We purchased this set new in January 2004 and have had no problems with it until last night. It was working fine, I shut it off, and about 4 hours later I tried to turn it back on and it wouldn't power up. At this point the power LED next to the button would just blink 3 times slowly (about 1 - 2 seconds on, then 1 - 2 seconds off) and then just stay off. I tried unplugging it for about 10 minutes, but still had the same symptom. This morning we moved it from the room it was in to an area where I could work around it, and upon plugging it in there it now just produces a high pitched squeel with no reaction to the power button (or any other button) whatsoever. I removed the back cover and found the usual dust and cobwebs which I cleaned with board cleaner, however it still just squeels when plugged in. Is this a common failure for these, and if so how expensive is the repair normally? I saw some very negative postings about late model RCA TVs on the web tonight.. should we just walk away from this set? Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!
Ditto this tv is known to have bad flybacks crts and hots as much as i dislike rca products the wally world deal would be worth the 400 bucks 1year and 1 year 2 on the tubes even if you watched it for 2 years you could put a garbage sticker on the projo for 400 dollars the scenium tvs were also known for bad crts
HARRomeo, the horizontal output transistor will usually make the set have a high pitched sound, as that is the power supply being loaded down, if you habe any solid state repair experience, thats where you should start. As you should take out the transistor and measure it with an ohm meter and see if it is shorted. There are several reasons the transistor will short. Most of the time , it is the high voltage transformer also know as the flyback transformer. Also a drive problem could cause this to shprt also. In some cases the power supply itself could have a bad regulator, or a bad capacitor in the circcuit. Bottom line if you have the experience, you will need to get a schematic, and trouble shoot the sweep circuits first. if you do not have any solid state repair experienc3, Please play it safe and seek out the help of a trained repair person. Good Luck Please dont forget to rate this thread.
145 views
Usually answered in minutes!
Thanks for your response techman. I have enough electronic experience to know that I have no desire to poke around in the back of a tube television. I can read and follow schematics, but have no desire to attempt repairing this TV myself. I guess what I'm primarily wondering is is it worth sending this set to a repair shop? As stated in my original post, I've read a lot of negative posts about late model RCA TV's (those manufactured by Thomson out of Ontario) and wanted to have an honest opinion on whether it would be worth investing repair cash in this set?? The negative feedback I read was already enough for me to pass on the "Black Friday" Walmart special on the RCA 52" HDTV they had for $400... not worth it if it's going to go bad like this relatively shortly out of warranty. Should I send it to a shop, or in your honest opinion should I just scrap it and buy a different brand? If so, which brands are most reliable presently? Thanks for all your assistance! :)
I take it it's not worth fixing this one then. I didn't go for the Walmart special because I had seen posts on the net from people who purchased the RCA HDTV flatscreens and had them stop working within the first 3 months, and then had MASSIVE problems getting them fixed in a timely manner (one person waited over 3 months before their set was finally fixed!!!) I have no time to deal with inferior stuff from a company that appears to ignore their product's issues like that. What's crazy about all of this is that all of our other sets (4 of them) are either Phillips or no name sets from Walmart, and the youngest of those is 5 years (the oldest one is 13 years), and they are all still working fine and cost half the money or less than this RCA did. It's a shame really.. RCA used to be THE name in TV's. What are good bets on larger screened TV's out there presently?? Any educated opinions on that?? :)
×