HLN617W picture froze, turned B&W and grainy, audio OK

Possibly DMD board.

Its the colorwheel almost positively! Save the bulb you took out its probably still good .
Go to partstore.com

Had similar problem. Thought it was the lamp. Examined old lamp but it appeared to be good. Ordered a new one anyway. Changed the lamp but the TV screen would not come on. It would make the usual noise as it was going to come on normally but it would cycle 3 times & then turn off. The LED lights in the front panel would indicate a defective lamp. Then read about the ballast. Changed the ballast & still same problem. Tried starting the TV without the lamp installed & noticed that the color wheel did not spin. Removed old color wheel & discovered it was broken. This appears to be the cause of all of my problems. I wish I new earlier of the test-turn on the TV without the lamp being installed & check to see if the color wheel is spinning. Would have save money on the lamp & ballast.

I WOULD RECOMEND CHECKING YOUR CAPACTIORS (CAPS)ON YOUR BALLIST BOARD (THE ONE THE LAMP PLUGS INTO) IT'S ABOUT 3" X 8" IN SIZE DO NOT TOUCH THE BOTTOM OF THE BOARD!!!!!! YOU WILL END UP IN THE EMERGENCY ROOM. JUST LOOK TO SEE IF THE CAPS ARE BUBBLED OR BLOWN IN ANY WAY.

Check the link below - sounds like you have a bad color wheel.

Samsung Color Wheel

http://www.jangro.com/electronics/samsung-dlp-replace-color-wheel/

Why did you replace the fan was it noisey and did that cure the noise. These sets commonly have problems with color wheels-do you get motor noise at startup?

Samsung is notorious for having bad color wheels in their DLPs. Well lets just say they are like toasters, they only last a certain amount of time. If the color wheel isn't spinning or is broken, the set will power down almost immediately after you hit the button, you may not even hear the entire fire up jingle. Check the wheel, if you can see the bulb light up for that split second. Actually, check it whether the bulb lights up or not.

Most of the time when these sets won't turn off it's caused by the DMD but check the color wheel connectors first, especially the flat ribbon cable. Make sure it's in the connector in the correct direction, only has contacts on one side and make sure the ribbon is not torn.

The whine or squealing you hear is either the color wheel or fan. To determine which, when the noise is heard from the set, turn it off and listen carefully. If squealing stops immediately then Tthe fault is the color wheel, not the fan. And sounds like that are generally the color wheel. A new color wheel is Samsung p/n# BP96-00250A for this model. Vance Baldwin carries them for $97.20 plus shipping. https://www.vancebaldwin.com Logon as guest, select parts and copy past the above part number in without any dashes. Good luck... Bill

It could be the color wheel and in fact probably is. I've seen them shatter which would explain the noise. They are glass and spinn at 9000 rpm. An involved repair though definatley a job for a pro. It could be worse, probably a few hundred will do it. Was the TV begining to be a little loud before the failure? Could be a sign, i've seen many noisy color wheels.