42" Hewlett Packard Plasma TV powers up but doesn't give a picture

[dr.ido]

These old 42" Plasma sets rarely make more than $80 - $100 here.

LG Plasmas (and many other brands use LG panels) of this generation and earlier often have tired/worn out panels. You will still get a picture, but there will be random red dots everywhere that are very noticeable on dark scenes. Sometimes you can tweak them a bit and get a usable picture, sometimes there is no happy medium - Adjust far enough that the red go away (or at least are minimal) and you get dark dots on bright scenes.

IPM replacement is not easy. It's a multilayer board and the ground pins will soak up all the heat without budging. Preheating the board and low temp solder help.

I don't spend any money or much time on these kind of sets anymore - they're just not worth it. If I don't have a good used board available (that I pulled myself from another junked set, not from ebay) I don't bother.