The other day I was watching TV and it turned off just as if you had yanked the plug out of the wall and will not turn back on. That pretty much sums it up, pushing the power button does squat. There is no blinking light to do indicate a burnt out bulb. Bad ballast maybe? Manufacture date is sometime in 2005 and I bought it sometime in '06. The lamp has never been replaced, the warning indicator or whatever it is has never lit up... this is the first issue I've ever had with this TV, it's been a great set. Thanks all.

Have you unplugged the unit from the wall outlet and confimed that the problem is not with the outlet? Unplugging the unit may also cause it to reset whatever it is that turned it off.

Yeah, I tried that and no difference. I'm debating whether to try to get it fixed or just buy a 46" LCD or a 50" plasma and mount it on the wall, my living room is small and the 52" rear projection looks huge. Even if I do that I may still try to fix it and give it to my parents.

Three years on a lamp is a lot. Pull the lamp and visually check it.

From what I can see the bulb is still ok, the filaments appear to be intact, although I'm not 100% sure what I'm looking for, but there doesn't look like there's any breaks in any of them. I have always ran the brightness lower so as to prolong the life of the bulb and my viewing room is usually dim. Again, the set just went "click" and turned off, no cooldown or anything, just like if the power went out or the plug was pulled. No amount of cussing at it or pushing the power button does anything. Thanks for the input, hopefully I can figure out what's wrong.

Sometimes lamps don't pop. Look at the glass stem that runs down the middle. At the base of the stem is a round area, it should be clear and perfectly round. If you see a white raised spot or hole then it's bad.

What happens when you plug in and try to turn on? Any relay click. fan noise, lights on front panel? There should be a lamp indicator it's hidden under the front cover.

No relay clicks, fan noise or anything at all. It's acting as if it's not even plugged in. It's plugged into a powerstrip with the sat. reciever and hd-dvd player that both power up and work fine. I've even used a voltage detector on the outlet and it reads fine.

Ok, I pulled the bulb again and there is a small white spot on the bubble at the bottom. I'm guessing that means it's bad correct? Would a bad bulb stop the set from even powering on? There was no indicator light, not even once, before it blew. Could there be something else lurking behind the bad bulb?

I have two power strips each of which has one bad outlet. However, I suspect that no voltage would be detected on them but it is worth changing to a known working outlet on the power strip.

No relay clicks, fan noise or anything at all...

Bad lamp would not cause this. If it isn't even trying to turn on then there is a power issue, maybe power supply board fuse, or thermal sensor. Sorry I don't have anything more specific, just that I don't have exposure to Panasonic like all the other brands.

Well, the Panasonic was replaced by the Samsung PN50B650 50" plasma. I'd still like to eventually fix the Panny and give it to my parents since they have a 12 year old 25" CRT. Thanks for the help in trying to figure the problem out, but I decided it's more affordable right now to make intrest free payments until I get my taxes next year.