[strictlyamateur]

And I'm a Red Sox fan. Who says the curse is dead?


It's 16 months old and just out of warranty. It stopped turning on this morning - the standby light blinks 6 times, stops, then blinks 6 times again.


Not sure if there's any advice anyone has, just throwing it out on the chance that someone does. There's a repairman coming on Wednesday; earliest I could get one out here.


Nothing to say, really, just pissed that I got a lemon and hope someone has some magic advice. I've unplugged it, plugged it straight into the wall, messed with the remote. Seems quite broken.

 

[Meteor]

Sorry strictlyamateur about your misfortune, the led blinking 6 times indicates a low +B, overcurrent/overvoltage.

The service manual have a posible cause location at:

1- +5V line is overloaded(A, B, M Boards)

2- +5V line is shorted(A, B, M Boards)

3- IC504 is faulty (A Board)


It could be as simple as bad voltage regulator or $$$ for a board replacement, Sony pretty much discourage technicians to work on some boards at the component level due to to complexity and surface mount materials. Good Luck.. Keep us posted.

 

[strictlyamateur]

Thanks, Meteor. I appreciate the info. I'll let you know how it turns out.

 

[Workindood]

You mean to say that you DID NOT purchase a ESP? I agree they are mostly a rip-off. But when it comes to expensive electronics they will pay for themselves.


Also from what you are telling us it seems to be some kind of a power problem.


But still after only 16 months to break down like that...Hmmm....that would Burn my Shorts. It wouldn't hurt to write to Sony (Snail Mail) and complain. You never know...they might help you out or replace it with another set. If you do contact them...be polite. Do not threaten. Try to work on their "humanity".

 

[eneg]

Quote:

Originally posted by strictlyamateur And I'm a Red Sox fan. Who says the curse is dead? It's 16 months old and just out of warranty. It stopped turning on this morning - the standby light blinks 6 times, stops, then blinks 6 times again. Not sure if there's any advice anyone has, just throwing it out on the chance that someone does.

Well, if it's blinking 6 times - twice, then you have to divide the 6 by the 2.

That equals 3.

It's definitely the Babe trying to make contact.

Get the Red Sox out of your life and you should be just fine!


Good luck having the set repaired. . .


Eneg

 

[Peter_Klim]

Quote:

Originally posted by Workindood You mean to say that you DID NOT purchase a ESP? I agree they are mostly a rip-off. But when it comes to expensive electronics they will pay for themselves. Also from what you are telling us it seems to be some kind of a power problem. But still after only 16 months to break down like that...Hmmm....that would Burn my Shorts. It wouldn't hurt to write to Sony (Snail Mail) and complain. You never know...they might help you out or replace it with another set. If you do contact them...be polite. Do not threaten. Try to work on their "humanity".

ESP? what a scam.

 

[strictlyamateur]

I've bought one ESP in my life - it was for a treadmill, and the benefit was that they would replace the tread after five years in addition to covering anything that went wrong. I thought there was some value to it, so I took it. Guess what? The company I bought it from went out of business, so I never took advantage of the ESP.


My guess is that eventually you will wish that you had bought an ESP for some product you own, but good luck figuring out which one in advance. For the price they charge, you'd be better off just sucking it up when you finally take a hit.


I am thinking twice about getting one for my Sony DVD camcorder now, but $250 for insurance on an $850 purchase, and for a limited time too (three years, I think)? Forget it. I wholeheartedly second Peter Klim's opinion. ESPs are a ripoff.


That said, I'll let you all know what the bill come to!


I've appealed to Sony to get them to cover this under warranty - will let you know how that works out.


A word on getting these things serviced - I live in the middle of the Baltimore-Washington metro area, 5 million people at last count, and there are only three Sony authorized service centers within 25 miles of me (that covers both Baltimore and Washington), and only one will come to my house. Sony's nearest service center is 100 miles away in Pennsylvania.


The company coming to my house is charging $70 for the diagnostics alone. Circuity City, where I bought this thing from, wanted $99 for the diagnostics, and it would then take 7-10 days for them to order the parts and finish the job.

 

[strictlyamateur]

The total comes to $380.55 - $201 for a D-complete board (sp?) , and the rest for taxes, labor, etc.


I've gotten nowhere with appeals to Sony. If they fail to resolve this in a satisfactory manner, I will never buy another one of their products.

 

[Mathesar]

I read on another forum awhile back (or it might of been user reviews) that the 32HS510 has problems with D-Boards shorting out Apparently Sony started using a newer revision d-board so its unlikely to happen again once its replaced , Im just glad I bought the ESP on my 32HS510.. it's currently 7 months old but not sure if it has the updated board already.


If this is indeed a known issue you'd think Sony should definately pay for repairs regardless of it being out of warranty.. anyhow hope it works out.

 

[strictlyamateur]

Thanks, Mathesar. Great info. Did a quick search and it seems to be a problem on the XBR, at least:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...ghlight=dboard

http://www.agoraquest.com/user.php?o...uname=saboveed

 

[GS kid]

I have the 34xbr800. I agree that ESPs are a ripoff when it comes to most stuff. When it comes to $2600 big ticket items like my set, it's well worth it. My ESP only costs $90 for 3 years. Renewable up to 9 years total. Includes all labor and parts. I've used it once when they came to get rid of the infamous 1080i sweeping vertical bar. Took all of about 15 minutes. I had a ESP on my Proscan 38-inch 16:9 direct-view. It died in 6 months. They came out 4 times to fix it and never could. They brought it into the shop. It wasn't able to be fixed and I got a full store credit. That's when I put it towards this Sony I own now. If it has a big price tag, get the ESP. Shop around for the place with the best ESP price. I think a friend of mine told me that my ESP would have been near $280 at Best Buy. I'm a happy camper!

 

[roostacaster]

Originally posted by : strictlyamateur

_________________________________________________________


The total comes to $380.55 - $201 for a D-complete board (sp?) , and the rest for taxes, labor, etc.


I've gotten nowhere with appeals to Sony. If they fail to resolve this in a satisfactory manner, I will never buy another one of their products.


_________________________________________________________




When you bought the product you knew it had 1 year parts and 90 days labor coverage. Because it went out at 16 months you feel they should fix it? They only guarantee it to work for the period that the warranty is in. Electronics break. Thats just the facts of life. Some people have better luck than others. Just because it has broken once, that does not determine it a lemon. A lemon is a product that has MULTIPLE problems throughout the set. Broken TVs happen. Boycotting Sony because they wouldn't throw their repair policy out the window, which they clearly state in their manual, doesn't teach them a lesson. I don't mean any ill will with this message, but it seems that not buying Sony products if they don't bend over for you is a little unreasonable.

 

[strictlyamateur]

If an ESP is really that necessary, then we're dealing with a truth in advertising issue. If they don't have confidence in their products, they should add it to the price of the product and hike prices by 25%. They warranty their ES products for five years, so they're quite capable of building something they have confidence in.


If it had been $90 for three years, I would have bought it, but $300? What happens if something goes wrong four months after the extended policy ends? Perhaps the real ripoff here is Circuit City.


Whatever you do, you are rolling the dice, whether you buy the ESP or not.


That issue aside, it's starting to look to me like Sony has a real quality issue with their boards:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=463505


If that's the case, then they should cover it.

 

[Workindood]

Life is a gamble. So is purchasing products. ESP to me is a peace of mind issue. I don't have to worry for awhile.


I also add my computers and my Sony TV to my homeowners insurance. Theft, Fire, and Power surges.


Granted they SHOULD build anything to last at least a year under warranty for the regular price of the equipment. But they don't, you get a whopping 90 days. We all have known that for years. So if one choses NOT to purchase an ESP plan then one should not complain if it breaks.


ESP is part of the "Game". Gambling that is....AND you can negotiate the price of an ESP plan. I do.

 

[lovebuzz#836]

Quote:

Granted they SHOULD build anything to last at least a year under warranty for the regular price of the equipment. But they don't, you get a whopping 90 days. We all have known that for years. So if one choses NOT to purchase an ESP plan then one should not complain if it breaks.

I wholly agree with this statement. I work at Best Buy and there are lots of things that I wouldn't buy any kind of PSP, ESP, etc. on. But, there are also things that I would. A Large Sony TV manufactured after 1996 would definitely have some kind of added protection on it or I simply would not choose to own one.


I've probably used this story here before, but since it really happened I do like to bring it up. Customer buys $7000 plasma, uses it for 16-18 months. Plasma array fails, customer calls manufacturer. Manufacturer explains that the cost of the array is 80% of the price of the TV, labor is more. Customer explains to manufacturer that he could buy the new model for less than the replacement part. Customer is advised that they should throw it in the trash and buy a new one since it is a better deal for them. Customer then calls me.........etc. etc.


My dad was sold on a tv that we didn't have at best buy, so I took him to Ultimate Electronics to get the one he wanted. He paid 10% LESS than the sticker price WITH the Extended Service. It's all in how you deal

 

[caltvdude]

If an ESP is really that necessary, then we're dealing with a truth in advertising issue. If they don't have confidence in their products, they should add it to the price of the product and hike prices by 25%. They warranty their ES products for five years, so they're quite capable of building something they have confidence in.


That issue aside, it's starting to look to me like Sony has a real quality issue with their boards


-strictlyamatuer


That's ok, you can pay the extra 25% if you'd like, I'll stick with my prices.


Also Sony guarentees there ES line for 5 years because it's audio equipment. If you really want to make a point, then talk about there XBR line having 2 year warranties.


I'd hate to point out the obvious, but the link you clicked on a thread with two posts about a service tech basically saying "Yeah this kind of stuff happens all the time."


Don't boycott Sony because they won't fix a TV out of warranty. Boycott Sony because there an evil empire that overcharges customers for pieces of junk with shorter warranties because they know people will buy it when they see the words SONY, WEGA, and decades old TV technology TRINITRON. Boycott them because more cost went into that TV for their marketing team than there engineering team. Boycott them for every customer that walks into a store and says they want a SONY XBR and have no clue why.

 

[roostacaster]

Good point. And provide shock therapy for the people that think Sony is the NAME in electronics, even speakers.

 

[strictlyamateur]

Okay, they finally fixed it yesterday, but now the screen looks darker and the picture doesn't seem quite as clear. Anyone have an idea what the problem could be? I'd say it's a perception issue, but my wife and I noticed it independently of each other.