Optoma H79 problem - can anyone help

Sorry if this is the wrong forum! Couldnt find a "problems/troubleshooting" section.

I have a problem with my H79. I have it connected to my xbox360 using a vga cable/dvi adapter. Basically it works fine and the picture is great (though a small portion seems to be clipped off on the left hand side - I've read that this is an issue the xbox itself has with vga in general not something wrong with the projector).

The problem is that during use, with varying frequency, the image will disappear and the projector will resync as it does on startup (first detecting the rgbdvi connection then displaying the small blue box saying "auto in progress" then displaying the image). The process takes about 7-10 seconds and as you can imagine is pretty frustrating when playing games/watching movies.

I've searched for references to this problem and found nothing but I was hoping someone on here might have an idea whats wrong and if theres anything I can do to fix it.

One final thing, I found that when I stopped doing a full power down after every session (basically just turning the bulb off, not the main power) the problem went away but it has recently come back so I guess that was just a coincidence?

Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll give that a go now.

Another thing I've noticed is that there is no such problem with a dvd player connected via the s-video port so I guess its something to do with the lead/dvi connection.

ah well, at least I know I can watch films uninterrupted now!

I'm starting to think maybe the lead I'm using isnt the best (it only cost around £10) and a proper high quality HDMI-DVI lead would resolve the problem... it would mean getting an xbox elite though :|

Right, I've tried wiggling the lead (as much as is possible considering that it screws in place) and it caused no interruption in the signal. I then went on to have a completely uninterrupted session with no problems whatsoever. Very odd.

No doubt the problem will resurface but lets hope not!

Thanks for the input! Do you mean the "DVI" button on the remote? And I guess the source lock function is pretty easy to find in the menu. I'll give it a go.

All done! Seems to have worked a treat, thanks!

Regarding the projector I'm very pleased with it (only £500 off ebay!) but that problem was a real pain. Amazing that it had such a simple solution.

When you say good bulb use habits what do you mean? I typically only use it in maximum 2-3 hour bursts though particularly good computer games can suck me in for longer sometimes... especially if I feel like taking a day off work.

Also $180 sounds like a sweet price for a replacement bulb (mine had about 10hrs on it when I got it a month or so ago). Do you know a good source and would they ship to the UK? One of my fears is how not being able to get replacements over the years (I don't plan to upgrade for some time).

Thanks for all your advice Tom, much appreciated! I'll keep an eye on ebay for bulbs. Hopefully wont need one for as while though!