HLN617w auto-shut-off (PLZ HELP)

[fresh]

Hi all,

TV was shutting off on its own but very sporadically (could be months, weeks, or days). As time went by, shutting off was occurring more frequently. To fix the problem, I did the following:
1- restart from remote control
2- unplug/replug tv
3- unplug/replug into different outlet
4- open lamp door and close it.
5- leave it unplugged for overnight
6- unplug, remove lamp door, replug, start it (to make it fail due to open door), then close door and restart.

When it shut down and I unplug/replug, most of the time, the led-indicators, gave the following:
timer --> solid green
lamp --> solid green
temp --> solid red
Also the fans were running when the leds were on. Basically I had to play with the above fixes until the led indicators were cleared and the fans stopped running.

In the past few days, the TV would only run for a short period of time (half hour to couple of hours) then shut off.

Is this a ballast problem?
Is this a lamp problem?
Is the problem even bigger than these two?

I had contacted a Samsung tech, DM techs, and a couple of other techs and they all gave conflicting possibilities:
- lamp
- ballast (DM)
- DMD board (Samsung tech)
- Power supply board (Samsung tech)

I just need some help because now I am tired emotionally with this tv :(

Thank you for reading and for any advice.

[fresh]

UPDATE.

I also noticed that I can't access my service menu (created another thread for this).

My final observation is that the lamp might actually getting old because the colors are very dark and dark scenes are waaaay too dark.

Please share your advice.

Thanks