I have an 8 year old Mitsubishi WS-65809 HDTV. Over the past few weeks when the set is initially turned on, the picture is distorted. The picture curves down at the top and up at the bottom and the color away from the center is rainbowed. Earlier it didn't take much time before the picture went back to normal and stayed. Now it takes much longer before returning to normal.

Are the rear projection bulbs finally going out? Or is it something else. The manual didn't offer any help in the very brief troubleshooting page.

I appreciate anyone's help.

Thanks,
Eric

I have the EXACT same problem with mine. Mine is also about 8 years old, but my problems started about two years ago. It would be periodic, maybe once a month at first, but it's slowly progressed to an everyday event.

What did you do to resolve this? Anything?

I haven't done anything yet. NOBODY from this forum answered except you. So I looked for other forums and found one called Fix-it Ya. Here is what they say, and I probably will try their suggestions soon.

The problem could most likely be with the set's STK ICs. The soldering comes loose, sometimes actually coming loose INSIDE the IC, where it solders in there! Heat/cold over and over translates into expand/contract over and over.

Just resoldering the legs usually does the trick, but if you have continued to use your set while hurt, the ICs may eventually go out completely and need replacement. Resoldering them in before that time usually saves the ICs and never needs to be done again.

I then asked what do theylook like and here is the response:

There will be either one or two of them, and they will be heavily heat sunk - as in mounted on a big heat sink, with vertical fins. That's all I can say without seeing the unit in front of me, open. They usually face towards the front, are in the middle of the middle board, and the name of the ICs is covered by a screw-on plate, which has to be removed for replacement.
Be generous with the heat sink compound when replacing the ICs, get the old stuff off the heat sink with a putty knife if it has dried out.

To check whether you need to replace the ICs or not, with the unit on if you tap on the heat sink with something long and not conductive, like a stick, and it affects your conv - be VERY careful, this has to be done while the unit is on - you can probably get by with just resoldering the legs. If not and it just won't converge, IC replacement will be necessary. I recommend replacing both if you replace one, because next week the other one may go out and you may have to get in and out of the unit all over again.

Best way is usually to remove the entire light box, tho sometimes it's best to remove just the board, other times you can prop the whole board up and do the resoldering on your back.

The name of the STK ICs is STK392-570. You can Go to a website "bluestar-online.com" and find them for sale.

Hope this helps. It sure would have been nice if other people replied.

Thanks for the reply. I have been disappointed with information regarding this issue, too.

I believe I found a picture of the IC we're looking for on the board:



I'm not 100% positive, but it does say STK392-570 on it, so it's likely a match.

From the info you are getting, and from what I have read, it sounds like the ideal situation is to remove the IC, put a thin layer of heat sink goo on it and put it back in place. Solder from the back side of the board.

I'm going to take the TV apart this week and see what I can do. If I have any luck I'll let you know.

On a side note, I turned my TV on this weekend first thing in the morning both days and the TV was fine all day. I left the TV on most of the day just to avoid the convergence problems later in the day. Not really the best thing in terms of energy usage, but it's super frustrating trying to watch TV when you feel like you are crosseyed.

Yes, those are the one's I believe we are having trouble with. And yes, it looks like the best thing to do is crack open the TV, maybe do the tap test, and replace them with a new squirt of thermal paste. I may even have some time when I get home tonight to try the tap test.

I'll probably order the two IC's. I have some thermal paste "Artic Silver 5" from building a computer. Do you think that stuff will work?

My TV is similar to yours. Turn it on most of the time and convergence issue. But this morning there wasn't...

Good luck and keep in touch on troubleshooting results.

I am hoping I don't need to order any new ICs.... When the picture is good everything looks great. I'll order them if this doesn't work I guess.

As for the thermal paste, that should be sufficient. Operating temperatures of a computer chip usually run higher than the TV's chip.

Let me know how your test goes! I'll be sure to post any updates from my end as well.

Did you ever get around to testing this?

Yes I did. Once I found someone to tell me exactly where the ICs where hiding. For my WS-65809 unit, the IC's are hiding under a large passive thermal radiator (Looks like corregated metal) in the middle board. I pushed on the fin and I could see the picture from behind go normal. It stays that way until I turn the unit off for a period of time. Once I turn back on, most often it goes back to the concave look. Now the issue is how to get to these IC's and solder them down. Obviously they are loose. However, the middle board seems to be connected to the right AND left board with some sort of bridge thing (Four of them actually). This bridge doesn't look too easy to remove. If I can remove them, then the middle board should be removable by taking out a few screws and lifting up.

Do you have a similar unit? Is your middle board connected to the others via these bridges?

So far I've been keeping the back panel loose and pulling out the unit, going to the back, pushing on the fin, and watching my shows. Not sure when I'll get the guts and time to try and remove that middle board and solder the ICs.

Thanks for the update.

I haven't opened mine up yet. Basically how I have everything set up it's a major pain to do what you described and pull it out, push it back in, watch shows and do it all again the next day. I was also on vacation for a week and some change, so I haven't been around.

My wife is a bit hesitant for me to open it open and start poking around. She doesn't want me to kill the set without a backup plan in place. So I am currently scouting a new TV in case I kill the mitsubishi in the process. Best case scenario, I won't need to buy anything.

I will try opening it up tonight and pushing on the metal fin. Where are you opening it up at? Can you provide a picture or anything so I can verify what I am seeing?

Also, I will take a picture tonight, assuming I open up the right place, so you can see if I have those bridges or not. I am guessing I will, we bought our TVs around the same time period and have the same model number.

I am just getting fed up and have to do something because I hate watching TV or playing video games now because it's a constant source of stress

I'll reply back later.

It is really easy to open the back TAN COLORED panel. There are a few black screws on the left and right sides and some BRASS colored screws on the bottom. Remove all the bottom ones that are attached to the tan panel. I then leave the top right and top left black screws for last. Remove those last two and the board slides down a bit and pulls out. I actualy left the wiring and all intack. The panel has a square hole to the bottom left that a bunch of the cables go through. I simply pull the panel out and slide to the right to gain access to the back and the circuit boards.

The silver fin is toward the back on the middle circuit board. Really big, can't miss it. I have actually been able to touch the fin with my fingers and push on it to get the picture to normal.

I have a picture, but I don't know how to put a picture in this forum. Do you?

Thanks for the info. I will try tonight.

Yes, you can post a picture if you click on post reply, instead of quick reply. Then there is an editor with a toolbar, click on the eyeball looking thing and you can post the image. But it looks like you can only link to an existing image, not upload one.... so if it's an image online somewhere, you can link to ti.

Otherwise message me and I'll give you my e-mail.

Last night I went home, removed the back panel, found the heat sync fin and pressed on it, wiggled it around etc and found the sweet spot. Once I found the sweet spot I put the panel back on and it worked for the remainder of the night. So it definitely sounds like we have the same issue here.

I've included the link to the pictures I took for you, for comparison purposes. I included the right and left sides of the main board, which is what I believe you were talking about yesterday. I hope I snapped a picture of the right spots.

http://www.tekn0wledg.com/Images/TV-Back1.jpg
http://www.tekn0wledg.com/Images/TV-Back2.jpg
http://www.tekn0wledg.com/Images/TV-HeatSync.jpg
http://www.tekn0wledg.com/Images/TV-Leftside.jpg
http://www.tekn0wledg.com/Images/TV-Rightside.jpg

Now I guess the question is.... how do we get the board out, and how do we snap off the heat sync fin?

Where did you purchase your ICs from? I'd like to order mine soon and give it a try.... my TV is beyond the point of tolerating.... it's either buy a new one, or fix it. Though at least I have a nightly workaround in the meanwhile, assuming that pressing on the fin works everytime.

Yes, it looks like we have the same unit and the same issue. I have not purchased the IC's yet. I didn't because I don't think they need to be replaced becaus eof the fact we can push on the fin and get the picture correct. According to the repair guys I have talked to in a forum called "FixYa", they say all you need to do is solder the ICs back down to the board.

So, like you say, how do you get the board out and either take the fin off or solder the under side of the board where the ICs connect. This could be tricky.

Just looking at the middle board, I see screws holding it in. However, those white colored "bridges" as I call them are what scare me. My worry is how can we disconnect them. I think I will go back to FixYa and see if they will help me. The repair experts were nice at first, but they seemed to be getting annoyed that I wanted to fix this myself as appose to calling a fellow repair guy.

One cheap thing I may do is to take a dowel rod (wood stick) and attach it to the big flat wood part where the lights are. I'd make it the correct length and put the other end on the fin, thus pressing it down.

Here is a pic that shows the left board and part of center board with fin. Also shows one of the bridges I'm talking about.

http://i320.photobucket.com/albums [...] eftMod.jpg

Gotcha, thanks for posting the picture; that helps.

I thought about doing what you said as well, creating some type of pressure on the fin.... However, I wonder if the point of pressure changes, or if it's constant after each power-off of the TV? If it's constant, that's great, it's a good work around that gives us some more time.

My only concern is heat on a piece of wood coming off the fin.... I guess it doesn't get too hot if we're able to touch it with our hands.

I will be out of town for the holiday weekend, but I may have some time to play around with this tonight. Worst case, I will look at it on Monday.

Thanks again for your ongoing commentary.... I'm just glad I was finally able to find someone else with the same problem as me.

Edit: Tonight I will try creating some type of rod to hold the fin down. If I am successful, I will post pictures for you next week.

Thank u two the both of you i also have been suffering with the same problem that you have encountered with your sets

I’m thinking when i moved my set that this is where my troubles began

Thank you once again for all your help I’m going to open my set up tomorrow

Not sure if either of you got this fixed, but I had the same issue and it cost me $400 to get it fixed from a local repair company.

Now I am having issues with certain colors looking grainy such as tans and whites. Not all the time, but some times. Have either of you had any issues with this?

Thanks,
Joe

I'm working on a poor man's fix. I've noticed that I can press down on the heat sink fin and get the problem to go away. So, I'm working on just how to rig up a piece of wood that will be wedged on top of the heatsink fins and glued to the sloped wood frame above. Haven't done it yet, but when I do I'll send pics.

Not sure why you are having other issues. Except that I noticed in order to get the board out there appears to be several connections that need disconnecting and I was afraid of just such issues screwing something else up.

Eric