Hi guys, recently my second hand TV stopped working. After quick detective work utilizing the vast electrical experience on Google I figured it was the fuse that had blown. I'm no electrician but I like to fix things myself and I'm too cheap to buy another one at Wal-mart. If your TV stops working like mine you can follow these steps to fix it.

Symptoms. My second hand TV (I traded it for a memory card and micro SD card reader) would not come on by either the remote or on switch. It would not light up or make any sounds.
Diagnosis: The diagnosis was that the TV was not receiving any power. After trying different wall outlets, and plugging in known working appliances, I ruled out that it was not a faulty wall outlet. (I would use a lamp but that doesn't work either). No sense in cracking open a TV and risking your life if the wall outlet is not working or not on at all.

Step 1: Tools /Parts Used:

Philips screw driver
Thick leather gloves
Fuses
Flat screw driver
Flashlight

Step 2: Step 1

First unplug the power from the TV. Resist all temptation and leave the TV UNPLUGGED during the course of the repair. There is a 120V area on one side and high voltage area on the other side, either one you accidentally bump into is going to leave a big ouch or might make someone rich when they cash in your life insurance policy.

Set the box glass side down. Unscrew every screw and place them in an organized fashion. After you remove the screw, carefully lift the plastic case off the front. Set it aside.

IF you know what your doing you can go ahead and discharge the tube. If your inexperienced like me just wear thick leather or rubber gloves and avoid touching anything other than the edges of the PCB and the fuse.

Step 3: Find and Extract the Fuse

If your lucky the fuse will be in a readily accessible place. My TV I had to carefully lift the PCB up to access the fuse.

Using a flat blunt object carefully lift out the fuse. Take care not to break the fuse or scratch the PCB underneath. Once you extracted the fuse from the TV set the cover back on so no one accidentally kills themselves.

Take the fuse to your computer and type in any codes. Also look on the PCB for any markings such as Amperage and volts. Hopefully you get lucky and get some info off the fuse/internet.

I went to RatShack and dug through their fuse bins until I found one that matched both the Amps/Voltage and length/size. I had to buy a package of 4 for $3.40. About 3 more fuses than I needed right now.

Step 4: Go Home and Install the Fuse.

Carefully reassemble the TV and plug it in.
You might be tempted to turn it on with the cover off, just put the cover back on and secure it first, it takes like two minutes and might save your life.

If your lucky then the TV should come on when you press power. My 12 dollar TV now works with a 4 dollar repair. Plus it keeps an old TV out of the landfill and I save 150 from having to buy another one.

Yea! Free cable again. Now I can stay in my room and watch TV instead of having to leave to date women or work on my social life.