I have an Acer PH530. It is doing something weird. It booted up today and then shutoff after about 60 minutes. I restarted it and it did the same thing after 20. It is running pretty hot.

I checked the projector and the lamp light is being lit when it shuts off.

Does this mean its time to replace the lamp? Or is there something else wrong. From what I have read, when a lamp dies, it just dies.

It only has about 800 hours on it.

Something else is wrong. It osunds like it is going into thermal shutdown. They do that to keep the projector from "melting down" if a cooling fan fails. Check your fans to see if they are operating. That is the most likely problem.

Another possibility is the projector is choked with dust and can't breathe. But at only 800 hours, that doesn't seem likely, but check it anyway.

Wow mine went over 1,100 before I replaced the first one and boxed it as a spare,
You might have a thermal problem like sheridan suggested.

maybe it was coughing or something. It did it twice, but it is working now. could be dust I guess.

It started doing to shimmy again on the third restart. So I fell down to my knees and shouted, "Please not already! I am not ready to upgrade to 1080p yet!" It chugged through it and is working ok now... hmmm. :D

should I use one of those canned air sprayers that you use on keyboards and such?

Canned air is okay AS LONG AS you do it when the projector is OFF and COLD and you do NOT shake the can causing the air to exit as a cold vapor.

Check the manual for maintenance instructions. A lot of projectors have a filter or filters that need to be cleaned on a regular basis. Having said that, that does not cover all you should do. These projectors have multiple fans and dust gets in everywhere. So spray/brush around any opening or crack.

I once saw a projector that not seen ANY cleaning in two years and the dust buildup on the outside was so bad that the unused connectors were covered and undistinguishable.

Doesn't sound like the bulb to me. From my experience bulbs usually explode when they die.

Doesn't sound like the bulb to me. From my experience bulbs usually explode when they die.

You have some horrible experience with FP's if that's the case. Lamps can go in the following ways:

Picture gets dim and looks washed out
Projector fires up but lamp does not strike
Projector starts shutting off when lamp protection circuit is tripped
Lamp pops and unit turns off
Lamp explodes in unit (and unit turns off)

Lamps do not typically explode unless you use the lamp past the manufacturers maximum expected life or you have an internal issue in the projector, specifically a lamp ballast issue.