Green Flash My Sony KP51HW40 that I bought in 2001 will occasionally (and is getting more frequent) "flash" green. It sometimes will gradually get a green tint all over the screen then . . . FLASH green. it will do this several times then the tv will shut off. It comes back on if I turn it back on and then may fix itself for a while. If itdid it all the time I would just call a tech, but it is intermittent so I do not want a tech to come out to my rural area and then not have it "break"! Any thoughts or ideas, and is the set worth messing with? Thanks,

Goose, I have the same problem with our Sony 51" KP51HW40 as well as thousands across the country. I have done a lot of research on this and have been in contact daily with Sony and my area service dealers. This is what I have found: The green, red, and blue picture tubes are filled with a material that is defective. When this material eventually gets overused (after a few thousand hours of use) the TV senses "something is wrong" and automatically shuts itself down. Sony is and was aware of this situation back in production and even changed the type of tubes they used but the new ones weren't any better. Sony established an extended, limited warranty to cover the cost of repair for this well-known problem but at this point the picture tubes are no longer in stock to provide repair. According to Federal law, manufactures are obligated to replace with equal or greater value product if they cannot provide repair on something they know was defective. My suggestion is to visit www.ftc.gov to report a consumer complaint to the Federal Trade Commission. I just did this morning and it took me about 3 minutes - very easy. Turn to Sony and ask to "Escalate your complaint" to higher levels because Call center reps are not in a position to help you. You start to get somewhere when you get a Special Event ID # and reach the Tech Rep department. I have been in contact with a few people that have been very persistent and stuck to there guns on this and they have been able to get an upgraded new TV for the price of what the repair would have been if Sony had been able to repair the set. The entire process for these people took about 4 weeks. I'm in week 2 and feel like Sony if finally being receptive. Hope this helps, feel free to contact me for any additional information at [email protected]. BadSony

I had the same problem with my SONY KP51HW40. The problem started about a year and a half ago, image turning greenish, then back to normal. Then started getting worse, with the image turning greenish or reddish, and then flashing green once and continue operating normal. And finally, it got really bad with the set shutting off after flashing green several times. It would not operate for more than five minutes at a time, before shutting itself off. So my problem got to the point of needed attention and here's how my TV got fixed. I downloaded the service manual. After the TV was shutting itself off, it displayed an error code using the POWER/STANDBY LED. My TV set STANDBY LED was flasing 8 times, and according to the service manual, this means that the T8005 transformer was bad. This is the high voltage transformer that feeds all three CRTs. The solution was to replace the transformer, but I am not really good at soldering so I decided to replace the entire D-Board, which is where the T8005 transformer resides. This transformer is also called the flyback transformer. So I ordered the new board and replaced it myself. This is the high voltage (30,000 Volts) transformer, the CRTs can hold electrical voltage for a long time. If you are not familiar with TV repairing, you can be seriously or fataly injured. That is my disclaimer. After replacing the D-Board, the problem was not solved. Obviously, the SONY diagnostics circuitry read low voltage out of the transformer and assumes the transformer went bad, but they don't tell you what else could be the problem. If the transformer voltage drops, it could be because of not enough current coming into the transformer or a short in a circuit at the output of the transformer. Then thinking, if I had green flashes (not red or blue flashes), it was clear the green CRT was the culprit. I unplugged the TV set, a couple of days later I started checking connectors and noticed the CG board (the board at the end of the Green CRT; the Green CRT is the middle CRT) was a bit loose compared to the Red or Blue CRT boards. So I pulled the board out (pull down while jiggling, no latches). Clean it well. Then I slightly bent the CRT pins, very carefully, very slightly, outwards (away from the center core). I re-inserted the board and this time, it was much tighter, and the pins were making better contact with the CG-board socket. Turn the TV on, and problem solved. No more green flashes, no more TV shutoffs. The SONY service manual did not do me any favors with the diagnostics. It should've listed all possible problems, including faulty transformer, short on CRT, bad connections, cracked cold soldering, etc. Lesson learned, and now I ended up with a spare D-board because SONY parts sales are always final. No refunds.

Solution #3 worked for me, but it's way less complicated than that...

i had the same problem of the Green CRT going crazy and then the TV shutting off.

1. unplug everything.
2. unscrew the front panel
3. wiggle the board attached to the base of the middle (green) CRT off. (there's some silicone on there, so get under it with a fingernail. it will come off with a little work.
4. use some rubbing alcohol and a Q-tip to clean the pins of the CRT.
5. pry the crt pins very slightly out. they bend easily, so be careful.
6. plug it back in.
7. drink a beer and watch the game.

hope that helps!

Your problem could be as simple as a dirty connection on the crtsocket, a cold solder connection on the green crt board or the picture tube its self!! It really depense on what the picture looks like while its good because to replace the green tube its probably gonna cost in the neiborhood of 600.00 buckeroons. Good Luck