Hi,

I'm sorry to hear about the storm. Hopefully you aren't as badly affected as what I've been seeing on the news. One of our TV experts has 18" in his house right now.

With that in mind... yes, it's quite possible this was caused by the storm. Maybe even probable. It's hard to say for sure, though. Some day, we'll start putting black box recorders in expensive electronics so we'll know what exactly happened. For today, we do what medical doctors do in the majority of cases... run tests, and treat symptoms. The "how" or "why" just isn't as important as getting back up and running

As you know, surges can come through the power cord... but they can also come through the cable/satellite box, or even from another device that's connected to the TV (DVD player, video game console, etc.). They're nasty little devils.

As for the level of repair required here... based on the model (I've worked with it quite a few times), the symptoms, and the storm... you're probably looking at $250-$450 in repairs.

That can vary, of course, depending on where you live and exactly what the technician finds when he gets in there. At the very worst he'll laugh and tell you the TV is completely fried. You'll owe him $50, and he'll be on his way... and you'll need to buy a new TV. At the very least, he'll replace a fuse or two, a capacitor or two... you'll be out $250 but won't need to get a new TV.

I hope this helps.

If you have more questions, click "Reply to expert." If you're finished, click the "good" or "excellent" smiley so I'm credited with helping you. Without your rating, I'm not compensated in any way for my time on the site.

Thanks,

Dan

Good question.

There are blink codes for this chassis, but they just give the technicians a starting point... no definitive diagnosis. Even then, we usually end up looking somewhere other than what the code was trying to tell us.

Dan