I recently got a well-used (looking) Telequipment S54A scope from auction. First thing I noticed was that the ground pin on the power plug was sawed/hacked off. I tried plugging it in anyways, just to see if it worked, and I didn't get a trace. I followed the instructions for first-time operation, so I think all the knobs were in the correct position, and I was using the front panel 50mVp/p Cal output. The screen illumination works, and it draws about 7W at the plug. If I turn the brilliance up (clockwise) all the way, it suddenly draws 22W, and I can see the screen illumination (or maybe the CRT itself) flicker slightly.
I haven't opened it up yet. Could the lack of ground be the problem? Given a working screen, do I need to reattach the ground pin? I assume the AC coupling mode might not work, and obviously the ground plug on the front would be useless...
Thanks, Hengy