TV & Phone Tips

Keep your TV and phones trouble free.

Not being able to watch your favourite programme on TV or use your home phone is a major annoyance. Reconnect with the outside world by following these troubleshooting tips.

If you find you're still having problems, see Appliance Technicians for an affordable, reliable fix. If the trouble is with your TV aerial, see Aerial & Satellite Engineers.

TVs

Rather than buy a new TV when it gives trouble, repairing the fault may be easier than you think. Here are some common problems, with advice to help you solve them:

• The TV turns on and off by itself
• Screen displays a patch of different colour on the side of the screen
• TV has picture but no sound
• TV has sound but no picture

The TV turns on and off by itself

Try the following steps:

• 

  Replace batteries in your
  TV remote

  Replace the batteries in your TV remote control.
• Cover up your infra-red receptor on the front of your TV to see if you're getting unwanted signals from the receptor. Covering the receptor with a bit of foil should do the trick.
• Unplug your TV for a moment then plugging it back in - this resets the logic functions which might be causing the glitch.
• Recently added equipment might have interfered with your TV's operation. Have you added a remote control extender? Added a new device to your audio-video system? Changed to a new remote? Remove these devices and test your TV again.

Screen displays a patch of different colour on the side of the screen

This is a problem caused by speaker magnets positioned too close to the set - try move them further away to see if this resolves the problem. If not, you might have to get physical. Firmly slap the screen area that is discoloured with the palm of your hand. If you notice ringing waves of colour in the picture the shadow mask has distorted INSIDE the tube - for this replacement is your only option

TV has picture but no sound

This can be symptomatic of more serious problems. Likewise it might be a simple sound setting. Go to the TV's onscreen menu and see if you have the wrong sound system selected. If there's an auto setting, select that option.

TV has sound but no picture

Try increasing the brightness and contrast to maximum. Is there any static on the screen? If so, the line time base and transformer are without fault. You may be able to hear a very high pitched whistle from the line timebase, indicating it's working.

Phones

Common phone faults usually fall into one of the following areas:

• Problems making telephone calls
• Problems receiving telephone calls
• Problems with line quality (crackle, noise) or telephone equipment (wiring)

Problems making telephone calls

• Ensure the telephone bell is switched on and turned up. Also make sure that the telephone is plugged in correctly.
• Many telephones have the bell or sounder positioned on the telephone base. Make sure this is not placed on a soft surface which could affect the ring tone.
• Overloading a telephone line may result in your telephone failing to ring when incoming calls are made. Try removing one or more connected items on your line.

Problems receiving telephone calls

• Try plugging your phone directly into your main telephone socket with nothing else attached. Do you get a dial tone? This way you can check whether the fault is with your cables or phone.
• There could be problems with your home number, or you may just be trying to dial the wrong number. Try dialling another number that you know works to see if you can make a successful call.
• Check your phone's manual to see if it is multi-frequency (MF or touchtone) dialling. Some Home Phone calling features will only work if you have an MF or touchtone telephone.

Problems with line quality (crackle, noise) or telephone equipment (wiring)

• Remove any extension cables and try plugging a different phone (not a cordless phone) directly into your main telephone socket.
• If you have a cordless phone check that the batteries are fully charged.
• Make sure that every piece of equipment connected to your line has a microfilter attached. If you don't use microfilters this will create interference that will affect the quality of your Home Phone calls.
• One or more of your microfilters may be faulty. You can test these by replacing them with new ones.
• If you get noisy/poor call quality only when ringing the same number, it's likely that the other number has a service problem.