My 7205 recently displayed a "Replace Lamp" message on the lower left corner of the screen. The lamp had about 400 hours on it and it seemed to be working OK, but, just in case, I ordered and installed a new lamp. I followed the instructions for resetting the lamp timer and the hours reset to zero. My problem is that when I turn on the projector it comes on and about 4 minutes later the "Replace Lamp" message comes on and remains on for the rest of the viewing session. Other than this very distracting message, the projector works great and the picture is bright and good.

I called Infocus tech support and have received very poor service and conflicting advice on how to fix the problem. (the most recent advice would require a very expensive fix) I see that a number of people have experienced this same problem but I have not been able to find a solution. I would appreciate it if anyone has solved this problem. Thanks

That sucks. Unfortunately, if you reset the timer and you can see it's now at zero I don't think there's anything you can do aside from getting the projector repaired. It's also unfortunate that you had to call India. :(

BTW - Welcome to AVS Forum!

Thanks for the welcome. It is wonderful that this forum exists so non technical people like me can have an opportunity to pick peoples' brains.

I am very disappointed about the terrible service quality from Infocus. I was ready to upgrade to one of their newer projectors but after my recent experience, I will not be purchasing from them again.

Konatim:

I had a similar problem with my IF 7200, in Sept. 2004, with only 308 hrs. on the bulb. I then decided to contact Bob Williams, who was the chief technician who developed the IF 7200 for Infocus. His reply to me was this:

"There are 3 conditions that can trigger a "change lamp" warning.

1. The lamp hour counter is over 1980 hours. Under this condition the message will only appear at startup.

2. The lamp is running at too low a voltage for it to operate properly. This can happen sometimes during the first few hundred hours and is considered a lamp defect. It is covered under the lamp warranty. Under this condition the warning will only go away if the voltage goes up to the minimum proper operating value.

3. The ballast is getting too hot. This would cause the fans to kick up, and the message should go away in a few minutes.

I believe you are experiencing the 2nd condition. If you switch the projector to high power mode for a few hours the voltage may go up enough for it to function properly. There is no extra danger of imminent lamp failure when the voltage is low, but the image may flicker or flash and colors may not appear correct. I suggest you call customer service for a new lamp."

I did get a bulb from Customer Service and what I eventually found out, was that there was a bad batch of bulbs installed in all the projectors that were manufactured at that time.

The problem continued, so I replaced the bulb and the problem was fixed.
I have keep a log of the problem and the important info that was posted on AVS at the time.

Eventhough, you have replaced the bulb, it still could be a bad bulb, as the largest percentage of "change lamp" warnings are caused by bad lamps.

The only other problem could be a power supply problem, or as another tech stated;
"that with ceiling mount the bulb may not be making proper contact and this may cause the problem. " In this case take out the bulb and reseat it to make sure it is making contact.

Good Luck

Thanks very much for this info. I will give your recommendations a try and see what happens......