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i have a akai PT50DL24, but, it is basicly a samsung :)

i've had this set for about 3 years now, replaced the bulb when i got it. worked perfect sense.... almost. every so often, maybe once a week, the tv will just turn itself off. also. even when the tv is off, i sometimes hear a loud "crack" coming from the set. those are the only 2 problems I've seen.

now, it only fires up for 20 or 30 seconds, i see the bulb working just fine, even goes thru a couple of brightness stages, everything seems to be fine, then poof, light goes out, 7 or so seconds later, "click", seat turns off and i get the 3 lights on the front, 20 seconds later, i can finally hear the color wheel (i think) start to come to i faint grinding stop. but the picture is perfect when the tv is on for the 30 seconds. no clicking from the ballast.

any help or info is appreciated!!!

Sorry it took so long to approve this post.

I can think of two things: Ballast or Power Supply. A loud crack? Can you elaborate on that? It sounds like a lamp issue, but if you are confident it is not the lamp, then it could be the ballast or power supply. You can check to see if the capacitors are blown on either and smell to see if it smells really burnt--that would most likely be a bad, or blown capacitor. The ballast does also fail after time.

My recommendation is first clean the fans on the inside of the lamp (you got to take the back of the tv off), normally the dust and mold that accumulates and tends to over heat the lamp.
If that doesn’t work then go for the ballast, I would leave the power supply at the third place because you are still able to turn on the TV for half a minute, if the power supply where dead, it wouldn’t turn on at all.
Good luck.

I would go with what eddie said. one of the two parts most likely.