Sony Trinitron 'Kiraro Basso' 29" TV

[The Robman]

Device: Sony Trinitron 'Kiraro Basso' 29" TV
Model: KV-S29MH1
Remote: RM-821
Year: 1992

Problem:

The sound went out in the middle of a show yesterday. I re-booted the TV and was able to get the sound to return (when watching the DVD thru one of the video inputs) but then the TV was unable to tune into any channels. The DISPLAY button revealed that the set was using the "East Asia" TV format, so I went to the MENU screen and selected "Preset" then tried to select "Auto Program", which should take you to the screen where you can select the correct TV system, however when I select "Auto Program" it just exits the menu system.

Looking at the user manual it appears that there are 2 different remotes that can come with this TV, and it appears that the "other" remote has a "TV SYS" button, which you can also use to select the correct TV system. So, this morning, I looked up the EFC for TV SYS on Rob H's Sony site and tried it and it works, but the screen then started to appear strange. It wasn't a full screen and the edges were curved. Then I switched to DVD input and the screen went scrambled.

Any ideas?

Also, the user manual that I have is in both French and Japanese, so if anyone knows where I can download an English version, that would be great. I tried searching but couldn't find one.

[underquark]

The sound went out in the middle of a show yesterday.

"Hardware" is the gut-reaction answer (the fault occurred, presumably, without you doing anything - or you'd have said - and it is an old telly). This site mentions intermittent problems with this device, though, and how one guy solved them.

[DaleMac]

The only place I've been able to find decent free manual downloads is http://www.eserviceinfo.com/
This place http://www.hcsd.com.au/index.html has good manuals, but they're not free and they only send them by mail.
You could also try http://www.user-service-manuals.com

[underquark]

Also, the user manual that I have is in both French and Japanese, so if anyone knows where I can download an English version, that would be great. I tried searching but couldn't find one.

What, no Hungarian? (or Magyar, to be more precise). Apparently the English manual is pretty pidgin but you could always try looking at the French version and finding the relevant chapter from the contents with the help of http://babelfish.altavista.com/. We've recently had a posting from a "French boy" so - fgth, if you're listening, can you help the Robman translate his manual?

[zaphod7501]

The article underquark linked to is prety accurate. These sets (USA models too) were notorious for bad solder connections on all the 3 pin regulator IC's. (located on the main - bottom - circuit board) Since you have symptoms from several independent circuits, the power supply would be a common denominator. The hardest part of a DIY repair is undoing all the wires and cables to swing the chassis up to the service position.

[The Robman]

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I might just try opening it up to see if I can get at the parts that might need re-soldering.

[The Robman]

Thanks to some excellent guidance from Steve (Zaphod), I was able to take the set apart and then randomly re-solder some of the joints and voila, the damn thing is working again. I can't quite believe that I did it. It's one thing to solder a little handheld remote control and quite another to take a 500 ton TV apart!

Fingers crossed that it will last and not start showing the same symptoms again in a few days.

[EDIT: the problems did come back after a few days]

[underquark]

It's one thing to solder a little handheld remote control and quite another to take a 500 ton TV apart!

But at least beasts like this can take some abuse - I had a speaker for my bass-guitar amp that was so big (think "Back to the Future") that I used to just vacuum it like any regular floor surface whenever it got dusty. Mind you I had a 20-something inch CRT monitor for my PC that I only got up to the 3rd floor of our house with the help of one of the house-builders. When it (the monitor, not the builder) eventually died I had to break it down into parts to get it downstairs. Even the crusher at the local refuse disposal place audibly struggled when it came to crunching the tube (but man, what a satisfying bang as it imploded!).

[The Robman]

A-ha, so you're a bassist, what kind of bass (or basses) do you have? My wife's a bassist (in fact, she's in the studio at this very minute). She's got a (1970?) Fender Precission and a (1967?) Fender Jazz. I've got a Rickenbacker copy (called "Shaftesbury", I used to dabble).

A friend of mine in Australia wanted a part to fix his 21" monitor, and he saw a US surplus seller selling one on ebay, so he had me buy the monitor so I could extract the part for him, then I left the rest of the monitor on the curb for the trashman. It too probably made a nice bang when the compactor closed in on it!

[underquark]

Nothing flash - Westone Thunder IA with home-made pre-amp in the battery compartment. Was never any good at playing it really and sold it when we moved to New Zealand for a year along with my Squire strat copy. Didn't think my Marshall valve amp would survive the move or storage in cold, damp Scotland and it needed re-biased anyway so gave it and the monster cone (no idea what make and didn't care to dismantle its box to find out) to a friend. His girlfriend picked up the speaker in her little Ford Fiesta (sub-sub-compact by US standards) car and it entirely filled the back even with the seats folded. Tried to persuade her to hook it up to the car radio and drive down the beach strip with the tailgate open but she was too shy.

[The Robman]

Didn't think my Marshall valve amp would survive the move or storage in cold, damp Scotland

I guess that's why they call it "cold storage"! I remember the little Ford Fiesta. Speaking of small British cars, the re-issued Mini is getting quite popular over here for some reason.