:(

Just sitting here watching TV on a rainy day. I thought I heard a slight 'pop' (but could be wrong on that) followed by a VERY loud buzzing noise. The color in the picture was gone. Not completely...there's still a bit of color here and there, but not where it supposed to be. For the most part, the pic looks like a washed out b&w movie. Turning off the TV, the buzzing continues past the shutdown beeps for a few seconds, and starts up again with the TV (though the pic will come back, and no red lights on the front indicator).

Any thoughts? Is this something I can possibly fix myself? If not, anyone know how much it might be to have it fixed? The TV is about 6 years old (I think I got one of the first HLNs when they came out), and is out of warranty....

Edit - OK, after posting, I searched around here a bit more and found some related threads. Based on other's symptoms, I'm 95% sure it's the color wheel. Found one for $95 at SamsungParts.com, who are 20 minutes from me, but closed today... :(. Also found a link with a step-by-step to replace the wheel, and it doesn't look overly complicated. Anyway, unless someone wants to jump in and tell me that the color wheel is not the problem and don't waste my money, I guess I'll just order one and take a stab at replacing it.

Grab your power screwdriver and get to it :)

Grab your power screwdriver and get to it :)

Advice:
the colorwheel is fragile.
be sure not to touch the glass with your fingers, i recommend wearing starch free latex gloves.
installation of the colowheel is moderately difficult and moderately easy.
clean out all shattered pieces of glass by flipping the engine upside down over a large garbage pail and using a 1" soft paint brush to remove the glass particles that may stick.
if you choose to use compressed air, i recommend doing so where stepping on small shards of glass will be of no concern.
when removing the broken colorwheel, if the rubber gasket is attached to it or the engine, and the new colorwheel does not have a gasket, you will need to carefully remove it and place it on the new gasket, it may tear easily when removing.
the flat thin cable that connects to the dmd board is also fragile and must be inserted correctly with the contact side towards the rear of the engine.
the 4 or 5 pin small white cable with the white plug may also be tough to unplug from the dmd board from years of heat, welding it in place.
it may crack and break apart when removing it, use caution when removing.
make sure the cable on the colorwheel are routed away from the moving glass of the wheel and dont get pinched by the cover.
when inserting the new colorwheel, do not use force and have plenty of light, you should be able to put it in place by lining up the screw holes and slowly dropping it in, careful not to scrape the glass wheel on the light tunnel as this will damage the glass wheel.
make sure the color wheel in the box you recieved when you ordered it does not have small pieces of what appears to be dried glue in an off whitish-yellow color, this is the glue in place on the colorwheel to maintain its balancing during operation.
if the glue is missing, you may hear a loud or low vibration which will eventually shorten the lifespan of the wheel.
do not over tighten the screws for the colorwheel, they will strip.
lastly, you may want to check the synchronization after replacement by going into the service menu, selecting "index delay", writing down the current value and making adjustments in both directions from the current value to develop a solid pure red color that appears on the test pattern.
your color wheel part number is BP96-00250A and looks like this http://www.mcmelectronics.com/content/productimages/s4/32-24205_2.jpg