Not quite repairing

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

A neighbor had trouble with her cable box. The initial symptom was different ("stuck in subtl off")

When I got to her house the final version of the problem was the "all on" was toggling the TV on and the cable box off, so either the TV or the cable box was on, but not both.

On a hunch I took out my cell and compared two of her remotes (TV and cable box). The cable box was dimmer. Sure enough, replacing the batteries made one button light up on xmit.

 

[cowboybob]

I made a lot of easy money, back in the day, with the most basic of troubleshooting "tricks":

Plug it in.
Turn it off and back on.
Normal lights?
Replace battery(s).
Reboot.
Not so often, check the fuse.
Rarely, cycle a breaker.
Some I've probably forgotten .

The more you know about something, the easier it is to forget the primary solutions .

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

This is the second time I helped her. The first time, the box was displaying oo6 and the power button and the other buttons were capacitive. No response from the power button. Yanked the power the hard way. She uses the TV as a drug for pain. Keeps her mind off the pain.

 

[DerStrom8]

My wife's grandmother has been having trouble with her tablet. The other day she told me that it just shut off while she was using it and wouldn't turn back on. I went over to her house, put it on a charger for a few hours, and she was able to turn it back on again.