Problem with Sony KV-36XBR400 (1 Viewer)

[Brent Garvey]

I bought my XBR400 new in August 2000, never a problem. I love this TV. I even calibrated it with Avia and Video Essentials, awesome picture. Two and a half years now and not a flaw, no geometry problems, no discolored corners, nothing. Until this past Saturday (Jan 4), I suddenly have no picture, but I do have sound :frowning: . When I first turn it on it doen't make the loud "KACHUNG" degaussing sound anymore, it is still a little kachung but really subdued. The screen still appears as if it is off, nothing changes when it is turned on. The standby light blinks 5 times and that is it, but sound for the ANT channels. I unplugged it overnight, to try the rest thing, and it still has the same problem. Has anybody else had this happen? If so what was the fix? Is it the power supply? The tube?
I'm really upset about this, this was my baby. Service tech's can't come out for weeks (all booked up) and I am not lugging that heavy bastage up stairs to cart it off somewhere. Parts? where do I get parts, if I want to try and replace them myself? I'm not affraid to get my hands a little dirty, and I'm fully aware of the High Voltages inside of there. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Brent

 

[Brent Garvey]

Just a quick update on my XBR's repair progress. I hate replying to my own post (especially since no one responded) but I feel this info could be beneficial to someone, if I succeed in getting it fixed.
I was able to get an independant repair tech to look at my set(not too many are willing to even look at an XBR I found out). He has narrowed the problem down to the D-board (high voltage board) The high voltage is not getting to the flyback (which in effect it is not powering the tube). He is going to get schematics this weekend and will be back this coming week to use his oscilliscope to isolate the offending components. So far he is pretty sure though that the flyback is bad, since he could not find shorts in his preliminary testing of the D-board. We'll see next week what he finds.

 

[Roger Kint]

Thanks for the follow up post. I also have a xbr and dread the day when/if it breaks down. It is so heavy it's almost like a permanent fixture.

 

[DarrinH]

I sympathize with you bud. I have the same set and mine got zapped by lightning this summer. I was without it for about a month. The place I bought it from is an authorized dealer and they had to send away for the main board. It cost $750 to fix the set, insurance picked it up.

 

[Brent Garvey]

Another update.
Well, my TV still isn't fixed yet (13 days now). My repair tech did get the schematics for the set, and he went at it with his oscilliscope. But he could not pinpoint the problem. He said their were so many protection circuits on the board it was hard to determine which was shutting it down and besides, they shut it down so quick he couldn't see what was going on (he does know there is an overvoltage, but from where? Flyback?)). Any who, he was sure the high voltage transformer (flyback) was bad so he priced one out. $149, not too bad, but he also got a price on a rebuilt D-board, which they(Sony) quoted him $195! So needless to say I am going with the whole D-board (which includes the transformer) It was ordered yesterday, so hopefully I'll have my tv up and running soon. Hopefully my final post to this thread will be to say, it is working ;-)

 

[MikeM]

Hi Brent, keep us posted.

I had the exact same TV as you, and my TV was flawless up until about July 2002. Then, it started turning green in the bottom right corner. I had the extended warranty, and they swapped out the entire CRT! The only problem was that it started turning green in the corner again! I sold this set, but it was really nice while it lasted.

I know how insane it was to move that 250lb+ TV, so I feel your pain. Hope everything works out for you.

 

[Mike Hamilton]

Brent,
Have your tech check the "jungle" chip and the associated paths to protection on the bus.
He is probably on the right track, as protection is preventing the CRT from energizing as Sony likes to keep you from seeing an evil picture, while teasing you with sound, if there is a problem.
Have him trouble shoot the deflection jungle and let us know.

Good luck!

 

[Brent Garvey]

Finally, my TV is fixed . I went with replacement of the entire D-board, as it wasn't too much more than just the flyback. I was hoping to get it troubleshot down to a specific component, but my tech was growing ever frustrated and impatient with it and I was getting antsy myself about having to watch my DirectTV/videogames/DVD's on my 1084s Amiga monitor (yes that is what I was reduced to watch everything on this whole time, I made an s-video adaptor for the chroma/luma inputs on it ) Anyway, I was charged a total of $445 for this fix. This accounts for the 3 different service calls while he tried to figure it out, parts, shipping and tax. The part also had a 'core' charge on it. Which is strange because my board I received was a new one and not rebuilt. Anyway it was $195 for the board alone before shipping and tax and core. IF there is a next time I may just replace the board myself, maybe, the hv wire from the flyback to the tube will need to be changed if there is a next time (has to be cut each time, and will be too short next time)and I'm not sure how to do that though :b .
I considered this whole experience as money well spent as it didn't cost much to fix the tv as compared to what I paid for it, and compared to what it's current value is worth. I'm still upset that it didn't make it far past 2 years before a problem. Is it too much to ask for a 5 year tv?