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We lost the picture on our set. like most of you out there, between my daily commute to work, I dont have much free time. My 9yr old is in crisis without Spongebob after a fast inspection and quickly noticing the light bulb wasnt coming on thru the back of the set I call the local repair guy and ask him if he stock the bulb. He told me that it might not be the bulb but he makes the house-call to give his free estimate. Wife takes the morning off to meet with him. He told her the bulb wasn't bad, stuck a multi-tester in inside the light bulb access door, wife said it "beeped". He said the main board was bad and he would take the TV and repair it and bring it back in 2 days.

My wife called me at work while he was there for my input. She relayed to me he gave her a repair price of $500-$600. Considering the set was 2yrs old and I paid around $800 for it I didn't think that was a good investment until I did my own homework. SO the tv repair guy charged her $60.00 for the house-call but said he would waive the charge if we decided we didnt want to to fix it and he would haul it to the trash for us. (yes i'm serious)
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So tonite I decided to check ebay for bulbs and that led to google and I'm questioning myself before I start spending money.

What I can see.
Our RCA set has the dreaded 5 second blink, pause... 5 second blink and after the 5 minutes the light blinks steady for a minute or so. The troubleshooting guide in the TV manual indicates a bulb.

After reading some posts here, I'm reading about other potential problems like a ballast and/or the color wheel. The symptoms of the color wheel may or may not fit. When I hit the power button I can hear what I would describe as a "fan" almost like I hear on my laptop but it's intermittent.. I dont think it's loud, I have to get my ear pretty close to the back of the set to hear it. It's almost as if it's "Cycling"?

I can also see a couple "red" lights in 2 areas of the main board when it's plugged into the wall.

TCAT,

It is your bulb. Most of these repair guys have no idea what they're doing! A multi meter can NOT test a bulb to see if it's working because these bulbs have a mercury vapor inside them not a filament. What you need to do find out what your bulb part # is that way you can replace it and be sure your getting a replacment that will work for you. Also, if your pretty handy I would say just get the bare bulb it's cheaper and you can replace it yourself. I would recommend calling discount merchant they have great customer service and can help you troubleshoot as well. Get back to me if you have anymore questions. Good luck!