NES TV picture problem

RetroMarc

Hello all! My name is Marc. I’m a game collector and recently I came across an NES TV that a random pawn shop owner offered to sell to me for $200. Worked good at the time of purchase. NES deck wouldn’t stay down which is typical, and two of the feet were broken, also typical. Bought it, brought it home. 



I took it apart to fix the deck issue and swap out the old pin connector for a new one. Put it all back together, plugged it in, turned it on, everything seemed fine. Got the static on the tv screen, but before I was able to turn the console portion of it on, I heard the frequency of the tv get a little higher pitch (dunno how else to describe it), heard it kinda shut off, and then the screen went blank. Slight burning smell ensued but no smoke or fire. Tv still powers on and the nes part still powers on, but the screen stays black. 



Any idea as to what happened? I have no experience working on the tubes of a crt tv, and I made sure not to mess around with it while servicing the NES. And like I said, it was working when I got it back together but it like, shorted out or something. Ive asked a couple local tv repair shops in the area but they either don’t work on old tube TVs anymore, or don’t understand what it is and try to sell me a new tv.  



Any help or guidance would be so appreciated!

leatherrebel5150

Well if you smell something then obviously you let the magic smoke out of something and something got shorted. Whatever you do, DO NOT go messing around with the tv portion of the electronics. I forget which component it is (i assume a capacitor) can have enough of a zap to kill you EVEN AFTER being unplugged.

SNESNESCUBE64

So my advice for CRTs is as follows: don't work on them yourself without doing thourough research, that stuff can kill you. First off, I've never had an NES TV, however I did have a problem like this before while working on my 20EZ monitor. What had happened was that the HOT (Horizontal Output Transistor) had internally shorted, resulting in a high pitch screaming. However I don't remember it going blank. The only other thing that I can think of is maybe the flyback. However, I am not an expert with CRTs, I've only began looking into them as of recently because I had to repair an arcade monitor and a couple oscilloscope monitors. One other thing to look at is capacitors, I know monitors that old can benefit from having them replaced. I guess if you smelled smoke it would be beneficial to see what burnt up, that could provide some clues. If someone else on here can't help you, perhaps try an arcade forum like KLOV being that there are a lot of people on those kinds of sites that work on CRTs. Welcome to the forums by the way.



^you might be thinking of the tube itself, it gets charged up in a kilovolt range and it can get ya. Although some capacitors might hold a charge that can hurt ya too.

SNESNESCUBE64

*hit quote instead of edit, didn't notice on my phone*

Sign Collector Guy

Originally posted by: RetroMarc



Hello all! My name is Marc. I’m a game collector and recently I came across an NES TV that a random pawn shop owner offered to sell to me for $200. Worked good at the time of purchase. NES deck wouldn’t stay down which is typical, and two of the feet were broken, also typical. Bought it, brought it home. 



I took it apart to fix the deck issue and swap out the old pin connector for a new one. Put it all back together, plugged it in, turned it on, everything seemed fine. Got the static on the tv screen, but before I was able to turn the console portion of it on, I heard the frequency of the tv get a little higher pitch (dunno how else to describe it), heard it kinda shut off, and then the screen went blank. Slight burning smell ensued but no smoke or fire. Tv still powers on and the nes part still powers on, but the screen stays black. 



Any idea as to what happened? I have no experience working on the tubes of a crt tv, and I made sure not to mess around with it while servicing the NES. And like I said, it was working when I got it back together but it like, shorted out or something. Ive asked a couple local tv repair shops in the area but they either don’t work on old tube TVs anymore, or don’t understand what it is and try to sell me a new tv.  



Any help or guidance would be so appreciated!

If facebook is your thing there is a fantastic group called The CRT Collective with an incredible Knowledge base to assist.

 

Bratwurst

Without looking at the set and going by what you described, I would guess that the flyback or HOT transistor (or something related to the H-drive circuit) has gone out. Opening up the back of the TV and looking at the chassis should show an obvious scorch somewhere... it's repairable.

bigdawg8412

Maybe see if there are any local arcade repair shops that can take a look at it.

Otter

Sounds like a flyback to me. Look for a crack in it and blackish brown goo seaping out. Make sure if you replace it to ground the volts out of the tube. It can zap you real good! Research!

dewisp02

Any blown fuses? Does the neck still have glow when powered on? If not, its a high voltage circuit issue. If it does have glow, but no screen, then it is a deflection circuit issue. Feel free to pm me with more info so I can further assist.