Help troubleshoot a Panasonic Plasma

This bar runs directly down the middle of the screen. It comes and goes, and not in any sort of discernible pattern. Just randomly appears and goes away. Panasonic TC-P46S2, less than two years old.

I have seen threads on fixing a black line / bar running vertically down the screen, and the fix was a cheap secondary board and a little handy work. A tech looked at my screen and said this issue is the panel. He didn't test it or open it up, he simply looked and said it is the PDP. I am curious if any experts out there can confirm things one way or the other simply by looking. If it is not the panel, is this something a fairly efficient, mechanically inclined person can fix on their own?

As you can see, sometimes the issue is a full two inch bar (last two pictures), other times it is merely a horizontal line running that two inch length, every inch and a half or so vertically.

Today, the bar went from what I showed earlier, to a solid black bar. As I stated initially, I have read posts where the solid black bar ends up not being the panel and is instead some secondary board, often pretty cheap and only mildly difficult to change. Do these new photos suggest it could be a secondary board, or is this just the evolution of a bad / dying panel?

So, after reading more on this type of issue I found one post that suggested squeezing the TV along the edges, near the problem area(s). While squeezing did not work, banging along the top of the TV above the problem area did. The line got worse / better / went away / came back, basically changed, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse, but banging did have a noticeable affect on the display. Does this sway the prevailing thought that perhaps it is not the panel, and more than likely a wiring or connection issue?

I will take it apart, but want to be as informed as possible first, mainly because I do not want to electrocute myself, since I have never worked on a plasma TV before, or any television for that matter.

Also, if it ends up being a connection issue, likely toward the top of the TV, perhaps the ribbon cables etc., is it merely a matter of pushing them in, or should I be prepared / do more research as the fix could be a bit more in depth?
Edited by Mark617 - 1/22/13 at 10:59am

Well I took it apart, and there were three connectors that were barely connected. Also, on one of the ribbon cables near the bottom, there was, what looked like, a piece of clear plastic that looked like it wedged itself between the ribbon sections (4 little sections of ribbon). I pulled that out, reset all the connections (staying away from any re: the power source) and then cleaned everything up. The picture below shows where the plastic piece was wedged, but I had already removed it.



The only thing I noticed that looked odd, was on the board on the left hand side (when looking into the back of the TV). As you can see, around what looks like thermal paste on the sqaure pieces.



Not sure what those white areas are, maybe just dried glue etc., but I did not notice anything else odd, other than the clear plastic piece I removed from the ribbon section and the loose connectors.

So far it is working, but that doesn't mean much. One thing I will note, when they replaced the panel they said I was getting a new one, and I would have demanded as much. The paperwork even says new panel, yet the panel I have clearly says refurbished on it. While this is probably within warranty parameters, I find it pretty freaking annoying I was told it would be new, because I would have never accepted a refurbished panel on a warranty issue. I paid new panel price and would expect a new panel replacement. But again, this is more me venting than anything haha!

So far, so good. But, with my luck, simply responding to this thread will doom my TV and the line will return