I have a 20 month old Samsung HLR5668WX/XAA that except for the left vertical 20% of the screen, the rest became dark. I can still make out the images behind it. For the next few days, I turned off/on the set after a few minutes 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. In addition, for a few months, the set has been making an intermittent grinding noise that went away when I turned off/on the set as above. In the last few days, the set is making the noise starting about 15 minutes after being turned on and remains until turned off. The left bright 20% started to expand to about 45% with some vertical lines in it. At its height, the vertical line became convex toward the right. It eventually settled back down to the previous 20%. I will post the images after posting this. When the set is turned off, the grinding noise starts to wind down and I noticed what looked like a map of California on its side against otherwise black background in the center of the screen. When the noise died down after about a minute, the map disappeared. I heard the hum of the fan click off after a few more minutes. Does it sound like the color wheel is bad? The fan perhaps? Something worse like the light engine or DMD board? Please let me know. Thanx in advance. Tom
Pix looks like a light pipe issue, inside the Light Engine. as far as the shutting down, could be a bad fan causing the grinding and when stopps the DMD turns the set off.
I have the same problem on my Samsung DLP tv. The difference is that instead of 20% of my tv being visible, it is 80% of my tv being visible and 20% being dark. I started out of no where about 2 months ago. I managed to ignore it until I bought a Nintendo Wii. Mario Kart Wii sucks when you can't see 20% of were you are going.
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This is the screen when bright left vertical 20% expanded to 35%. Notice it now has two distinct vertical black lines.
This is the screen after settling back down to 20%.
Thanx for the reply, Les.
Can the light pipe be replaced? Is this something that can be done by a relative novice like me?
Or does the entire Light Engine need to be replaced? If so, is there a place I can purchase one for a reasonable price? parts.com seem to have 'em for about $1,000. If that is the only source, I might as well buy a new tv. Thanx again.
Tom
Color/picture is fine, sound is fine, but eventually there is a loud almost grinding sound that a fan might produce. It will last anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour. Then it will dissipate but eventually start up again.
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