Please help HLT6756W -Screen goes black- vid clip

[kody1979]

I've had my sammy just over 2 years and then last week the screen went black and the tv shutdown. If I unplug the tv and let it sit for awhile I can power it up and it will work fine for a couple mins and then it goes out again. Here are the symptoms:
1. Power on - picture looks great, everything seems fine
2. Screen goes black after 3-4mins, audio continues for 5-10seconds then TV shuts down
3. TV tries to cycle back on but picture never comes back on - makes high pitched annoying sound and that has slight clicking (I posted a quick video clip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VtH2YUkmek)
4. 3 lights are blinking on the front

I suspect it's the ballast based on my research on this forum but am scared to order anything for fear it might be the wrong thing again. I tried a new Phillips lamp and had the exact same results. What do you guys think?

Thanks in advance.

[Angel]

It seems to be the color wheel, fortunately there is a way to verify it before buying a replacement. Use this color wheel replacement guide to take the color wheel out and examine it: , if your color wheel has any damage or cannot spin freely, that is the cause of your issue.

Hope this helps.

[kody1979]

yes thanks...I'll give that a try and let you know how it goes.

[kody1979]

Color wheel seemed to be the problem however I think the new color wheel I received from DM is defective as well. Has anyone ever received a bad replacement wheel. The one I received didn't seem to spin very freely - pretty rough just like the one I removed from the TV. In fact when I replaced it the noise I experienced before was still there albeit much quieter. TV still shutoff like before. I even started up the TV with the color wheel exposed so I could see it spin up and I can definitely tell the whining noise is coming from the spinning wheel.

[kody1979]

OK...I'm getting very frustrated with this POS
I received a second colorwheel today, put it in and it behaves the exact same way. Does any body have any ideas of what to try next? I now have a new color wheel, new ballast, and new lamp. This is getting spendy:(

[kody1979]

Update:
After letting things sit awhile and then power cycling multiple times the lamp finally fired on and the TV worked flawlessly all evening...4+ hrs. Just for kicks before I went to bed, I just turned the power off, let it sit for a minute and then tried turning it back on...what would you know...same old problem...wheel tries to spin up...it makes a high pitched whine...and lamp never fires. It cycles through this process 3 times or so and then the 3 blinking LEDs come on.

Any thoughts?

[kody1979]

FINALLY SOLVED

It was indeed my colorwheel.
Discount Merchant delivered 2 bad colorwheels. They even claimed they tested the second one before it went out. I'm not sure how they really test them but obviously it is a worthless test. I would never buy from discount-merchant again. When I RMA'd the 2nd bad colorwheel they said they checked it and it was fine. I will bet my life that it is not fine and these jokers will be sending this "fine" colorwheel out to the next poor sucker. You could start this colorwheel up outside of the main housing and the wheel would spin up and soon after it starts to squeal. These guys are making money off restocking fees. I paid $82 for the colorwheel with shipping and all and they refunded me was $52. Very screwed up.

The third and final colorwheel I purchased from a seller on Ebay with good feedback. Installed it and it worked like a charm. It has been working now flawlessly for about a week.