Reassembling the door and control panel took me a two or three days, because nothing fitted back as well as it did originally.
Part of the problem was the paint thickness. Where the CP used to just barely slide past the paint on the inside of the CP area, the panel was now scraping paint and making a mess.
The only practical solution was to get my big-ass file and carefully grind about 0.75mm off the right side/front. I had to be careful to not damage the paintwork, but I got it done. Then I also had to repaint the parts scraped by the CP.
Once that was all done, it was time to re-fit the CRT. This is when disaster struck
The TV chassis had been sitting on my electronics workbench for a couple of weeks while I was sorting the paint and other things out. So I grabbed the CRT and chassis, mounted it all into the cab and fired it up, but ...
It wasn't working right. The TV wasn't switching into YUV mode (which I need), and in fact the TV/AV button on the remote was not working at all. Some buttons on the remote did not seem to work, or worked only intermittently. I went into the menu, then I saw this (below/left):
The menu did not look right, and furthermore there were these garbage characters along the bottom line.
I did manage to get into the service menu and was looking to see if there was a reset or something (there isn't). Then I was at the screen you see (above/right), and changed the value of "64PIN SET" from "0" to "1" (default value, according to manual), and about 2 seconds later the TV just turned itself off.
That was it. The TV wasn't coming on anymore. Off on holidays.
I spent a day looking through my other CRT TVs to see if there was one suitable for this 21" tube, which I liked and had already mounted. After going through about eight TVs, but there was no easy match.
My first theory was that the 64-pin jungle chip, which controls the remote among other things, was either dead or corrupted. This is not a good thing, as changing a 64-pin chip is never easy.
The problem with that theory is that the jungle chip doesn't actually store any data. So how can it get corrupted? The more I thought about this, the more I thought there must be something else going on.
So I had another really good look at the chassis, and finally noticed this little 8-pin IC sitting quietly in a corner (circled in yellow, below). I had no idea what it was, initially I thought it might be a video amp as it was near the cable that takes RGB up to the neckboard. So I looked at the numbers, "HK24C08", and googled it.
Turns out HK24C08 is an EEPROM chip! It must service the jungle! I confirmed this by finding the traces to jungle chip serial data lines.
Unfortunately no way to properly test the IC. Corrupted data != shorts.
So, I took a huge gulp, girded my loins, and removed the chip. I replaced it with an identical chip I pulled off a currently not-working but nearly identical TV chassis. I fired up the TV again aaaaaaannnnnndd.........
It worked!!!!!
That is probably the most ballsy repair I've ever done. Pure hunch/theory.
I had to spend half a morning rejigging a lot of values via service menu, but now it is working and looking 100% again
Naturally, you are all asking "HOW DID THE CHIP GET CORRUPTED?". Well, it can just happen randomly. However, my theory is that is is because of chickens that occasionally infiltrate my shed/workshop area, like commandos on a mission, looking for somewhere to lay their golden bounties (eggs).
On at least two occasions I had to chase chickens off my electronics work table, where the chassis was, while I was getting the paint done (outside, of course)
If anyone wants some chickens, come get them (free).
NEXT: The Phoenix rises