RCA F31317 31" TV Turning self off and on then completely off

I just purchased this TV second hand and the people said that it turns off and on every so often like every other hour (hey for $20 I can deal with that), but when I got it home the problem happened every half minute to only a few seconds! The TV would just turn itself off and then back on but after a few times it just gives up and turns self off completely. I already tried the hard reboot and I really don't want to have to take this monster down and up 3 flights of narrow stairs again. Does this problem sound familiar? Any help would be very much appreciated tv turns off/on repeatedly at random it can be cured temporarily by banging the tv