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Replacement bulb all SNOW.. no picture and no explanation.

post #1 of 18
4/27/11 at 6:40pm
Thread Starter 
Can anyone provide some assistance in helping find out what is wrong with my replaced bulb as I turn on my projector and the picture is nothing but black and white dots.. snow like on a tv with no signal as seen in the pic below.
I replaced the bulb in my Optoma hd70 with a BL-FP200C. I for some reason can not find anything on an issue like this and have no idea what to do.

** Updated.. Switched to old bulb to see what would happen and have the same issue. Now I have to think what did I do to screw up a simple bulb replacement.

Anyone? Please help.
LL
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post #2 of 18
4/27/11 at 7:10pm
It's not the bulb. If you're getting a pic, regardless of what it is, the bulb is working. Something else is going on. Try changing sources, inputs, and cables. Seems like in input problem, either with the pj inputs or the source itself. Did the bulb blow up? If so, I guess it could have damaged something.

Rob
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post #3 of 18
4/27/11 at 7:34pm
Look for loose connection. Could you have partially pulled the HDMI cable loose at the projector? Either that or you have accidentally changed input on the projector.
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post #4 of 18
4/27/11 at 7:50pm
Thread Starter 
I originally thought that as well but there is something really weird about this as I get the same picture with or without cables hooked up.. also when I hit the menu button to go to the settings nothing happens.. also when I hit the power off button a number would normally show up in the corner counting down from 8 to shut off... none of that stuff is showing up.

I am literally just all out confused as to what I could have done as I simply, took out the old bulb which was only because of the hours used on it (it was still working just stating replacement was needed) cleaned out the compartment with a light cloth as there was some dust.. nothing horrible.. replaced the bulb hung the projector, turned it on and what I usually see is the optoma insignia as it warms up was now nothing but that snowy looking pic I have posted...
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post #5 of 18
4/27/11 at 8:35pm
Since you can't see the menu either, it points to one thing. The optical engine has failed. It isn't anything you did, just an incredible coincidence. The cost to repair would make replacing it a better option.
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post #6 of 18
4/27/11 at 8:53pm
Sim e you have bulbs I'd try to find an hd70 on eBay.
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post #7 of 18
4/27/11 at 9:26pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sheridan1952 View Post

Since you can't see the menu either, it points to one thing. The optical engine has failed. It isn't anything you did, just an incredible coincidence. The cost to repair would make replacing it a better option.

Wow, just amazing I take it down for the first time is 3 years to replace the bulb and the optical engine fails... So i'd imagine you are pretty confident of that being the issue then? I just can't imagine what else it could be but if there is no fix to it I will stop researching as it's kind of driving me nuts.
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post #8 of 18
4/28/11 at 6:05am
Very confident. There is nothing else it can be. There is no way the lamp can do that. If it was merely a sudden attack of dust on the optics, the image would still be there. The fact that NO part of the image, not even the projector menu is visible tells the tale.

And no, there is no fix for it, other than replacing the optical engine. Not cheap. Time to move on.
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post #9 of 18
4/28/11 at 6:32am
I would look for some sort of reset button and check the manual. See if you are getting any picture from another source like through the S-Video or composite inputs first. If Not I would reseat the Lamp and give the unit a good slap in the side and see if that makes any difference. In many cases once a projector heats up the contacts between boards get a little weird and when you change the projectors posistion by taking it down these little things show up. It may just be a case of reseating one of the Boards.
You know you are getting power to the lamp so I would look in the video processing parts of the projector. It very well could be the optical engine as some people have mentioned but at this stage of the game you really have nothing to lose.

Good Luck

Bohanna
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post #10 of 18
4/28/11 at 7:03am
He already acknowledged that he couldn't even see the projector menu. That eliminates input problems.
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post #11 of 18
4/28/11 at 8:31am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the help as I couldn't find that answer anywhere else. Ebay search then if all else fails Optoma HD20 it is.
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post #12 of 18
4/28/11 at 8:48am
Well, as Bohanna said, you don't have anything to lose by "messing" with it.
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post #13 of 18
4/28/11 at 9:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sheridan1952 View Post
Well, as Bohanna said, you don't have anything to lose by "messing" with it.
The old ask/Proxima 6100's and C - series machines were NOTORIOUS for the board connections and overheating problems. Especially if you mounted them upside down. The AC Blade connectors would actually unsolder themselves do to the heat and the environmentally friendly solder. I have repaired about half a dozen of them and they have all had under 400 total hours.. ALL you had to do is re flow the solder on the AC Blades and re-seat the top board and you had a decent portable projector.

Bohanna
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post #14 of 18
4/28/11 at 12:00pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bohanna View Post

The old ask/Proxima 6100's and C - series machines were NOTORIOUS for the board connections and overheating problems. Especially if you mounted them upside down. The AC Blade connectors would actually unsolder themselves do to the heat and the environmentally friendly solder. I have repaired about half a dozen of them and they have all had under 400 total hours.. ALL you had to do is re flow the solder on the AC Blades and re-seat the top board and you had a decent portable projector.

Bohanna

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Interesting..

I did call Optomas out of warranty team just out of curiousity.. he said it for sure could be the light engine but more likely is the DMD chip causing the mirrors to not open and close.. hence the white and black dots.. (?) I said ok so your opinion would be....? .. Honestly Sir I would just get a new one as it will be 499.99 plus 125 labor..

So now I am debating to just buy a used or manufactured refurb HD20 as I really do not want to go over $1000.00 as this is now an unexpected expense ... but I feel I am not going to last long w/o a replacement... possibly even a BenQ which I have seen some nice reviews on..
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post #15 of 18
4/28/11 at 1:14pm
Take it apart and check ever connections you can find.. still don't work.. take it apart some more just for the experience!
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post #16 of 18
4/28/11 at 9:07pm
I strongly agree with everyone saying to take the cover off and check all the connections....more often than not I've seen loose connections cause these types of "sudden" failures, especially when it was working fine and all you did was move it to replace the lamp. You have nothing to lose...if its the optical engine, so be it...but you might get lucky and its just a loose/dirty connection that was just barely making contact and now it isn't after you disturbed it. I've seen it especially with those thin ribbon cables that are often used to connect boards together, or to connect the dmd board to the main board.
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post #17 of 18
4/29/11 at 8:54pm
Is this what it looks like?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrcgV...eature=related

If so it sounds like you ran into some bad luck....I have taken my HD70 apart several times with no issues. Replaced a fan that went bad and cleaned the optical path a few times.

It could be a loose solder connection, but it might also be just a loose ribbon cable.

Taking apart a projector is somewhere in between a pc and a digital camera. The biggest thing is that it has to be done in a particular order. Next time I do it, I will put together a guide with pictures and post it on ifixit.
**I found thishttp://tantht.blogspot.com/2009/02/h...om-optoma.html which shows you how to take the projector apart. Its a pretty good writeup and matches my experiences exactly.

Incidentally I ended up ordering a replacement lamp and I will be re-lamping my spare assembly when I get it. I tore it apart tonight and it took maybe 10 minutes and a small Phillips head screwdriver.
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post #18 of 18
5/1/11 at 12:40am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by prozach View Post
Is this what it looks like?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrcgV...eature=related

If so it sounds like you ran into some bad luck....I have taken my HD70 apart several times with no issues. Replaced a fan that went bad and cleaned the optical path a few times.

It could be a loose solder connection, but it might also be just a loose ribbon cable.

Taking apart a projector is somewhere in between a pc and a digital camera. The biggest thing is that it has to be done in a particular order. Next time I do it, I will put together a guide with pictures and post it on ifixit.
**I found thishttp://tantht.blogspot.com/2009/02/h...om-optoma.html which shows you how to take the projector apart. Its a pretty good writeup and matches my experiences exactly.

Incidentally I ended up ordering a replacement lamp and I will be re-lamping my spare assembly when I get it. I tore it apart tonight and it took maybe 10 minutes and a small Phillips head screwdriver.

That is exactly what it looked like.. completely still frame though no movement at all. Tonight we took apart the projector by the recommendations of those in this thread and funny thing is I used the same blog from TANTHT as a guide. We checked everything in the projector for something that looked out of the ordinary or ruined.. We disconnected all the cables and ribbon connections we could find. We checked the color wheel and motherboard...pretty much everything. Nothing looked bad or even out of place or weird and other than being extremely dusty it looked fine... so we put it back together and decided to hang it up and see what happened... and an amazing thing happened. IT WORKED. So fingers crossed that it continues to work just fine as I m hoping we fixed a loose cable as you stated or just removed some kind of giant dust ball that was conflicting with something.. but all is well again and was this close to ordering a new projector on Friday before reading the recommendations.

I thank you all for your help w/ this.
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