Author: energytactics
Samsung DLP won’t turn on & Customer Service doesn’t respond
Sunday, September 7th, 2008 @ 2:50 pm
September 21, 2008
http://www.samsung.com/us/info/contactus.html#
Dear Sir or Madam:
I am writing this letter because I have some time while I wait for my Samsung HL-R4266W DLP TV to start working again. On random days (usually two days out of seven) your product just doesn’t work. Well actually the projection lamp does turn on, but there is no picture and no sound. After waiting about 30 minutes sometimes the unit will then turn on correctly. Other times I pull the plug and wait and it sometimes comes on.
The indicator lights are of no help to diagnose this intermittent problem.
On September 1, 2008 I spoke with the 800 726 7864 customer service line. After about 30 minutes of being passed around I have Trans # and the advice to call Mort’s TV a Samsung authorized service center. On September 15th, the customer service line finally admitted that their only function was to get the TV connected. They can’t and don’t help diagnose problems.
Mort’s TV was somewhat helpful. They indicated that we should not bring the set in until it was failing a majority of the time, as they can’t diagnose a two out of seven problem. Oh, and the bench charge is a minimum of $100 plus the unknown price of parts and labor to be determined.
So bottom line I own one of your products that doesn’t turn on 2/7 of the time, that isn’t supported by the customer line and can’t be diagnosed by your authorized service center. That is NOT a recipe for me to purchase replacement or additional Samsung products in the future.
SO HERE IS WHAT I WANT. I’d like to speak with a technically savvy Samsung engineer familiar with the product who can interpret the various trouble lights and offer an opinion of what may be wrong and a hint of how and how much it may cost to repair.
I have the same problem, I am an electronic technician and have been troubleshooting an Intermittent No start on an HLN437. Samsung will not help you. I’ve tried. Samsung DLP tv’s have design flaws that fail at an alarming rate. There is no way to determine the cause of the failure without replacing parts with known good parts, (out of the mouth of their service center representative). Even the service manual will tell you that if the ballast isn’t commanded on that you should start by replacing the light engine, and if that doesn’t work replace the digital board. We’ll there’s been people on the net that have done just that and still no resolution to their problem, despite having spent hundreds or thousands in parts and labor. There is too many people all over the net talking about bad bulbs or color wheels to even begin to find an answer to this question without somebody stomping on you thread. So far this is what I have and have done: Intermittently the tv fails to start, the green lamp led will blink for about 4 minutes during which the tv is unresponsive, the fans are on but no color wheel or lamp operation. At approx. 4-5 minutes the tv will cycle off then on, fail, repeat again, then end up with the generic failure code of all three led’s blinking on the front panel. At this time you can only disconnect the power cord and wait a couple hours. I have pin-tested all the connectors between the boards. My ballast has 320V dc signal on red and green and 5V and Gnd at the three pin connector but it is not being commanded on. The color wheel will not begin to spin, but if you listen very closely you can here something actuating from the light engine area. The power supply board seems to be functioning correctly according to the fact that it is supplying it’s wide range of voltages as marked on the board. However I have noticed that when the set fails there is a relay that might not be energized. During proper operation the unit seems to make 2 clicks on start up(sound like relays). During failure’s it only seems to make one click. This is odd because I only saw one blue relay on the power supply board. One time during probing the connector from the power supply to the input board the set actually resumed normal operation. I will go get some freeze spray at this point and see if I can locate the failing region. I haven’t found any schematic that has test point voltages. Maybe they’re not meant for the public, or maybe samsung just want’s to ensure they can get away with charging people for parts. Either way, I wouldn’t be surprised if they end up with a class action law suit from all the people they are preying upon. Let’s start one today! I know a lawyer willing to organize it.
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I have the exact same problem AND, the same problem with Customer Service! My TV is 3 years old, I spent 2K on it, had to change the lamp, the color wheel due to a horrible, screeching noise, and now, the exact same symptoms as has been described by so many people on this forum!! If you know a lawyer, tell me what you need! I’ve escalated with Samsung ECR, but once I contacted them, I’ve yet to be able to contact them again! Waiting on hold, trying to use their email form is a joke and basically, now that I’m out of warranty, they could care less (at least, that’s all I can conclude based on my treatment from Samsung!).
If there is anyone there that can help with this issue (again, it is what is described above to a T), I’d appreciate it! I just can’t tell what part is causing a problem.
I did reply within the Samsung Forum to someone else and realized I didn’t leave my model or anything (operator headspace issue), so to clarify, I have a HL-R4266W, 42″ DLP. Here is a lttle bit about my saga - maybe someone can help??
For several months, we experienced the screeching noise that is associated with the color wheel. This item was purchased and installed approx 3 weeks ago. I also ordered a lamp as my picture was dim. During this time, I did contact Samsung via their WEBsite and spoke with someone who was pretty abrupt and not very helpful. I then called back, spoke to a different tech who did seem to help. After gathering all available information, I then replaced the color wheel and the lamp. The tv came on just fine with the exception of the colors being reversed due to replacement of the color wheel. After more research, it was determined that jumper CN810 needed to be removed. To locate this jumper was quite difficult, however, after removing the heatsink fan and spring clip, I found the jumper and removed it. The tv powered on and did just fine for 2 days. While watching it, it simply powered down and all lights on the front began flashing. After further research and more calls to Samsung,I was informed that it was the light tunnel. This information was given to me by a Level 2 technician. I was not very happy about that, so researched further and spoke with Samsung once more and was then told it was possible it could be the ballast. So, a ballast was ordered. This latest part was installed and I attempted to turn on the tv again. This time, only the lamp light flashed while the tv tried to power on. The color wheel spins up (it can be heard), the ballast clicks and then the tv shuts back down. I then called once more and spoke with another tech, but no new suggestions were given except to have a service tech come out and try to repair it.
At this point, after replacing color wheel, the lamp and ballast, I am not going to put any more money into this particular set. This television cost $2,000.00 when purchased and now, I’ve put almost $300.00 into it. The service tech wants an additional $200-$300 just to come out and tell me what is wrong! That will bring my out-of-pocket expenses close to $600.00, almost the price of a brand-new, LCD 42″ television!
BTW, if I understand correctly, a light tunnel failure/collapse would not keep the TV from turning on….
[Reply]
Hi Roy,
I’m assuming we have a very similar problem. I posted this in another forum but maybe someone can assist us.
have read through most of this thread (which is fantastic btw - great seeing so many people being helpful). unfortunately I now have information overload - as far as I can tell my issue could be:
I need a new Ballast
I need to grab a soldering iron and change a number of capacitors
I may need to change the Colour wheel
I might need a new engine
I might have a ‘loose’ lamp door lever
All of the above
If anyone can help me troubleshoot I’d gladly roll my sleeves up and have a go.
The issue is:
TV works fine for long periods and then, out of the blue, colours will go ‘funky’ and it will turn itself off to standby.
Then, when I press a channel on my remote, one of two things happens :
a) picture comes back (everyone happy)
b) 3 cycle repeat complete with turn-off melody on each cycle and a whining sound (Please note NOT a very noisy sound as seems to be reported by the colour wheel issues) and then, inevitably, as night turns to day, the three blinking lights.
What I did when this first happened : Replaced the lamp.
What happened : Tv worked FINE for about 8 months and then the issue above happened again.
What I did then : Bought ANOTHER lamp
What happened: TV worked FINE for about 6 DAYS and then same issue happens.
Currently :
Now, its like a lottery, I turn it on some mornings and get the blinking lights straight away. I’ll try again a few hours later and the tv works as normal for either a few hours or even a few days and then will randomly revert to the 3BL cycle again.
Please help - which area should I concentrate on? Please note also I have moved to the UAE so tv is out of warranty and also no real customer service to speak of so I’m on my own (apart from you guys )
Random question : If i unplug all the inputs (xbox,PC,Cable tv etc) turn it on (into standby mode), and wait for 10 minutes before turning it on - is there any technical reason why this might help me on start up at least? I just read it somewhere and its something I haven’t tried.
if anyone can assist I would be so grateful - its the ‘oh great it works’ euphoria to every now and then ‘oh no it doesn’t’ despair cycle thats killing me - I honestly think if it didn’t work at ALL I’d be handling this better - insanity is beckoning.
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