My Samsung DLP has required multiple repairs since July
August 23, 2008 1:48 PM Subscribe
My out-of-warranty Samsung DLP has been plagued with issues for the last 6 weeks. Routine issues, or do I have recourse?
Samsung HLR4667WAX/XAA DLP. First week of July, my DLP's bulb died after 6500 hours. Fine. I can handle a bulb-I knew this was inevitable as soon as I bought the set (about 2004). After $129 and a 10-minute DIY, I was up and running.
Two weeks later, the color wheel went out. Cha-ching - Another $125 dollars and a slightly more complicated repair. After I installed the color wheel, I ran into issues where the set's colors would go all wonky and then it would shut itself off after about 5 minutes, with the lamp warning flashing. I went into the service screen and reset the bulb life counter-that seemed to fix the problem. TV worked fine for about another week to ten days.
Then, for whatever reason, the TV wouldn't turn on AGAIN. That, or it took far too long. Then not at all. For a few days, the TV would power on as long as turned the TV on before the Xbox. If the Xbox was already on, the TV wouldn't turn on. Now, the TV is back to not turning on at all. I get a blinking lamp indicator.
Discount-merchant, who I bought the lamp from, wants me to send the lamp back so they can test it and determine if its OK. According to their website, the bulbs have some ungodly failure rate, like 3 out of every 10,000 are DOA.
A call to 1-800-Samsung was no help, they wanted no part of me because it's out of warranty.
I've performed many other checks on the TV-I've ensured that all of the connections are tight, that the inside is clean, and that the lamp-cover-switch is in its proper position. There are no unusual noises coming from the set-I can hear the whirr of the fans and the color wheel.
Audio seems to work OK - I'm just not getting any picture.
I understand routine maintenance-but this many issues within a short timeframe seems unacceptable. Executive Customer Service is closed on the weekend - I'll try Monday, but can I expect them to lend a sympathetic ear?
Samsung HLR4667WAX/XAA DLP. First week of July, my DLP's bulb died after 6500 hours. Fine. I can handle a bulb-I knew this was inevitable as soon as I bought the set (about 2004). After $129 and a 10-minute DIY, I was up and running.
Two weeks later, the color wheel went out. Cha-ching - Another $125 dollars and a slightly more complicated repair. After I installed the color wheel, I ran into issues where the set's colors would go all wonky and then it would shut itself off after about 5 minutes, with the lamp warning flashing. I went into the service screen and reset the bulb life counter-that seemed to fix the problem. TV worked fine for about another week to ten days.
Then, for whatever reason, the TV wouldn't turn on AGAIN. That, or it took far too long. Then not at all. For a few days, the TV would power on as long as turned the TV on before the Xbox. If the Xbox was already on, the TV wouldn't turn on. Now, the TV is back to not turning on at all. I get a blinking lamp indicator.
Discount-merchant, who I bought the lamp from, wants me to send the lamp back so they can test it and determine if its OK. According to their website, the bulbs have some ungodly failure rate, like 3 out of every 10,000 are DOA.
A call to 1-800-Samsung was no help, they wanted no part of me because it's out of warranty.
I've performed many other checks on the TV-I've ensured that all of the connections are tight, that the inside is clean, and that the lamp-cover-switch is in its proper position. There are no unusual noises coming from the set-I can hear the whirr of the fans and the color wheel.
Audio seems to work OK - I'm just not getting any picture.
I understand routine maintenance-but this many issues within a short timeframe seems unacceptable. Executive Customer Service is closed on the weekend - I'll try Monday, but can I expect them to lend a sympathetic ear?
Yeah, it sounds like a bum lamp. The chances the color wheel are out again are slim (although non-zero -- listen to the startup routine and see if you hear it making multiple attempts to spin up the wheel). I've had a replacement lamp go all to hell within a week of service. There are a ton of bad lamps out there, apparently.
If another replacement lamp doesn't handle the problem, it's almost certainly the ballast, which is not too terrible a fix. It's less of a pain than your color wheel was, at least.
Just to give you some perspective, I've had my Samsung DLP display only a little longer than you've had yours. So far it's needed: a decoder board replacement, three lamps, and a color wheel. Only the wheel replacement happened out of warranty. These machines are simply not that reliable.
posted by majick at 6:51 AM on August 24, 2008
If another replacement lamp doesn't handle the problem, it's almost certainly the ballast, which is not too terrible a fix. It's less of a pain than your color wheel was, at least.
Just to give you some perspective, I've had my Samsung DLP display only a little longer than you've had yours. So far it's needed: a decoder board replacement, three lamps, and a color wheel. Only the wheel replacement happened out of warranty. These machines are simply not that reliable.
posted by majick at 6:51 AM on August 24, 2008
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Many manufacturers seemingly will wait for the first chance to toss you to the wolves. Buying an off-brand bulb from a non-Samsung reseller sounds like the prefect people to blame.
Most of your issues (to an IT guy who works with *projectors*) do sound like bulb issues. Our DLP projector had many of the same issues when we had a dud bulb.
As for Samsung, at best I would expect a discount on a new TV, if anything.
posted by SirStan at 1:59 PM on August 23, 2008