Picture too wide

I'm not aware of any codes you could try that would solve your problem. Unless you want to dive into your TVs service menu, but I wouldn't recommend it.

You can try hard resetting the TV by unplugging it for about 4 hours, but it sounds like you may need a technician to adjust it if you want to fix the problem. If it really is older, you may not want to bother investing much to get it fixed.

Good luck.

i also have an older 35" rca Tv (approx. 12 years old) with this problem of the picture being to wide. i used to have an older gentleman who did my repair on all of my TV's but has since passed away. i had a problem with my picture being to tall, he said no problem. he pushed some of the buttons on the front of the TV and it took him to a separate menu of picture controls. not the normal ones you get when you press the menu button on the front of the tv, but some that will let you adjust the height and width of the picture. i need to know which buttons you press to get to these adjustments. i also had a similar problem with a 27" rca set and he fixed it the same way. any help would be appreciated. thanks

Once you are in a service menu you can do all kinds of things to the TV that used to need a screwdriver and the cover off.  You can turn the Horizontal Hold way over until the TV shuts down - requiring a new memory chip to correct.  You can totally de-align the tuner.  You can change the color temperature so it looks like an old fashioned sienna photograph. You can put its user menus in a foreign language, and on some models that can't be undone.  Often times, your changes can only be corrected by a costly visit from a senior level technician, someone the store isn't likely to have on staff.  So bottom line, do not experiment!  If you don't know what an alighment adjustment does, DON'T DO IT.  This is also at your own risk.

RCA and G.E. (most models after '94): Turn the TV on.  Hold down MENU
     and hit POWER and VOL+.  Now you're in the service mode, looking at
     parameter 0.  It will say:

              P00     V00

     Use the VOL+ key to change the value (V number) to 76.  This has to be
     done before you can do anything else; it's sort of a password.

     Once P00 is set to V76 you can use the Channel + and Clannel - buttons
     to select from the first 12 parameters.  P13 is another password - set
     to 77 to get higher parameters.  Depending on the model, another one a
     couple of dozen parameters up will require a password of 78.  This
     varies by model but you will know when you have found it because you
     won't be able to advance past it.

     The first parameter, P01, is probably the quickest and easiest to
     work.  It is the Horizontal Frequency control.  When you select it,
     the TV will lose horizontal sync.  Turn it all the way down or all the
     way up with VOL- or VOL+ and then get out of setup (if the TV hasn't
     shut itself off by then) with the power button.

     Here are the parameter tables:

     P00   Password (Must set to 76)   P14  PLL Tuning
     P01   Horizontal Frequency        P15  4.58 MHz Trap
     P02   Horizontal Phase            P16  Video Level
     P03   EW DC (Width)               P17  FM Level
     P04   EW Amplitude                P18  B+ Trim
     P05   Vertical DC                 P19  RF AGC Chan 6
     P06   Vertical Size               P20  RF AGC Band 1
     P07   Red Bias                    P21  RF AGC Band 2
     P08   Green Bias                  P22  RF AGC Band 3
     P09   Blue Bias                   P23  D-PIP Chroma
     P10   Red Drive                   P24  D-PIP tint
     P11   Green Drive                 P25  D-PIP bright
     P12   Blue Drive                  P26  D-PIP contrast
     P13   Password (Must set to 77)   P27  Factory Tint

     P28 Password (Must set to 78)

     P100-156 - Tuner alignment parameters.  If you mess with these, the
     tuner will have to be aligned by a professional.

The one your interested in should only be the PO3.  Get out of the service mode by turning off the bpower button on the front panel.  Good Luck, and again I stress of the dangers and the likley hood of the set messing up if your not carefull.  let us know how you made out.

i thank you for your help.  i forgot to mention that all other aspects of the picture are fine.  all i need to do is bring the horizontal width back to fit the screen.  it may be lot to ask, but could you give me  a step by step on how to perform this adjustment. i could probably do it fine with what you have already given me, but i want to be sure.   i certainly don't want to mess up anything else doing this adjustment.  this set weighs a ton and i don't want to try and find a new repair shop to do this.   i just wish my repair man was still with us.  he was sharp and did not mind explaining things to you so you could understand it. 

If the width is off by a large margin, most likly there is a capacitor or resistor in the horizontal sweep or yolk circuit that has changed value.  That said and done.  follow the dierctions by going into the service mode. once you advance the P00 to V76 on the right side of the screen by using the volume + and - buttons  then use the the channel + and the channel- to advance P00 to PO3.  Adjust the width by using the + and - buttons for the volume and see if you can bring in the width so you can barly see the edges of the picture.  Now go back and overscan just a little bit  You may also want to go to P06 to adjust the vertical height the same as you did the width.  After your done turn off power and turn back on again to make sure it saved the Data.  If you dont need to adjust it don't, I can not stress that enough.  Note when you first hit the  channel + button, the set will lose horizontal sync, dont panic, simply hit the channel button till you get to P03.  If you lose horizontal sync and hit the volume button by accident yoiu will be in a mess, so simply after you reach V76 press the channel up button 3 times.

thanks again,  like i said all i want to do is adjust the width of the picture.  it isn't off by much,  just enough to be slightly annoying.  once again thanks for your help.  will let you know how it turns out when i get the chance to make the adjustment. 

Hi, you don't say what mod#. if you RCA has pin cushion circuit board, your fault maybe there.

True no model number but If there was a pin problem, there would not be a picture thats normal except for a little excessive width.

i tried to get to the service menu as you described but for some reason it would not work on this set. i wrote the model number down but do not have it with me today.  i tried to get to the service menu on my two other rca sets and there was no problem getting to it on these sets, but for some reason it would not work on the set in question.  But it really doesn't matter at this point, because before i could get back to you,  the picture got wider as i was watching it and then made a pop and went to no picture at all.  all i had was a narrow line running from top to bottom of the picture tube. i found a shop that would work on it and they said it probably had a capacitor fail on the horizontal sweep circuit. will let you know when they have it repaired.  thanks 

Yes thats what your problem is.  The feedback or coupling capacitor for the horizontal deflection.