BIZARRE - lamp on, but screen blacks out.

[bigolyd]

This problem has me stumped, any help is appreciated. I apologize for the long post, but this is truly an unusual issue that I have spent much time troubleshooting and want to provide as much detail as possible.

I have a Samsung HLP6163. I replaced the lamp a year ago and it now has about 1000 hrs on the lamp. I replaced the color wheel about six months ago. Both repairs went flawlessly. It has been cleaned of dust and is well cared for. Aside from the following problem, the TV operates perfectly in every way. I have never had any problems with the picture, the picture is excellent. The tv is whisper quiet without any unusual noises. There are no indicator lights that are flashing. It is on 3-4 hours per day. It is hooked up with HDMI.

About three months after the color wheel replacement, I was watching TV, and without warning the picture went black...sort of. The lamp was still on, the audio still on, but the picture went grayish-black with a "backlit" effect. There was no image projected, but the TV was not off. Once I turned the TV off, everything turned off normally and the screen went to dark black in color. I turned the TV back on, the lamp lights up bright as sunshine, audio is on, but no picture, just a grayish-black screen. I tried several times to get the TV to produce a picture, but to no avail.

I went out of town for about three days, then turned it on when I got backand the picture comes on and everything is working perfectly again. This problem would happen 4-5 times over the next couple of months, and each time I would leave the TV off for a couple of days and then I would get my picture back. While trying to troubleshoot, I had read that overheating on the DMD board and/or mirrors could be a problem. So I pulled the back cover off, secured the shutoff switch with a rubberband, and setup a household fan blowing into the TV. Now the TV will work for 3-4 weeks with an absolutely perfect picture, then the picture goes off(everything else remains on, lamp still bright as sunshine) and will not come on for 2 days. After those 2 days, it works perfectly again for another 3-4 weeks. I spoke with a Samsung certified purebred numbskull factory tech whose only answer was, "it is probably the DMD board, you just need us to come take a look". It could be the DMD board, but why do I have a perfect picture if it is the DMD board? Everything I have read about DMD boards being bad involves some visual corruption of the picture. Could this be a temperature sensor, or something else? I have tried switching from HDMI to component and RCA. It makes no difference. Please help if you can?

[grayfox]

Hello,
the cheapest way to diagnose the problem would be to order and change the temp sensor (see below) since it will be cheaper than having someone come to your house to take a look at the set!
http://www.discount-merchant.com/Search ... msung+temp

If this does not solve the problem try making sure all fans are turning on now that you know how to keep the TV on without the cover (be careful the lamp is ignited at 15kv!!!). If so then my third guess would be the light engine itself =( but its a very easy install!

http://www.discount-merchant.com/Search ... ght+engine

Hope this helps!

[Resist58]

I am having a similar problem with an older HLN617 DLP TV. The lamp and audio work fine, yet the screen is dark. I have no lights on the front indicator panel, which means there is a problem because one light should be on. Every so often the picture scrambles, then goes blank again.