Do you know what happened to my Zenith TV?

Question

I have an old Zenith 27" TV from 1996. It was just fine until it was unplugged. When plugged back in, there was audio, but the screen was black, except for a thin line across the middle. Anyone know what happened?

Answer 1

It would be ridiculous to pay to fix a 12 yr. old CRT analog TV! You can get a brand new RCA 20" CRT, with a digital tuner AND a new TV warranty at WalMart (for example) for $150, or a 27" for $250. Shop around and you'll get a new TV for about what it would cost, or less than to fix the OLD one, assuming it can be fixed.

Answer 2

Your set lost vertical deflection.  A repair shop should be able to fix it relatively cheaply.

Edit: Vertical deflection refers to the part of the set that generates the signals to move the beam inside the picture tube up and down (vertically).  Basically the whole picture is being painted on the screen in that one line.

Probably the vertical amplifier chip inside the set went out.  Electronics don't like to be turned off and on.  My experience is that things are more likely to fail at power up.

This is an oversimplified answer so techies, please don't attack me for that.

I hope this helps.