much more expensive.

By using an easily switched module it adds adaptability.

For an example, refer to the explosion of the PC industry when IBM introduced a common interface and standards in their PC. Suddenly there were hundreds of 3rd party modules that added functionality. Of course that was offset by the stupid O/S interface that the folks at Microsoft foisted on us. They never have grasped the idea of compartmentalization.

For another example there's the USB.

And from a software standpoint there's the communications layers in networking.

I relied on it many times when I was a tech.

Just like your auto repair shop the small appliance repair shop has to cover their overhead, like liability insurance against burning down a customers home. When all is said and done you are looking at $100/hr just like your car repair shop. And if you could keep a steady stream of repairs coming thru the door you could manage to make a middle-class income doing this. For myself I would be like so many others not wanting to spend an hour troubleshooting someones TV, just to have them walk out the door when I tell them what it is going to cost to actually fix the problem.

Those handful of cases where it's one component associated with an infant mortality may be enticing but is not the norm in my experience. Oh and by the way for all you who want to try it. Aside from the hazards of line voltage. If you find one of the old Picture Tube sets. That is one of the worlds best capacitors. Can hold a charge for years. Voltage is roughly 1000V per diagonal inch of screen size.

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My washer stopped agitating and I was on the verge of getting a new washer--cause it would cost so much to have someone come out and fix my twenty year old one (I live fifteen miles out of town). But I thought, what would it hurt if I tried the repair? So I got online and watched a video of a guy repairing his washer and thought it wouldn't be that hard (but I did watch the video 10 times--and paused it as I made the repair.) I went to the manufacturer for the part that the video stated probably needed to be replaced (it was eight times more expensive than I found it on another site). Anyway to make a long story short-repaired the thing for $2.98. I have never done anything like this before or since but boy was it empowering!!!!