Way O/T - Sony Rear Projection TV Fuse

I inherited a 52" Sony Rear Projection TV from a guy for $0. The convergence went out, other than that, the case is nice, the picture was good (except for the rotten convergence).
I did some research on the net and figured I could get away with just a pair of convergence chips (STK392-570 types), much like I have in the past when I've helped out other people with similar problems.
Screw up #1 - I never did fire up the TV to actually see the convergence problem for myself. Should've done that, but I didn't.
I ordered the chips ($42 spent) and replaced them. Now when I turned on the TV, I get a flashing standby LED, 4 flashes, pause, 4 flashes, pause, repeat. Further research says it's a problem with the Horizontal section. Ok.
Screw up #2 - Research also says I should've checked the 8 'pico fuses' (6 on one board, 2 on the other) before swapping the convergence chips. I didn't do that before, but I have now. And I've found a 5amp 'pico fuse' on the power supply board that's opened up.

Here's the options -

1) Buy a 5amp Pico Fuse (or 2 or 3). Spend another $20 for a few <$1 pieces which may or may not blow immediately when I power up the TV the next time.

2) 'Hot-wire' in an external 5amp fuse for testing purposes, then buy the Pico Fuses if the test is successful and replace the parts correctly.

3) Jumper the fuse, power up the TV for a few seconds and see what happens. And after the plug is pulled (and the smoke has cleared :D), meter the fuse to see if it's opened up.

3a) If everything is ok and it was the convergence chips that caused the Pico fuse to blow in the first place, the TV should power up fine and NOT blow the fuse, in which case I'll order the correct parts to do the job right. And I'm one 52 inch rear projection TV ahead of the game.

3b) Everything is not ok? Well, the jumper wire burns up, some smoke might roll out of the chassis somewhere, something happens to something else, who knows. And if I wreck it completely, I'm only out $42, some time, and a TV I really didn't need in the first place. Maybe I can turn it into a nice aquarium or something.

6 of one, half-a-dozen of the other. Either I end up with a working 52" TV for about $50 or I end up with more for the scrap yard.

Thoughts?

EDIT/Update:
I went with option 3, but ended up with sub-result 3c.
Installed a 24 ga. jumper wire in place of the 5amp pico fuse, had a friend plug it in, another friend watched for sparks/smoke, and I watched the flashing LED in front.
Short story made long, nothing happened. Same thing, no picture, 4 flashes. Pulled out the 24ga jumper wire and installed a 30ga jumper, thinking it should be a lot easier to melt if there was a bit of a current overload. Same thing happened - nothing - again. The wire didn't hot, nothing smoked, nothing melted.
Oh well. Maybe the service manual I found has some better clues.