Have you checked that the power supply rails are the right voltage and stale/ripple-free? I think my next move would be to stick a 'scope on the +5V rail, and any othes I could indentify. -tony

John Floren wrote: It looks like it might be part of the clamp that holds the cores together, but it's kind of hard to tell... Gordon

I wounldn't be so sure... That is the flyback transformer, certainly. That 'wire' looks like part of the mounting clamp. Originally it was a U-shapped piece of wire with threaded ends. This fitted rounf the ferrite corem, the ends wnet through the chassis (and maybe other brackets) and nuts were screwed on to hold it all together. My guess is this clamp rocke at some point and somebody soft-soldered it togheter. That was not strong enough. In the last photo there ssems to eb a rod going throug the flyback core near the solder-blo end of the 'wire'. I think that's the other part of the clamp. If you want to repaiur it, I would suggest carefully taking it apart, noting where all the nuts, washers, etc go. Replace the clamp with 2 lengths of brass studding (threaded rod) [1], a brass strip across the top, and some more nuts. [1] When cuttiong studding, run a couple of nuts onto it. one each side of the cut. Then hacksaw through it, file the ends, and use the nuts to clean up the trheds by unscrewing them But I don't see how this can be the problem. If the flyback transformer core is not correctly assembled, the flyback may resonate at the wrong frequency, whioch would upset the picture _size_. But it can't cause characters to appear. Unless the flyback is breaking down (power up the terminal with the case off, get someody to turn off the room lights, and look for sings of sparks or corona discharage around the flyback). it's not going to upset the digital side, I think. -tony