Collapsed? - Sony TV

[Crazy Cooter]

It's just my regular TV but I do have a computer hooked to it.  Anyhow...

Yesterday morning I couldn't get any piture to show.  It sounded great but *ahem* "played blind".  Then last night when the little lady came home it started just like normal.  So I look stupid and move on...

This morning it starts normal, runs for 20 seconds, then thumps and the beam collapses into a smaller & smaller dot.  The thing is a heavy-ass console so I need to coordinate about 6 people to move it onto a trailer to bring it to the TV repair man.

Is this something I can just fix myself?  (enter standard warnings)

Is it just too damn dry in my house?  (enter wishful thinking - it's @~20%)

[Ken Layton]

Sony's are special circuitry & picture tubes. Suggest posting on the newsgroup, sci.electronics.repair since that's where many professional tv repair techs hang out. Perhaps they could point you to a particular troublesome part, but be sure to list your specific model & chassis numbers from the nameplate on the back of the set.

[Crazy Cooter]

I may have found some help...

It's a Trinitron XBR - KV-32XBR70 and the sleep light stays on as described here:
http://209.59.135.61/viewtopic.php?topic=10628&forum=34
"Like Kawal, my problem was a bad solder joint on diode D659.  I resoldered it and the set powered up perfectly."

Now I just need to find where diode D659 is so I can check it...

Is there anywhere that has manuals/schematics for download?  (I'm a newsgroup retard btw.  I've never used one  )

--- edit ---
http://www.technotronic-dimensions.com/Products.html
They have a kit that may fix my problem (Part Number: TD1020).  I'll poke around with some test equipment later today, but I may have found a fix for $15 if some resoldering doesn't work.

I also found a funny comment while searching around:
"It's a Sony so resolder resolder resolder"

[Ken Layton]

No freebies on Sony manuals. You must order a manual from a Sony parts dealer like Fox International (www.fox-international.com) or the Sony Service Center (www.sel.sony.com or 1-800-222-7669).

[Crazy Cooter]

Now this is kind of odd... I was going to do some soldering today but tried the TV.  It started right up.  I've been turning it on & off all day with no issues.

What I *think* may have happened:
Our house gets really dry this time of year.  It was at 15% yesterday (that's the lowest so far) and we fired up the humidifier.  It's now ~22% and rising.  Could that be the issue?  Will electronics arc when it's that dry?  I have a computer that reboots itself when it's dry and that's why I turned on the humidifier.

[menace]

I'm thinking your cold solder joint just wiggled the right way and is currently in that position so that it works.  Most boards are silkscreened to show the numbers--but i'm guessing if you can't find it then yours must not be.  I refuse to buy anything sony because its impossible to fix yourself, there is no help on the web and its typically more expensive to get repaired cause all their parts are proprietary.

[Crazy Cooter]

I haven't popped the back off (yet) to see how well the pcb's are labeled.  I haven't had to.  It's been working fine ever since I turned on the humidifier.

Beats me wtf is going on, but I'm winning on this one.  Don't want to jinx anything  .