Hello there folks. I have a rather strange problem with the infamous pth5498. I have already been through a convergence repair on the current circuit board, replacing both STK-392-040s as well as blown pico fuses. The repair went well and the set worked fine for about 2 months. The set then began to cycle on and off without fully turning on with a mouse like squeal from the large 2200 microfarad caps on the power supply board as well as a cycling relay click on the convergence board every time the tv would try to cycle on. At first this process could only be stopped by unplugging the tv. I have see this symptom described in many forums for this tv. Finally the set came on and seemed to work fine. I could see that the blue was out of convergence, but the color still looked good. I tried to realign the blue through the convergence process, but I could not move it. The picture still looked great so I left it alone. After about a week while watching a movies the red went out as well and I was back to where I started.
Taking into consideration the cost and hassle of the convergence repair, and the possibility that other components on the board could have been stressed by the STKs failure, I decided to explore another option. The cost of the repair to the layman is approx $30 and a whole lot of headaches. At the time I was having the problem I didn't realize that the whole, brand new genuine SAMSUCK (SAMSUNG) concergence circuit board was available through PARTSTORE.COM on ebay for $85.00 with free shipping. Plug in and go with no hassles, RIGHT??? WRONG!!! Why would this happen from a seemingly reputable company who ripped off countless people by selling them a $1200+ TV from SAM'S CLUB designed to last 3-5 years!?!?! Why there is not a class action suit or a recall for this product is beyond me. I guess it just falls under my little file called ZERO ACCOUNTABILITY, which many auto mechanics, doctors & lawyers find themselves in. Its' nothing less than a license to SCREW!!
Anyway, back to the repair issues. I hope you're still with me here. I replaced the whole convergence board. The color adjusts fine. Everything looks good except now the screen has a very thin horizontal line of snow acrossed the top of the picture. It just looks as if the vert adjustment or the whole picture needs to be raised about 1/2". The problem is that there doesn't appear to be a vertical adjustment for this tv. If someone knows how please let me know. If I change the zoom the line goes away, but then some of the channel icons or people's heads get cut out of the picture because now it's too big. Any help or comments would be greatly appreciated. I hope that the information here helps others to solve their convergence problem in addition to helping me fine tune my own. Thanks for lending your ears.
The convergence probably went out again because you used aftermarket STK IC's or perhaps you did not install new heat sink compound on the backs of the new IC's before you installed them. never the less, the problem you have now is the vertical height or the vertical centring is off because of the new convergence board. You will need to get a service manual and go through the service menu alignments. If you have no clue how to do this, this could be a dangerous thing to do. Always write down the value of any adjustment before you change it so if there is a problem, you can go back and readjust things the way they were. You should not have to do any other adjustments except the centering and or height for the vertical. Do not experiment or see what certain adjustments do. There cannot be a class action law suite or a recall because the company Did give a warranty and a warranty has terms that YOU agree to when you purchased the TV set. They do not have to by law extend a warranty even if every set broke down after 1 year.. Someone did file a class action against RCA several years ago because every single one of their TV sets had a problem usually after 90 days to 1 year. They did not have to settle but they did out of interest to save money. You know what those who took the time to write in with proof of purchase, proof of repair and proof that they still owned the TV set? A $50.00 gift certificate towards the purchase of another RCA product over 3oo bucks! Most peeps did not even bother or qualify. Do I think this is wrong? Yes of course I do, but the companies are no breaking any laws. After all is is the consumer that cried many years ago that they wanted less expensive electronics. You got what you asked for. Next time, on an expensive product, invest as part of the purchace price, an extended service warranty.
Read my Blog "A Waranty is Not Insurance" i try to lay it all out there.
Read my article, "Extended warranties, Do I Really Need One?"
Hello Larry,
Thanks for the advice on this, though it seems your point of view is pro-company. $1200 may be a walk-in-the park investment for most families, but not for mine. If people knew that their $1200 was only going to last them 3-4 years they would most definately choose another option, even a more expensive one. Samsung has become a respected product over recent years. This product is failing all over the web in many different forums for the same exact problem. I really didn't want to get into a debate over consumer vs. company. I kind of went off on a tangent there in my post- I guess as result of frustration with my own situation as well as reading about so many others experiencing the same problem.
When I did the original convergence repair I used STK-ICs from a supplier that you recommended in another post. I clicked on the link in your reply and it took me to PARTSTORE.COM. I used plenty of heatsink compound. I heatsinked every pin on the solder-in. I just think it was inexperience. It's a very tedious repair. I had to use a magnifying glass to check the soldering point, but I obviously must have missed something.
Do you know where I can purchase a service manual to do this vertical adjustment that you spoke of? I understand that AKAI service manuals are not very user-friendly. Is it an adjustment inside of the set or is it done via the remote control? The board that I purchased was from PARTSTORE.COM. It's a genuine SAMSUNG part. How long can I expect this board to last me? I understand that the reason that these chips go bad is because they are over stressed because they are almost soley responsible for adjusting the large red & blue guns, and that they become overheated from the constant adjustment. Is it feasible to somehow strategicly place a cooling fan inside the set to to keep them cooler??
I have the same problems as addressed above, I can still use the TV after making some adjustment to the convergience blue and red, My Q's is do I need to purchase the service manual? I also heard of a disk called Sound and Vision Home theater tune-up that could help fix my problem what do you think about that. My TV has the blue and red showing I went under the service menu using the mute 183 option and then selleted to reset to factor settings. This help some but did not fix the problems what do you suggest.
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You need to change the convergence IC's first, before you adjust anything. The service menu is NOT a fix all for problems in these or any TV set. The service menu is for small drift changes due to aging of parts, not any major or continuous changes. Fix the problem and you might not even need to use the service menu unless you messed with it before you repaired the fault. Good Luck
Does anyone know where to obtain a service manual for the PTH5498 AKAI and how to perform the vertical alignment??? Can anyone explain the difference from the title of member to the title of moderator?
Thanks for the advice I decided to take it to the local service shop, the tech there was able to fix my problem for 250.00 labor and parts. The TV looks as if I just purchased it.
Glad to hear you got the set repaired for a reasonable cost.
For those newer to online community forums, moderators are a form of advanced member who volunteer their time to help organize the forums, watch for people breaking the rules, delete any spam posts, and moderate discussions that get out of hand. Larry in this thread was the first moderator at TechLore, and he does a fantastic job keeping an eye on things and helping others.
Yeah it's the infamous PTH5498..... My convergence went out 5 months or so ago. The local repair places are quoting $500-700 for repair. Not worth that I didn't think so it has just been sitting in the family room off since. I just figured I would do it myself. I want to just swap out the board. I contacted partstore.com but they didn’t know which Samsung board was compatible with the unit. Does anyone know the correct board or should I just go with the replacing the IC’s?
PLEASE HELP....
Just replace the IC's, or get the part number right off the board. Good Luck
Larry,
I am also having the same convergence problems with my AKAI PTH5498, which seems to be a common accurance with this Television set. I believe by reading other posts on this subject, that this isn't a real difficult problem to fix, but I don't have any experience working on T.V.'s, so how will I know which IC's, fuses or boards to replace? Is there any soldering needed to be done in order to replace the needed parts?
Thanks for your time.
Yes, to replace the IC's you will need soldering and unsoldering equipment and the know how and the knowledge of how to solder and work on printed circuit boards.
Thanks for quick response. Is it possible to just replace the board the IC's are on without soldering?
If you can get the board, sure. Another option would be to contactptscorp.com, get the toll free number and call them to see if they rebuild these board, or have exchanges for your old board.
Thanks for the options. I'll try ptscorp.com, but maybe I'd be better off taking it in for repair, I was just hoping to do it a little cheaper than what the local repair shops were wanting to charge. Do TV's have multiple boards that operate various opponent's within the TV or just one board that drives the whole TV?
There are different boards in the set that controls different things.
Hello Mr. Daniels,
I started this thread, but it appears that I offended someone somewhere along the line because none of my recent questions have been touched by anyone. Anyway, I have apart number that you can try for www.partstore.com . You won't have to do any soldering. The part number is AA9501846D. I actually purchased this on ebay from the partstore for around $85. It fixed my convergence problem and the color is back the way it should be, but there is a very thin line of snow acrossed the very top of the screen, which needs to be adjusted out with the vertical alignment somehow. I have asked for help on this, but the answers were very vague. I hope this information helps with your problem. It would be nice if we could all work together better to find solutions because you never know what someone could have to offer.
Thank you very much, that will help tremendously and I agree, if we would put our feelings aside, we could learn a lot from each other. I have read your postings on other sites as well and it seems you have had an endless battle with your TV. I hope that isn't what I have to look forward to. I hope you're able to find someone on here that has the answers you're looking for. I did read a way to get to the service menu on the TV, but they said it was dangerous without a Service Manual (which appears to be nearly impossible to attain). These are the steps that were laid out. It was posted on the link below, I pasted it exactly as it read:
http://circuitwork.com/archive/TV/2005-04/msg00116.html
The below copied from an old web page. Use caution and remember you should be working with the service manual.
Service Menu:
Power "off" the TV and then hit the buttons in the following order mute, 1, 8, 2, and then Power "on" and once the projection turns on you should be faced with a new menu if not do that over again and make sure the power is off. Use the volume and channel buttons to navigate and change values.
NOTE: Once you do this any settings you already done, such as picture and the time will be reset every time you enter the service menu. Make sure you write down ALL info you have done already and make sure you write ALL settings you see once in the service menu, You do this at your own risk. If you want to make a change but to be safe just change the VML setting to "0" and hit the add/erase button to save then power off to exit, turn back on the TV and reset your picture and etc settings back and notice a truer picture.
For a 56 point convergence, it's the same as the Samsung except this time the power is left on to punch in the code. Remember with this menu to exit you hit the "S.Mode" button. You can find the instructions at the link below, but I recommend if you're skittish on doing any advanced tech service to your TV, call an ISF calibrator after you've broke it in (100 to 150 hours):
http://www.keohi.com/keohihdtv/brandspecific/samsung/samsung_convergence.html
I hope that helps and thanks again for your help.
shademasters, I see nothing you wrote here where you offended anyone at all. If I am not really familiar with a set, and this type of TV set i do not really work on, I will try to help out using my common sense, but to help with the aspects of board numbers or convergence procedures, I cannot help with these models. I have learned though more about these sets, as I was not aware at first about Samsung making the set and I thank you for that information. I have sense helped others on other threads with these Akai TV sets. Thanks for helping out and you are always welcome here any time.
Well i replaced the IC chips last night. Checked all connetions, everything hooked back up properly. Re-installed the board, Turn set on and still not converging right!!!!!!! is there anything else i need to replae other then the chips? My next option will be just ordering a whole new board... :(
You will need to check the resistors and the circuit protector fuses in the power supply for the voltage sources for the convergence. There is a negitive as well as a positive voltage these convergence boards run on. I have heard of peeps buying a complete board and still having the same problem because they did not check the circuit protector fuses.
Thanks for the reply Larry. I wasn't sure why nobody was replying before, but your help is always greatly appreciated by everyone here. I am still unsure how to go about adjusting the vertical alignment on this PTH 5498. Ever since I replaced the convergence board, the whole picture is about 3/8" low with a thin line of snow or video distortion across the top of the screen. If I zoom the picture it goes away, but so does the top of everyone's head as well! If you know of an easy way or any way for that matter to adjust the whole screen up 3/8" it would be greatly appreciated.
Boxer119, I would check for blown 3.5A pico fuses located directly underneath each of the large heat sinks. Check if they are open. They look like very small resistors tan or green in color. There should be one under each heat sink. Replacing those ICs is an ugly job. My repair was initially successful, but only lasted about 1-1/2 months. On the second go-round I purchased the whole board. It was much less hassle and only about $50 more, though it still needs some fine tuning, it's still going strong! Happy New Year everyone!! Good luck with your projects!!!!!!!!!
Yes, I hanged all four of the fuses the same time i replaced the IC chips... I tested the power going into the board and there is power going into the board.. Any other suggestions before I order the new board?
OK maybe I'm missing something??? PICO FUSES under the heatsinks? On the onvergence board? I changed the fuses on the power supply board (4) 6.3A bulb fuses. Where are the pico fuses? I'm at wits end now...
hello again boxer119,
i feel your pain. that's why i suggested the complete board replacement. way less headaches in most cases. doing all of that soldering and troubleshooting is not cost effective when you can get a whole board for $85 shipped.
on this set there is a convergence module as well as a convergence mainboard. they are two seperate things in two different locations. the convergence module is located on the board left side of the tv when viewing from the opened back of the tv. you'll see three main boards on the floor inside the set ( let's call them board #1 #2 #3 from left to right, viewing tv from the rear). that convergence module will be located on board #1 inside of a metal box with a door on the top. it will plug in like a pci card on a computer. this is most likely NOT your problem. i just want to identify it for you so that we are speaking of the same components.
the board that actually turns the guns and physically controls the convergence is located on board #2. the center of the 3 boards. this is the one with the two large heatsinks with the ICs labled STK-392-040. there are pico fuses located under these heatsinks 1 each. they are difficult to see and difficult to unsolder. check to see if they are open.
Shademasters,
Thanks again for your help and advice. I was able to replace my convergence board without any problems. I did have that white line across the top of the screen like you mentioned yours did. However, through the Service menu I was able to adjust the screen size and through the Convergence menu I was able to do a full convergence to the set. It now looks as good as it did the first night I had brought it home.
To get to the Service Menu:
Power "off" the TV and then hit the buttons in the following order mute, 1, 8, 2, and then Power "on"
and once the projection turns on you should be faced with a new menu if not do that over again and
make sure the power is off. Use the volume and channel buttons to navigate and change values.
To enter the full-blown convergence mode:
Press mute (with power on or off) and then press 183. A convergence grid appears on screen and
the remote control permits the user to adjust convergence on any particular intersection in the grid.
When in convergence mode, pressing the "1" button on the remote causes the convergence
settings to revert to factory "zero" (i.e., no convergence compensation), pressing the "2" button
causes the convergence settings to revert to the factory default (terrible settings on my TV), and
pressing "3" causes the convergence settings to revert to the previously saved settings. Also,
saving the settings requires pressing the "Add/Erase" button under the sliding cover on the bottom
half of the remote. Pressing "4" toggled between adjusting the whole grid, line only, or line
segments. Pressing "7" chose the "Red" grid and pressing "8" chose the "Green" grid.
I hope this helps.
OK yes the 3.5 amp pico fuses were blown... I've called every electronic store in town. The closest i get is a 3 or a 4 amp fuse. What are the drawback in using a 3 or 4... Are they to small and to large for the curuits. don't want a quick blow problem nor do i want a burnup problem...
You really should use the correct ones. I have, in a jam used the 4 amp pico fuses but I do not say it is OK and a safe thing to do. You can get the correct fuses from HERE In anything you do, you should always follow the manufacturers specs. unless you are an engineer and do may lab test to test what happens when you change a design. I think it is just easier to get the right parts. Oh , BTW, after I did get the right pico fuses, I went back and replaced them with the correct ones.
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