Expert: cleggsan - 9/7/2004

Question
The above plasma is about 4 years old. When it is switched on the monitor powers up as usual then switches off with the red light flashing. We have had no problems until today.
Can you please help!

Answer
As you know, this is relatively new technology and many of the plasma sets have been back and forth to the manufacturers warranty station many times.  You have been lucky in that regard!

I don't know much about this model and I can only guess that the power failure is due to the heavy duty power consumption circuits:  Main power supply, screen power supply, audio amplifier, and possible shorts on the main board.

Here is what I would suggest:

ONE:  First, as always, with any home electronics device that has a built in CPU or memory eproms, is to do a hard reset. In this case, unplug the power cord from the wall outlet and let it remain unplugged for at least 30 minutes.  If that does not help, try it one more time.

TWO:  You may find that the reset will get it to go on, but it soon drops out again and must be reset.  This means there really is something going wrong.

THREE:  Next, try the banging test.  With your hand, strike the set in a few strategic places to see if you can get it working again.  Sometimes there are loose wires and cold solder joints that start acting up or no reason.  Don't bang it hard enough to do any permanent damage, but enough that any loose contact inside would get a little jiggle from it.

FOUR:  Some Philips have a diagnostic code built into the flashing of the light.  I cannot find this model on my resource list, but check your owners manual to see if there is an advisory for the blinking code; it may give some information, depending on how many blinks the light gives in a sequence.

FIVE:  If all these fail to direct you along the way, then you are going to have to call in the Philips experts.  They will or should be able to diagnose it in a few minutes.  There may be something that is well known on this model that they can advise you about.

There are links on the philips web sites for service; I suggest you take it to a factory authorized station if you can find one near you.

Let me know your progress.

Cleggsan