Budget Buster! TV just out of warranty and suddenly no picture!

[Soon2B4]

Sooo, we had my son's first B-day party yesterday. Right before the party, we loose the picture on our 16 month old tv. We tried everything we could think of. It's not the u-verse box, we checked all the connections, nothing worked. We have sound, but the screen is black. Samsung was no help and referred us to a tech that is an hour away! Now we have to see how much it's going to cost to fix or if we should just buy a new tv. Of course we didn't buy the warranty from Best Buy not thinking the tv would break that soon. Right now, we are all watching a 24 inch tv in our family room! We really miss the 50"! My DH was less than thrilled about watching the Cavs on a small screen.

 

[HunnyPots]

No advice for you but I had to laugh at your "small screen" reference - our good TV is a fifteen year old 25 inch Sanyo and I'm definitely not talking flat screen!

 

[Soon2B4]

Has anyone had any luck fixing their tv on their own? I found a website, Justask.com (I think) and was wondering if anyone had used it before.

 

[dsnymom72]

When our TV (50in) lost the picture, we fixed it ourselves. It was a bulb that burned out, we had to order the bulb online but we never called a repairman. I'd look up the TV online and check the "Troubleshooting", it certainly can't hurt and may save you the cost of a repairman.

 

[Soon2B4]

The website is justanswer.com. Anyone use it before?

Our good tv was a perfectly good 36" Sanyo, not a flat screen either! Man that thing is heavy, which is why it's staying where it is! Anyway, our dvd player broke and he got the bluray player since "eventually" we would switch. "Eventually" turned into 2 days later. Men and their toys!

 

[dawson5]

When our TV (50in) lost the picture, we fixed it ourselves. It was a bulb that burned out, we had to order the bulb online but we never called a repairman. I'd look up the TV online and check the "Troubleshooting", it certainly can't hurt and may save you the cost of a repairman.

Same here. Hubby was watching something and heard a "pop." It was the bulb. He bought a bulb warranty through BB. They gave him the run-around, he was able to buy the bulb from a local repairman, replace it himself and be reimbursed by BB for the cost of the part. We also let the repairman come out and make sure everything was alright, he found something else starting to go and replaced it (still under warranty).

If it's that bulb, why not see if you can look online at the way the tv is set up and see if the bulb is there, broke or burned out. I would think that just about any place you asked would tell you the same thing. I think that is the first thing to go on the LCD's. Someone else on here said that you could buy the bulbs cheaper online. I know our bulb was $250 through the repairman. When we are out of our bulb warranty, I know that I will be researching it.

 

[mommom2five]

We have an RCA big screen that we have had to replace the blub in twice (the second time was just last week) and the TV is only 3 years old. I was told by a repair shop that the blubs usually last a little over a year. The first time it blew the extended warranty paid for the bulb but this time it would not (I was told they only pay for the bulb once) so it cost us about 160.00 to get the bulb. The bulbs are easy to put in, my husband replaced ours.

 

[Soon2B4]

I wish it could be as easy as the bulb. We have a plasma. Thanks for the tip though.