I was tyring to watch a movie I got from Netflix lastnight and then power goes out for hours. I end up reading Return of the King by candlelight and then going to bed (BTW, whoever did the book adapatation of that movie sure took some liberties).
So I get up this morning, power is back, so I go to finish my movie. I turn on the widescreen, rear-projeciton T.V., it clicks on as usual, and… nothing! No picture. No informing whether it’s on component 1 or component 2. No anything. Only nothing. Nothing! NOTHING!
AHHHH! My precious!
What do I do! I tried hitting it – no good. Anyone have any ideases? Or know how much the repairses are going to cost me…
(grumble grumble… not more nasty billses)
My mind will not be at ease until my T.V. is working again.
UPDATE: Here’s a less technical problem maybe someone could help me with. When the power went out, I went to my car to fetch the MagLite I keep in there only to find the D batteries had melted inside it (guess I should have checked on it more often). I’ve tried using a flathead screwdriver to pry those batteries out and asess the damage, but to no avail. Anyone know a good way to get out melted batteries?
At least the dead batteries still give it a balanced weight for a whomp’n.
Have you tried disconnecting it from everything except the cable / free air? Maybe the input stuff is mad…
Yep. Nothing.
Hit the TV harder?
That’s what i say, percussive maintennce always works with mine.
Have to tried to unplug it, leave it unplugged for 10 minutes and then plug back in. Some electronics need a hard reboot.
Hard reboot…. Brendan, that’s what percussive maintenance is all about. You boot it once, and if that doesn’t work, you get a bigger boot and re-boot it.
Are you getting sound or no? Because if it is just that you have no picture it is possible that the surge from the power going off could have blown the bulbs that do the projecting.
If it is nothing (No sound no picture) You definately have a a larger electrical problem. Of course the problem could just be a what they call “Cold TV” Just turn it on walk away Resist your desire to go back to it and then about 30 minutes later see if its on.
If not there are plenty of tv repair forums on the web if you wanna try to DIY.
I don’t know if it has sound. I turned off the sound because I use my own speakers and I don’t know how to turn it back on wihtout seeing the on screen menu.
Liberals have probably unionized the little people inside your television. To fix things, you have to take the elevision apart till you find the little people and then do a little “union busting”. That should take care of it for now. Make sure to watch movies that are not from hollywood or they’ll liberal up your TV agian.
Kill your TV! Die TV, die!
Firstly, being a computer tech, you always, even if it there’s “no way” it could happen- Check to see if it’s plugged in and the connections are good. Make sure the Surge Protector isn’t tripped or blown out. Make sure the circuit breaker isn’t tripped. With that out of they way…
Well, it’s under warranty isn’t it? What brand is it? type? (Like a Sony KP-57WV600) Any problems before now?
Sounds like you need a BFH.
Big Freakin’ Hammer
Everything else in the surge protector is fine. It’s a couple months path a year old so I think I’m out of luck on the warranty part.
While I’m not particularly versed in projection TVs, I do have an electronics backround and the following advice.
Turn everything off. Wait 1/2 hour, then turn everything back on, slowly. One piece at a time.
You need to ultimately find out if you have sound or not. Try hooking up a pair of speakers or something to the TV. Maybe a boombox or headphones (could be very loud, so be careful.)
If you have sound but no picture, it sounds (bad pun) to me like a lamp or some type of projection element is blown. Very common if power surgers back on. In the future, if you don’t do it already, turn off all valuable electronics at the power strip as soon as the power goes out.
If you have nothing at all, check all fuses – may require opening up equpment, so make sure everything is unplugged. Well, do this anyway, even if you have sound. And don’t touch those big cylindrical things (capacitors) cause they’ll kill you.
Also, try wiggling the video cables while watching the TV. If anything changes, you have a bad video cable, and should replace it.
Also, check whatever is feeding the TV, whether it be acable box, VCR, etc. Wiggle all those wires and make sure they’re working properly. May require another TV to check them. If you have another TV, hook it up in place of your badass broken widescreen. This will ultimately determine if it’s your TV or something else.
I hope I’ve been hopeful. If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me.
Thanks Rick. I can be pretty certain it’s the T.V., though, as everything else seems to be working and after unplugging all the inputs, I can’t make anything appear on screen (usually when it turns on, it will first flash what input is active before anything else; I would think if the video worked at all, I should be able to make the on screen menu or something appear).
Even though I’m an electrical engineer, if it involves opening it up, I think I’ll leave that to a repairman. I just wonder how much this is going to cost me. Hopefully it is just some little fuse that needs replacing.
If it is broken you can use the screen to make a liberal roasting machine. See link: http://www.scitoys.com/scitoys/scitoys/light/marshmallows/solar_roaster.html
Scroll down a bit to where the guy uses the projector TV screen.
forget a hammer. you wanna work that TV, im talkin 12 gauge. mossberg, baby.
Ok, if it’s not working and you are certain that it is the Television not anything else, here is an idea of what you may be looking at charges wise.
House Call. $95
Diagnostic. $59.50
Parts. $120-500
Labor. $80-300
Those are all through the Sears repair people who will warranty their work for one year after the repair, which is kinda nice. Price wise they are compeditive and they do a good job.
Hope that helps.
Duncan,
Tahnks. I’ll be calling the repair people tomorrow (no is open on a Sunday).
Blame the joooooooo’s.
The Power Surge was clearly a Zionist Conspiracy to keep the infedel Amerikan’s in Florida from hearing the true word of Muhammed on CNN.
That has gotta suck, Frankster! I have a spare 20″ I can loan you, if you can make it up to Ohio…
Seriously, this is not good. I see large bills ahead, and the answer should be obvious:
– Get a large piece of cardboard.
– Write (legibly) “WILL STRANGLE LIBERALS FOR MONEY”
– Head for the nicest, most conservative part of town.
– Start waiting for the money to roll in.
Didn’t I read on here somewhere that you are an electrical engineer? Don’t act like the rest of us techno-ninconpoops. Heal the damn thing.
Just thought I’d copy this across, ‘cos all this stuff about your TV was really boring…
Thanks for clearing that up for me, Libby, your use of our language does you credit, particularly as you have obviously gained your knowledge of it by monitoring the radio transmissions of extremely stupid people.
And I may have got a little out of hand in here last night, you know, I’d had maybe a little too much to drink, and the pictures on the television…and and it seemed like I’d, you know, uh, upset some people – I’d just like to take the opportunity of saying, uh, Ahahahahahahahahha. (And I’m not an obese kid from Kansas. Maybe a little jowly these days, is all. And I have a girlfriend and everything.)
Davy,
We all heard you in the other comment section and we didn’t care. Now someone tell me how to fix me damn T.V.!
Jeez Frank, are you really an Engineer?
C’mon, where’s that inquisitive nature and that insatiable desire to learn that sparked your interest and put you on your career path? You say your Big Screen Projection TV isn’t working on SuperBowl Sunday and it’s out of warranty and you HAVEN’T PULLED IT APART YET? Grow a toolbelt Frank and open that sucker up. You’re probably only 4 screws away from learning something new (and possible death by power supply capacitors that could jumpstart a space shuttle-so be careful in there).
When you get in, look for object that look all burned up and stuff and then point them out to the service guy.
But I like not dying.
Well, about that Maglite… You’ll need to take
the head off as well. Unscrew the focusing outer shell, remove the bulb, unscrew the slotted ring around the bulb mount, keep digging. Once the head is off, spraw some WD_40 in both ends, let it set for a few minutes and punch out the old batteries with a broomhandle (or equiv). Clean out the inside and reassemble.
poke a hole into the battery with a hammer and nail, then screw in a metal screw (or wood screw) and pull it out with a claw hammer
and about the tv, look around the case (or inside) for a fuse
if you didn’t before, you should put that thing on a surge protector
Nothin better then beating liberals with a maglite. Solid steel construction, textured grip, lovin it man!
Pour coke in the flashlight. You may want to do this outside. The acid in the coke will eat the acid and corrosion in the flashlight…or pretty much anything else for that matter.
Drink Pepsi, wash your engine with Coke….
BY the way..I read that your an engineer…that must be pretty cool driving a train. I’m not sure why these guys think that you should know how to fix stuff because you drive a train though..I mean c’mon guys…you don’t even have to steer them….how hard could it really be?
Throw the flashlight out and buy a new one.
I have frick’n $90 surge protector…
Frank – If you’ve got a $90 surge protector, it probably came with some kind of ‘warranty’ for the equipment that’s plugged into it, no? I’d at least check before spending long $$$ on the TV – maybe the surge protector company will pony up some funds…
I’m going to get it repaired and then check on that. I want this T.V. working before next weekend.
House Call. $95
Diagnostic. $59.50
Parts. $120-500
Labor. $80-300
Getting ‘half-mooned’ by a hairy, fat guy named Sal… Priceless.
Sorry Frank, had that happen to mine. twice. Its the power supply dude. guestimate $550 bucks.
Re: Maglites
Raymann, they’re made of machined aluminum, aircraft grade.
The steel ones are called Kel-lights, basically a steel pipe with a flashlight head on one end. They’re illegal for policemen to use anymore, despite having been invented by a cop.
As for getting the batteries out, Helvetix has it right.
Special Ed
What kind of batteries did you have in the Mag-Lite? I had the same thing happen a couple of months ago, and checked the Maglite website for clues to disassemble/repair. Very little help. I then checked the Duracell website and called their customer service 800 #. Long story short: Duracell sent me a check for replacement cost of the Maglite as well as coupon for free batteries. I’ll be a Duracell customer for life (and now take batteries out of my NEW maglite at least once a month…).