I think the infrared reciever in the TV isn't picking up the remotes signal It won't go on standby or put sound up or down etc I have a Thomson TV/DVD 17 inch .

Make sure that the remote is working by pointing your remote to a IR sensor or use the phone camera to detect -- open the phone camera/digital camera and show the remote with button pressed on to the camera as it will be displayed if IR works.
If so then the IR detector in the TV must be taken out , checked and replaced. You can measure the incident voltage on the IR sensor in the TV if present but not sensing it is faulty but if working without any action then the processor is also a suspect.