I've got a GE 25" 178 (I think) that's had tuner issues since new (1996). I'll switch it on, and as the set settles down, either the lowest channels I get off-air (3 and 8) or the highest (61, 65, 67) will go totally bananas: white screen, then stripes, coupled with a loud buzz. After that ends, everything's fine. I also have the EEPROM problem: one day I hit "Previous Channel" on the remote, and the pic reset itself to the horrible factory defaults.
At least it was a snap to turn down the Blue bias to get a gorgeous, warm, natural-looking pic... the service adjustments were printed on the inside of the cabinet!
Tom