Toshiba Service Menu Code???

[authorpilot]

I have a Toshiba 57HX81.

Does anyone have a SERVICE MENU CODE for this TV??? I am having problems with my image flaring downward at lower corners, and flaring upward at the upper corners. (The image "bows" at the bottom and top)

Also, anyone have an easy fix for this??

Thank you!

-PB

[barcode23]

I was having a similar problem with the Toshiba 57H82. We soon figured out it was my speakers being too close to the set. The speakers were even "shielded", but every time I moved them within 3 feet it would seperate the colors, and "bow" the top and bottom. The center channel speaker on top REALLY affected the set. I returned the set because it would pick up a magnetic field, even though the speakers were about 7-9 feet away.:( I picked up another 57H82, put the speakers about a foot and a half away, and since had no problems with it!:) If you have no external speakers anywhere, please disregard everything I wrote;) , but for some odd feeling, I believe the magnets from the internal speakers from my old set were affecting a set that had a few problems!
Go to http://www.bus.ucf.edu/cwhite/theater/theater.htm for some cool tips and tweaks for the Toshiba sets! You should be able to enter your service menu after reading through this web page! But be very careful though!;)

barcode23

[authorpilot]

Hey Barcode!
Thanks for the info, man!! I didn't even think about moving my center speaker which was, YES, sitting directly on top of the set for my 5.1 channel surround.

I just moved the speaker, but have not noticed any immediate change. Does it take "time" for the bowing to go away after the speaker is moved??? I will wait a few days to see....

I will check out your link as well.

Thanks a million,

PB

[barcode23]

I would first try to just turn the set off, and unplug it for a little bit(some tv techs told me that by unplugging the set, you reset it), place the speakers as far away as you can(or even better yet, try it with no power to any of the speakers)and plug in and turn it on!:) Hopefully this will do the trick! If not,the set(dare I say)might be in need of some repair, or being replaced.:( I was told that it probably would take quite a while of the set being on with the affecting speakers nearby, to do any permanent damage. Good luck, hopefully this does the trick for you!

[57U]

Originally posted by barcode23
try it with no power to any of the speakers Speaker magnets are "permanent" and don't need to be powered to affect CRTs. I have not found that speaker magnets are a problem with RPTVs though. You can put a speaker close to a direct view TV and see the effects as you move it around. I find it doubtful that the problem is the speakers with this RPTV, although I have been wrong before.

[woodman]

Originally posted by barcode23
I was having a similar problem with the Toshiba 57H82. We soon figured out it was my speakers being too close to the set. The speakers were even "shielded", but every time I moved them within 3 feet it would seperate the colors, and "bow" the top and bottom. The center channel speaker on top REALLY affected the set. I returned the set because it would pick up a magnetic field, even though the speakers were about 7-9 feet away.:( I picked up another 57H82, put the speakers about a foot and a half away, and since had no problems with it!:)
barcode23

What you're saying here is a physical impossibility! There was something radically wrong with the TV set - it was NOT the proximity of external speakers that was the problem. When you had the set replaced and had no problems even when the same speakers were only a foot away from the set - you proved my point, didn't you?


I would first try to just turn the set off, and unplug it for a little bit(some tv techs told me that by unplugging the set, you reset it), place the speakers as far away as you can(or even better yet, try it with no power to any of the speakers)and plug in and turn it on! Hopefully this will do the trick! If not,the set(dare I say)might be in need of some repair, or being replaced. I was told that it probably would take quite a while of the set being on with the affecting speakers nearby, to do any permanent damage. Good luck, hopefully this does the trick for you!

Techs that told you this need to go back to apprentice school and learn something about the technologies. Unplugging a TV set does NOT "reset" anything other than a microprocessor which does a whole bunch of things, but none of them related in any way to the problem at hand. In direct-view sets with built-in "degaussing" circuits, merely turning the set "off" (no need to unplug it) and leaving it off long enough for everything to cool down, will enable the degauss circuit to do it's thing. But, an RPTV does NOT have such circuitry since there are no color CRTs involved - only monochrome ones. As 57U said in his reply, speaker magnets are PERMANENT and do not need to be running to have an external magnetic field around them (if they're not "shielded"). How long would it take for speakers nearby to cause permanent damage? NEVER! Or, forty-eleven million years - whichever comes first!

[authorpilot]

Here's the latest UPDATE about my "Bowing" situation......hopefully this post may help those with any future "Bowing" problems with their sets, and just to let you guys know what was done to correct the situation I had.
I called my local Toshiba service dealer in town and scheduled a service appt. for today. (The TV is still under 1 yr. parts/labor....so this didn't cost me a dime)
This week, however, I did check out the Service Menu, but like someone said, "THIS IS NOT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED!!" I wrote down my original settings and played around with a few 'service menu codes'. Most of the codes adjusted "trapezoid", "parallelogram", verticle height, horizontal height, etc. etc. But I could not find ANYTHING that would fix image "bowing". I set everything to the original settings and waited for the TV Tech Dude to arrive.
When he arrived, I asked him about my 5.1 channel speakers, and specifically the center channel speaker sitting on top of the TV. He said 99% of the time, the speaker WILL NOT affect the image of a projection TV. Mainly because there is nothing to "affect" in the screen area (basically a hollow box), all of the internal "mechanics" of the TV are in the base, nearly 5 feet away from the top of the TV where the center channel speaker sits.
Mr. Tech went right to work. He entered the Service Menu like I did, but pressed #7 on the remote which brought up a grid pattern. I counted the horizontal axis and verticle axis (16 lines across and 13 down). Each intersecting point, 208 of them (16 x 13 = 208) can be adjusted manually for convergence. The green at each intersection was adjusted first (this is the "Master"), then the blue and red to follow to make the grid WHITE again. Mr. Tech adjusted my problem areas: the lower right, the lower left, and top right corner. When he was done, ALL vertical and horizontal lines where perfectly straight. No bowing or curving of my image at all. Pretty simple indeed. My TV is as good as new now!!! YIPPEE!!
I just watched the Scooby Doo movie on DVD tonight. I tell ya, a "Fart Scene" just isn't a "Fart Scene" unless your TV's geometry is a perfect rectangle......
Thanks for your help Dudes. Keep up the good work. Be NICE out there!!!

P.S.
Al Gore is a LOSER!

[barcode23]

Dear woodman,

If You would have read my post's FULLY(which I know you didn't)! You would have came to the simple conclusion that I DID in fact point out that it WAS the television's fault, NOT my speakers! If you would have read my post's more closely, you could have figured out that when I mean "I picked up a new set, and since had no problems with it" would lead ME anyways to assume that it would not have been the speakers fault at all!
And as for the issue of unplugging the set to get the thing to "function" properly, IT DID THE TRICK!!! I don't trust a store tech as far as I can throw them, but in this case it did work. We turned off the set and let it cool down, but with a magnetic field "infecting" the SET, this was the only way it would return to normal. You did not inspect, nor know ANYTHING about the particular set I bought, so you cannot conclude anything on it!
It really ticks me off when someone skims through some reading, jumps to a conclusion, and then starts punching keys on their keyboard without having any realization of what their writing!