OK!!! So,...after reviewing the service repair manual of the Samsung HL-R5688, I realized the OBVIOUS. The obvious being that WHOM EVER THE INTERIOR DESIGNER WAS OF THIS UNIT,..THEY ARE A F-ING MORON (S), AND HOW THEY GOT A JOB WITH SAMSUNG IS BEYOND COMPREHENSION!!!! Allow me to explain:
The DMD board is located on the top section of the internal workings and integrated with the LIGHT ENGINE,...now,..let's think about that and discuss it for a minute, shall we?
The lamp that is used with this unit,...and without getting all technical for those of us who are "technically challenged" and couldn't read their way out of a set of electrical prints/diagrams if their lives depended on it (not their fault AT ALL).....the lamp gets REALLY F-ING HOT,....I mean,...HOOOOTTTT!,...everyone with me so far? What does HEAT DO?,...IT RISES, right? Where is the Texas Instruments DLP chip located?...ABOVE AND JUST IN FRONT OF THE LAMP!! Now,...granted,...there's a black "shield" that vents out to the back of the unit to exhaust the heat,...but not NEARLY as much it SHOULD!! Let's do the math,.....let's see,... HEAT + COMPUTER CHIP OF ANY KIND = BAD,...or rather A BURNT-ASS CHIP!
So,...last Friday,...I changed my name to MacGuyver, and proceeded to see if my engineering skills were worth a damn. First,...let me say that IT IS NOT A FAULTY TEXAS INSTRUMENTS DLP CHIP!!!......RATHER THE DESIGN OF THE INTERIOR LAYOUT FROM SAMSUNG!! They DEFINITELY screwed the pooch on this one!
If ANYONE wants pics of what I did,...just send me your e-mail, and I'll send you an about 11.5 mb file (ten pics). I will ALSO send a PDF of that portion of the repair manual.
FIRST, yOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO TAKE THE LIGHT ENGINE OUT OF THE UNIT.
Second,...I basically installed a small, but some what thick fan at the upper LEFT hand corner of the back of the DMD board housing (approx. 2"x2"x5/8"), using the EXISTING screw hole (I TOOK OUT THE ORIGINAL GOLD COLORED SCREW, then tapped it out to a 6/32 and used a 1" long screw to secure the fan).....NO ADDITIONAL HOLES WERE TAPPED OUT, EITHER,...JUST THE EXISTING ONE FROM THE UPPER LEFT HAND CORNER OF THE DMD BOARD AS LOOKING AT IT FROM BEHIND,...AND YOU'LL HAVE TO UNSCREW TWO PHILLIPS HEAD SCREWS THAT HOLD THE BLACK HEAT EXHAUST PORT ONTO THE LIGHT ENGINE (that are located just beneath the square opening) in order to install the second fan. You have to kind of slide it (the exhaust port) to the left and up to take it off. The fan direction was blowing ONTO the back of the DMD board.
THIRD,....the SECOND FAN was installed kinda on the middle-bottom-left of the heat sink for the DMD board, which is located DIRECTLY BEHIND that heat exhaust port. I un-screwed two small Phillips Head screws located at the MIDDLE of the heat sink so as to take off the heat sink. I tapped out yet ANOTHER SINGLE 6/32 hole about 1/4" ABOVE where the two screws that hold the heat sink to the DMD board are located, and used a 2 and a 1/2" squared by 3/8"-1/2" raised fan. By the way,...ALL of the fans used were regular-run-of-the-mill 12 volt DC computer fans. The Heat Sink was re-installed, and the fan was fastened with a 1" screw to the newly tapped out 6/32 screw hole. Use the fans' upper left hand hole and IT TOO WILL BLOW ONTO THE HEAT SINK TOWARD THE DMD BOARD (or toward the front of the tv).
fOURTH.....I installed ONE LAST FAN, but located it JUST INSIDE of the BLACK HEAT EXHAUST PORT (It actually fit rather perfectly) I didn't really use anything to secure it to the unit, but it's own input power wires. I drilled a small hole,..about 1/8"- 1/4", at the bottom left side of the exhaust port, in order to feed the fan's wires through from inside of the squared opening to the outside.
FIFTH....I tied all of the wires together,...soldered them (you could probably get away with using small blue or orange wire-nuts) and attached them all to an EXTERNAL 12VDC PLUG IN POWER SUPPLY that is plugged in before the TV is turned on, and unplugged after the TV is turned off.....Now,...eventually,..I'll figure out a relay set-up so it'll turn on when the tv is turned on via the remote,...BUT DO NOT,...I REPEAT,..DO NOT ATTACH THE ADDED FANS TO ANY OF THE EXISTING FANS WITHIN THE SAMSUNG UNIT AS THERE MORE THAN LIKELY IS NOT ENOUGH CURRENT AVAILABLE TO SUPPORT THEM!!
Well,...after approximately 72 HOURS,....YES,...I WILL REPEAT THAT,....72 HOURS of CONTINUOUS use WITH THE NEWLY INSTALLED MACGUYVERED FAN SET UP,.......NO HALF SCREEN!!!!! YES, LADIES AND GENTLEMAN!!! I HAVE SOLVED AND FIXED THE ISSUE!!!.....
YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE THE AMOUNT OF HEAT THAT COMES FROM THE NEWLEY INSTALLED EXHAUST FAN!!! THAT ALONE probably solved the problem,...but I don't think the other two that are attached to the DMD board are doing any damage or for nothing either.
And now,...I rant,..bitch,..piss,..moan,...and complain,...so it you don't care about my thoughts on the whole thing,...you can stop reading.
I feel like I should call Samsung and give them a royal ASS CHEWING,...but I SERIOUSLY doubt that it would do ANY GOOD, NOR would I receive ANYTHING of a "Hey,..thanks for figuring that out for us",....not that I would really LOOK OR WANT for one anyway,.....on the OTHER HAND,...a FREE 55" LED TV would be an AWESOME thanks,...but of course,...if bullfrogs had wings,...they wouldn't slam their butts on the ground when they hopped either, now would they? (in other words, for those who didn't get that metaphor,...THEM GIVING ME A 55" LED TV WILL NEVER HAPPEN!!)...and what REALLY sucks,...is that the "Better Half" stated "We will NEVER spend THAT KIND OF MONEY ON A TV EVER AGAIN!!"....and when you're un-employed,...and she's not,...she kinda makes the rules,....DAMN IT!!
ANYWAY,....again,...if ANYONE else would like to attempt this,...send me your e-mail,...I'll send you a PDF and some pics. And if anyone feels the need to forward this to Samsung's Corporate offices,...by all means,..go right ahead,..but me,...I'm not really feeling the need to waste my time trying to discuss something with someone who probably REALLY DOESN'T CARE. My main goal in this,..is hopefully helping at least ONE OTHER person who has this same issue, and hopefully help them feel like they really DIDN'T waste 5 grand on a TV that didn't last for CRAP!!
SORRY SAMSUNG,....some of us are NOT well off and SUPER RICH and can't afford to buy a new $5k tv every other year like some people. Some of us believed in your products and what you had to offer. I for one,...will NEVER BUY ANOTHER SAMSUNG PRODUCT AGAIN!!! I just hope that I'll FINALLY get my moneys-worth out of this piece of S#!T!!!
Oh,...and if anyone is into hard rock/ metal music like Metallica, Godsmack, Sevendust, Creed,...check out prevailrocks dot com and if you like it,..spread the word. THAT would be thanks enough for me,...and yes,...I'm in the band. If you read the band bios,..you'll figure out which one I am.
Cheers, Salute, and Skol!