Quote:
Originally Posted by Console User
The TV seems to work okay and not turn to snow or a blank screen if I use the RCA hookup on the back of TV versus the Coaxial Hookup. If this is the case will it be okay to use the TV this way until I get it into the shop or will it still be at risk of having the set go totally out before connections etc. are repaired?
Thanks.
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Hmm.. not 100% sure about the tuner connections, but I am positive the two heatsink tabs will corrupt the eeprom regardless of what input it's on.
I remember the first time we saw one of these in warranty shortly after they were in production- it came in with no sound. Back then, we didn't have the tricks we used later to recover the eeprom but just replaced the chip. It came back a week later with no sound. I changed the eeprom again and while it was running, I tapped the chassis board with the back end of a 1/4" driver like I did for years. The picture blinked and came back, but sound went out. Eeprom corrupted again. I called RCA tech support and they told me about resoldering the two heatsink tabs. This was before the tuners started acted up. Later on they issued a "goldenrod" bulletin on that.
John
EDIT: it's time consuming, but as long as the TV is running, I'd go in the service menu and write down every value, particularly the tuner parameters if you ever plan to use the tuner again. There were places selling "pre-programmed" eeproms but there is no such thing. On an analogue TV, every one is unique and quite different. If your eeprom goes bad, you can certainly readjust the grey scale, horiz osc, vert, etc., but the tuner will need to be aligned with a generator. RCA equipped the ASCs with a very clever device (frequency agile generator) that would output any channel on VHF Lo, Hi, UHF, and all cable bands. It had three attenuator switches and all you needed was a voltmeter to do a perfect tuner alignment. Using the attenuators, you could actually do it by eye. I still have the tuner aligner, one of the few things I didn't toss when we switched from CRTs to flats virtually overnight.