Flatscreen virgins grand opening

[Jon A.]

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Originally Posted by MadMan

A bit late to the party, but I was going to say LCD tvs use high voltage fluorescent backlights, the pop you were hearing was likely a bad fluorescent tube causing the HV to be discharged elsewhere (as the power supply turned on), I've seen them arc through the paper-thin wire insulation to whatever source of ground they can find. And immediately after it arc-ed, the power supply probably noped out until its programming said it was ok to try again.

That reminds me of when I was troubleshooting a no-HV problem. I had the cap off the rectifier tube and the cage door propped open with a pencil. Soon enough the arc from the cap found its way to the pencil, starting a small flame. If I recall correctly it went out as soon as I pulled the plug.