Ok, a friend's got this unit, he loves it, but suddenly it's refused to power up. The standby light blinks all the time, hitting power won't get the set to pop on. He says it 'smells warm' in the back, but he's not a TV techie.

Any popular failure points or places to look in there? I'm guessing HOT or power supply transistor...

It sounds like one of those sets where the HOT shorts and then shorts the two power supply switching transistors, and then a .1 ohm fusible resistor opens. This chain reaction is often caused by loose connections in the horizontal circuit; but, can also be caused by a bad flyback, etc. I've fixed a lot of newer ('90's) Sony's where all I did was resolder bad connections in the horizontal circuit and replace the blown parts I mentioned. I did, however, just trash a 36" Sony that I spend $20 something on parts just to watch them blow up upon power up. I couldn't determine if the flyback was bad or not and didn't want to spend $75 more just to watch more parts blow up. Sometimes, you just have to draw the line. I will tell you that you'll be better off to use Sony original parts if possible. Several places sell the whole parts kit for around $10. These parts are usually Chinese knockoffs or factory rejects and there is a good chance they'll bite you in the butt.

Had the same TV and the same issue. I let it sit for a couple hours and it started working again. The colors and focus also seemed off and had been degrading for at least a year. I used it as an excuse to get a 50 in plasma and couldn't be happier.

Best bet is to order a replacement Deflection board. Those are really tough to troubleshoot and they have a high re-failure rate if you do troubleshoot and repair. If the owner doesn't want to spend for a new board (about $260), PTS Electronics will rebuild & warranty the board. Also take warning: The yoke is known to short out on those too. To make a long story short, despite the fact that I'm a long-time Sony fan and once-upon-a-time factory authorized Sony repair shop tech, I 'd say don't fix that set.

Charles