Author: Tom
Samsung color wheel or fan problem?
Wednesday, March 5th, 2008 @ 12:35 pm
I have a 20 month old Samsung HLR5668W that makes an intermittent grinding noise that goes away when I turn off/on the set after a few minutes.
A couple of weeks ago, except for the left vertical 20% of the screen, the rest became very dark. For the next few days, I turned off/on every time it happened and the picture came back to normal. Then eventually the problem became permanent. Thinking it was the lamp, I replaced it, but the problem still exists.
Does it sound like the color wheel is bad? The fan perhaps? Something much worse (crossing my fingers)? Please let me know. Thanx in advance.
Tom
Tom,
While it’s possible that it is a color wheel, i think it’s a long stretch to say that… The color wheel can cause the TV not to turn on…it can cause discoloration…it can cause flickering and fading images…it can also cause a double image effect.
But what you’re describing, 80% of our screen going black seens to be a optical block problem. I don’t want to get technical here because there is no easy fix for it
I would approach Samsung about this problem directly. They have always been reasonable on factory defects and this sure sounds like one…even if your warranty is out a few months (its the warranty two years anyway?).
Optical Light Engine is going to cost you well over $1,000 new…contact Samsung!
Tom,
I would just peak in there and double check your color wheel, lamp, and fans if I were you…take off the lamp cover, tape down the lamp cover sensor door, and power on the TV with your remote control.
If the lamp comes on, that’s a good
Now listen for the apparent fan noise. Your TV should have two fans inside…one close to the lamp, and the other one at the other end of the TV.
The color wheel is in a tunnel, right where the lamp output is directed. If the noise is coming from in there, you might have a bad color wheel. The bearings migth be bad and it might have chipped off a color or two…it might be stuck! At any rate, that leads to more investigation.
give these suggestions a try first!
The dark area is caused by a bad light tunnel.