Kill Your Television

24 April
2007

Kill Your Television

TV Free Ain't So Bad

Over the weekend my television made the worst sound ever. It made a loud "pop", similar to the sound a light bulb makes when it breaks. Scared the crap out of me. Shortly thereafter, no picture was to be had.

Luckily, my television is under warranty so it should not cost me anything for the repair....except time. When I called about the repair, the earliest a technician can look at it is May 3rd. A week and a half?!? Seriously? What are my other options? After calling a hotline for such matters, I was informed that I could probably do the bulb replacement myself. I looked up the procedure on a web site and it was pretty straight forward. I have experience repairing computers, so opening the back of a television was not too scary. When I removed the lamp, the bulb was in pieces. Obviously the culprit to my lack of video.

The next step is to acquire a new bulb. Unfortunately, the serial number on my television is listed as "out of warranty" based on the manufacturer's records. Therefore, I had to prove that I have owned my television for less than a year. I have faxed my invoice to the manufacturer, so I should be entitled to a replacement bulb. Let us see which happens first: the arrival of a replacement bulb or May 3rd, which is the scheduled visit for repair by a technician. Stay tuned (pun only mildly intended)

Posted by steve at 15:43 | Comments (3) | Trackbacks (0)

Comments

Re: Kill Your Television

Update-
I contacted the manufacturer and proved I fall under their warranty after faxing them a copy of my invoice. They have a relationship with another television repair shop, which should contact me by Thursday.

Posted by: steve at April 25,2007 14:07

Re: Kill Your Television

Consolidated Electronics in Raleigh came out to replace the lamp/bulb on Saturday. They also replaced the balist, which regulates the voltage to the lamp, since the existing balist was outdated. Completed all the work in a matter of minutes.

Later that evening, we leisurely watch television without issue. However, in the middle of the night we were woken up by the smell of "burning". It smelled like an electrical fire. The smell filled the entire house. I unplugged the TV, then went back to bed. The next day, I plugged the TV back in and was met with the same smell, which almost knocked me down. Knowing they were closed on Sunday, I waited until Monday.

After several phone calls, I found out that this smell should be temporary. Since my mother was at my house visiting, I had her plug the TV back in to test for the smell. Nothing. So hopefully my TV is back to normal, although I did enjoy some TV-free days.

Posted by: steve at April 30,2007 11:48

Re: Kill Your Television

The burning smell turned out to be temporary, although it lasted a little longer than expected. Things are finally back to normal.

Posted by: steve at May 02,2007 12:06

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