New BenQ W7000 has problems

Got my first digital projector yesterday. I finally splurged on a BenQ W7000, a special from a dealer in Melbourne. When I first turned it on it went through about a minute of setting up and projecting, then the "Temp" light came on and the lamp went off. Before that happened, I was successfully playing a DVD. I have been through the process about a dozen times now, without the DVD connected, and each time the lamp turns off and I have to wait several minutes before the W7000 will start up again. I tried removing the power completely for a couple of hours, but no matter what I try I get the same result. At all times, the projector and exhaust air were barely above ambient temperature.

Something strange happened once: a very loud, rough, fan noise came from the unit. I noticed that if I pushed the power plug in gently, the noise would decrease, and if I pushed firmly enough, the noise would almost stop. That problem hasn't repeated itself.

I rang the dealer and said I wanted another unit. No problem there. He emailed me with this:


His colleague during another call suggested that the lamp was turning off because I didn't have a signal connected.

I would like to know the answers to some questions, from someone who has experience with the W7000. The sales staff were doing their best, but I got the impression they knew little more than I did about the W7000.


Any comments most appreciated.

G'day Zombie. I couldn't get as far as to check the firmware on screen – the lamp turned off too soon. But because of your other thread (which I've been following since it started), I insisited that the dealer, and BenQ Australia, confirm that the unit had firmware 1.03 before I purchased. The unit was manufactured in May, so I assume it has the latest firmware.

I've worked out the the firmware is not causing the problem, it's the fan. A couple of times the projector stayed on long enough for me to go into the menus and see that the firmware was 1.03.

I made several recordings of the problem for my own benefit ,and for anyone else who might be interested to hear what a noisy fan in a W7000 sounds like. The interactive PDF, with recordings, can be downloaded from: http://www.mediafire.com/?tg4u92jrd46rkqw

Back to the dealer it goes.

It's taken three months, but after returning the W7000 a second time, I now have a W7000+ which seems to be working okay, except: is it normal to have "source searching" come up so often?

I have the W7000+ connected directly to an Oppo BDP-93 via socket HDMI 1, and I'm playing around with what they can do. I might be playing a movie, go to the Top Menu, and up comes:

HDMI 1, Source Searching

I might have a whole heap of video shorts on a USB stick, and between each one, up comes "Source Searching". I put in the Disney WOW calibration disk, and every time I change tests, up comes "Source Searching".

Seeing so many "Source Searching" messages – is that normal when playing around? It doesn't happen when navigating backwards and forwards through a movie.

Thanks for the reply, Ron. I suspect it is normal behaviour, but thought I'd check. I'll take it to the owner's thread as you suggest.