Add another set tp the list. TV just started to go light then dark some what .It does return to normal have not had issues with it shutting down though.

Thanks to all the people that took the time to post procedures on the forum.

Anyone know of a good Tech located in Suffolk Long Island ???

Total number is above 40 elite owners.
It just keep increasing number of TV Owners with problem

Total number is above 40 elite onwers.
It just keep increasing number of TV Owners with problem No, it can't be that many, otherwise Pioneer would certainly have heard of this problem before. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

No, it can't be that many, otherwise Pioneer would certainly have heard of this problem before. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

I counted myself in july 2005. Number was 37 and there are couplr of new owner added. If you count from start all number, I bet I am 100% sure it is over 40.
Well pioneer does not know about that but they might know about this thread about their design fault.

Well pioneer does not know about that but they might know about this thread about their design fault.


I would not doubt that. They probably don't want to show any sign that they know about this, or they will be expected to do something about it. Who knows, maybe that could mean a massive recall on Pioneer's part...

A few years ago Paul Carleton experimented with his Mits x5 series 65", and came up with tweaks that would solve lots of issues, edge enhancement and YC delay among them.

He notified Mit about it, and they never responded. But the following year all those problems had been taken care of.

No, no admissions of guilt from them, nor were there any congraulations, which might have led to requests for royalties from Paul. Not even a slap on the back from Mit, nor even an honorable mention.

But at least Mit took care of business, and implemented changes.

Hopefully these problems did not extend into the 20 and 30 series of Elites, as they were here with the 10 series.

Unfortunately, the 30 series was the last. Pioneer won't be in the CRT business to kick around anymore, after this year's model run is gone...


I know that I have personally found many cases of coolant leakage of Mit RPTVs in the last few years, causing irreparable damage to their irreplaceable 4 layer signal boards. Their answer? Prorate the cost of the set over 7 years, kiss off the set and take care of the customer that way. If it's 6 years old, you're covered with 1/7 the original value of your set. 5 years old, 2/7 the value. If it's 8 years or older, you're totally SOL.

Since my calibration protocols and professional optics cleaning techniques can successfully keep CRT RPTVs looking better than new - sparkling bright and videophile grade, fully clean and transparent at all critical points and completely dialed in - for well over 10 years, this does not go down well with me at all.


Mr Bob

I counted myself in july 2005. Number was 37 and there are couplr of new owner added. If you count from start all number, I bet I am 100% sure it is over 40.
Well pioneer does not know about that but they might know about this thread about their design fault. I was being facetious about Pioneer not knowing, hence the :rolleyes:. Their customer service is either incompetent, or they are deliberately sticking their heads in the sand on this issue. You might as well be talking to the phone company or the federal government.

I just put a plane flight to Long Beach in place, arriving midday Tuesday of next week, departing late in the day Saturday. Got some business to do down there, but will leave lots of free time.

If you would like me to take care of your unit while there and you live in the Southern CA area, contact me and we'll get it done while I am there. There have been 2 inquiries so far - one from Ventura and one from Huntington Beach - but nothing has been set in stone as yet. I have one double calibration set presently on the books while down there, refered to me by someone whose Sony I did while I was last there a couple of weeks ago, but will have room for more.

This would include resoldering the boards affected, replacing them if they've been ordered, and calibration.

Let me know if you want in on this.


Mr Bob

Thanks Mr. Bob, I would like to shedule a date and time next week so you could solder my board and do a calibration on my Elite Pro 710. I will call you to set up an appoitment next week in Huntington Beach CA

Thanks Jeff

Just registered to add another PRO-610 owner to the list that has the blue flash, pop, power problem.

Hey guys......add me on to this list too now......I started seeing the blue flashes and then TV shutting off after 10 mins. I took the PS Board out and took it to an electrician to resolder it, since I didnt want to mess it up. I even told them some of the trouble spots from this forum and so I got the board back and installed it. Who the hell knows what he did but now no audio or video. You hear the power switching on and even the red LED going to green. Its like there is no power going to the audio or the video. So, I took the board back out and checked it out a couple of times. Same results. So, now im just going to replace the board with a new one with much thanks to Mr. Bob who ordered me one. I don't know why I ended up with this kinda result and so many other sucesses. Hopefully a new PS Board will solve the issue.

I have a Pro 710 and took the power supply board out and did the soldering. I did not see any obvious bad solder joints but I did re-solder E3 and E5 connector pins. Be careful these pins are very close to one another and you have to be careful not to get bridges. I used a 7x headset magnifying glases and very fine solder. So far after 3 hours no blue flash and brightness changes. If they reoccur I will order a new board, I do not want to try resoldering those tightly spaced pins again.
Good luck

Well, after resoldering the questionable IC components and all the "E" connectors on the power supply PCB, my PRO510 appears to be back to normal (knock on wood). Two weeks so far and I have not seen the dim, flash or shutdown issues I was experiencing on a daily basis. Good luck to others it is definitely a power supply quality issue. Shame on Pioneer for not acknowleding the issue. Thanks to all who posted their findings.

until this date, Total number around is 45.

45 Elite owners

Thanks Mr. Bob, I would like to shedule a date and time next week so you could solder my board and do a calibration on my Elite Pro 710. I will call you to set up an appoitment next week in Huntington Beach CA

Thanks Jeff


Looking forward to seeing you Thursday in Huntington Beach, as scheduled via our phone call.


Mr Bob

Well, after resoldering the questionable IC components and all the "E" connectors on the power supply PCB, my PRO510 appears to be back to normal (knock on wood).

Shame on Pioneer for not acknowleding the issue. Thanks to all who posted their findings.

Their techs know about it, and mentioned it to me when I called in as a tech myself the other day.

However, they will ONLY RETURN a call to a tech in the field - and who knows when, usually impossible to get the callback while still on location - and they will NOT talk to any tech who does not have the service manual.

I had ordered one, so I had what Parts had sent me, but there are 3 versions for the PRO 510HD - one of which is strictly adjustments - and mine did not have the protection circuits info, which was what I needed for that particular job. But they were very gracious and willing to fax me out just those pages, without requiring me to purchase another manual version to get them.

I called in and the version I have has the same number of pages as theirs - 123 - and the protection info is in the 200's. Of obviously a different manual.

My impression is that the technical assistance department, at least, is privy to all that's been mentioned here. And then some. The tech I talked to was VERY helpful. (Thanks, Alan!)


Mr Bob

If Pioneer knows of the problem with the Power Assembly board it is shameful that they do not acknowledge this defect and cover it under their warranty and offer a replacement board to affected customers.

If Pioneer knows of the problem with the Power Assembly board it is shameful that they do not acknowledge this defect and cover it under their warranty and offer a replacement board to affected customers.

If I am CEO of Pioneer, then I would think, that for $300 part of $6000 to $8000 TV Price, I would replace power board for all TV sold during 2000-2001.
Less than 5% of pric, atleast Pioneer can regain quality and reliability of TV.

I never gooing to buy pioneer product again and will tell others to do same. :mad:

If Pioneer knows of the problem with the Power Assembly board it is shameful that they do not acknowledge this defect and cover it under their warranty and offer a replacement board to affected customers.


My sentiments exactly. These mamas can be kept looking awesome for well over 10 years. They can be looking quite exceptional for well over 15 years.


Mr Bob

My 710HD was manufactured in November 2000 and I bought it in January 2001. Around August (2005) I noticed the blue flash. For me, it occurred maybe 3 times in a 2 hour period, but the set never shut off. I have so many source devices (DVD, VCR, HD-PVR, Satellite, etc.) and they’re connected through an A/V receiver and scaler that it took a while to figure out that it was the TV itself with the problem.

I had what appeared to be similar problems with a 25” GE and 35” Mitsubishi direct view sets, which turned out to be dust collecting on the picture tube anode cable, causing an arc and flash. In those cases I cleaned the cable and covered it with silicone grease which prevented the arcing. That fix worked on those sets for years.

I tried the same thing on the 710, but the flashes returned within a day. I was actually searching for something else when I stumbled upon this thread. This past Saturday I opened the set, removed the PS board and looked for cold solder joints. The vast majority of the solder points looked as though they had been flow soldered. They weren’t shiny, but they weren’t obviously cracked either. There were a few places that had been hand soldered, and a couple of jumpers (which looked like 16 gauge zip chord) had been soldered on as well and then glued with big globs of silicone seal. I touched up a few places that looked suspect, but really couldn’t find anything definitive. I put it all back together, turned the TV back on, and it appeared that things were OK. That night we watched a DVD and the flashing returned. Boooooo!

Sunday morning I reread through this thread and noted Dave G’s comments on E3, IC202 and IC204. So, I pulled the board again, and re-soldered all the connections on those components, whether or not they looked OK. I’m happy to say as I write this on the following Thursday, after watching approximately 16 hours of TV, that the blacks are black and I have not seen any blue flashes.

So, if you’re one of those unfortunate enough to have this problem, follow Dave’s advise and re-solder E3, IC202 and IC204. Hopefully you’ll be glad you did.

Many thanks to Dave G. and all that contributed to this thread.

Mike

My 710HD was manufactured in November 2000 and I bought it in January 2001. Around August (2005) I noticed the blue flash. I’m happy to say as I write this on the following Thursday, after watching approximately 16 hours of TV, that the blacks are black and I have not seen any blue flashes.

So, if you’re one of those unfortunate enough to have this problem, follow Dave’s advise and re-solder E3, IC202 and IC204. Hopefully you’ll be glad you did.

Many thanks to Dave G. and all that contributed to this thread.

Mike


Where's Arcadia? As of right now I am still in Long Beach if you want a cal done on your 710, now that it's fixed. Just did Kingsoly's yesterday, which among other things included remedying a horrendous amount of green in his darks, on all scanrates. Causing everything to look really sour. It is all well balanced now, with gleamingly clean blacks and grays.

I am presently scheduled to go back to No Cal late Saturday.

Will be glad to stay a little longer if other repair/cal jobs here - or within driving distance of here - occur.


Mr Bob

Well...umm...err...my initial attempt at the fix was less than ideal, since I was getting A/V shutdown at least once a day.

So I punted and ordered a new board from Pioneer...$284, plus $100 core charge...ouch!

While debating whether to install the new board, I pulled the old board...again...to have a look-see.

With my "third hand" magnifier and my best reading glasses, I found MORE fractured solder joints.

Instead of re-flowing these, I added more solder. Put the "old" board back in.

That was three weeks ago. Not one single, solitary problem since.

So I've got this new board...doubtful whether Pioneer will R/A it.

Maybe I'll just install it and return the old one...and collect $100.

Well...umm...err...my initial attempt at the fix was less than ideal, since I was getting A/V shutdown at least once a day.

So I punted and ordered a new board from Pioneer...$284, plus $100 core charge...ouch!

While debating whether to install the new board, I pulled the old board...again...to have a look-see.

With my "third hand" magnifier and my best reading glasses, I found MORE fractured solder joints.

Instead of re-flowing these, I added more solder. Put the "old" board back in.

That was three weeks ago. Not one single, solitary problem since.

So I've got this new board...doubtful whether Pioneer will R/A it.

Maybe I'll just install it and return the old one...and collect $100.


Did they give you a warranty on the power supply PCB? If so, I would install the new PCB and your set for at least that amount of time. If no warranty, then play at your own risk.

Well...umm...err...my initial attempt at the fix was less than ideal, since I was getting A/V shutdown at least once a day.

So I punted and ordered a new board from Pioneer...$284, plus $100 core charge...ouch!

While debating whether to install the new board, I pulled the old board...again...to have a look-see.

With my "third hand" magnifier and my best reading glasses, I found MORE fractured solder joints.

Instead of re-flowing these, I added more solder. Put the "old" board back in.

That was three weeks ago. Not one single, solitary problem since.

So I've got this new board...doubtful whether Pioneer will R/A it.

Maybe I'll just install it and return the old one...and collect $100.


Don't install the new board. Save yourself the money. Your old board is fine now. You will probably have no further problems with it.

Worst case scenario if you have NOT used the new board, or installed it - hell, they might even accept it back even if you have tried it out, so long as it does not get damaged in the process - is to refund you the $248 minus docking you a restocking fee and give you your core charge back. You'll eat the shipping both ways, but all it will cost you is that plus the restocking fee.

I would NOT install it. Too many things can go wrong. Raj knows EXACTLY what I mean. Cut your losses and send it back NOW, before something else can go wrong. Your set is now working perfectly, it is an incredibly sophisticated piece of gear, STOP dicking around in there like it's a '57 Chevy. Just STOP. Send it back and get on with your life without further complications.

That's how we repair techs do it. We have firsthand experience on how many little unexpected things can go wrong in there, easily - and instantaneously - domino'ing into catastrophes.


Mr Bob

Mr. Bob wrote:
"Don't install the new board. Save yourself the money. Your old board is fine now. You will probably have no further problems with it."

Yeah...I guess. At least I got a R/A (less 20%) from 'em. Plus...I KNOW that this board has been "burned in"...and that it actually works.

I may try beating them up for the 20% though....

I KNOW that this board has been "burned in"...and that it actually works.

Which board? Yours or theirs? If you haven't tried out the new one, then you must be talking about yours. Which of course makes your statement totally true...

If you'da said, "my original board", I woulda known already, and wouldn't be askin' -



I may try beating them up for the 20% though....


Why? What's your time worth? They spent time shipping it to you, which they needn't have done if you had done what you ultimately did, BEFORE ordering the board and committing all their time and resources to your order for as long as it took to get it to you.

Let them have it. They spent time and resources on your order, in service to you. They deserve their 20%.


Mr Bob

Which board? Yours or theirs? If you haven't tried out the new one, then you must be talking about yours. Which of course makes your statement totally true...

If you'da said, "my original board", I woulda known already, and wouldn't be askin' -





Why? What's your time worth? They spent time shipping it to you, which they needn't have done if you had done what you ultimately did, BEFORE ordering the board and committing all their time and resources to your order for as long as it took to get it to you.


Let them have it. They spent time and resources on your order, in service to you. They deserve their 20%.


Mr Bob



They don't deserve a penny since it is their defective board which they fail to acknowledge that is causing this problem for so many owners who originally purchased the elite line thinking this product would be backed by the manufacturer and not be covered up.

Mr. Bob, don't suppose you'd be making any calibration tour swings through Western PA? Wouldn't mind having you do an ISF on my Pro-610.

I know I'm a looong way from SF. On the bright side, we are fairly immune to natural disasters like earthquakes, hurricanes, mud slides, wildfires, etc. Of course, there is that nasty winter thing we contend with... :)

They don't deserve a penny since it is their defective board which they fail to acknowledge that is causing this problem for so many owners who originally purchased the elite line thinking this product would be backed by the manufacturer and not be covered up.


Well, ya got me there.

I think that there should be a nationwide - worldwide? - recall on that board. They should pay regular warranty rates to their own local factory authorized techs to have them go out and either resolder that board - not too great or challenging a task for a pro repair person, much better/easier than having to troubleshoot circuitry and all that that entails - or install a new one and send the old one back. Where it would be resoldered at the factory, declared rebuilt, and made available again to the populace. This should be essential to its service to their customer.

I think its ludicrous that a nationally - nay, internationally - known entity such as Pioneer should be able to first manufacture and charge for a board in a system where it is only maybe 1/20th of the unit, and have virtually every other part of that system work perfectly for 15 years, then have that ONE board - or the sweep board as well? ANY other board - become well known for this type of problem after only 6 or 7 years, and be able to have ANY one of their customers have to pay for its repair. They blew it, they should clean it up.

Of course I don't think they did it on purpose. But still, when this kind of thing happens in the automobile industry, there are national recalls on it, and they make the national news. If these problems were life-threatening, like many are on cars, they would be having to answer to our always scam-sniffing press.

This thread alone should be sufficient for that purpose. Anybody know anyone at the Washington Post?

Unfortunately, they will probably do what Mit has done - write off these units as having only a 7 year lifespan anyway.


I'm with you.


Mr Bob

Mr. Bob, don't suppose you'd be making any calibration tour swings through Western PA? Wouldn't mind having you do an ISF on my Pro-610.

I know I'm a looong way from SF. On the bright side, we are fairly immune to natural disasters like earthquakes, hurricanes, mud slides, wildfires, etc. Of course, there is that nasty winter thing we contend with... :)


Not planned at present, but I would not be adverse to doing cal tours that would include these repair problems as well as calibrations. Those who have the repair problems would have to pay me extra for them, of course, unless and until Pioneer decides to pick up the tab for repair people to do those repairs.

But calibrations? I'm there! Just fly me in. Get a few fellow HD afficianados together and the travel expenses getting me there and back get cut in half, then in thirds, etc. You get the idea. I fly out of OAK.

Set it up and contact me as to when and where.


Mr Bob

PS - You think you could throw in just a little earthquake while I'm there, just to make me feel at home?

:D

Which board? Yours or theirs? If you haven't tried out the new one, then you must be talking about yours. Which of course makes your statement totally true...

If you'da said, "my original board", I woulda known already, and wouldn't be askin' -





Why? What's your time worth? They spent time shipping it to you, which they needn't have done if you had done what you ultimately did, BEFORE ordering the board and committing all their time and resources to your order for as long as it took to get it to you.

Let them have it. They spent time and resources on your order, in service to you. They deserve their 20%.


Mr Bob


Ask (nicely and reasonably) and ye shall receive.

I just received a rather nice, if not quite apologetic, reply from Customer Support at Pioneer Electronics USA agreeing to waive the 20% restocking fee.

And they are most certainly aware of this very thread on this forum...if anyone is wondering.

Best regards to all here.

Just wanted to thank you guys. I followed your suggestions and resoldered the board, mostly the connectors in the upper left hand corner of the board. I'm going on a week with out the flashes and I'm hoping it will last.
I'm no expert but I've seen my share of boards and this had to be the poorest soldering job I've ever seen. Pioneer should be ashamed. This is absolutely unacceptable.

I have the same problem that is described here. I have not resoldered the board yet but I am going to do it tomorrow. From what I have read I am sure that this will fix the problem thanks a lot guys, great job of finding and fixing pioneers ineptitude.

Total of Elite unhappy owners is close to 50. Time to count all again........

Where is pioneer electronics comment?

I first bought my RPTV in Dec of 99. In Jan I had the blue flash, the popping, and the loss of power. Luckily it was under warranty and the tech replaced two of the circuit boards (I'm not sure which two) and it's worked flawlessly.

Saturday morning all of a sudden there were blue streaks (lines) horizontally across the lower 1/2 to 2/3rds of the screen. One right about in the middle and the other about 2/3's of the way down.

They are permanent. They are slightly curved.

Anybody have any experience with this?

I've got a repair tech coming out tomorrow morning. He said something about the blue convergence being off, and that there were two different things that could be causing that.

Does that sound about right?

Thanks in advance.

Hello everyone,

Well my power supply board came in and did the switch. I got myself a great tv for a very minimul price. Paid 650.00 for this tv with the power problem. Paid 300.00 for the Power supply board and its in full working condition. 1050.00 not a bad price to pay for an Elite Pro 510 HD. I love watching tv now.

Hello everyone,

Well my power supply board came in and did the switch. I got myself a great tv for a very minimul price. Paid 650.00 for this tv with the power problem. Paid 300.00 for the Power supply board and its in full working condition. 1050.00 not a bad price to pay for an Elite Pro 510 HD. I love watching tv now.

That is heaviest bargain and you are most lucky person .....RAJ

Hello everyone,

Well my power supply board came in and did the switch. I got myself a great tv for a very minimul price. Paid 650.00 for this tv with the power problem. Paid 300.00 for the Power supply board and its in full working condition. 1050.00 not a bad price to pay for an Elite Pro 510 HD. I love watching tv now.


DIYers: Raj had to buy the board (he bought it from me) because his local tech screwed the original one up!

Be careful in there! With CAREFUL resoldering he coulda been able to get his original board going, and had an even better deal!

Good show, Raj!

:cool:


Mr Bob

Chalk up one more. I have been having the flashing picture issue for 2 years already with my Pro 510 HD. Since it would come and go I didn't pay much attention to it. Recently when the set started "popping" and then going black for 5-10 minutes I called the Pioneer authorized service center. I was told I needed to replace the convergance IC's, the power supply and three different drive assemblies. The tech said to call Pioneer to see if they would replace any of the parts for me. Similar to the experiences I've seen in this forum, Pioneer was surprised to hear that this was happening and unwilling to do anything for me. The repair is going to cost me close to $1000. I told Pioneer that they just lost a customer. I'm sure they spent the afternoon crying about that. I'm going to repair the set, sell it and get a JVC D-ILA set.

Chalk up one more. I have been having the flashing picture issue for 2 years already with my Pro 510 HD. Since it would come and go I didn't pay much attention to it. Recently when the set started "popping" and then going black for 5-10 minutes I called the Pioneer authorized service center. I was told I needed to replace the convergance IC's, the power supply and three different drive assemblies. The tech said to call Pioneer to see if they would replace any of the parts for me. Similar to the experiences I've seen in this forum, Pioneer was surprised to hear that this was happening and unwilling to do anything for me. The repair is going to cost me close to $1000. I told Pioneer that they just lost a customer. I'm sure they spent the afternoon crying about that. I'm going to repair the set, sell it and get a JVC D-ILA set.


The D-ILA set you get will not be able to look as good as your present 510, if you have your 510 cleaned and calibrated. You will not be able to sit as close to it, and as a result will not have as big a picture as you can with your present set, once your present set's been fully tweaked.


Mr Bob

Add another 510 to the list. This one was put in service in August 2000.

I just got it from a someone who was going to trash it because of this problem and the high cost to repair. I followed the tips above and now it's working great.
Now comes the hard part, what to tell this guy when he see it :eek:
Thanks for the great info.
Mike

total number of elite umhappy owners looks like close to 55. I have to spend time and count all again.

Shame on pioneer............. :mad: :mad: :mad:

Coincidentally, after I posted my complaint about Pioneer service, I received a call from the service rep at Pioneer last night. He said he escalated my issue to his manager and due to the severity of the situation, they agreed to subsidize the cost of parts, resulting in a $200 refund once repaired. It's still going to wind up costing me over $700 to fix but I'm satisfied that Pioneer was willing to help somewhat. I did write a letter to them and escalated up to about 3 layers of management before I got this concession but there's something to be said about perseverance and the power of the pen!
Thanks for the insight on the JVC Bob.

Coincidentally, after I posted my complaint about Pioneer service, I received a call from the service rep at Pioneer last night. He said he escalated my issue to his manager and due to the severity of the situation, they agreed to subsidize the cost of parts, resulting in a $200 refund once repaired. It's still going to wind up costing me over $700 to fix but I'm satisfied that Pioneer was willing to help somewhat. I did write a letter to them and escalated up to about 3 layers of management before I got this concession but there's something to be said about perseverance and the power of the pen!
Thanks for the insight on the JVC Bob.
Good for you! At least someone got them to be a little bit reasonable. My act of "perseverance" was to donate my Elite to a charity (that would fix it and give it someone deserving), buy a JVC, and tell people who as me for advice on plasma pruchases, etc., not to buy a Pioneer Elite. ;)

Thanks for the insight on the JVC Bob.



That advice actually applies to all fixed pixel devices - not just JVC's - just so you know.


Mr Bob

I bought my PRO510HD in June of 2000, and just now it's starting to experience the popping/flickering//dimming/brightening. I haven't really noticed if it's blue or not... It tends to happen when it's cold (not yet wamed up).

Does this sounds as though it is the power supply issue? There are two power supplies listed on the Pioneer site, and I believe I have the V1795 version (which is in stock, vs. the V1872.

I do know someone who solder's things for a living on PC boards (he does rework)... but I'm not sure I want him to fix this... I'd almost rather buy a new board.

I have a Pioneer Elite PRO520HD that I purchased in September 2001. I have noticed that the picture is getting darker especially with a component connection. Could this be the power supply issue? I don't have any blue streaks or popping yet!

I have a Pioneer Elite PRO520HD that I purchased in September 2001. I have noticed that the picture is getting darker especially with a component connection. Could this be the power supply issue? I don't have any blue streaks or popping yet!


You may just need the lenses, mirror and screen cleaned. It's amazing what crud finds its way into these sets after a few years. Dunno about the component connections...but you could try cleaning the RCAs with alcohol or naphtha...or Caig De-Oxit.

You may just need the lenses, mirror and screen cleaned. It's amazing what crud finds its way into these sets after a few years. Dunno about the component connections...but you could try cleaning the RCAs with alcohol or naphtha...or Caig De-Oxit.


The deeper optics, under the lenses, probably also need it by now, but you won't know until and unless you clean the tops of the lenses.

DON'T EVER TOUCH THE SCREEN, UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.

It is NOT included in those things that WILL need cleaning years down the road due to the HV inherent in CRT use, which ionizes ALL the particulates in the air, no matter how small, and causes your mirror and lenses to become powerful dust magnets. Lenses and mirror, yes. Screen no.

The most I ever do with the screen is to check its rear side and see if there is any dust that has collected on it. If so, I use a VERY dry, VERY clean terrycloth towel to go over the rear surface very lightly, back and forth, just removing the loose dust, not applying ANY pressure.

Cleaning the optics is a science that has to be VERY carefully practiced. Those lenses are plastic and very easily scratched, and all HDready glass mirrors are front surface mirrors, that you don't want to expose to ammonia, like in Windex with Ammonia D. Glass Plus is OK - Sprayway is the best. You also don't want any liquid crawling down inside the lens pack, or it will fog up the internal lenses. Another reason why Sprayway - a foam, not a liquid - is best.

You'll find general info about this on my website, under Nuts and Bolts.

As far as the darker goes, I definitely agree that optics cleaning should be the first thing done. However, your internal sm subBrightness on component might also need retweaking.


Mr Bob

I bought my PRO510HD in June of 2000, and just now it's starting to experience the popping/flickering//dimming/brightening. I haven't really noticed if it's blue or not... It tends to happen when it's cold (not yet wamed up).

Does this sounds as though it is the power supply issue? There are two power supplies listed on the Pioneer site, and I believe I have the V1795 version (which is in stock, vs. the V1872.

I do know someone who solder's things for a living on PC boards (he does rework)... but I'm not sure I want him to fix this... I'd almost rather buy a new board.


Yes. Blue is irrelevant, only affects certain units. This intermittency and heat-relatedness is much more a sign of cold solder joints, with or without the blue being affected.

Anyone who does rework on PC boards is qualified to do the soldering necessary on your board. Get a new one if you wish, but I don't think that's necessary with your friend on hand. If he does rework routinely, he knows what to do and what to stay away from.


Mr Bob

Can someone post exactly what part number and who to call to order a new board?

Thanks

Can someone post exactly what part number and who to call to order a new board?

Thanks

When you call Pioneer, you'll need the model number and possibly the serial number, if a given year had more than one run. The 510 did. They will want a $100 core charge, refundable when you return the old one. Like we used to do with old Coke bottles...

I'd be glad to order this board, or any other, for anyone who does not want to order it himself. Just let me know.



Mr Bob

Add me to the group of those happy with their 610-HD for the first 3 years and then the blue screen, contrast fading, popping and powering down started.

I was so glad to have stumbled across this forum and all those who have posted their experiences and fixes for what seems to be a company design or manufacturing flaw.

My experience with Pioneer authorized service companies in the Atlanta area has been identical to what I've read here. I would get "Never heard of the problem", "can't duplicate it in the shop", "must be the blue gun circuitry (which they replaced)", etc. until they finally just gave up.

I'll try the power supply solder fix that seems to have helped some and post the results soon.

Ok, I got into my Elite 610 two days ago and pulled out the power supply board. Really much easier than I expected. Took digital pictures before I pulled all the connectors loose but since the connections appear to be various sizes it was easy to figure out which ones went where without the help of the pictures. Of course it wasn't until I had unscrewed all the little screws holding the board in that I figured out I could have just unscrewed the one screw holding the support frame for the board and slid the whole thing up and out with board attached. This would have made it a little easier to get to the couple of screws on the right side of the board. Anyway, it was really straight forward to get it out.

Thanks GA17ND10 for your post, it really helped narrow down the search for solder joint problems. I took the board over to my workbench and with a magnifying glass I was able to see a nice crack in the solder joint of connector E3 pin 13 (the 12V pin). The crack went completely around the pin. If i wiggled the connector a bit I could see the gap open and close. I re-soldered it. The other connections looked okay but some were suspect so I went ahead and touched them all up since I had the board out anyway.

Hurray! Two days now and no more blue flashes or power-downs. Sure wish I'd come across this forum a year ago.

I emailed Pioneer customer support and asked them about this problem and they said "there are no known issues with the Elite 610HD and no reports of problems". ...how disappointing.

Thanks again to all those who have posted their experiences with this problem.

I emailed Pioneer customer support and asked them about this problem and they said "there are no known issues with the Elite 610HD and no reports of problems". ...how disappointing.

Thanks again to all those who have posted their experiences with this problem.


You might want to go in with those here who want to start up a class action suit about this. If you've followed the entire thread, you'll find that that has been Pioneer's stance from the beginning, and various speculations why, including - from my POV - the avoidance of a worldwide recall on these sets. At least for their repair, which I am sure everybody would be more than satisfied with, if not for their out and out replacement.

Of course since they have disco'd the production of Pioneer CRT RPTVs as of the x30 line, there would be no replacements to be had. So repair would be their only available line of action, in caring for - and appropriately taking care OF - their customer base on these issues.

All they would need to do would be to connect their right hand with their left hand. Have Customer Service talk with Tech Assist and get clear that tech assist HAS had extensive reports back from their service personnel out there about these issues, and extend their original factory warranty to cover JUST these highly reported issues.

Their repair department DOES know about them, BTW, I can certify that they advised me about the connection area cold solder joints recently on the 510 power supply board.

And allow everybody to contact their local Pioneer authorized warranty stations, for their local warranty techs to come out and resolder the critical areas of the board. Which is a breeze for a warranty tech, who usually has to take an unknown problem and risk his valuable time wondering if this particular one or another repair job is going to be a bitch. Or in tech-speak, a "dog". In which case he has to take it in the shorts when his fixed rate of miserably low warranty pay for the ENTIRE JOB is meager, as it stretches into its 6th hour, on possibly its 3rd visit.

In this case there is virtually no uncertainty - he can go in and come out complete on one visit, get his fixed fee and be done with it and get on to his next service call.

The most time-taking operation is getting all those individual screws out and putting them back afterwards - which needn't have been a problem if they had not put so much damn metal plating in there on the bottom of the chassis frame, disallowing availability to the critical areas without undoing the board from that base.

On Mits's this is not a problem - the board can be kept on the base because the base is plastic and does not have all sorts of flat planes of itself covering up the circuitry, down there at the bottom surface of the boards, like the Pios do have metal planes. Which do nothing as far as shielding goes, and are totally superfluous and just IN THE WAY.

With a Mit, all you have to do is prop it up at an angle, crawl under there and resolder whatever you need to, put it back in place and continue on to testing it. With the Pios, you have to put at least 2 screws back in place each time you finish the soldering for centering purposes, and then go to putting all the plugs back in. Which you also don't have to do on a Mit because all the wires inside are LONG ENOUGH.

:mad:


I also mentioned earlier in this thread that we are all extremely lucky to have designs on these boards which don't domino effect and blow up other areas of the unit when the critical areas go into disconnect. Which is exactly what happens in a cold solder joint situation.

On other board designs, disconnects in one area can cause overload in other areas and blow things up sizeable distances away from themselves, in the unit. Not, fortunately, on these. Nor on the SD-P units, their SD precursors, where I have found cold solder joints on many many deflection boards - which I believe included the power supply section on those units - which in 19 cases out of every 20 have fixed the unit.


Mr Bob

Took me 40 minutes to research this thread, 30 minutes to take out the board on my 510hd, and 10 minutes to instuct my repair shop to look for weak or cracked solders. They said $40. I said, 'Sure beats a $500 repair." Will report back if the blue flashes and shut down are cured.

I also had the same issue (flicker and power down) with my 510 several months back and received the same run around from Pioneer. I was lucky to get a service tech that new of the problem and was able to repair it by soldering the heat sinks on the back of the PS board.

I am know experiencing a different issue with the convergence. I have a wave effect on the top and bottom of the screen (red and green colors), too large to adjust in setup. Is this another issue with solder joints or something different. I am going to call the service Rep and ask his info and hope he will give some free advice over the phone. I may just remove the PS board and take a look myself.

Any suggestions.

I don't recognize your specific problem, but I have had two solder joint related problems. The well known power supply one and also one on the CRT driver component (IC or power transistor). The latter problem look like a convergence problem. So, you might look at the those joints.

I know the PS board is on the far right, which one is the convergence board?

Don't know. The fix was done by a tech, not me. But, I do know the ICs in question can be reached without removing the board. Touching them with a (insulated!) screw driver would make the problem come and go. Once the problem component is identified that way, the board was pulled for the solder fix.

Thanks for the info, I spoke to the company that soldered the cold joints last time (Fast Trak- recently bought out by Ulitimate Electronics Repair) and they said they were unable to search for specific problems for PS board issues but did tell me they have sold just over 20 AWV1795 PS board at their 6 facitlities nation wide. Still doesn't tell me how many are fixed by soldering the cold joints.

I have heard of people talking about a class action suit but after looking at the last one that Pioneer just settled on 2 of their DVR systems it netted the lawyers $377,334.10 in fees and the consumers only received a pioneer credit of ~ 10% cash rebate off of their next purchase (excluding tax and delivery)

Sounds like only the lawyers and Pioneer benifited on that suit. The lawyers received $ and Pioneer receives customer loyalty from unsatisfied customers, the 10% cash rebate still nets Pioneer plenty of profit on any sales they would get from the consumers that are included in the class action suit.

Sounds like only the lawyers and Pioneer benifited on that suit. The lawyers received $ and Pioneer receives customer loyalty from unsatisfied customers, the 10% cash rebate still nets Pioneer plenty of profit on any sales they would get from the consumers that are included in the class action suit.


That 10% better be off the NET sale price, AFTER any sale pricing has been done. If off retail, hell you can get that anywhere.

I was once automatically included in a class action suit. Don't know what the lawyers made, but I got a check for 53 cents! I kid you not! I woulda framed it, but it woulda cost more than that to do so!

:mad:

Mr Bob

Well I had the PS board taken care of this past Saturday and he also took the time to clean the lenses and calibrate the TV. So far no flashes and the TV looks great. He recommended that the TV be be hooked up with an S-Video instead of componet. Any thoughts on this ??? TIA . The info found here was a great help.

... He recommended that the TV be be hooked up with an S-Video instead of componet. Any thoughts on this ??? TIA . ...Well, for HD you need component inputs; S-video doesn't handle that.

In general, from a good source like DVD you would do better with component instead of S-video.

For non-HD/digital TV from a cable box the S-video or even composite video could actually look better. The Elite x10 has a good comb filter and the picture could be better than via the component output of a box like the Motorola 6412 that I have, which is not the best at upconverting the signal.

Well, for HD you need component inputs; S-video doesn't handle that.

In general, from a good source like DVD you would do better with component instead of S-video.

For non-HD/digital TV from a cable box the S-video or even composite video could actually look better. The Elite x10 has a good comb filter and the picture could be better than via the component output of a box like the Motorola 6412 that I have, which is not the best at upconverting the signal.


Right. Still a judgment call, requiring testing.


Mr Bob

Well I had the PS board taken care of this past Saturday and he also took the time to clean the lenses and calibrate the TV. So far no flashes and the TV looks great. He recommended that the TV be be hooked up with an S-Video instead of componet. Any thoughts on this ??? TIA . The info found here was a great help.

Can't imagine anyone who would choose S-Video over Component, that would be a huge step backwards.

I replaced my power suppy board about a month ago. This forum provided all of the information that I needed and the replacement was straight forward, if somewhat time consuming. So far so good. If that is all that goes wrong with my set, then I will be pleased. My wife was prepared to let me buy a new 1080p set, but now I'm very glad to have a year to wait for the next generation to begin shipping.

I like this job. ...Counting pioneer elite unsatisfied owners........

Now, looks like close to 65........

Shame on pionner...........

One of my friend asked advice to buy TV and I said stay away from pioneer product.


:mad:

The blue flash syndrome finally happened to me yesterday.

Time to warm up the ol' soldering iron

The blue flash syndrome finally happened to me yesterday.

Time to warm up the ol' soldering iron

Yeah it just happened to me also about 3 weeks ago, I ordered all the manuals from Pioneer just to have them. And although I am going to try the solder fix myself, I still think I'm also going to replace my 510 with a 50" Plasma probably within the next 6 months or so. So I hope the solder fix will make it easier to at least sell off my 510 to someone. Because sooner or later something that costs some major $$$ like the crt color guns, or something else will fail in it, and unlike some others here. I no longer feel that the 510 is that good of a set anymore to just keep spending money on it to keep it running.

The blue flash syndrome finally happened to me yesterday.

Time to warm up the ol' soldering iron


Hutch -

Didn't I calibrate your set a few years ago?

I am purchasing some real estate in Portland, and will be coming up again sometime in the next few months, probably a few times a year for the next year. There is currently a small Portland area waiting list for my next visit, which will probably be in January or February. Want a redo on your cal? It's time.

I could also do that soldering job for you, if you wish. Have done it many times on Pioneers, I know what to look for vs. what is invisible in there.


Mr Bob

Hutch -

Didn't I calibrate your set a few years ago?


Yup.


I am purchasing some real estate in Portland, and will be coming up again sometime in the next few months, probably a few times a year for the next year. There is currently a small Portland area waiting list for my next visit, which will probably be in January or February. Want a redo on your cal? It's time.


Nah, I will probably be replacing it soon with the 65" Panny 1080P plasma, or if I need the brightness and can stand the SSE, an LCOS RPTV. This mainly for the smaller footprint and will probably be a step back in PQ.


I could also do that soldering job for you, if you wish. Have done it many times on Pioneers, I know what to look for vs. what is invisible in there.


Mr Bob

Nah again. I am good at soldering and need it done tomorrow.

I know that this thread was about the 510's and 610's, but my Pro-720HD is doing the same pop followed by power cut off. Glad I found this thread. I have pulled off the back of the TV and it looks like the same setup as what you all have been describing. I probably won't be able to get to work on the PS until next week since it is Christmass. But when I do I will post my results.

I know that this thread was about the 510's and 610's, but my Pro-720HD is doing the same pop followed by power cut off. Glad I found this thread. I have pulled off the back of the TV and it looks like the same setup as what you all have been describing. I probably won't be able to get to work on the PS until next week since it is Christmass. But when I do I will post my results.


Since I have seen this type of thing on Pioneers ever since the SD-P series - before the HDreadys - I am sure your 720 is in the same boat as all the ones in this thread.


Mr Bob

As per my earlier post, I did in fact warm up my soldering iron and fix (hopefully) my 610. I did the soldering yesterday but got so tired and frustrated (more than a few curse words were emitted) trying to get all the damn screws back in that I left some for today.

My troubles were mainly caused by my tying to save time by leaving my various AV cables attached and by not moving the set out where I would have room. So let this be a lesson to you: get the back of the set out in the open were you have easy and comfortable access to the bottom right.

I concur with an earlier report that connector E3 is the likely culprit. However, I did re-solder all the connector pins as well as a few other joints just for good measure.

And I did take pictures. Here is the power supply board:
http://home.comcast.net/~larryh791/elitephotos/P1000856sm.jpg

More (and larger) photos are on my web page (http://home.comcast.net/~larryh791/elitepsfix.html).

Hey thanks for the pictures Larry. I still have not gotten around to fixing my set. I will have my father inlaw do the soldering for me. He is a retired electrical engineer, qualified enough to do the job.

Same problem here with my 610, purchased in late 2001. I am not one to tackle the fix myself. Any recommendations in the Washington, DC area for service?

Well I completed the repairs day before yesterday. Everything is working perfectly! Resoldered E3, E5, IC204, IC202, and T101 (the large transformer in the middle of the board). After carefully searching the board at 5x magnification, I believe that E3 and T101 were my most likely culprits. Not a terribly difficult repair, but it is a little tedious. You definitely need a small solder tip, strong lighting, and a good magnifying glass to get the job done. I can't say how thankful I am for all of the amazing and accurate information in this thread. Thanks to every one who contributed. You saved me from a some serious teasing by my wife who thought this TV was overpriced to begin with!

Add another unhappy Pioneer custormer, my Pro 520 started the blue flash problem about 2 months ago.

This thread has some terrific information. I had the flashing/fading blue screen problem recently on a Pro710HD. Then a few days ago, while just ending a movie, POP and the power went off. The power light on the front panel (RED) lit and the green light went out.

After researching this thread, started looking into the power supply and noted the "power down" LED on. Reset by unplugging from wall. Every attempt resulted in a two second shutdown after power was restored, or after the power button on the remote was pressed.

pulled and inspected the power supply. Soldered a few dozen suspect joints around connectors, IC's, transformers.

No luck. Also noted the D321 LED comes on along with the "power down" LED. I saw the tech notes, traced the HV and no luck there either.

Ordered a replacement board from Pioneer, received, installed, same symptoms. They absolutely assured me that every board is tested and working prior to shipment.

Tracing through boards, and the volume of information in this forum, pulled and inspected the digital convergence board, HV board, etc. No obvious problems, no detected burned out resistors, etc.

So now I finally ordered the full service manual and am awaiting that.

How likely is it that the brand spanking new repaired PS board from pioneer is also bad? BTW: they didn't even clean the components on the board for the $300 they charge (plus $100 core charge). There was noticeable amounts of old dust clinging on components.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. 710 is open and parts very removeable!

Thanks all!

Steve

So now I finally ordered the full service manual and am awaiting that.

I hope you are really "up" on TV troubleshooting and repair, or some other form of electronics repair. Because I have those manuals. And they are definitely pretty much only intended for use by experienced repair tech type people.

What I am expecting (perhaps incorrectly) is that the tech manual will have a "symptom tree" style diagnostic aid. My intention was to do board level replacement, not component level. I do have some tools and equipment, but not hardly the type necessary to shoot this problem unassisted. Right now I am completely in the dark as the information inside this set gives no clue as to the "power down" fault... such as whether a downstream component is drawing power/responding properly.

I've already done as much connection level diags as practical. The PS does not respond reasonably when disconnected from its fellow boards, so checking the "secondary" test points is not possible.

Anyone know of a good and recommendable tech in the NYC area? I may give a call a few hours after cracking the service manual once it arrives tomorrow.

What I am expecting (perhaps incorrectly) is that the tech manual will have a "symptom tree" style diagnostic aid. .

Yeah they have some of those, or as others may call them symptom flow charts.
But many of those quickly end up pointing you towards some diagnostics tests, with requirements that often end up with using test gear such as oscilloscopes.

I could have saved you the money and scanned whatever pages you needed. But seeing as it's already on it's way to right now, and they ship them out pretty quick, mine only took 3 days to get. So it would be kinda foolish now.

No luck. Also noted the D321 LED comes on along with the "power down" LED. I saw the tech notes, traced the HV and no luck there either.

If I'm interpreting what you said here correctly about which LED's it is that are staying on. Then the flow chart for that, points toward a possible failure in the DEFLECTION SERVICE Assy. And/or possibly the POWER SUPPLY Assy. And in some cases both of them.

If I'm interpreting what you said here correctly about which LED's it is that are staying on. Then the flow chart for that, points toward a possible failure in the DEFLECTION SERVICE Assy. And/or possibly the POWER SUPPLY Assy. And in some cases both of them.


Many things can cause shutdown of an RPTV. Shorts downline, lack of vertical sweep, etc. Do you get HV before shutdown and do you hear it crackle down after shutdown if you do? If so, then the HOT and FBT are OK and the unit may possibly be over-voltaging and triggering the Xray protection circuit.

If you don't know what I mean when I say all that, you either need a pro tech in there to take over, or to call Pio's tech serv hotline, where the factory techs there coach the techs in the field on whatever they need to know about their brand's shutdown sequences - what triggers them, how to get around them, what the significance is of each LED that is showing red...

This is usually only available to trained service field techs, tho, and you have to have a service manual in your hands already before they will even talk to you. If that means ordering it, get that out of the way before you even enter/make the call you want them to call you back from.

AND they call YOU back - you don't call them and expect instant service - not in Pio's case anyway. In Mits's case you'd get somebody on the phone right then and there after a suitable waiting on hold period, who would coach you live and onsite. I have used both services, and while Mits's is my prefered technique - live and onsite, and even if it takes repeated calls they start a log and have never let me down - I have received excellent advice from Pio's techs as well. In Mit's case you have to be affiliated with an authorized warranty station for live onsite help. Otherwise you gotta do it by fax.


This thread is primarily for easily remedyable problems with cold solder joints as their cause, where no domino effect has been at play. Early on you will find some strategic coaching from me on proper solder technique. It helps in nine out of ten cases of Pioneer unit problems/shutdown.

In your case it sounds like you have a bona fide substantial problem that will require the services of a qualified service repair tech on the case.


Good luck, and let us know how it turns out.


Mr Bob

Many things can cause shutdown of an RPTV. Shorts downline, lack of vertical sweep, etc. Do you get HV before shutdown and do you hear it crackle down after shutdown if you do?

Even though you quoted me, you really should direct that question to steve227, as he is the one with this problem.

I only relayed what the flow chart points to for what LED's he said were on, but without going past that and into the possible suggested testing phases, because he asked if the service manuals had such a thing as a flow chart. Which they do, but then they also go beyond that, and many of them will also point you to something that may require further testing which may also take some special test gear and knowledge. Because the manuals were not really intended for a person who is not familiar with doing such testing and or repairs on a TV or other similar electronics, which is the point I was trying to make.

Making progress! Manual arrived. What a relief working from schematics and board layouts. Here is an interim report.

Deflection Service Assembly has Q612 2SC5043 E-C short. Now to find the reason this blew. Checked upstream into R602 and R603, both OK. Other upstream components seem OK as well.

Called Pio tech support in Jersey, have not received the return call back yet. Left details on problem so far.

Ordered replacement Defl. Service Assembly.

Checking downstream into the R- G- and B- CRT Drivers. So far found cracks on a plastic component on each of the CRT assemblies. The red driver has the largest crack. Green and blue have minor cracking. Need to pull the boards to check any board damage. If anyone has a suggestion how to remove the crt driver board from the neck of the CRT I would appreciate that. Removing the band did not release the board.

I attached a picture of the crack in the CRT board for anyone interested. Curious if this is a common problem as well, and a foreboding look into whether fixing these units is a futile effort.

Till later!

Steve

Add me as another one with this problem. Funny, could have swore I did a search here a year or so ago, but I didn’t see this thread. Least I know how to fix it now. I always considered it a white flash btw, probably why I didn’t find this the first time.

I'm presently eyeing up a plasma for my family room, and saw a nicely-rated Pioneer 50" in HTMag. Then I remembered how shafted I am with my $7k Elite RPTV with a manufacturing fault.

F-U Pioneer for not acknowledging this problem! I'll be getting the Panasonic. :-(

I only wish I had googled this problem before getting a technician off of Pioneer's Website. I wish to add myself to the list of PRO 510 owners who've had the random shut down issue. After the tech couldn't isolate the issue, $100 wasted, I'm so thankful I found this thread. With a quick trip to Radio Shack, a $14 investment has given me hero status with the wife and kids.

Quick 1 hour soldering of the E3 and E5 connections and we're back in business, thanks again everyone....

Wow so much info about this problem ! I joined this group many months ago to learn about my moto 6412, but had been increasing experiencing the pioneer flash. So now add me the list of members with this problem. I may give this a try tomorrow. Great site with great posters !

Success!

I first had the problem appear on my 610 in June, as I noted in an earlier post, but have delayed trying the soldering fix until now. Mine wasn't always so bad. Sometimes it would be pretty good, with hardly any flashes, for days at a time. But then other times it was very annoying.

About 10 days ago I got an Optivisor (from eBay) and soldering station (Radio Shack), removed the board and did the resoldering of all suspect joints. Not having much experience I "practiced" on some of the less difficult joints first to get a feel for it. Most of the "E" connector pins had very little solder on them, so I really think that's the source of the problem. They're also very close together (I found magnification from the Optivisor with good lighting to be essential to do this work). This stuff is really small.

I'm happy to report that the fix appears to have worked. Not a single contrast fluctuation/blue flash/pop incident in 10 days now. Thanks so much to all who blazed the trail and posted such good advice, pictures, etc., in this thread. That gave me what I needed to have confidence enough to do the job, even though I procrastinated so long before actually trying it. Here's hoping it continues to hold up.

Add me to the list. Blue streaks and loss of black level have just begun on my 4 and a half year old Pro 710. I am so glad I found this forum!

Mr Bob

I think I am going to get a buddy of mine to do the solder repair to my Power Supply Board as I have never soldered before. I want to make sure he is using the right things. Should he use a small tip due to the delicate work or a medium sized tip in order to get enough heat? Also what kind of solder should he be using? You said earlier that you have never used silver solder on electronics and that you cannot use lead-free solder on the circuits of the 510. So what type of solder should be used for this job?

Thanks

I'm not Mr. Bob, but I can tell you that I used this solder, a 60/40 rosin core:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062711

It was okay, but I think I might try to use a thinner gauge (like the 0.032) if I had to do it again.

Add me to the list of happy campers having read this thread and fixed my HD510. I found that approximately 10% of all the soldered joints on the PS board were showing signs of the 'ring of death' and some had failed completely resulting in system shutdown. I resoldered every single joint just to be sure. My soldering iron settings were 15watts for the tiny joints and up to 35w for the big ones plus 0.032" solder.

I can confirm that success brings certain hero worship from the family after being without the big screen for a couple of days.

Thanks hondo21, I guess the 60/40 @0.032 gauge is what I'll try.

I purchased my PRO-510 in the summer of 2000. About one month ago it started the intermittent "blue flash" about every 2 to 5 minutes. This week I found this thread so I pulled the power supply board out and brought it to work where I inspected the solder-side of the board with 40x stereo microscope. I pushed on most of the pins with scribe paying close attention to IC204, IC202 and E3 and E5. The joint on E3 pin 13 (the 12V) pin was broken. The joint looked like a cone with slight dark ring around it near the base. When I pushed on it, the solder cone above the ring moved and the base didn't. It moved very slightly. I don't think I would have been able to detect it without the 40x magnification. I re-flowed and added solder to all the white connectors and some of the IC's. Pin 13 on E3 did have some thermal relief, but in my opinion not enough. It took longer to heat up that pin than the others on E3 except for the GND pins. My guess is that the thermal profile of the wave-solder process Pioneer used was not optimized for the thermal characteristics of the power supply PC board.

I re-installed the power supply PC board to the unit and it has been performing perfectly for over a day now.

Hats off to all off you in this thread for finding solutions to this issue.

StanleyCat

Well folks I am a happy man once again!! My father inlaw came over today, and we fixed the tv per the instructions on this message board. My problem was definatly in ic202; there was a loose pin. We touched up all the E-3 and E-5 and also did ic204 just for good measure. Set has been on for about an hour, and no more blue flash.

I have been glued to the tv since early this afternoon, watching and just waiting for the blue flash I had gotten used to seeing. But no blue flash; the picture is as good as I ever remember it being. Anyone a little sceptical about trying this, dont be. There is more time involved just getting that board out of the set, than the actual solder time. I think it took a whole 20 minutes to solder. All it cost me was lunch for my father inlaw.

Hello all, I too am an owner of a 510 elite. I am experiencing a buzz type noise coming from the same power supply board. the noise is eminatting from the transformer. It seems to buzz during certain hi contrast scenes. The picture also starts to bend. Especially noticeable when the menu is displayed. The other problem is a white line that is visible on the extreme right of the blue crt. This line is visible as a blue halo when the picture content is black. It is also visible when there is no input present. I switched the blue signal connector to the green crt and the line traveled with the signal. There seems to be a problem in the signal path. Has anyone experienced any similar problems.

PS. Pioneer techs do not seem to be any better here in Canada either.

THX. Regards, Tom.

Hi Tom,

Have you found a solution to the high frequency buzz? I paid a pretty penny getting the flash problem fixed, but I also still have the buzz with high contrast scenes.

Any ideas Mr. Bob?

Checking downstream into the R- G- and B- CRT Drivers. So far found cracks on a plastic component on each of the CRT assemblies. The red driver has the largest crack. Green and blue have minor cracking. Need to pull the boards to check any board damage. If anyone has a suggestion how to remove the crt driver board from the neck of the CRT I would appreciate that. Removing the band did not release the board.


Usually they are secured by a screw that holds a strap that surrounds the neck, which in your pic is plainly visible, tho in your case it is a solid piece of plastic rather than just a strap. But it does what a strap would do. Loosening the screw loosens the strap. Often they have added caulking compound at the joint between the socket and its pins, probably for anti-vibration purposes. This needs to be severed by a razor blade.

But why remove the board?

I seriously don't agree with poking around in a several thousand dollar unit just because you're curious. You know what that does to cats...

That crack is NOT sufficient reason to remove the board from the CRT. If you have a valid reason, go for it. If not, don't take any chances on possibly cracking the neck of your CRT and ruining it. The CRT socket boards are not what usually has problems in this unit, and are definitely not what is being talked about in this thread. Unless you know of a problem you specifically have reason to believe has roots in the CRT boards, LEAVE THEM ALONE. Walk away, hands stuffed solidly under your armpits, into your pockets or behind your back and clasped together, while your unit is still 100% intact.


I attached a picture of the crack in the CRT board for anyone interested. Curious if this is a common problem as well, and a foreboding look into whether fixing these units is a futile effort.

Till later!

Steve


I wouldn't worry about that crack that your arrow is pointing to. Its plastic is totally supported, stresswise, by resting on the board itself. Nothing is going to fall off. Don't know why the crack erupted, but it's irrelevant and immaterial. That piece of plastic that's cracked doesn't even need to be there.


Mr Bob

Thanks hondo21, I guess the 60/40 @0.032 gauge is what I'll try.


Yes, that's an excellent choice.


Should he use a small tip due to the delicate work or a medium sized tip in order to get enough heat? You said earlier that you have never used silver solder on electronics and that you cannot use lead-free solder on the circuits of the 510.

Medium sized solder tip, at mid temp, using a WET sponge to cool it just before you hit your work with it, and to clean off the tip each time. Too hot and the things you're trying to share heat with will just stay isolated from each other.

See a former page of this thread for coaching on good solder technique, from me.

I am not too worried about how thin or thick the actual solder wire is. I have used both and can make either one work in moments flat. So don't worry too much about that. 60/40 is the customary solder for electronics, and will work just fine for these units.

Silver solder is for glasses because it is extra strong. Lead free solder is just starting to be adopted in the newer chasses of electronics, like in DLPs. It is just coming onto the scene, and older units like these have used 60/40 for centuries.


Mr Bob

Anyone else experiencing a buzz during high contrast scenes?

I have the beloved flash problem with my Pioneer Big Screen. Just to let you all know, new power supply boards have the same weak soldering problems. I replaced mine after a $100 diagnosis from the Pioneer authorized tech. It worked for a couple months straight and went right back to the flashing problem again. The connector joints seem to be weak. I am going to take the "new" board back out and take it to the component shop down the road to see if they can inspect all of the joints. I also now get a fine black line down the middle of the screen when the TV does work. I don't know if it is related. Almost looks like a burn in.

Thanks so much for a site that finally helps with this issue!

I have the beloved flash problem with my Pioneer Big Screen. Just to let you all know, new power supply boards have the same weak soldering problems. I replaced mine after a $100 diagnosis from the Pioneer authorized tech. It worked for a couple months straight and went right back to the flashing problem again. The connector joints seem to be weak. I am going to take the "new" board back out and take it to the component shop down the road to see if they can inspect all of the joints. I also now get a fine black line down the middle of the screen when the TV does work. I don't know if it is related. Almost looks like a burn in.

Thanks so much for a site that finally helps with this issue!

New power supply board was changed in my TV on 24 aug 2005. It's been over 5 month nut no more blue flash. Might be refurbished board you might did get............

why do you think they take the old boards for a $100 credit? So they can repair them and sell them for $399 to the next schmuck that has the problem.

Just checking back in to report 1 month of flawless operation since the re-solder of the powersupply board. I am grateful for all the advice.

Another successful solder job! Its been about a week since I had my PS board resoldered and I have not witnessed any more blue flashing. Thanks to everyone who contributed on this thread for helping me to get my TV working properly again.

I had purchased a Pioneer HD-610. It was fine for a week then started shutting off. Turn the main switch off and turn it back on it would be ok for a while. Then it just stopped turning on. So I read the forum did the soldering trick and still same thing. Click the main switch on and the light just stays red. There is a red light on also in the back... when you turn on the main switch there is also like a clicking/slight popping sound like it wants to turn on. I am not sure where to go at this point. I am tghinkin of ordering a power supply board? Probably going to call a tech any more advice on what to try?

Thanks

Mark

I am tghinkin of ordering a power supply board? Probably going to call a tech any more advice on what to try?

Do not just randomly start ordering parts!
It appears your set has problems that are way beyond just bad solder joints. If you know how to understand schematics and have some experience with TV repairs, or know someone that does. Then order the Pioneer service manuals first before you go just blindly buying what can be some very expensive parts. And if you do not have such experience, or do not know anyone that does. Then just call a good repair tech that knows the Pioneer RPTVs first, and give up on trying to make a DIY fix on it. And thus also possibly avoiding doing anything that you could make it even worse, by just blindly "guessing" on how to do it and what to replace.

Do not just randomly start ordering parts!
It appears your set has problems that are way beyond just bad solder joints. If you know how to understand schematics and have some experience with TV repairs, or know someone that does. Then order the Pioneer service manuals first before you go just blindly buying what can be some very expensive parts. And if you do not have such experience, or do not know anyone that does. Then just call a good repair tech that knows the Pioneer RPTVs first, and give up on trying to make a DIY fix on it. And thus also possibly avoiding doing anything that you could make it even worse, by just blindly "guessing" on how to do it and what to replace.


Yes. In total agreement with that assessment of the situation.


Mr Bob

Yet another success story here about repairing my Elite 510. I was an early adopter of this set and bought it as soon as it came out.

I started having the blue flash on Super Bowl Sunday. I missed about 1/4 of the game searching on this forum to see if anyone else had this problem. Finding this thread was really helpful. After a while the blue flash would become mostly permanent, making the picture really bright and annoying. Especially since I had this set ISF'd a few years ago.

I resoldered the power supply board the next Saturday. It took about an hour just of soldering. About 1/4 of the board was pretty much all cold solder joints, most around the IC's and connectors, and it took a lot of patience to resolder the connectors. Small connectors needed lower wattage, and higher connectors needed high wattage. I kept having to turn up and down the power on my iron.

I am happy to report that I have been running the TV for a week now, no more blue flashes!

Thanks to everyone on this forum who figured this out!

:) Just reporting in that it has been over six weeks since soldering some bad joints on the PS board. Still working perfectly!!

Kudos to the AVS forum members!!

StanleyCat

I'm at 9 weeks now, with no flashes.

I am having the problem on my Elite 710HD as well. I am so happy that I found this thread.

BUT - -

I do not feel comfortable resoldering the joints and I have called all the electronics repair places in my local area to try and find someone to resolder the joints for me to no avail. Basically they all want to come out to my house and do a full diagnosis. The last thing I want it to get into a pissing contest with a repair guy because I feel that resoldering the joints is all I need and they want to replace expensive parts. They all charge a fee to come out to the house as well.

Any ideas?!?! We are at a point where we sometimes just shut the set off because of this. Should I just but a new board and install it myself? I hate to spend the extra money but I am running out of options.

Jason, they're probably hesitant when you call up and explain it as a TV repair job. Rather than treat it like that, maybe you could just remove the board and take it to a repair place on its own.

Ask them if they could just resolder joints on the board per your instructions, especially focusing on the IC's in the corner (the E2, etc. ones) and any "cold solder" joints that appear dull. They don't even have to know what this board is from, just do the soldering job, with no guarantees or liability.

Unplug the set, open up the back and carefully remove the PS board per the instructions earlier in this thread. All that involves is taking out several screws. Then reverse the process to reinstall the repaired board.

If you can't find anybody to do this, you should really think about giving it a try. I had reservations too, but after reading the advice here and a little practice it wasn't so bad. And I figured if I really messed it up (which I didn't) the worst that could happen would be I need to buy a new board to install.

I am having the problem on my Elite 710HD as well. I am so happy that I found this thread.

BUT - -

I do not feel comfortable resoldering the joints and I have called all the electronics repair places in my local area to try and find someone to resolder the joints for me to no avail. Basically they all want to come out to my house and do a full diagnosis. The last thing I want it to get into a pissing contest with a repair guy because I feel that resoldering the joints is all I need and they want to replace expensive parts. They all charge a fee to come out to the house as well.

Any ideas?!?! We are at a point where we sometimes just shut the set off because of this. Should I just but a new board and install it myself? I hate to spend the extra money but I am running out of options.


Taking it just anywhere could get you into trouble, and doing it when you are not real experienced with such things could also, as well. One guy from this thread tried that and the tech he used messed it up worse than it had been, didn't work at all after that. He approached me and I got him a new board sent out from Pioneer, which cured his problem.

If you send the board to me, I will use the same care, custody and control that I use in every Pioneer repair job I do out in the field, and I have repaired literally tons - dozens and dozens and dozens - of Pioneers over the years with these problems. I have the eye for cold solder joints, and the intuition and experience to know where cold solder joints might be that aren't visible to the naked eye, no matter how well assisted with magnification. I have been a repair tech for big screens - all brands - for well over 20 years.

I don't have a 510 here to try it out on, so if you send it to me I will do the job to the best of my ability and return it to you for you to take it from there. I will assume you will have marked all connections appropriately so you don't get any of them wrong when you plug everything back in, and I won't change any of the settings on any trimpots on the board, which some techs like to diddle with, unauthorized by the owner.

If for some reason it doesn't work you can send it back to me and I'll go over it again, for no extra charge. But the charge made for resoldering it will have to be absolute and nonrefundable. If for some reason it doesn't work when you put it back in the unit, I will expect that there's something else wrong with the set.

The only exception would be this: if when you get it back the set doesn't work and the same board gets replaced and the unit works then, and therefore it appears I was not able to save the board despite my best efforts, I'll refund your repair labor money. (Shipping would not be refunded.) This has not happened yet, on any of the repairs I have done with these Pioneers over the years, but I am willing to entertain that it potentially could.

Let me know if you would like to send it my way.


Mr Bob

Yes. In total agreement with that assessment of the situation.


Mr Bob

I am Liquidpen's roommate. I am an automotive service tech and race car builder with electronics and soldering experience. I feel with a service manual with schematics and a diagnostic flowchart, I'd be able to figure this out. Do you know how I'd go about ordering the Pioneer service manuals for the 610?

Just a note, I emailed this problem to a reputable magazine asking them to take a look into the problem. They recently review some of Pioneer's products, and I proposed that they owe it to their readers to protect them from manufacturers who don't take responsibility for their product. I still haven't heard anything from them, so fingers crossed.

I am Liquidpen's roommate. I am an automotive service tech and race car builder with electronics and soldering experience. I feel with a service manual with schematics and a diagnostic flowchart, I'd be able to figure this out. Do you know how I'd go about ordering the Pioneer service manuals for the 610?

Order from here.

http://parts.pioneerelectronics.com/


But unless you have some experience with TV repairs, then the limited flowcharts in those manuals may not be enough to help you.

I am Liquidpen's roommate. I am an automotive service tech and race car builder with electronics and soldering experience. I feel with a service manual with schematics and a diagnostic flowchart, I'd be able to figure this out.


I am sure you'd be able to successfully tackle the standard problem this thread is all about. But I still think Liquidpen's unit has deeper problems than this thread deals with. Personally I would not start to tackle it unless I already had the manual in hand when I called Pioneer - they only RETURN calls and won't do so unless you have stated that you have the service manual on that model - and I am sure I would call Pioneer for help on this kind of a problem. Last time I did, they clued me in on what the various red LEDs in there meant, when and if each lit up. Don't remember seeing that in the service manual.

Knock yourself out, but be sure not to do anything to damage the set further, or it will cost bundles more to fix once a qualified tech has been finally called onto the scene. If you don't know how to not damage it further - much less keep yourself safe - thru hands-on experience with CRT bigscreens that use 30KV high voltage - picture grabbing a disconnected coil wire on a race car, to keep this all in perspective - I would not recommend proceeding any further on this but instead to let a qualified service repair tech take over.


Mr Bob

You guys wouldn't by chance know of someone in the Chicago area with repair and imaging knowledge like Mr. Bob has?

Has a nyone else experienced the buzzing on high contrast screens? And, how does one reset the the screen vr's on these sets?

Thanks for any help.

Regards, Tom

Has a nyone else experienced the buzzing on high contrast screens? And, how does one reset the the screen vr's on these sets?

Thanks for any help.

Regards, Tom

Yup - I do. I was once able to minimize it after calibration, but I still get it. I have no idea what causes the problem.

Has a nyone else experienced the buzzing on high contrast screens? And, how does one reset the the screen vr's on these sets?

Thanks for any help.

Regards, Tom


Buzzing on high contrast scenes is a common phenom on CRT based RPTVs. I am currently working on calibrating a Barco 812 - 12" guns, 10" highly curved lenses! its electronics are in a separate huge box just as big as the box the CRTs are in! - and it does the same thing. Power supplies are driven much harder on high light level scenes.

Try turning down your contrast, might help. This buzzing also can creep into your TV's audio circuit, so using only outboard audio might alleviate the problem.


Mr Bob

OK -

Looks like you can add me to the list of folks that had there set fixed by resoldering the power board.

At least so far - about 5 hours of viewing. However I immediately noticed better contrast after installing the repaired board.

I immediately noticed better contrast after installing the repaired board.


Try cleaning your optics. You'll get even better contrast AND brightness. After as many years as it takes for solder joints in there to go to cold solder status, the build-up on your optics - of dust, smoke and everything else in the air statically drawn to the optics by the HV inherent in CRT use - will be substantial. (understatement, to say the least...)

Check out the specifics in the Nuts and Bolts section of my website.


Mr Bob

Mr Bob -

I hear you on cleaning the optics. But I assume you are refering to more than just the top of the CRT's correct?

i havent' fixed my soldering issues yet on the power board but two months ago i decided to pull off the front seciton of 710 and was amazed how empty it was inside there..the huge mirror looked spotless but i noticed the tops of the 3 guns (is that what you guys are calling optics?) looked dusty. I cleaned to tops of the 3 guns and put it all back together as there did nto seem to be much else to do in there...when i got it back together I was floored that my set showed blacks again. It seemed like since I got it that I had more of a dingy black but cleanign those put the blacks back to black and it was like a new set again,,other than some days when it pops and puts that brightness for a while (due that the issue on this thread)...

Mr Bob -

I hear you on cleaning the optics. But I assume you are refering to more than just the top of the CRT's correct?


Tops of lenses, mirror, and possibly the deeper optics down below the lenses at the coolant covers and the rears of the lenses, once you have cleaned the tops of the lenses. You won't know about the deeper optics till the general optics are clean.

The CRT faces are not available for cleaning. They are under the coolant covers, which are lenses as well and optically bond all the lenses in the stack together. The coolant has a history of getting contaminated on certain brands, but Pio is not one of them.


Mr Bob

i havent' fixed my soldering issues yet on the power board but two months ago i decided to pull off the front seciton of 710 and was amazed how empty it was inside there..the huge mirror looked spotless but i noticed the tops of the 3 guns (is that what you guys are calling optics?) looked dusty. I cleaned to tops of the 3 guns and put it all back together as there did nto seem to be much else to do in there...when i got it back together I was floored that my set showed blacks again. It seemed like since I got it that I had more of a dingy black but cleanign those put the blacks back to black and it was like a new set again,,other than some days when it pops and puts that brightness for a while (due that the issue on this thread)...

Yeah, it's amazing, isn't it?!

This is one of the primary tools I have used for more than 20 years to maintain my promise of keeping your set looking "better than new" for 10 years and beyond under videophile viewing conditions, with Image Perfection calibrations. I "Pioneered" it, if you'll forgive the pun...

The HV inherent in CRT use causes the optics to become voracious dust magnets. After years of use they are literally coated with stuff they have sucked onto themselves. Mirror too, tho glass mirrors only. Mylar mirrors don't attract dust like glass does.


Mr Bob

I am the proud owner of a flashing blue screen of death Pioneer PRO-510HD! :rolleyes:

Does anyone has a picture of what this power supply looks like or is it obvious?

I am the proud owner of a flashing blue screen of death Pioneer PRO-510HD! :rolleyes:

Does anyone has a picture of what this power supply looks like or is it obvious?

I believe it is the only vertically placed board on the right side of the unit as you're looking in from the back, with the back off.


Mr Bob

This very helpful link (http://home.comcast.net/~larryh791/elitepsfix.html) was provided earlier in this thread.

I recommend carefully reading the other many helpful posts above with good advice on exactly how to proceed.

I believe it is the only vertically placed board on the right side of the unit as you're looking in from the back, with the back off.

Just want to add a VERY important warning, to anyone that is contemplating removing the back cover.

Just make sure that you ONLY remove the lower part of the the back cover!

And do NOT try to defeat the tamper proof/lock screws to remove the upper part where the mirror is located! Because if you do, you will most likely also destroy the front screen when the mirror falls out and hits it, and you very possibly will also destroy the mirror itself!

There really is just no reason to ever even mess with that upper cover anyway.
And that is why you will see tamper proof/lock type screws on it.

Thank you for the help everyone. I will be trying the repair this weekend. Any specific advise on what solder and iron to use ?

I re-soldered the E3 connectors only and so far no more problems. I am now enjoying my TV once again. :D

I didn't have the blue flash problem but the shutdown problem on my SD-582HD5 a couple of weeks ago. After a few hours of TV, the unit would shutdown accompanied w/ a popping sound. The problem has gotten progressivley worse to where it would shut down after less than an hour. After numerous Googling about this problem, I ran into this forum. Thank GOD!
I resoldered the E3 and E5 connectors but w/ no success. You definitely need a magnifying glass or a microscope to really do a good job. Being the a lazy ass, I ordered a new power supply board for my unit today from Pioneer. Cost is $281.55 + 100 core charge which is refundable after they receive my original board. I asked Pioneer if this was a new board and she said that they are refurbished boards w/ a 90 day waranty. Maybe I should just keep my original board as back-up and have my co-worker resolder it for me since he's a pro at this. I'll let you guys know if the new supply board will fix this problem.

kegels,
You have the problem we have. Please let us know an answer as soon as you get that bad boy.

Just want to add a VERY important warning, to anyone that is contemplating removing the back cover.

Just make sure that you ONLY remove the lower part of the the back cover!

And do NOT try to defeat the tamper proof/lock screws to remove the upper part where the mirror is located! Because if you do, you will most likely also destroy the front screen when the mirror falls out and hits it, and you very possibly will also destroy the mirror itself!

There really is just no reason to ever even mess with that upper cover anyway.
And that is why you will see tamper proof/lock type screws on it.


Cool!

That's exactly the same message I put out to the net on Pioneer Elites around 7 years ago, just before the advent of their HDreadys, about their then current crop. I personally did defeat the screws and the mirror slipped out of its slot up above and I was lucky as hell, but was later called upon by a guy who was not so lucky. We had to replace his broken mirror and his thoroughly scarred-up fresnel, the screen layer that faces the mirror, when the mirror had of course slipped out of its moorings at the top of the unit and nose-dived straight into the fresnel.

He was NOT a happy camper!

NEVER REMOVE THE BACK OF THE OPTICAL CAVITY ON A PIONEER ELITE. GO IN FROM THE FRONT ONLY, BY REMOVING THE SCREEN. The top of the mirror slots into the non-moving framework of the TV's chassis itself, NON-MOVABLE, while the bottom of the mirror slots into the REMOVABLE rear plastic piece. You start to separate them, and viola! They come apart! The mirror slips out from up above and is suddenly in freefall, slanted towards the screen and pivoting on the plastic piece in your hands.


Mr Bob

Hi All, well time flys by fast, I first read this post in Jan and while skeptical I performed the resoldering on my 510. It has now been couple with out a single flash (compared to once every few days), picture is very stable I think it’s even a little brighter !

A big thanks to all (and Mr Bob) who contribute to this thread.
here and

Cool!

That's exactly the same message I put out to the net on Pioneer Elites around 7 years ago, just before the advent of their HDreadys, about their then current crop. I personally did defeat the screws and the mirror slipped out of its slot up above and I was lucky as hell, but was later called upon by a guy who was not so lucky. We had to replace his broken mirror and his thoroughly scarred-up fresnel, the screen layer that faces the mirror, when the mirror had of course slipped out of its moorings at the top of the unit and nose-dived straight into the fresnel.

He was NOT a happy camper!

NEVER REMOVE THE BACK OF THE OPTICAL CAVITY ON A PIONEER ELITE. GO IN FROM THE FRONT ONLY, BY REMOVING THE SCREEN. The top of the mirror slots into the non-moving framework of the TV's chassis itself, NON-MOVABLE, while the bottom of the mirror slots into the REMOVABLE rear plastic piece. You start to separate them, and viola! They come apart! The mirror slips out from up above and is suddenly in freefall, slanted towards the screen and pivoting on the plastic piece in your hands.


Mr Bob

Is this just a design element of the Elite series? I have a non-Elite Pioneer RPTV about 10 years old and I have removed the back to clean and the mirror was completely attached to the back. Or, did all Pioneer RPTV's go to a non-removable without problems-back after a certain year?

First time at this site and I must say the wealth of info is great here. Well to start I think I might have a similar issue with my set as others have. I think it's worth a shot with the PS board but wanted to tell my story.

My 510 has just started to shut its self off after about 1/2 hour of being on, I hear a loud "electrical sound" from the speakers, then it will shut down to the red led on, with a quiet clicking and popping coming from the inside. I hit the main power switch behind the access door for about 3 min or so, and it will turn back on when I press it on, as if the power went out and came back on. I have not noticed and blue flashes or anything just the shut down. After the first time "of the day" it shuts down, I reset it and as long as I turn the set off like in between commercials, and turn it back on by the time the game starts it will be fine, as long as it gets shut down like every 15 mins or so. The sound is coming from the speakers cause I shut the internal amplifier off and ran the audio from my surround sound cause when it would shut down, it would scare the hell out of me. The sound is hard to explain other that an electrical jolt, then its black out.

Just wondering if anyone has done the PS solder with an issue like this? I love the set and really don't see anything on the market today that could replace its picture quality.

I live in a town that has 1 repair shop and he won't touch it, so I called around and the closest repair shop (around 4 hrs away) told me he would have it for a min of 4 wks, so I did some calling to Pioneer they told me it sounded like a power supply issue but said that even after it was fixed that it had to be reset through the service menu??? or it would contine to just shut off. This sounds odd. I looked on the web site of pioneer for the power board and it is not in stock. Sounds like a bigger issue than they are leading it to be.

Any input would be appreciated, Thanks again
Chris

Is this just a design element of the Elite series? I have a non-Elite Pioneer RPTV about 10 years old and I have removed the back to clean and the mirror was completely attached to the back. Or, did all Pioneer RPTV's go to a non-removable without problems-back after a certain year?


I have found it to be strictly in the Elite series, and not all units there are so equipped for disaster. But if it's an Elite, esp. if it has those specially-keyed screws in the back, it's best to just go in from the front.

I always go in from the front anyway unless no other way is available, because that allows for cleaning not only the lens tops but the mirror as well, and the optical/mechanical focusing is always best done from the front.


Mr Bob

First time at this site and I must say the wealth of info is great here. Well to start I think I might have a similar issue with my set as others have. I think it's worth a shot with the PS board but wanted to tell my story.

My 510 has just started to shut its self off after about 1/2 hour of being on, I hear a loud "electrical sound" from the speakers, then it will shut down to the red led on, with a quiet clicking and popping coming from the inside. I hit the main power switch behind the access door for about 3 min or so, and it will turn back on when I press it on, as if the power went out and came back on. I have not noticed and blue flashes or anything just the shut down. After the first time "of the day" it shuts down, I reset it and as long as I turn the set off like in between commercials, and turn it back on by the time the game starts it will be fine, as long as it gets shut down like every 15 mins or so. The sound is coming from the speakers cause I shut the internal amplifier off and ran the audio from my surround sound cause when it would shut down, it would scare the hell out of me. The sound is hard to explain other that an electrical jolt, then its black out.

Just wondering if anyone has done the PS soldier with an issue like this? I love the set and really don't see anything on the market today that could replace its picture quality.

I live in a town that has 1 repair shop and he won't touch it, so I called around and the closest repair shop (around 4 hrs away) told me he would have it for a min of 4 wks, so I did some calling to Pioneer they told me it sounded like a power supply issue but said that even after it was fixed that it had to be reset through the service menu??? or it would contine to just shut off. This sounds odd. I looked on the web site of pioneer for the power board and it is not in stock. Sounds like a bigger issue than the are leading it to be.

Any input would be appreciated, Thanks again
Chris

Chris,
This is the exact same problem we are experiencing. Its to the point now that it wont turn on at all. It immediatly goes into shutdown with the red LED on. It was not an issue of cold solder joints. Im waiting for the person a few posts back to get their new PS board and see if it fixes it. If it does, I'm just gonna bite the bullet and try the same. I'm frankly too lazy and too busy with the racing season coming up to order the manuals and diagnose it.

Well I hope I'm not jumping too quick, but I did the solder trick last night, I really didn't see any suspect (to me) points, maybe some grey looking connections, was about it. After the repair I left the back off and plugged it in and turned it on, Titanic was on HDHBO so I unenthusiasticly watched it and waited. It usually shut down after 30 mins, but it worked through the whole movie, no flutter, nothing. So after 3+ hrs it is working, I have my wife watching it today all day to see how it goes.
I'll keep you posted. (fingers crossed)

Well I hope I'm not jumping too quick, but I did the solder trick last night, I really didn't see any suspect (to me) points, maybe some grey looking connections, was about it. After the repair I left the back off and plugged it in and turned it on, Titanic was on HDHBO so I unenthusiasticly watched it and waited. It usually shut down after 30 mins, but it worked through the whole movie, no flutter, nothing. So after 3+ hrs it is working, I have my wife watching it today all day to see how it goes.
I'll keep you posted. (fingers crossed)


Remember what I said awhile back about cold solder joints sometimes being bad without showing it? Completely invisible cold solder joints can affect a unit just as much as obviously visible ones can. I once had a Pioneer an hour away and I had to go back there several times because whatever I did would fix it for a day or 2, then it would go out again.

What finally cured the problem was a soldered grounding screw! It looked perfectly fine, but that was the ONLY thing I did on that pass, was to remove the solder from it, tighten it up with a Philips screwdriver - it was loose - and then resolder it in there to the pad it was on, really good. Never heard from them again after that.

That job also stands out because the unit was before the time of the S video inputs, and the composite video IPs showed REALLY distracting dot crawl, on EVERYTHING!


On the issue of continuing to use a set that is obviously going into shutdown for some reason or other, I think you're really tempting fate each time you do so. Eventually it might domino effect into something really serious that would not have happened if you'd just done the resoldering fix - or any other needed repair - straightaway.

This happens a lot on cold solder joints at the IC legs in convergence repairs. If you resolder immediately upon noticing the problem, chances are you won't have to replace the ICs. If you keep watching it in the bad condition, those ICs will become stressed out and fatigued from performing out of spec, and will eventually go out permanently, doubling your needed efforts and cash outlay.

Same for power supply problems, only worse. If something in there domino effects, the results are instaneous and could be catastrophic. Are you willing to have one or all of your CRTs zapped, or scarred with lack of proper sweep, or any of many other potentials, just because you prefered to wait on the repair rather than doing it promptly?

No, I have not seen any of these things happen on Pioneers, but I have seen them happen on other brands. Perhaps it's OK not to get these things fixed promptly on Pioneers. Or perhaps the doodoo you're in right now would not have gotten this far if you had done the resoldering promptly. (That probably doesn't apply here because I think you saw the problems you're now having as the first thing you noticed, but you know what I mean...)

I just don't treat my electronics that way unless I'm sure there will be no problems/repercussions down the road. In the case being discussed here obviously the audio is being impacted as well. What other tributaries are also being affected that haven't been stressed out enough to fail yet?

In this case it's anybody's guess. It's your unit, whoever you are, so YOU roll the dice! I have never been a good gambler - I have been thoroughly innoculated the few times I've tried it - so I stay away from odds like that and gambling in general.


Mr Bob

Point taken, as for the gamble, I watched one hockey game during this shut down, but that was the longest time it was on during this situation. As others may have gone longer, I did the solder job on mine three days after it showed up. Not needing to defend my actions but on day one I opened it up and completely dusted and inspected the unit. The unit was never overly used during this time. I see how using it while it is in force down can cause more issues, but for me and my situation living in the desert, it is only a tv and if it were to damage further, it would not be worth the hassle to get it repaired as opposed to getting a new set. Thanks for your input and as we speak it has been on a total of 6 hrs and no shut down yet. Time is the true test, so we'll see.
Thanks
Chris

Point taken, as for the gamble, I watched one hockey game during this shut down, but that was the longest time it was on during this situation. As others may have gone longer, I did the solder job on mine three days after it showed up. Not needing to defend my actions but on day one I opened it up and completely dusted and inspected the unit. The unit was never overly used during this time. I see how using it while it is in force down can cause more issues, but for me and my situation living in the desert, it is only a tv and if it were to damage further, it would not be worth the hassle to get it repaired as opposed to getting a new set. Thanks for your input and as we speak it has been on a total of 6 hrs and no shut down yet. Time is the true test, so we'll see.
Thanks
Chris


Once it's resoldered, if nothing else ever happens again, you got it taken care of and dodged any potential bullets. You did good.

It's others I am talking about, who continue to use their sets in the bad condition. This kind of thing is like dental work - it never gets better on its own, only worse.


Mr Bob

Day 2 still up and running. The nice thing about this is not just the repair, but when I took my set apart I was able to clean the crt's and the mirror so now my picture looks like the set did when I bought it.

kegels,
You have the problem we have. Please let us know an answer as soon as you get that bad boy.

Update: It's now almost 1 week since I installed the new pwr supply brd and she's running beautifully! Problem is gone and all is well in TV land.
===========================================================
I rcvd the pwr supply today and installed it when I got home. The part# for my unit was #AWV1808. The board came mounted to the metal chassis so installation was easier since I didn't have to screw all those bolts to the board.
After install, plugged the pwr cord to the outlet and turned on the main pwr switch. Grabbed the remote and turned her on. I watched for about 1.5 hrs w/out any hiccup. So far so good. Will continue the pwr cycling and see how she holds up.

Day 2 still up and running. The nice thing about this is not just the repair, but when I took my set apart I was able to clean the crt's and the mirror so now my picture looks like the set did when I bought it.


Be sure and look down into the lenses now that they are clean and make sure there is not a matting of dust on the lower optics - the CRT coolant covers and the rears of the lenses. You do so by getting your eyes out of the light path - off axis from the light beams - and looking deep inside and seeing if you can see any layer of dust that's now backlit by the images being shown on the screens in there, against black background in there.

If so, and you want the full monty, you need to remove each lens and clean the coolant covers and the rear of each lens, separately.

Do them ONE AT A TIME - complete the cleaning op on each lens before going to the next - so you can't possibly get the lenses mixed up.

This doubles the number of optical surfaces cleaned, and makes a marked improvement even over the difference you've already seen, if the deeper optics are indeed dirty as well.

Removing and re-installing the lenses will screw up your static convergence - the crosshairs - but will not change anything about your dynamic convergence. You'll need to retrim the crosshairs because the lenses will go in slightly differently as to their relative positions to each other, but it's worth it.


Mr Bob

Thanks for the info, and they do have a layer of dust. We have a couple of parrots and they are full of "powder" We have an unusual amount of dust in the theater room where they hang out. As for the problem I was having, we are still up and running!!
Thanks to everyone who contributed to this tread to find a way to resolve this issue. We decided to buy furniture since the set seems to be fixed, really wanted to wait to get a new set until 1080p was out in full force and we have full access to blue ray dvd. LED seems kinda interesting also, so we'll see what comes this year.

Thanks again
Chris

Well, this 'whack' trick worked for my PRO-510HD. It has saved me a bunch of money for intermittent power down problem with my Pioneer Elite Pro-510HD rptv. I called Pioneer and their service agents who had no clue as to what it could be. Having faced with either expensive repair or buy a new HDTV, I was willing to risk the 'whack' trick. So, I shut the TV, unplugged the power cable, waited for half an hour or so for the TV to cool off. Then came the moment of truth - moved the TV out from the wall and gave three quick and hard punches where the power cable enters the back cover. Bingo! no more power down or blue flash problem for last two weeks. Picture looks great just as new.

Thanks to all who have contributed to this thread. I hope Pioneer and their service people learn something about simple flaws in their circuitry and fix similar problems elsewhere.

Then came the moment of truth - moved the TV out from the wall and gave three quick and hard punches where the power cable enters the back cover. Bingo! no more power down or blue flash problem for last two weeks. Picture looks great just as new.



I don't remember anywhere in this thread where someone talked about a "whack" trick like this. That may have worked for the Milennium Falcon in Star Wars, but it only INDICATES that you have a bad connection in there that you have now "made" again, by whacking on it. Good diagnostic trick - I have used it many times on location - but it is only a diagnostic trick. The bad connection will not stay made - you will be back where you started again in not too long a time.

A bad connection has to be resoldered, which is what this thread is all about. Your fix is a temporary one at best. These things are like dental problems - they don't get better over time, only worse.

Be ready for it to start acting up again, at which time I recommend not fooling around like this again, but fixing it for real, like the others have done here who have reported their successes due to climbing down in the trenches with the problem and wrestling it to the ground.

Let us know how long it lasts, tho, that would be an interesting bit of info. You won't be risking anything by leaving it alone for now.


Mr Bob

Yeah I don't think the BFH method is the proper way to repair a TV, or anything else outside of making a set of horse shoes....

Its funny someone else figured out that whacking the TV makes it work again. Thats what we did until the point where it would just immediatly go into shutdown protection and will never turn on anymore. It sounds like a new Power Supply board will be our saving grace but I'm worried we may have damaged something beyond that. I guess we'll have to order a board and hope for the best.

Wow. I haven't been around here much lately, so I'm surprised to see the thread is still active.

As I reported last year, I had a tech come in, tap the offending board, resolder several contacts and that was it. So far, so good. It cost about $100.00.

Its funny someone else figured out that whacking the TV makes it work again. Thats what we did until the point where it would just immediatly go into shutdown protection and will never turn on anymore. It sounds like a new Power Supply board will be our saving grace but I'm worried we may have damaged something beyond that. I guess we'll have to order a board and hope for the best.

Repairing the board on your own or having someone repair it for you is still an option, which is what this thread is all about. All they do at Pioneer, I am sure, is to resolder what needs resoldering again just like we do (remember they did tell me as a tech to look for cold solder joints in the same critical areas as have been mentioned in this thread; they DO know about them at Pioneer repair central, even tho the brass in CS have no clue) and then test it and send the board out again as a rebuilt board.

Unfortunately since you let it go this far before making the decision to repair it, there IS more chance now that something further downline has been damaged, by domino effect. Usually when it has gone this far, it simply tries and fails to turn on at all, aside from the passive power supply dutifully clicking the relay and trying to turn on and nothing further happens.

If it is actually going into protection, then chances are things further downline are now suspect as having shorted out or failed in some other way. In which case just putting a new power supply board in may not solve your problem now.


I see this every day, where customers try to limp their set along indefinitely till it finally fails completely.

I DO NOT ADVISE THIS.

I have been saying for years that this kind of thing is like dental work needed - it never gets better on its own. Only worse.


IF YOU HAVE AN INTERMITTENT PROBLEM WITH YOUR SET, BUT OTHERWISE IT IS STILL FULLY FUNCTIONAL, GET IT FIXED NOW! DON'T WAIT TILL IT GETS WORSE.

Unless you enjoy spending more money than you should have to. And being without the use of your set for extended periods of time rather than short, efficient ones.

If that's the case, be my guest!


Mr Bob

I've got another Elite X10 issue. I normally calibrate my set without using the DPO function. But recently I've noticed that I lose black information below a certain point. Additionally, during dark scenes I get a streak of blue/black across the middle of the screen. At first I thought it might be the power supply again, but then I ended up tinkering with DPO for some daytime usage (great feature for bright rooms). In any case, I mistakenly left DPO on for night time usage and whaddayaknow, the blacks are all there and there is no grey streak. I turned DPO back off and the blacks go to hell and the streak comes back. Ordinarily I might be bothered by this, but the picture looks like it used to, and I see all the deep black information without any blocking. Anyone else experience this problem?

Just wanted to report back that it has been a little over 2 months since the solder job was performed and my TV is still working perfectly! Thanks to all who contributed and especially to Mr. Bob who answered several of my soldering questions!

You can add me to the Pro 510HD "brightness goes dim, blue flash, brightness snaps back to black" list of people. Manufactured in Feb 2001, and problem started last night.

Thanks to this thread, today I went out and bought a $8 Radio Shack solder gun, $2 worth of 0.032" 60/40 Resin solder at Radio Shack, and a $20 magnifying portable table lamp from Lowes (sure came in handy--it is in their portable table lamp section, has a light and a 3x magnifying glass), and resoldered the suggested points here just minutes ago, and it seems to have fixed it.

Total time, about 10 minutes to take off the back panel, about 20 minutes to remove the power supply screws and white connectors, and about 1 hour to solder (my first time ever doing it, I have some mechanical skills, but it was easy--just be slow and careful), then 20 minutes to put it all back together.

Thanks to everyone for posting this great info.
Trigger

I'm new to the thread, but I too have a Pioneer Elite PRO-510HD albatros with many of the same problems mentioned. The SH-D09 Digital Tuner has been repaired once about 4 years ago. It now "freezes-up" and I can't change channels. I have to turn the TV off to reset it. This is a pain in the butt. Have any of you had this or similar problems? If so, any suggestions (beside trashing the whole system, which I am considering very seriously) on how to resolve the problem cheaply? The last time I sent it to Pioneer it took a month to repair.

I don't have that Pioneer tuner option, but isn't it 1st generation equipment? At this point I think you may be better off to forget about fixing it and get a newer digital tuner box, assuming you want OTA HD. I think the 4th or 5th generation ATSC tuner technology is much better anyway, and cheaper.

I'm new to the forum and I have a SD-533HD5 with a similar problem I think. Mine isn't flashing like the others but when I turn it on after being off for a while the color looks "bad" (as if one of the color tube isn't firing correctly). After about 10-30 minutes it just fixes itself and works perfectly fine the rest of the day. I also noticed that if I give it a little smack on the set it sometimes fixes itself right away. Is this similar to the other problems people are having and if/if not, what is the best solution? Thanks in advance.

I started getting the blue-flash about two years ago. Unfortunately, both times I had a tech come out the set behaved flawlessly. So I debated hauling it up to the shop so they could watch it until it flashed. But the set was also showing some burn-in around the 4x3 zone and I don't have a truck. So I waited. Then it started shutting off on me, but I waited some more.
Finally last week I called the tech and asked him to order the power supply and bring it out (or resolder the existing one). This weekend he brought out the new supply. I watched as he removed the back of the set and revealed years of dust. He proceeded to remove every board from the back of the set and wipe everything down. Then he carefully examined every board before putting any back in. Not counting the power supply I counted at least a dozen times where he reflowed solder joints. Then I pulled out the new power supply and another dozen or so joints got redone.
I thought he was done when he put the back on again, but then he pulled the screen protector, and the screen. He did some kind of adjustment of the crts, cleaned them, cleaned the screen, and cleaned the protector. Everything went back on and I was amazed. I had no idea that the "burn-in" had just been dust on my crt's!!! The set looks brand new (and about twice as bright at the same settings) and although I spent a bit to get it there I still only spent around the price of a projector lamp for a dlp set. I'm never getting rid of this thing now.

I'm new to the forum and I have a SD-533HD5 with a similar problem I think. Mine isn't flashing like the others but when I turn it on after being off for a while the color looks "bad" (as if one of the color tube isn't firing correctly). After about 10-30 minutes it just fixes itself and works perfectly fine the rest of the day. I also noticed that if I give it a little smack on the set it sometimes fixes itself right away. Is this similar to the other problems people are having and if/if not, what is the best solution? Thanks in advance.


These ara the classic symptoms of cold solder joints, which is what this thread is all about.

You should find all the answers you need in this thread.


Mr Bob

I started getting the blue-flash about two years ago. Unfortunately, both times I had a tech come out the set behaved flawlessly. So I debated hauling it...

- snip -


...although I spent a bit to get it there I still only spent around the price of a projector lamp for a dlp set. I'm never getting rid of this thing now.


That's what I like to hear!

:cool:

Mr Bob

Wow, am I glad this site exists. I'm a gluten for punishment. I have TWO Pioneer 610's. One began popping about six months ago. Not to often back then but now it does it every 20 minutes. The other just started. Pioneer refereed me to an authorized service center. The guy wanted $80 just to look at it. I think I'm going to try the re-solder technique myself. I figure I can always order a new board if I screw it up. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this forum.

Say, Someone on this forum offered a service manual in PDF for a free download. I followed the link but it said I was unauthorized? If someone knows of this link that works or can email the manual I would appreciate it.

That link was for only a small section of 1 of the 3 service manuals. It was for only the ARP3051 manual, and it was mostly just the section about getting into the service mode to do adjustments, and it was only for the first 27 pages of the 266+ pages in just that one manual alone. The manual with exploded views and schematics is the ARP3047. The full service manual set is almost like 3 separate books and goes well over being just a few hundred pages in size. And even if someone had it has a PDF, it would be way too big for email.

Okay, Tried to resolder the joints last night. I did see a crack in the ic204 joint. Resolder E3, ic204 and ic202. But I must have missed something. Put the board back in and now all I get is a white picture with blue/red squiggle lines. Will try to resolder again and look for other cold joints. Are those the only joints I should look at?

FYI, a helpful tip not mentioned for removing the board:
The board comes out of the TV on the metal chasse by removing one screw near the bottom left corner. If you look from the left side at the bottom you will see it screwed into the wood frame. It has a hole in the chasse for access. First remove the electrical dohicky just above the access hole by taking out that screw. Then you can remove the chasse screw easily. Once removed, you simply lift up on the chasse/board assembly and it will come off. You'll also have to remove the ground screwed to the chasse in that bottom left corner as well. Then the whole assembly can be removed from the TV set. Then you can remove the screws on the board which secure it to the chasse much easier. I used tape to number the connectors in a 1,2,3,4,5 pattern which made it easier to replug on re-install. I belive their were 12 connectors total including that ground screw.

Mr Bob

Bob,

Not to change subject, but is entering from the front of a Pioneer Elite fairly simple? I have an older Pro-98 and it still has an excellent picture but I have some yellowing patches in my picture that I thing might just be from being dirty inside. It's especially noticeable on white scenes. I was thinking that the lenses and mirror needed cleaning. If you could provide some instructions on how to remove the screen for acceess I would appreciate it.

Thanks,
Allan
kidscoach3@aol.com

Wow, am I glad this site exists. I'm a gluten for punishment. I have TWO Pioneer 610's. One began popping about six months ago. Not to often back then but now it does it every 20 minutes. The other just started. Pioneer refereed me to an authorized service center. The guy wanted $80 just to look at it. I think I'm going to try the re-solder technique myself. I figure I can always order a new board if I screw it up. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this forum.


Yes it is progressive, and will not get better on its own. I have been saying for years that this kind of thing is like dental work that's needed - it never gets better on its own.

Anyone reading this thread should be hopping on this at the first sign of problems. Don't wait till it domino-effects into something really serious, where you WILL need a tech.


Mr Bob

Bob,

Not to change subject, but is entering from the front of a Pioneer Elite fairly simple? I have an older Pro-98 and it still has an excellent picture but I have some yellowing patches in my picture that I thing might just be from being dirty inside. It's especially noticeable on white scenes. I was thinking that the lenses and mirror needed cleaning. If you could provide some instructions on how to remove the screen for acceess I would appreciate it.

Thanks,
Allan
kidscoach3@aol.com


PLEASE READ EVERYTHING BEFORE DOING ANYTHING!

The frame comes off via 4 big Philips screws at the frame's underside. You get to that by removing the grillcloth board over the speakers - it takes a strong amount of pulling, but will finally give and come off if you pull hard enough at one side of that frontage board down below. Then gently pull off the nice looking plastic escutchion pieces on each side, that say Pioneer. Pull gently first one side, then the other of each piece, over and over, and each will wiggle out, revealing the big screws at the underside of the frame.

Once the frame is removed, the screen is being held in there by double screw sets going into slotted brackets all around the screen. Once the screws are loosened up, the brackets can be slid sideways and will then lift off.

All except for 2 things.

The sides are not slotted. They have to be removed completely. The screen CAN be slid to the side that way, but if you put those screws back without the bracket just for safe keeping and then slide the screen over, you'll score a big horizontal line into it. (Want to know how I know?...) So remove the side brackets AND their screws.

Also the upper left one is not slotted on both screws. One of its screws will not be slotted, it will be in a hole. Remove it completely and put it into the slot instead, just like all the others, so that when you put the slotted brackets back on, they will all slot on. Except for the sides, of course.

Be careful, because the screen will then fall out, onto you. So don't remove the upper center one until you're ready.

Have some sort of mittens on so that you can grip the screen sandwich without putting finger grease marks on it, and lift the screen off. That will reveal the inside of the optical chamber.


I think what was missing in your quote of what I wrote above was NEVER to remove the back from an Elite Pioneer. On many of the models the top of the mirror is slotted into the CHASSIS of the unit, which of course is immovable. The bottom is slotted into the REMOVABLE back of the unit. If you remove the back, the mirror slips out of the slot in the chassis of the unit and nosedives into the screen.

Some models do and some don't, but the ones with a special set of 2 lockscrews in the back definitely do it this way, and I have seen screens irreparably scarred and mirrors broken because of this idiotic way of mounting the mirror. So don't take any chances - ALWAYS GO IN TO THE OPTICAL CAVITY FROM THE FRONT.

I was real smart the first time and figured out how to get past those special lock screws. MISTAKE! Don't do it yourself, it's an expensive lesson to learn the hard way.


Good luck and let us know how your pic looks after the optics cleaning op you're going to give it.


Mr Bob

Soldered and cleaned my 710 last Saturday.
A little late Bob, on the instructions to get into the optics :~) Figured it out OK.
I was a little worried at first as I had a very slight herringbone pattern in the background but it turned out to be the component RCA plug not pushed in all the way.
Picture looks great again and no more blue flash or faded looking picture.
Add another one to the list of blue flash fixed.

Okay, Tried to resolder the joints last night. I did see a crack in the ic204 joint. Resolder E3, ic204 and ic202. But I must have missed something. Put the board back in and now all I get is a white picture with blue/red squiggle lines. Will try to resolder again and look for other cold joints. Are those the only joints I should look at?

FYI, a helpful tip not mentioned for removing the board:
The board comes out of the TV on the metal chasse by removing one screw near the bottom left corner. If you look from the left side at the bottom you will see it screwed into the wood frame. It has a hole in the chasse for access. Once removed, you simply lift up on the chasse/board assembly and it will come off. You'll also have to remove the ground screwed to the chasse in that bottom left corner as well. Then the whole assembly can be removed from the TV set. Then you can then remove the screws on the board much easier. I used tape to number the connectors in a 1,2,3,4,5 pattern which made it easier to replug on re-install.
Just a followup...

I am happy to report a successful fix to my 610! Although my first attempt was unsuccessful, The key was using a desolder iron to remove the old solder, then reapply new solder. My first attempt I did not remove, just added solder and I think this caused some spillover which caused some touching on the connections. Much easier if you remove the old solder on the connections, then reapply. Here is a list of the parts I bought from radio shack for about $22.

Solder Iron 30 watt pencil item: 2062758
Solder .032 item: 2062731
De-Solder Iron this one provide heat 45 watt and bulb to remove solder. Item: 2062719


You will definitely need a magnify glass, But I already had one. Nothing fancy, a handheld that my son was able to hold steady and a desk lamp. A power screwdriver also was handy for removing screws. You'll need an long screw extension to get to the board screws. Remember to remove the board with bracket from the tv per my previous instructions first. Do take the time to label the connections with numbers. This makes reinstall a snap and insures you got them all if you go in order.


So for about 1/4 of the cost of a house call, I managed to fix it myself. I would rate myself as inexperienced, although I did some soldering in high school 25 years ago(encourage your childeren to take basic electronics class, it will come in handy). If you have an ounce of handiness, I believe you can do this. If not, and your tv is popping and going off, ask the repair person to quote the cost on resoldering the three connectors e3, ic204 & ic202. Don't let him sell you parts you don't need or charge a diagnostic fee first. Refer him to this site if he gives you a hard time. Okay, the cleaning an calibration is optional.

Many, many thanks to all those who have spent $1,000's to discover a $22 fix. Find comfort in knowing that because of your post here, you have saved others in making the same mistake. A special thanks to Mr. Bob, I wish you much success. Your contribution to this forum has been a real money saver. And finally, Shame on you pioneer for not owning up to the problem. This is obviously a defect on the production side. I wander how many people have been hosed by repair persons over the years?

Just a followup...

I am happy to report a successful fix to my 610! Although my first attempt was unsuccessful, The key was using a desolder iron to remove the old solder, then reapply new solder. My first attempt I did not remove, just added solder and I think this caused some spillover which caused some touching on the connections. Much easier if you remove the old solder on the connections, then reapply.


As you will see in my post many many pages ago, you don't need to add a lot of solder when you resolder those legs. You only need to touch it up a little bit.

The primary thing those dried out cold solder conn's need is to be reliquified by the resin till they gleam again, NOT added solder.

But there are exceptions: when the original solder joints are really thin then you do need to add some solder, and in that case I do recommend adding a fair amount of solder rather than leaving them thin. But never leave them so bulbous that they are touching each other. As a stringent doublecheck, if you have any doubts shine a strong flashlight onto the pads from up above and look up at them from down below the board, and see if any of the pads don't show space between them.

You are actually very lucky that shorting the legs you did short didn't cause domino-effect problems and increase the size and complexity of your problems!



A special thanks to Mr. Bob, I wish you much success. Your contribution to this forum has been a real money saver... I wander how many people have been hosed by repair persons over the years?


Glad to help. I really enjoy being able to share what I know with those who are ready and willing to run with it. You have done great! And so have countless others who have been following this thread, who we will never hear from.

Now that I have helped you save your sets, guys, hire me for your calibrations so we can keep your sets in the forefront of how good HD can look, with all the competition from fixed pixel currently taking over the market and diminishing the rep and exposure of CRT HDreadys. These Pio sets can still look better than fixed pixel, and when calibrated to the max can be watched from a lot closer up than fixed pixel sets can, meaning that you can still have images half again bigger than normally expected from them, once these sets are high-precisioned out. And half again bigger even than most currently moderately affordable fixed pixel sets.

Remember that repairpeople/calibrators like me don't get paid for being here on boards like this, sharing our best tricks with you guys. The only way our bills get paid on our end is via you guys hiring us - directly - for calibrations and/or repairs. And paying us. Directly.

The only way we can stay at boards like this giving free advice to the DIYers, unpaid, is for those of you who are either already ready to hire us directly and have just not done so yet - or are still on the fence about it - to go ahead and do so!

I don't work for AVS, and they don't pay me to be here. No board that I am on does.

I work for you guys. Directly.


Mr Bob

PLEASE READ EVERYTHING BEFORE DOING ANYTHING!


Mr Bob

Thanks Bob for the help. Would you classify it a reasonable job for an average person that's pretty mechanical to take on? Also, once inside, how and what should I look to clean and is there any precautions that need to be taken?

Thanks again.

Add 1 more Pro510 to the list for the blue flash.

Also add another to the list that was fixed by pulling the low voltage board and resoldering E3, IC 201-204. Also touched up any that I thought were questionable.

Thanks to all who have contributed.

As you will see in my post many many pages ago, you don't need to add a lot of solder when you resolder those legs. You only need to touch it up a little bit.

You are actually very lucky that shorting the legs you did short didn't cause domino-effect problems and increase the size and complexity of your problems!


It was tough to get only a little solder on the legs. It is possible that I only needed to reheat the joints. Your right, I was lucky. But on my first attempt I'm not sure if I had legs touching or just did not do a good job of solder. I really looked hard (this is where the magnify glass came in handy) to make sure they did not touch. I was concerned about the ic204 joint touching. Spent several minutes looking at it, fiddling with it trying to make sure it did not touch. But I did not own a de-solder devise. So I rolled the dice(foolish ehh?). When it did not work, I bought the desolder iron. This made the process a whole lot easier and only a touch of solder on the iron and the the solder seamed to fall right in place.

On my second TV, I desoldered and reapplied. Much easier and I was more confident I had no touching joints. And I had success on the first try. But, I do advise if anyone is concerned about their ability to do it, get a quote from a repair person. But I do say the repair person does not need to charge you an evaluation fee first.


hire me for your calibrations so we can keep your sets in the forefront of how good HD can look, with all the competition from fixed pixel currently taking over the market and diminishing the rep and exposure of CRT HDreadys. These Pio sets can still look better than fixed pixel, and when calibrated to the max can be watched from a lot closer up than fixed pixel sets can, meaning that you can still have images half again bigger than normally expected from them, once these sets are high-precisioned out. And half again bigger even than most currently moderately affordable fixed pixel sets.

I would say that with your posts on this forum you have established yourself as a knowledgeable reputable repair person who trys to help his customers. That is why I wish you success and hope everyone in your service area calls you. Now if you are ever in the Cincinnati Area, I'd like my sets calibrated. THANK YOU MR. BOB!

I would say that with your posts on this forum you have established yourself as a knowledgeable reputable repair person who trys to help his customers. That is why I wish you success and hope everyone in your service area calls you. Now if you are ever in the Cincinnati Area, I'd like my sets calibrated. THANK YOU MR. BOB!


Fly me in! I fly out of OAK. You have 2 sets to do. Don't leave calibrating them to just anyone.

This message is for EVERYONE reading. Listen up:


If others go in with you, the travel expenses for each go down proportionately. Just one other participant close by to you cuts them in half.

Remember, the older the set, the more it needs my specialties. There have to be many many older sets in your area, if you can just get to them. I can make virtually all of them look better than when they were new, no matter what their brand, no matter what their age.

The optics cleaning alone is worth its weight in gold, even if no other calibration ops are elected to be done.

I am finding that in 95% of the repair jobs I am doing these days owners are responding positively in no uncertain terms to having the professional optics cleaning op done as well after the set is working again, once they have perused my before and after pix of a 7 year old Pioneer. Which restores crystal clear viewing in place of the bleary picture they have grown used to over the years - with dismal to zilch detail in dark areas and a hazy glow around any bright object with a black background. Contaminated optics eliminates the possiblility of crystal clear gleam spots in that picture. Professional optics cleaning restores the "gleam capacity" to that picture. It also allows seeing extensive detail in dark areas again, just like when it was new, and much more depth perception than when bleary.

Remember, ALL CRT RPTVs use HV, and the ionization caused by HV turns optics into powerful dust magnets (see my website for details). ALL CRT RPTVs need optics cleaning on a regular basis. It's part of the package, and inherent in the CRT medium. They don't tell you that in the stores when they sell them to you because they want to sell you a new RPTV every 5 years, once it starts looking really bad. Simple marketing. Assuming they even know in the first place.

At just $150 for general optics cleaning - sometimes more, for extra charges, if the deeper optics need cleaning as well down to the coolant covers, we can't know that till the general optics are clean and we can see down there, usually the general optics cleaning does it - at $150 for the periodic maintenance they know many electronic things need these days they instantly see the value, and most go for it on the spot - esp. when I tell them we advise that it be done every year, and they are a little late on a set that is 3-8 years old. After they have had it done on their units and it now looks like the Finding Nemo scenes OUT of the water rather than under the water - which was how it was before - they now see why it is absolutely essential, and thank me profusely.

4 or 5 optics cleanings in your area while I am there, even without additional calibrations, and your travel expenses for getting me there are reduced to perhaps even lower than locals around here in my area pay me to come over for doing their sets.


Mr Bob

Well, I'm in the Baltimore/DC area, and am not that confident in my fixing of my 710HD on my own. I've been experiencing my picture getting dim, and then restoring itself periodically. My set is currenty at a Pioneer authorized service center, and after reading this thread, called them to let them know about what I've been reading and the potential cause (the low voltage power supply board). They said that it's probably something else, and they don't just order parts, guessing at what the problem might be, so until he sees the problem, he's not ready to diagnose it as such. I never had the flashing problem, just the dimming that would last no more that about 20 seconds before restoring itself.

Happily, this is an extended warrenty repair, so the cost to me is not anything, but I'm worried that when I get the unit back, the same problem will occur again (it wasn't happening that much, but enough for me to send it in to get looked at before my warranty expires in 2008).

Anyways, on a different note...question for all you Pioneer RPTV owners (especially the x10 series), whenever I get my TV back, I'll be switching DVD players to one that upconverts to 720p/1080i via DVI, and was interested in going from DVI through a converter into the RGB port (since the unit has no DVI input). Has anyone done this, and if so, do you feel the picture is better than using the component inputs?

Anyways, on a different note...question for all you Pioneer RPTV owners (especially the x10 series), whenever I get my TV back, I'll be switching DVD players to one that upconverts to 720p/1080i via DVI, and was interested in going from DVI through a converter into the RGB port (since the unit has no DVI input). Has anyone done this, and if so, do you feel the picture is better than using the component inputs?

If you are thinking about using a VGA to DVI "dongle/converter" like what comes with some PC video cards, it's not going work for you that way. The DVI output on a DVD player is a digital output, and the VGA input on your 710HD is a analog input. And those DVI to VGA converters do not convert a Digital signal to a analog signal, so it won't work.

If you are thinking about using a VGA to DVI "dongle/converter" like what comes with some PC video cards, it's not going work for you that way. The DVI output on a DVD player is a digital output, and the VGA input on your 710HD is a analog input. And those DVI to VGA converters do not convert a Digital signal to a analog signal, so it won't work.

The Dtrovision DVI to RGB/VGA converter I'd be using is model DCDA1. This is to convert DVI-D to an analog signal.

My question is...is RGB/VGA supposed to be 'better', 'cleaner' or 'purer' than a component signal?

If it's being converted from digital video to analog video, I doubt that it will also be cleaner.
Many people that have a TV that actually have either native DVI or HDMI inputs, are hard pressed to see any real major difference between those digital inputs and component input with a 1080i source.

If it's being converted from digital video to analog video, I doubt that it will also be cleaner.
Many people that have a TV that actually have either native DVI or HDMI inputs, are hard pressed to see any real major difference between those digital inputs and component input with a 1080i source.


I agree.

I have seen no improvement on any CRT set I have calibrated yet, from selecting/using DVI/HDMI connection over component. In fact in one Sony HD CRT DV set, the DVI signal was noticeably grainier - and I mean objectionably so! At a glance, you just wanted to turn it off! Yuck!

CRT sets don't really get any better by using digital inputs. Component, with a component grade set of cables, is stellar when your set is fully calibrated. I don't think you'll improve it with the newer digital formats. Leave the digital formats for connection to the digital sets. And put up with their idiosyncracies.

CRT technology is still the best, IMHO. It puts out the silkiest, smoothest, non-pixellated images around, with the best blacks available and no rainbow effects or any other digital-only phenoms.


Mr Bob

I have been seeing someting lately that has nothing to do with cold solder joints. The last 2 repairs, one a 510 and the other a 610, had exactly the same problems, with exactly the same solutions. Neither involved the power supply board except for replacing fuses, and both involved direct shutdown of the set upon turn-on, with no intermittency or blue flash, or any other hinkiness. The set would simply not go on, at all - do not pass go, do not collect $200.

If your set shuts down directly upon turn-on and you go in and find that fuses 202 and 204 are both blown on the power supply board, you have a characteristic set of data that points to only one thing.

The first is a 6.3 amp, the second is a 5 amp, and they are both smaller-sized GMA F type glass fuses. They are both horizontally mounted on the power supply board, directly across from each other with another fuse in between and another one to the right, and the left one's board locator number is covered with a white stuck-on label which simply IDs it as a certain voltage rating and 5A.

One goes to the +25v. rail and the other goes to the - 20v rail.

These 2 rails are the plus and minus voltages to the convergence ICs. One of the ICs will be blown, taking out both fuses, and if you don't want to figure out which and believe in the throw-out bearing principle, just replace both ICs and upgrade your system. That's what I do, even tho the convergence has to be redone after either is/are replaced.

The IC is the STK 392-110, 2 of them, mounted deep into the double board that comprises the convergence assembly, which is the other vertically mounted board on the other side of the back from the power supply board.

The top board of this double-board set has to be removed so you can get to the ICs, and if you pull the small ribbon connector that connects the 2 boards, it pulls away most co-operatively. The ICs are mounted on the large heat sink, and be sure to apply a liberal amount of heat sink compound on beneath the new ones, while in the process removing any old compound on the heat sink that has dried out. If you're careful you may get away with not having to dismount the board from the sink itself, but the soldered legs are a tight squeeze to get both a soldering iron and a solder sucker in there.

I have not found any cold solder joints on this problem. The joints are all gleaming and solid, so the ICs themselves are what goes out.

The set will not turn on without the fuses being in place and whole/not blown, and it also won't turn on if you disco any of the 3 conn'rs going to the conv yokes. In one case the lack of voltages at the other end of the fuses does not enable stay-on, in the other case there's some interlock in each of those 3 connectors that needs to be there for the set to turn on.

Whoever has this problem, good luck and keep us informed.


Mr Bob

Does anyone know of someone in Austin Texas that can fix this problem with my PRO-510HD?

Does anyone know of someone in Austin Texas that can fix this problem with my PRO-510HD?


Fly me in! I haven't seen Texas in years!

Or just send me that convergence board and I will repair it and send it back, with the 2 fuses in question for you to put in place of the blown ones in the power supply board.

It WILL be on you to get all the connectors right on the convergence board and to not mix up the fuses. The only ones you can really mix up on the conv board are the 3 yoke conn's, and they are tightly strapped together in a row, making it next to impossible to get them wrong.

The others are all of differing sizes/numbers of legs, making it hard to get that wrong either.


Mr Bob

Add me to the list.

Just a thought:

Rather than a class action lawsuit, a properly worded letter to the Chairman of the Board of Pioneer in Japan with copies to the President and the head of the division to which the the US company "belongs" (as well as a copy to the US President of the Pioneer division) might be the best route. Japanese companies understand the importance of customer satisfaction (even if their US subordinates do not). A properly worded letter showing how the unbelievably crude behavior of their US subsidiary, when confronted with the widespread defective product that Pioneer has been responsible for selling in the USA, is threatening to cause the Pioneer Corporation to lose face when this matter is publicized will cause them to take the responsible route. I'm sure once Pioneer's US leadership is made aware (from Japan) of this matter that they will quickly address the unfortunate behavior of a few isolated individuals and do what is required to prove that the firm is responsible and takes customer satisfaction seriously.

Faced with a choice between facing an embarrassing revolt of the customers of their high end product or doing what a responsible Japanese company would take for granted (if this matter came up in Japan), I think there is a strong probability that this issue can be quickly solved.

What do you think?

Jeff

I just wanted to thank all of you for the advice on how to fix the blue flashing issue with my Pioneer Pro 510-HD.
After weeks of lurking I finally got up the nerve to resolder the solder joints on the power circuit board. I also opened up the front and cleaned the mirror and lens.
It has been two days and NO MORE FLASHING! The overall quality of the picture is better as well.
Without this message thread I would have had no clue what the problem was let alone fix it.
You all saved me a large repair bill. THANKS :)

Ken Scott

total elite owners is close to 85. It's hard job to count owners in this thread.

But I love it.


Total elite owners = 85...

Make that 86. My Elite 510HD has been down since Oct. of 03. Pioneer originally agreed to replace the board as it was only 6 months out of warranty. But I didn't have the other $450 the repair company wanted for labor. So I never had it fixed. My financial situation is much better now, so I contacted Pioneer a few weeks ago to see if they'd still honor their original agreement. I got a call back this past Monday saying that the set was too far out of warranty and that the original agreement to cover the cost of the board was valid for only 30 days.

I have an EET degree and do a decent amount of soldering at work every day. You can bet that I'm pulling the board tomorrow and taking a look. I will either try to fix it this weekend here at home or I'll take it in with me Monday and use one of the soldering stations there.

OK, quick update. I couldn't stand it so I went ahead and pulled the board, broke out my station and resoldered the pins on E3, E5, IC202 and 204. Inserted a few screws holding the board in, reconnected all the plugs, plugged it in, and that sucker fired up! First time in 3 YEARS!!! Not bad for an hour's work!

OK, so now I'm going to bed. Tomorrow I've got a lot of things to do, but I will completely insert all of the rest of the screws, put the back on, and hook it up to my system. Wish me luck!

OK, quick update. I couldn't stand it so I went ahead and pulled the board, broke out my station and resoldered the pins on E3, E5, IC202 and 204. Inserted a few screws holding the board in, reconnected all the plugs, plugged it in, and that sucker fired up! First time in 3 YEARS!!! Not bad for an hour's work!

OK, so now I'm going to bed. Tomorrow I've got a lot of things to do, but I will completely insert all of the rest of the screws, put the back on, and hook it up to my system. Wish me luck!


Good luck, pardner! We're all rootin' for ya here!


Mr Bob

Well, it's been up and running for about an hour! Looks as good as I remember! I'm sure the optics probably do need cleaning but I want to make sure the set is going to continue to work. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the fix sticks!

OK, the TV hasn't powered off on me but I do notice a few issues. I noticed the picture jumping a bit, sometimes with a sort of distorted line going through the screen horizontally. Other times it's sort of a blue line and then sometimes the whole picture seems to jump with diagonal lines or it gets sort of a negative affect where the picture turns black.

The interesting thing is I've ony noticed this happen while watching cable and then only when there is a lot of white in the picture. We watched Batman Begins tonight on HBO HD and the only time it did any of this was when there was a bright explosion. Otherwise, the picture looked great. If I put in a DVD it does not do any of this. Although I haven't checked it on a bright scene on a DVD yet since I just figured out exactly when this was happening earlier today.

So far I've swapped out the cables running from the cable box to my Sherwood Newcastle receiver and also swapped out the cable box with the one from the bedroom. I guess it's possible it could be my Newcastle receiver. I'll try either running the cable box directly into the TV or swap inputs on my receiver (or both) and see what happens. I will do that tomorrow.

Until then, if anyone thinks this might be a TV issue please let me know. I was wondering if there was something else that needed to be resoldered since I only soldered those components I mentioned above.

Until then, if anyone thinks this might be a TV issue please let me know. I was wondering if there was something else that needed to be resoldered since I only soldered those components I mentioned above.


Cold solder joint protocol, as I call it, is to resolder anywhere where heat gathers during ops. It is often signalled by a dull non-reflective look on it, where a well done fresh solder joint is always bright and gleaming, and is still that way years down the road. (On lead solder of course. On other types of solder it's a completely different story, but we are talking lead solder, here, in this gen of gear.)

Heat/cold/heat/cold = expansion/contraction/expansion/contraction, which is what causes cold solder joints, and happens whenever the TV is turned on or off. The whole set turns on and warms up during ops, goes cold afterwards. Usually every day, sometimes more than once a day.

Look for raised resistors, heat sunk regulators and other active devices like Schotke diodes, TO-220 case transistors, etc. Look for halos between the leg and the edge of the leg's pad, and wiggle the device from the top and see if its legs correspondingly wiggle on the bottom. If the joint is weak, you'll see the leg wiggle on the bottom when wiggled on the top.

Cold solder joints are not always visible, either. Sometimes you have to resolder things you'd swear don't have any reason to be resoldered, just because they are under a heat-generating device.


Mr Bob

I might as well resolder the entire board. Nothing really looked shiny to me. I'll try to take a look at it later this week.

I might as well resolder the entire board. Nothing really looked shiny to me. I'll try to take a look at it later this week.


I rarely do the entire board, and I'll tell you why.

Be very careful of the smaller devices. It is really easy to create a solder bridge - a connection between 2 points that are not supposed to be connected - on the smaller stuff, esp. when your lighting is poor. Use strong lighting, and if you still can't see well enough because possibly your angles are wrong, shine a strong light in from the top of the board to the bottom of the board, and if there are no impediments to that light, you'll see whether there is space between the 2 points in question.

Strings of connections, like vertical ICs, etc. are very prone to gathering solder bridges if you're not careful.

I usually leave the smaller, very tiny devices alone, just because it's so easy to get one of these solder bridges wrong and not notice it. The bigger devices have lots more space between them.

Besides, the smaller devices rarely develop heat. You will see little halos around lots of them, but they have never been prominent in causing a board to fail, in my experience.

It's usually the bigger devices that cause board failure.


Mr Bob

Thanks Bob. I really appreciate it. Is there any chance you're going to be in Central Florida anytime soon? I'd love to have you by to give my TV a tune up! Which reminds me, I need to update my location in my profile...

Thanks Bob. I really appreciate it. Is there any chance you're going to be in Central Florida anytime soon? I'd love to have you by to give my TV a tune up! Which reminds me, I need to update my location in my profile...

Me too, maybe we have a few more Central FL. users that need a tune-up.

Me too, maybe we have a few more Central FL. users that need a tune-up.


I go where I am summoned, by my peers. Set it up and I will come.

With enough participants, the share of the travel expenses for each gets diminished to amounts that are highly affordable for anybody. Just getting optics cleaning gigs together for me to do while there increases the numbers dramatically, even if only a few fullscale calibrations get done. I can do half a dozen optics cleanings in a day, and half a dozen more participants lowers the expenses for each to mere pennies on the dollar.

I would love to come to Florida and set each of you guys up for the next few years of viewing on your classic, irreplaceable sets, the more the merrier. CRT RPTVs are going out fast - both Hitachi and Pioneer have already disco'd them - and we are some of the few diehards left who realize they truly still have the best picture possible. They will have to pry my Panny year 2000 65" CRT RPTV out of my cold dead hands.

Feel free to honor that by having me down. I fly out of OAK.


Mr Bob

Bob,

Well, at this point I'll have to assume the issue is one of the component inputs on my Sherwood Newcastle receiver. I've been watching Jar Head on DVD and even with the really bright desert scenes I am not having any issues with the TV. Both the DVD player and cable box route through the receiver with a single set of component cables going to input 1 on the TV. So I'd have to say that the receiver is at fault. I'll run both the DVD player and cable box directly to the TV like they used to be setup before I had a receiver with component inputs and see if that fixes the problem.

OK, I took the receiver out of the loop by running component cables directly from the DVD player and cable box to inputs 1 and 2 respectively on the TV. The problem is gone!!! So now my TV is working fine. All that's left is to work on convergence and I'm sure geometry could use some work as well.

Thanks again guys!

OK, I took the receiver out of the loop by running component cables directly from the DVD player and cable box to inputs 1 and 2 respectively on the TV. The problem is gone!!! So now my TV is working fine. All that's left is to work on convergence and I'm sure geometry could use some work as well.

Thanks again guys!


Are you sure you didn't have one of the component cables being loose, in all the connections involved in having an AV receiver doing the switching? That's all it takes to throw the whole color paradigm off.


Mr Bob

Well, the receiver was in the loop with 2 different cable boxes and two different sets of cables between the cable boxes so I'm pretty sure that there was not a loose connection there. I use relatively nice cables made from Belden coax with a stranded copper center conductor and Canare True 75 ohm RCA's so there should not be an issue on that front either. These are pretty much industry standards for use in broadcast video.

Well, the receiver was in the loop with 2 different cable boxes and two different sets of cables between the cable boxes so I'm pretty sure that there was not a loose connection there. I use relatively nice cables made from Belden coax with a stranded copper center conductor and Canare True 75 ohm RCA's so there should not be an issue on that front either. These are pretty much industry standards for use in broadcast video.


Cool.

Now if you HU your AV receiver again and find that the problem returns, you'll KNOW it was what was at fault.

Or you can just get it repaired or replaced and be done with it.

Sounds like you know your stuff. Great choices.

:cool:

Mr Bob

I have a 510 that I was just about to replace when I found this thread. Thank you to everyone for all this great info... the solder fix seems to have solved the problem.

I would like to follow Mr Bob's advice and clean the lenses, but I can't figure out how to remove the screen. Any hints would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again!
Bob

I am extremely happy to have found this thread. Thank you all for posting on this issue and all the good responses. Seems like a number of Elite RPTV owners have been able to fix the flash and shut down issue by re-sodering PS cold solders. Before I proceed with that I like to get advice as to whether you all think my symptoms are the same. My Pro-610HD occasionally shuts down with a big crackling sound. Then I have to power it off with the master power and wait a few minutes before turning it on. Just before the shut down the screen goes to grey with faded horizontal red lines for half a second then shuts down.
Sometime this happens a few times a day and sometimes 3 or 4 days go without a shut down.
I called a local Pioneer service man but when he was at my home the TV was working normally. So he said he could not fix a problem he does not see!

Do you think it is the power supply cold solder problem? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

I am extremely happy to have found this thread. Thank you all for posting on this issue and all the good responses. Seems like a number of Elite RPTV owners have been able to fix the flash and shut down issue by re-sodering PS cold solders. Before I proceed with that I like to get advice as to whether you all think my symptoms are the same. My Pro-610HD occasionally shuts down with a big crackling sound. Then I have to power it off with the master power and wait a few minutes before turning it on. Just before the shut down the screen goes to grey with faded horizontal red lines for half a second then shuts down.
Sometime this happens a few times a day and sometimes 3 or 4 days go without a shut down.
I called a local Pioneer service man but when he was at my home the TV was working normally. So he said he could not fix a problem he does not see!

Do you think it is the power supply cold solder problem? Any help will be greatly appreciated.


Yes. Retrace lines on your red could very easily be overmodulation of the red, usually caused by turning the screen control up too high, but possibly caused by the PS board sending too much energy where it does not belong.

Do the resolder fix, or have it done. It needs to be done anyway on all of this series. If not now, then later.

Cold solder joints are like dental work - neither will ever get better on its own.


Mr Bob

I have a 510 that I was just about to replace when I found this thread. Thank you to everyone for all this great info... the solder fix seems to have solved the problem.

I would like to follow Mr Bob's advice and clean the lenses, but I can't figure out how to remove the screen. Any hints would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again!
Bob


The frame comes off with 4 big Philips screws removed from under the frame, accessed by removing the speaker grill cover and the plastic frontal facia side pieces. Fabric covered grill cover is very hard to get off, but keep pulling and it will give.

Then loosen the screws that hold the plates that hold the screen on. Upper left plate will have one screw not in a slot. Remove it and put it where the screws are on each of the others so that it will be slotted as well.


Mr Bob

I'm interested in putting together enough folks wanting service on their Elites in the Southeast to justify a trip by Bob. Anyone in the Atlanta area and Southeast in general that is also interested
in having their Elites (or other hd's I guess) cleaned, recalibrated, etc. Please let me know 7063387720

Roger

Thanks for the response Bob.
I will work on the PS board and report the result.
Could red retrace lines be caused by higher than average brightness setting? I think I have the brightness set at the higher end due to general darkness of the screen.

I would be interested in having my elite 710 cleaned also. Live in Tampa, FL. I would split costs with 5+ others if per person cost was reasonable.

Have owned since 01/2001. Back in 5/04 had shut off problem, red diode showing on power supply board. Had 5 year warranty so sound avice/tweeter tech replaced power supply board at no charge. Power worked fine after replacement. Board back then was 264.00.

Last week same problem occured. Did not see this thread until today. Ordered another board from pioneer directly. Cost is now 299.00. Board should arrive in 2 days. Same symptoms as 2 years ago. Are you saying I could have soldered certain points on the power supply board, not needing to purchase a reconditioned board?

If a trip to southeast ever comes about shoot me an email at sunlover2@earthlink.net. Tim.

Does anyone know where I can buy a remote for PRO-X10HD series other than Pioneer itself? I am so mad at Pioneer over this issue I do not want to buy anything from them.

Does anyone know where I can buy a remote for PRO-X10HD series other than Pioneer itself? I am so mad at Pioneer over this issue I do not want to buy anything from them.

Yeah National Parts Supply, but at $183 you may want to buy it direct from Pioneer. Because Pioneer only wants $129. THe other place is PartStore, they are $132. Which is still more than direct from Pioneer, but also a lot less than National Parts Supply. Personaly, I'd buy it direct from Pioneer, because they are cheaper and no matter who you buy it from, they still make money off of it anyway.


https://www.nationalpartsupply.us/shop/nps/

http://www.partstore.com/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductSKU=5441265&ProductType=ACCS

http://parts.pioneerelectronics.com/part.asp?productNum=AXD1448

I can added to the list of people who have had problems with their Pioneer elite and the flahsing/powering down probelm. It's my first post here, but I have spent alot of time reading about it. I am a member of a number of other fourms such as fullsizechevy, Z71tahoe-suburban, 2doortech , and ls1tech. I completed the re-soldering procedure a few hours ago and have since not had any problems! Thank you everyone! I have a 710HD which was manufactured in June of 2000, S/N UFPM001400UC. I am very relieved that there is a solution and I will soon be persuing getting the guns and screen cleaned, as well as being calibrated. Thank you for all your help,

Ed

By the way, the picture does seem to be more clear.

I've had the blue flash issue for a while, so I pulled the (610's) board out and want to bring it somwhere.

Anyone know of a reputable shop I can contact in the Lehigh PA area to do the job?

Thanks!

Add me to the list of successes for the PS board soldering procedure. I found the cracked solder points on E3 connector. Soldered them back. And since then after about 20 hrs of TV operation there has been no problem.

Thanks to everyone that shared their problems and the solution.

Thanks for the response Bob.
I will work on the PS board and report the result.
Could red retrace lines be caused by higher than average brightness setting? I think I have the brightness set at the higher end due to general darkness of the screen.


Red retrace lines are typically caused by the red screen trimpot being set too high, the trimpots being very elemental and basic settings, which are set early on in the factory setup process. The trimpots establish a range within which the brightness control - and in this case where the red cutoff - work, which is in another, and different, part of the circuitry. The part controlled by the settings in the eeproms, deep within the signal circuitry.

If red is the only color where retrace lines are showing up, it could be that the entire overall screen potential is being affected by something on the power board, and red is simply the trimpot that is currently set highest. If you look hard you might see the blue or green retrace lines in the background.

Assuming the trimpots have been set up correctly - and Pioneer always sets them up correctly at the factory, you should never need to change them - brightness can be properly set either by user controls or in the sm. In a calibration, the sm brt controls will be set to that on ideal program materials, the user brt will be midpointed.


Even with ideal calibration settings in sm, I still notch the user brt down 5 clicks on Leno every weeknight, because their HD cams on his show are set to average everything, which makes the background on his monologue too filled in. It should be dark back there behind him during his monologue, hard to see - not easily apparent, which is where they run their brightness settings on his show.


Are your optics clean? Anyone who owns a 510, 610 or 710 should have had their optics professionally cleaned at least 2 or 3 times by now. If not, you are struggling to see detail in dark areas, and any bright object against a black background will have a haze around it.

Your brt settings might be just fine at midpoint after your optics are truly clean, and usually on this series that also involves the deeper optics cleaning, down to the CRT coolant covers and the backs of the removable lenses. 2 additional surfaces/CRT, that nearly doubles the number of surfaces cleaned, if the deeper optics cleaning is elected during one of my calibrations.


Mr Bob

I would be interested in having my elite 710 cleaned also. Live in Tampa, FL. I would split costs with 5+ others if per person cost was reasonable.


Hope a cal trip with me traveling down yonder to you folks happens for you. You have no idea how screamin' good these x10 series of Elites are capable of looking!


Have owned since 01/2001. Back in 5/04 had shut off problem, red diode showing on power supply board. Had 5 year warranty so sound avice/tweeter tech replaced power supply board at no charge. Power worked fine after replacement. Board back then was 264.00.

Last week same problem occured. Did not see this thread until today. Ordered another board from pioneer directly. Cost is now 299.00. Board should arrive in 2 days. Same symptoms as 2 years ago. Are you saying I could have soldered certain points on the power supply board, not needing to purchase a reconditioned board?

YES! You can still refuse delivery and get your money back, and do the soldering yourself. You've already plunked out a bundle once, unnecessarily. Don't do it again!


Mr Bob

I've had the blue flash issue for a while, so I pulled the (610's) board out and want to bring it somwhere.

Anyone know of a reputable shop I can contact in the Lehigh PA area to do the job?

Thanks!


Send it to me. I'll take care of it. I won't stop with the E connectors either. I will fully troubleshoot the board for cold solder joints everywhere they might be, with 20+ years of experience in such things behind me.

Just did one the other day, and after repair and calibration, the customer was completely jazzed about the incredible new pic he will now get to enjoy for the next 5 years.


Mr Bob

Thanks Mr Bob I do in fact see the the blue and green retrace lines as well. I planned to have my optics cleaned after this power shut down issue is resolved. I resoldered what seemed like 6-8 cold solder joints. The TV worked well for 20 some hours with no flash or power off. Then this morning it popped, went off and now does not turn back on. Once the master power button is pushed the power LED goes green then immediately lt turns red and stays red (off). Could I have damaged the PS board? If so then how come the TV worked for a couple days after my repair??


Red retrace lines are typically caused by the red screen trimpot being set too high, the trimpots being very elemental and basic settings, which are set early on in the factory setup process. The trimpots establish a range within which the brightness control - and in this case where the red cutoff - work, which is in another, and different, part of the circuitry. The part controlled by the settings in the eeproms, deep within the signal circuitry.

If red is the only color where retrace lines are showing up, it could be that the entire overall screen potential is being affected by something on the power board, and red is simply the trimpot that is currently set highest. If you look hard you might see the blue or green retrace lines in the background.

Assuming the trimpots have been set up correctly - and Pioneer always sets them up correctly at the factory, you should never need to change them - brightness can be properly set either by user controls or in the sm. In a calibration, the sm brt controls will be set to that on ideal program materials, the user brt will be midpointed.

Thanks Mr Bob I do in fact see the the blue and green retrace lines as well. I planned to have my optics cleaned after this power shut down issue is resolved. I resoldered what seemed like 6-8 cold solder joints. The TV worked well for 20 some hours with no flash or power off. Then this morning it popped, went off and now does not turn back on. Once the master power button is pushed the power LED goes green then immediately lt turns red and stays red (off). Could I have damaged the PS board? If so then how come the TV worked for a couple days after my repair??



Even with ideal calibration settings in sm, I still notch the user brt down 5 clicks on Leno every weeknight, because their HD cams on his show are set to average everything, which makes the background on his monologue too filled in. It should be dark back there behind him during his monologue, hard to see - not easily apparent, which is where they run their brightness settings on his show.


Are your optics clean? Anyone who owns a 510, 610 or 710 should have had their optics professionally cleaned at least 2 or 3 times by now. If not, you are struggling to see detail in dark areas, and any bright object against a black background will have a haze around it.

Your brt settings might be just fine at midpoint after your optics are truly clean, and usually on this series that also involves the deeper optics cleaning, down to the CRT coolant covers and the backs of the removable lenses. 2 additional surfaces/CRT, that nearly doubles the number of surfaces cleaned, if the deeper optics cleaning is elected during one of my calibrations.


Mr Bob

Thanks Mr Bob I do in fact see the the blue and green retrace lines as well. I planned to have my optics cleaned after this power shut down issue is resolved. I resoldered what seemed like 6-8 cold solder joints. The TV worked well for 20 some hours with no flash or power off. Then this morning it popped, went off and now does not turn back on. Once the master power button is pushed the power LED goes green then immediately lt turns red and stays red (off). Could I have damaged the PS board? If so then how come the TV worked for a couple days after my repair??


Don't know. Never had that happen to me when I have repaired this kind of problem.

Evidence indicates that the shutdown problem occured AFTER you were inside. Hate to say it, but you might have caused some damage.

I would take that board out and go over it with a fine tooth comb, make sure you didn't do any inadvertent solder bridges.


Mr Bob

I rarely do the entire board, and I'll tell you why.

Be very careful of the smaller devices. It is really easy to create a solder bridge - a connection between 2 points that are not supposed to be connected - on the smaller stuff, esp. when your lighting is poor. Use strong lighting, and if you still can't see well enough because possibly your angles are wrong, shine a strong light in from the top of the board to the bottom of the board, and if there are no impediments to that light, you'll see whether there is space between the 2 points in question.

Strings of connections, like vertical ICs, etc. are very prone to gathering solder bridges if you're not careful.

I usually leave the smaller, very tiny devices alone, just because it's so easy to get one of these solder bridges wrong and not notice it. The bigger devices have lots more space between them.

Besides, the smaller devices rarely develop heat. You will see little halos around lots of them, but they have never been prominent in causing a board to fail, in my experience.

It's usually the bigger devices that cause board failure.


Mr Bob

Having experience the same intermittent power problems on the PRO-510 as described by others, I took out the P/S board to inspect the solder joints. After about a half hour of looking for failing joints, I could not definitively determine if there were any bad solder joints. So I re-installed the P/S and made sure the P/S output pin connectors were seated tightly. The problem has disappeared for now leading me to belive the pin connectors may be the problem. As with many intermittent problems/symptoms, complete failure may be the only definitive way to confirm the source of the problem.

I suspect these connectors are the issue, do you know if there is a conductive compound that can be added to these pin connections that might help?

Thanks

Rick

You can add me to the list of Pro-510 owner, I've had mine since September of 03. I started having the blue-screen flicker problems for about a year now, the problem has always been mildly intermittant, and usually corrected itself within 5-10 minutes after warming up. However, within the past month or so, the problem has gotten stedily worse to the point where the set powers itself off.

I'd love to try and get more time out of this set, however, my confidence in my own soldering skills is NIL. If anyone knows a reputable repair person in the Seattle area with experience with this problem and would be willing to PM me about it, then I'd appreciate it.

I'd love to try and get more time out of this set, however, my confidence in my own soldering skills is NIL. If anyone knows a reputable repair person in the Seattle area with experience with this problem and would be willing to PM me about it, then I'd appreciate it.


Try In-Home TV Repir Lynnwood Wa.

Add me to the “Elite” list! I have a Pro-710 that began to show the “blue flashes” symptom over the weekend.

This is clearly a product defect and it is surprising that Pioneer has not moved to maintain the integrity of the Elite brand by addressing it.

Has anyone else in the Houston area had the problem and/or can recommend an experienced repair-person?

Many thanks to those who have posted on this thread for their efforts to diagnose the problem and provide the information on how to solve it. The posts have been extremely helpful - even to the technologically challenged.

Having experience the same intermittent power problems on the PRO-510 as described by others, I took out the P/S board to inspect the solder joints. After about a half hour of looking for failing joints, I could not definitively determine if there were any bad solder joints. So I re-installed the P/S and made sure the P/S output pin connectors were seated tightly. The problem has disappeared for now leading me to belive the pin connectors may be the problem. As with many intermittent problems/symptoms, complete failure may be the only definitive way to confirm the source of the problem.

I suspect these connectors are the issue, do you know if there is a conductive compound that can be added to these pin connections that might help?

Thanks

Rick


Cold solder joints are not always obvious, nor even evident. Can't count the sets I have successfully repaired just by following cold solder joint protocol on lots and lots of connections that LOOK perfectly OK.

The plug-ins get jostled around when plugging and unplugging the plugs. As such the anchoring of the jacks gets disturbed.

The first thing you should do is resolder the pins at all of the E connectors. Then and only then, if the problem persists, should you look to any sort of compound. Nobody on this thread so far, from my reading of it and following it for months, has reported that any kind of conductive compound has helped or has even been tried. All successful repairs have been due to hitting the correct cold solder joints with resoldering.


Mr Bob

OK I took the PS board out again. Inspected it very closely with a maginfying glass and I am positive there is no solder bridge anywhere on this board. I installed the board, made sure all connectors are seated properly but the problem still exists. Do you think a new power supply board is in order or the problem could be in other parts of this TV?

After pressing the master power switch a red LED on the PS board labled PWR DWN comes on and stays on. The TV stays off.

Any help is greatly appriciated.

Well, mine started to shut down again, so I removed it again resoldered it....again, reinstalled, now no shut down. So I decided to sell it before this issue happens again. I got $1000 for the set and went and purchased a 62" DLP Mitsubishi. So that was enough for me.
Good Luck to all you Elite owners with this very common problem.

OK I took the PS board out again. Inspected it very closely with a maginfying glass and I am positive there is no solder bridge anywhere on this board. I installed the board, made sure all connectors are seated properly but the problem still exists. Do you think a new power supply board is in order or the problem could be in other parts of this TV?

After pressing the master power switch a red LED on the PS board labled PWR DWN comes on and stays on. The TV stays off.

Any help is greatly appriciated.


Watch for any red LEDs to be on after the shutdown. Could be your convergence ICs have gone down, just coincidentally at this time, just after your repair.

If so, there will be a red LED on the convergence board glowing. It's the vertically mounted 2 level board on the left side of the unit as you are facing the back of the set.

I know that's a longshot, but look closely and see how many red LEDs are lit up after shutdown, and where they are.


Mr Bob

Yes there is another red LED on the vertically mounted board on the lower left side of the TV that is glowing. So that mean my convergence ICs are down? Are the ICs on that vertically mounted board? I am relieved that I did not damage my PS board. But this may be more expensive.

Chris,
How did you sell yours? Is there an online market place for these TVs?
I am considering selling mine as well.
I live in southern California. If anyone is interested in a PRO-610HD send me a message.

Pioneer lists 2 different numbers for the power supply assembly. AWV 1795 is "for old model" while AWV 1872 is "for new model".

Does anyone know how I can tell whether I have a new or old model? (I have a PRO-710 bought in 2001).

Pioneer lists 2 different numbers for the power supply assembly. AWV 1795 is "for old model" while AWV 1872 is "for new model".

Does anyone know how I can tell whether I have a new or old model? (I have a PRO-710 bought in 2001).

If you call them to order they will ask you for the TV's serial number to determine which one you need.

Mr Bob,
If the convergence ICs in my TV are down what is the fix? Are we talking about a board change?

Mr Bob,
If the convergence ICs in my TV are down what is the fix? Are we talking about a board change?


I have never had to resort to a board changeout on any of the x10 series. They are emminently repairable, and convergence is one of the most eminently repairable of all.

As per our phone call, this is all that ever usually goes wrong with the Elites. Power supply board and convergence. Otherwise they're solid as a rock, and last virtually forever.

For a $7000 piece of equipment, as I also said on the phone, I think spending a grand to keep her performing as great as the Elites are capable of, is a small price to pay. Sure you can get something for less these days, but not that will perform like these Elites will, once repaired and then fully calibrated.

They are just stunning when I get thru with them.


Mr Bob


PS - Mo Man lives in Irvine, and is looking to put together a calibration tour in SoCal. Anybody want to join in? I currently have 3 owners of bigscreens needing my attention in and around LA, both for repairs and cals - 2 on Pioneers and one on a Mit.

More the merrier.

It turned out there were more cold solder point than the connectors. Some of the solder point on the ICs that had a heat sink needed to be floated again. It appears that that +5 v power was not getting to the convergence ICs. After this round of PS board soldering everything seems to be working OK.

Thanks to everyone for their posting and special thanks to Bob.

It turned out there were more cold solder point than the connectors. Some of the solder point on the ICs that had a heat sink needed to be floated again. It appears that that +5 v power was not getting to the convergence ICs. After this round of PS board soldering everything seems to be working OK.

Thanks to everyone for their posting and special thanks to Bob.


When I do this repair, I don't just go to the points recommended in this or any other thread. I perform "cold solder joint protocol", as I call it, which I describe earlier in this thread and which I have been doing for more than 20 years in the repair biz. It applies to not only bigscreens, but small screens, all of audio, computers, etc.

My protocol would have caught this, first time around, as I never would have stopped with connectors. I would have surveyed the board very closely, and applied my protocol to it. As you would see if you read what I wrote earlier, anything that develops heat is suspect and needs to be examined, and regulator ICs are some of the most prime suspects. Some cold solder joints aren't visibly apparent, even with a magnifying glass. In those cases you just have to use your experience and your intuition.

Glad you got to the bottom of it, tho.

You ready for a calibration, now that you have saved several hundred dollars in repairs due to our efforts here?


Mr Bob

Well guys, add me to the list of sad Elite 710HD owners that has developed the "pop and shut down" problem. It started two ago. Thanks to this forum I will attempt to fix the low voltage card (cold solder joints) after buying some stuff at Radio Shack.

My second issue has to do with convergence. I tried to fix my shut down problem by unplugging the set, leaving it alone for an hour and then powering it up. When I powered it up the screen display (Full 4:3) went off skew and bottom of screen has a concave shape and two lines (red and blue) on right side of screen. Tried to fix by manually going through all multi-point convergence correction without fixing problem. Is there something I am missing????? Will this fix itself when I perform the cold solder fix? Then, just after I finished the convergence fix the set went pop and shut down. What a pain in the butt!!!

Thanks to all for their insights into this issue.

Sad Elite owner outside Atlanta, Georgia.

Well guys, add me to the list of sad Elite 710HD owners that has developed the "pop and shut down" problem. It started two ago. Thanks to this forum I will attempt to fix the low voltage card (cold solder joints) after buying some stuff at Radio Shack.

My second issue has to do with convergence. I tried to fix my shut down problem by unplugging the set, leaving it alone for an hour and then powering it up. When I powered it up the screen display (Full 4:3) went off skew and bottom of screen has a concave shape and two lines (red and blue) on right side of screen. Tried to fix by manually going through all multi-point convergence correction without fixing problem. Is there something I am missing????? Will this fix itself when I perform the cold solder fix? Then, just after I finished the convergence fix the set went pop and shut down. What a pain in the butt!!!

Thanks to all for their insights into this issue.

Sad Elite owner outside Atlanta, Georgia.


2 different repairs, one PS the other convergence. Read up on both here in this thread.

Each has to be handled separately, tho bad conns on the PS boards CAN cause the convergence to go astray, even if the conv board is not bad.


Mr Bob

2 different repairs, one PS the other convergence. Read up on both here in this thread.

Each has to be handled separately, tho bad conns on the PS boards CAN cause the convergence to go astray, even if the conv board is not bad.


Mr Bob


Thanks Mr. Bob. I will work on the soldering first and then see what happens. I sure hope that the convergence issue goes away. Will keep everyone posted.

BB-Georgia

Well, my first attempt to solder joints failed. After putting the board back in, it lasted just 30 seconds before "pop-shut down". Have decided to reread the complete thread again and see what I missed. Focused on E2, E5, C204 and T101. Will let you know how it goes.

By the way, the convergence issue I had after unplugging the machine was still there as well. Hopefully, when I get the shutdown issue solved the convergence issue will go away as well.

Will try again tomorrow.

BB-Georgia

Mr. Bob,

Can you please let me know if the T101 area is a diagonal area with about 8 solder joints (one with a wire attached) in the middle of the low voltage board? I was not sure if that was correct or not. Based on the symptoms outlined earlier in the thread, this seems to be the primary area to focus on. If I am wrong, I would appreciate your insights and guidance to point me to the right areas to focus on.

Thanks for your assistance,
BB-Georgia

Well, my first attempt to solder joints failed. After putting the board back in, it lasted just 30 seconds before "pop-shut down". Have decided to reread the complete thread again and see what I missed. Focused on E2, E5, C204 and T101. Will let you know how it goes.

By the way, the convergence issue I had after unplugging the machine was still there as well. Hopefully, when I get the shutdown issue solved the convergence issue will go away as well.

Will try again tomorrow.

BB-Georgia


The entire problem could all be in the convergence and have nothing to do with the PS board. Unfortunately, the only way to check that out is to uncouple the power rails from the conv ICs, minimum, without removing those voltages from other parts of the board, or other parts of the circuit, like the PS board, where they come from. Or remove the ICs and replace them.

If decoupling the plus and minus voltage rails from touching the conv ICs makes the unit stay on, then for sure the ICs need to be replaced, as they are shorting things out in there. One or both, depending on how your troubleshooting skills are.

I would always replace both, because if one goes now, the other could go tomorrow. You know, old throw-out bearing principle.

Read up on my entries about conv IC repair.


Mr Bob

Mr. Bob,

Can you please let me know if the T101 area is a diagonal area with about 8 solder joints (one with a wire attached) in the middle of the low voltage board? I was not sure if that was correct or not. Based on the symptoms outlined earlier in the thread, this seems to be the primary area to focus on. If I am wrong, I would appreciate your insights and guidance to point me to the right areas to focus on.

Thanks for your assistance,
BB-Georgia


I don't own one, so it would be hard for me to answer that. Hopefully someone who does can chime in on this one.

There is no one area to focus upon, in this kind of repair. Read up on cold solder joint protocol.

I am available for paid phone consultation at any time.


Mr Bob

Well I finally broke down and did the solder trick and it worked perfectly! Bob was right about it not getting any better. For a long time I just had the flash problem, and I procrastinated on the fix, and just like he said it got worse and worse until the set started shutting down.

It was actually far easier than I expected. If I knew it would be that easy I would have done it months ago. Thanks for all the great tips! Especially the pictures on http://home.comcast.net/~larryh791/elitepsfix.html.

Tom