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NotTaR of Television Sets : Erratic problems with older GE TVs      
 Copyright © 1994-2007, Samuel M. Goldwasser. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of this document in whole or in part is permitted if both of the following conditions are satisfied: 1. This notice is included in its entirety at the beginning. 2. There is no charge except to cover the costs of copying. I may be contacted via the Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ (www.repairfaq.org) Email Links Page.

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Some Model Specific Problems

Erratic problems with older GE TVs

Older GE TVs used double sided circuit boards with poor-man's vias - rivets soldered to the traces top and bottom. These have been called 'Rivlets' and 'Griplets'. Unfortunately, whoever did the design didn't realize that (1) the the rivets did not heat adequately during soldering and (2) the expansion coefficients of the rivets and circuit board were not qutie identical.

Thus, erratic problems are almost a certainty with these TVs. Normal logical troubleshooting is useless. The only solution is to repair every !@#$ Griplet on all circuit boards in the TV.

I have repaired these with a high power soldering gun used on both sides with liberal application of solder and flux. However, I do not recommend this shortcut unless you are willing to redo the repair every couple of years.

(From: Mr. Caldwell (jcaldwel@iquest.net).)

There are two methods of repair.

  • Method 1: Clean the paint from around each griplet on both sides of the board to expose the surrounding copper pad. Apply liquid solder flux to the cleaned copper. Solder so as to bridge the griplet to the cleaned copper.

  • Method 2: Do the above but desolder the griplet and place a wire through it so that the wire extends beyond the griplet to the copper foil and solder the wire on both sides (this was the final fix GE used in this chassis).

    If done carefully Method 1 works and is reliable.

    I would normally do this prior to any troubleshooting, it repairs most problems in this chassis. While you have the board out working on it be sure to also clean and resolder high temperature components and connections that look bad. These griplets can be on all boards, even the tuner control board.