Entertainment Center: TVs, Stereos, VCRs and DVDs - 31" Toshiba T.V. with vertical sweep problem

Model number is CF3060K. I have about a 3" to 4" black line at the bottom of my screen and the picture is pushed up. The people look like they have short legs and I cannot read all of the information at the top of the screen if I am watching sports or when I change the channel on my satellite dish.

I have never worked on a t.v. set before so, if any advice given could be given a simple as possible it would be great.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

It almost sounds like a similar problem I had with one of my tv's a short while back. However having the picture itself be deformed by the black box rules out the same problem I had. (The closed caption option went errant and covered the whole screen without displaying any words)

I am not advising anyone to open up their tv and start poking around inside w/o any clue as to the electrical health risks they are taking... however, if you do decide to have a go at it yourself, here's some suggestions. (To stay safe while working on a tv, please use common sense, avoid touching the picture tube or anything running into the tube, be very careful regarding the vacuum tube at the neck of the picture tube, they are very fragile.)

Mitsubishi's have slide-out circuit board trays, so you can just depress the latches on either side of the tray and slowly pull the tray out for ease of working.

Most tvs have individual vertical and horizontal size adjustments. If memory serves correct, Mitsubishi's have 2 separate circuit boards, I believe the size adjustments are located on the smaller board... either white or dark blue plastic screw type adjustments. Always be sure either to mark how the adjusters are positioned before you change anything.

You shouldn't need to adjust anything on the board attached to the vacuum tube. Also there should be a vertical circuit board coming off of the main board... you shouldn't have to adjust anything on there either.

If you open up the tv and decide it's a little too crowded in there for you to deal with, take it to a local tv repair shop and have them take a look at it... make sure you don't ok any repairs before you get a price for it.

Good luck.

Thanks for the info. I am not sure what you mean by the black box problem though. If you are referring to the receiver for the dish, I know that is not my problem. I have two receivers and have switched them from t.v. to t.v. and don't have any problems with the other t.v.

I noticed you commented on Mitsubishi. I have a Toshiba so I am not sure that the problem can be solved by your suggestion. I will look though.

Thank you.

It's a typical vertical problem for Toshiba. If you can use a soldering iron we have a kit that will fix you right up without a trip to the shop.

http://www.fixyourowntv.com/orderpage.html

Kit #2

Dakota

What kind of instructions come with the kit?

It comes with the parts, board location, description step by step, solder, solder wick. Just add your own soldering iron.

Dakota

Sounds great. I will order immediately. I am tired of watching people who are distorted.

Oh my!
The problem is a failed electrolytic capacitor in the vertical
oscillator circuit. My bet is the capacitor is in the cathode
circuit of the vertical output transistor. The capacitor may cost
$2.50 at Radio Shack.

Smokey

I'm afraid transistors don't have cathodes!

Dakota

hey russ,
typical toshiba problem is the small red capacitors. they fail! there is one in the vert circuit. this should be easy to find on the circuit board, as it is marked "vertical". a simple change, i have fixed 3 this way, and the last one took me longer to unscrew the back of the set than it took to desolder and resolder the cap in. i found 2 total in my set and changed them bothjust to be sure. radioshack can sell you the cap for a buck of 2. no need to spend alot of $$$ when you can fix it yourself with minimal stress.you can take the bad cap w/ you and ask for a replacement.

Actually, it's better to check and confirm what's broken first before blindly throwing bags of parts at anything.

Caps are supposedly high on the list of the most common failed components that cause a lot of TV troubles. Since there are typically hundreds of them, the question is which ones :-)

[I could sell you a bag of caps, resistors, solder wick, solder, and add a professional soldering iron and sponge in there as well, and maybe I'll even throw in a resistor color code chart for free....please let me know! In fact, I'll put them in an antistatic bag to ensure freshness ;-) LOL! ]

Look for electrolytics that bulging or ones with the end caps about to pop out. Parts with signs of leaking electrolyte (board stains near leads, black icky stuff on leads etc) are prime candidates to replace regardless of whether they're the root cause of your problem or not.

Beyond that, you'll need a capacitor tester. Caps' aren't something you can really test with an ohmmeter since caps typically fail open. You'd be able to pick out the rare shorted ones easily though..

This doesn't answer your question, but hopefully should give you some additional things to look at without aid of schematics/scope or any upfront major expense.

aaron