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NotTaR of Television Sets : No color - black and white picture      
 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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Raster, Color, and Video Problems

No color - black and white picture

This means absolutely no color - equivalent to a black and white picture. Not even a hint of color.

First, confirm that the source is actually in color - try another channel or input device.

Next, check the settings of the color control - it may have accidentally been turned down. If your TV has some kind of automatic picture mode, try turning if off and adjusting the color control. Try adjusting fine tuning if you have such a control and the problem is with a broadcast or cable transmission.

At this point with a confirmed color signal source, there is a problem with the chroma circuitry.

Note that to the average person, the obvious question becomes: is my color picture tube bad? The answer is a definitive NO. It is virtually impossible for a defective CRT to cause a total loss of color. A defective CRT can cause a lack of a primary color - R, G, or, B or a short between two colors which will mess up the color but is not likely to result in a black and white picture.

Some possibilities in no particular order:

  1. Weak signal or defect in tuner/IF causing loss of signal strength.

  2. Color killer set too high (internal control) if it has one.

  3. Defective part around the chroma chip/circuit. Faulty color oscillator.

  4. Bad connections in area of chroma chip/circuit.

  5. Defective chroma chip (don't suspect this first just because it is probably very expensive).

A service manual or Sams', DMM, and scope will help greatly in attempting to troubleshoot this unless it is an obvious bad connection. Try prodding the main board around the chroma chip with an insulated tool to see if you can make the color come and go.

I had one set where a $.02 resistor decided to open up causing just this problem - perfect BW picture, no color. Another had a coil with a broken wire.


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