Well, I'm at my wit's end, and I'm hoping some of the experts on here can help restore my sanity...
I have a Samsung HL-R6168W, purchased in the fall of 2005. For four years, I could not have been happier with this TV. The screen is gorgeous and enormous. Then the problems started, and I've been in hell ever since. In early 2009, the original bulb blew. Not that big a deal, I thought, this eventually happens with all DLP units. I went online and ordered a Phlips bulb, and put it in, and all was well for awhile.
Fast forward to last fall. The unit got to where it would shut itself off after a few minutes, with the dreaded 3 blinking LED's on the front of the unit. Eventually, it got to where it would startup at all, it would do the click-whirr-click sequence where it tries to fire up and can't. I knew it couldn't be the bulb, it was practically brand new. After a lot of research on here and elsewhere on the internet, I decided that the lamp ballast was the likely culprit. I was out of work for a few months, so it wasn't until recently that I could order a new ballast. It arrived this week, and I put it in yesterday.
Apparently I was wrong about it being the ballast. When it's fired up cold, I can get a picture for a few seconds, then it goes dark, and 'reboots' a couple of times, before going to the 3 LED trouble-code on the front. If I have it try to start again, it will sometimes get to a picture, but usually just goes back to blinking the trouble code on the power button.
I pulled the light engine out and extracted the color wheel. It appears to be fine, it's not broken anywhere, and seemed to spin OK. (I wore latex exam gloves while I had it out.) From what I can gather reading about similar issues, though, it seems like the color wheel might be to blame here.
I wanted to see if there were any other suggestions to try on here before throwing more parts (and money) at the problem.
fgovdglz
Moderator: Angel
