Yeah. Leave it be for a couple weeks. Also, tell your parents that the monitor means a lot to you, hence why you've put so much time and effort into fixing it. If you're calm and offer to compromise by throwing out something else you can bear to part with, or working off the cost of the parts, they might help you out.

Best of luck to you. Hopefully you'll get it fixed, and it'll serve you well. My flatscreen's served me well, especally since the lighting in my computer room makes a non flat screen reflect light like crazy.

When you replace the transistor, resolder all the connections around the transistor. If there is a small transformer (not the flyback) connected to this transistor, resolder that. That little transformer is the horizontal drive transformer and these were bad to have loose connections and blow the HOT in Sony TV's of the period.

I know what you mean about having to order two parts and pay $9 shipping! Most of the places I order from have at least a $25 minimum order with at least $8 shipping. I usually have to order more than I really need just to get one $4 part! The good thing is that you'll have a spare in case the first one blows or if you need another one later.

Anyway, do well on those exams and have a Merry Christmas and a safe vacation!

After re-reading everything, I'd be willing to bet the horizontal drive transformer has loose connections that caused the picture to flinch and then collapse to a vertical line and then blow the HOT. Like I said before, this was a very common problem on Sony TV's. Look on the schematic and trace the base pin of the horizontal output transformer back to a coil winding. That will be the secondary winding of the horizontal driver transformer. Resolder it's connections even if they look good.

If that IC on the neckboard is mounted on a heatsink, resolder it. Those get hot and are also bad about having loose connections.

Will do. Thanks Radiotvnut, Merry Christmas to you too! I'm leaving this monitor alone until I come back. Just looking at the chassis gives me a headache.

Someone else on another forum (not nearly as good as this one) said the HOT probably blew because of bad soldering on the Horizontal Drive transformer and/or a shorted FET near the HOT. Radiotvnut, you said bad soldering on the H Drive was typical in Sony TV's of this era. I forgot to mention this is monitor was manufactured December 1999. Don't know if that helps. Anyway, I will check that out when I get back, I'm printing all this and leaving is on my desk so I'll know where I left off when I get back.


Merry Christmas everyone, talk to you next year.

Hey everyone, thought I'd do a followup on this.

After some heated arguments, I ended up giving the Trinitron to a friend who's going to fix it once he gets enough $$$. My dad told me to toss it when he found out it would take $20 to get a part that isn't even guaranteed to solve the problem (someone on another forum told me there might be a shorted FET on there too).

I got a 19" LG Flatron LCD. So far, I've been loving it. The clarity is astounding, the brightness is great, and the colors are pretty good. Sometimes I miss my Trinitron for it's black levels and viewing angles, but overall I much prefer my new LG over the Trinitron. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that LCD's are crisp and sharp beyond my wildest dreams, something I didn't anticipate when I grudgingly accepted that I would have to get an LCD. I swear, most CRT monitors looks kinda blurry to me now. I guess I was just too stubborn on sticking with CRT's for computer monitors. Nothing will ever beat them for TV though.

BTW, if anyone on here has a high rez (>1280x1024) LCD and is running it on VGA, please do yourself a favor and get a DVI cable. My new LG runs at 1440x900 and when running on VGA, things look kinda fuzzy and shadowy and just not that great. With DVI, the clarity is second to none and the colors are more vibrant. The difference was so huge, even my mom noticed it from across the room as she walked in after I got a DVI cable.