Panasonic TC-60PS34 (S30 plasma) 8 blinks

[slinkygn]

Not a *ton* here on Panasonic plasmas with the 8-blink error, it seems... most folks seem to get 7 or 10. (8 blinks = SS SOS, from what I gather.)

Somebody on another thread mentioned FET issues on the SS board. Can those be tested in-circuit? I'm getting low/no resistance across a few of them, but don't have a circuit diagram so can't say if that's because of a short of the FET itself or because of something elsewhere in the circuit. (For that matter, I got similar readings on some of the SC board FETs, which I tested just because I was suspicious of that board as well.)

Is there any other basic troubleshooting I should be doing before testing components in the first place? Testing for error codes with certain boards disconnected, some known test points I should be checking out, anything like that? Wish I could find a repair manual for these things; best I can tell, the PS34 is a store-specific (Costco) brand of the S30 and is mostly identical, but I don't know enough about the "mostly" to say much either way.

And/or: the SS board in that unit seems to be readily available for purchase for around $25. Am I wasting my time? Should I just buy the replacement board and get it over with, and hope there isn't much else causing a problem with the unit? I don't have any appropriate FETs in my parts bin so I'd have to order them anyway...

What do you guys think?

[tw2005]

Re: Panasonic TC-60PS34 (S30 plasma) 8 blinks

Try this guide for St30, page 73

[tw2005]

Re: Panasonic TC-60PS34 (S30 plasma) 8 blinks

Page 86, cable disconnection results, reckons if SS11 is removed the TV will stay on. No harm in checking the SC too, I think they're just as unreliable from what I've read.

60", that's a lot of panel,

[slinkygn]

Re: Panasonic TC-60PS34 (S30 plasma) 8 blinks

Yeah, I need to fix this thing already so I can sell it and likely get something a little smaller.

That document was just what the doctor ordered -- thank you! Followed the TS flowchart on slide 75. Isolating the SS board lead to 6 blinks instead of 8; I don't have my good probes on me so I can't test the connections like it says to, but it seems like I'm going to be replacing my A board, not my SS board. :/ (Much interested in component-level fixes now -- those things are a bit more expensive!)

[tw2005]

Re: Panasonic TC-60PS34 (S30 plasma) 8 blinks

I'm not sure with these 100%, 2010 is the latest I've touched. I'd be checking everything before buying an A board. I would have expected SS if I was having a guess.

[slinkygn]

Re: Panasonic TC-60PS34 (S30 plasma) 8 blinks

I would too, but it's not looking good.

Removing connectors, for comparison to expected removal performance (slide 86):

SS33 removed: still 8 blinks
SC20 removed: 8 blinks

after this, I was starting to suspect the SC board (and the SS board was pretty much off the hook after the first one, I think, it seems super easy to isolate), but then:

A31 removed: TV stays off (!)
A32 removed: 6 blinks
A20, A32 removed: TV stays on, black screen

Am I right in thinking that shifts the blame back on the A board after all, or should I test further? I'm about to leave town to spend the rest of the holidays with family and won't be back until the 2nd; was hoping to have at least something on order before I left, but I'm not sure that's going to happen.

[tw2005]

Re: Panasonic TC-60PS34 (S30 plasma) 8 blinks

A31 stays off, the side buttons are routed through A31 if it's the same as the 50Gt30.

Not sure what to suggest, looking at the guide it presents it as cut and dried that it'd be A board following the chart.

From what I can tell the SOS8 signal goes direct to the ASIC IC5000 pin 10, which is topside on your board above the large heatsink.

So if SOS8 occurs a high is generated meaning the ASIC needs a high to trip SOS8, so disconnecting the SS33 should mean a low is then presented to IC5000 and no SOS8

What has me puzzled is you disconnect SS33, you get SOS8. That suggests to me that the ASIC is generating SOS8 on it's own.

But then you disconnected A20,A32 and it stays on as the chart suggests, no SOS8. So how did it change?

[tw2005]

Re: Panasonic TC-60PS34 (S30 plasma) 8 blinks

I was doing a bit of a search, here's another COSTCO special with SOS8, unresolved. A-board and SS boards did not fix it from how I read it.

COSTCO Panasonic TC-50PU54 8 blinks picture flashes then dead

[slinkygn]

Re: Panasonic TC-60PS34 (S30 plasma) 8 blinks

That's interesting. I may try to isolate the buffer boards, just to see what happens.

To clarify the testing results: when I disconnected A20 and A32, it was those alone - I reconnected A31 for that. The chart indicated that it should stay on if all three were disconnected, but not just A20 and A32 - it should have still given me a blink code. Just thought I'd clarify as that detail may lead to a different conclusion.

Will try A31 again when I get back, and power on from remote instead of the side buttons - didn't realize that was what was holding me back there. Dumb goof on my part.

[tw2005]

Re: Panasonic TC-60PS34 (S30 plasma) 8 blinks

Yeah , I must have jumped a line from a20,32 up to the one above. I have found errors in these guides before with the descriptors for the cables , so hard to tell if we can rely on them 100% eg A21 in picture, A20 in table.

I have disconnected those 3 white ribbons plus any power to the SS,SC and the C boards, essentially firing the A board on it's own on a couple of 2010 models and if the A board was ok it'd fire up normal.

[slinkygn]

Re: Panasonic TC-60PS34 (S30 plasma) 8 blinks

That makes sense. I tried all three off and wasn't able to get it to turn on... because I was using the side panel, of course. I'll test it again when I get home at the end of the week. I'm guessing it turns on fine - which, if it also turns on fine with only A20 and A32 off as it did before, puts suspicion back on the SC board again I think.

[slinkygn]

Re: Panasonic TC-60PS34 (S30 plasma) 8 blinks

Well, I'm back from the trip.

Sure enough, A31 removed gives six blinks. TV still stays on with only A20 and A32 removed, which honestly seems puzzling.

I think I'm going to order an A board in the next day or two and keep my fingers crossed unless anyone has an epiphany otherwise... not that I particularly *want* to order the most expensive board on the thing, but I don't really see another alternative.

[SCITOMMY]

Re: Panasonic TC-60PS34 (S30 plasma) 8 blinks

I've heard that if the Panel illuminates or is dimming at all at power up, then it's the A-Board. If it's black with nothing, it's one of the SC/SD/SU boards.

[slinkygn]

Re: Panasonic TC-60PS34 (S30 plasma) 8 blinks

Well, that's interesting. I hadn't heard that one before. No, the panel isn't even illuminating. I suppose I can test the Sx boards more thoroughly.

[slinkygn]

Re: Panasonic TC-60PS34 (S30 plasma) 8 blinks

Well, despite the lack of expected behavior when isolating the SS board, I was convinced by another tech to go ahead and try swapping it anyway. (He has tons of experience under his belt, and heck, it's not like I'm sure anyway.) No luck, though, and the SC board has also been swapped to no effect. So this may also end up being another "no luck with 8 blinks" post.

My remaining possibility is the A board; however, after some Googling and finding that the supposed replacement boards for this model don't exactly match what's currently in the unit, I am concerned of the possibility that the prior owner may have actually tried to replace the A board and replaced it with the wrong one (which could explain the error). Is there any way that I can verify, for a given model number (and I imagine possibly serial number), what the proper model and suffix of A board should go into this unit?

[tw2005]

Re: Panasonic TC-60PS34 (S30 plasma) 8 blinks

TNPH0914AE , TNPH0914AU on SJ http://www.shopjimmy.com/catalogsear...t/?q=TC-60PS34

[slinkygn]

Re: Panasonic TC-60PS34 (S30 plasma) 8 blinks

Yeah, I noticed that. The current unit has the AE suffix board. But I did notice that the boards ShopJimmy has are actually different codes: TNPH0914 1A vs 2A. (The AE is the 1A, the AU the 2A) I was thinking, maybe the previous owner tried to swap them, put in the wrong one of those because it came up on SJ, and then couldn't figure out the problem from there? Is that a possibility, or should those two boards be basically interchangeable?

[tw2005]

Re: Panasonic TC-60PS34 (S30 plasma) 8 blinks

I'd expect either should work. The 8 blink won't be because of a rev difference