Samsung h710 startup issues - Page 2

I have not had a problem yet either. Current hours on it are 135. Hopefully they will have a fix for you guys soon. One thing I do every time after it finishes the cool down cycle is turn main power off on back connector panel. Maybe that is preventing me having this problem.

Dale

Nope, when I got the second unit I took every step possible to prevent problems including turning the unit off and unplugging after every use upon cool down. Still happened. Must be a problem batch if only some of us are experiencing it, but then again what do I know.

Still produces a great picture though.

Didn't Jason post somewhere that is was a connector issue on a batch of projectors and that it has been corrected with the latest shipment due in this week?

Honu-
You're right. Everything we buy has problems these days. I have top of the line windows in my house and they leak during rainstorms whenever the wind is from the north east. How hard can it be to make a weather-tight window? It must be hard, because I had two replaced 3 times last winter.

We HT enthusiasts have gotten to be very demanding.

I suppose I should start a My Windows Leak! thread

Hi Dale,

Like you I was turning off power to the unit by flipping the power switch on the back panel but I still had this issue. To put it in prespective, the failure of the lamp to turn on at startup only occurs about 10%-20% of the time in my case. (This problem does not occur every time as some might think.)

Yesterday I tried doing a couple of things differently. I started leaving the power on without touching the power switch on the back panel after powering down with the remote. So the PJ is off but the power is not cut-off. I am not worried because I have the unit on a Belkin UPS plus surge protector. The other thing I did was to staple down the power cord on my back shelf so that the cord dosn't put tension on the back panel plug of the projector. So far so good, batting 3 for 3 on lamp starts.

I hope this problem doesn't come back but if it does it would be nice to know whether the fix is by firmware upgrade through the RS232 port on the back of the PJ or whether we have to send it in to a Samsung authorized shop for hardware repairs.

Regards,

John

John -
It seems you are implying that the weight of the power cord could be causing a connection problem - or have I misread you?

Yes the power cable issue has been mentioned before on other posts and also in a review of the H700 unit. Don't know if removing the tension will help with the lamp starting but so far I am 4 for 4 and keeping my fingers crossed. (I am shelf mounted and the power cable is coming from below the shelf and up the back wall.)

John

This line of thinking eludes me. If the unit has power it has power. My unit powers on for 20 seconds now then goes off. All the lights blink and then I press the power button on the remote to reset. When it does come on eventually it stays one for hours. If this was a loose power connection it would not occur only at startup right? As I write this my unit is dead. It tries to startup but after 20 seconds the bulb goes out and all lights blink. I cannot jump start it. Time to return this thing.

Mine started doing weird things tonight!!!!!! Started up with strange colors and upside down image!!! I restarted and it's now okay, but obviously starting and restarting is gonna take serious toll on bulb life. Anyone know which depatment in Samsung to contact about this unit?

The Toshiba MT700 I just returned has issues as well. I love front projection, but what is happening with build quality lately?

(typed from a brand new Macbook with 3 dead pixels - dealing with Apple to try and get replaced - however it runs OSX and WinXP side by side with parallels- so that is pretty amazing)

romy,

I bet your unit is not dead, you just have to keep trying and it will eventually start.

Anyway, my streak of 4 straight successful starts ended tonight. The H710 started on the 3rd attempt which is obviously not very good news and pissed me off too. However, I did uncover a new piece of information. When the bulb is warm it has no problem firing right up and here is how I found this. Tonight after we finished watching I turned the unit off. Five minutes later I turn the unit back on and NO PROBLEM! It starts right up. I turn it back off, wait a few minutes and tried starting it again. It starts up without a hitch (I ignore the few seconds of color wheel convergence of course). I turned it off and on a 3rd time again without a problem. The unit kept starting without a hitch from a "warm" state.

Conclusion: the unit has problems firing up from a "cold" start. Of course this shouldn't happen and it isn't much consolation to those who have this problem but I suspect that the success or failure to get the lamp started depends on the operating temperature inside the unit. For whatever this is worth I thought I would mention it here.

Let us know who you guys get in touch with over at Samsung for the fix. I am very interested as well. Thanks,

John

One more thing. Went to the Samsung website to register this projector in anticipation of this repair and guess what. The registration website

http://product.samsung.com/cgi-bin/n...reg.jsp?eUser=

does not even list the SPH-710AE so you can't really register it. The only unit it lists is the SPH-700AE which is the predecessor of our projector. This doesn't look good

I am wondering if Samsung even knows how to fix this problem. It appears that they don't even know that they are selling the 710.

Last night I started it up 12 times. The last time it stayed on but the image was green and stayed green, and the image was upside down too. I hit the setup button a couple times and it flipped back to how it was supposed to be. I turned it off and then on, the picture came on fine and all was well.

I cannot deal with this hit or miss drama. We are in need of a fix or replacement. This is obviously a common problem and getting worse as time goes on (inverted image/ green screen / flickers)

Yes, he did and I have mentioned it on several occassions also.

They are now in stock and shipping, in case anyone's interested and you missed the "sticky post" at the top of the forum!?!?!?!

May I ask how you have determined this problem is fixed in the new batch? Is there any information on what "fix" was actually applied?

I contacted Samsung this AM. The unit is considered a "monitor", they don't have a projector category. After giving them your serial number and other personal data they send you a UPS shipping label and you ship it out for repair. He said it takes 2-3 weeks plus shipping time to get back to you. Also, the service guy said there is nothing he can see (no internal memo or document) showing that there is a known problem with this PJ and that this is the first time he has heard about the startup problem.

This is why I think the new batch maybe the same as the old batch. If there was a fix applied by Samsung, there should be some documentation available to their tech support people and there doesn't appear to be any.

As for this problem being tied to the "connector board" I think there is some truth there. My cables used to be in "tension", then I changed the mounting no tension and today I decided to put them in "compression". In other words the cables are now "pushed" into the back connector. Tried to start it with cable compression this AM and it started right up on the first try. Go figure ...

John

Ready2buy-

Thanks for this info. 2-3 weeks plus shipping for repair is completely unaceptable. When my Toshiba MT700 developed problems, they could fix the units and get them back to customers within a few days!! Plus it sounds like they totally not set up to deal with projectors and up do date with info about revisions, etc.

At this point, I will advise friends who are considering this unit to stay away from this product.
I fully understand that complicated products sometimes develop bugs, etc, but when a company is not set up to respond quickly when such instances arise, that is a major problem.

I will contact my dealer and see what he can do, if anythng.

The Samsung people don't sound like they are setup to handle these problems yet but I believe they are in process. In my case I have to have this projector at home next month due to the upcoming World Cup soccer and don't want it in service when the tournament starts on June 9 due to several people coming to the house to watch on the big screen. I am also waiting for another AVS member (kiwishred) to report back on his repair experience.

Now here is the best review on the H700 projector which precisely describes our problem. It was done by Scott Wilkinson of ultimateAV in May 2005 and you can view it in its entirety here:

http://www.guidetohometheater.com/vi...ung/index.html

I quote:

"When we first turned the projector on and tried to display an image, the colors were totally messed up, with serious flickering and false contouring. A call to Kane's office revealed that this has been known to happen on occasion, and that a hard reset (power off, disconnect power cord, wait a minute, reconnect power cord, power on) usually solves the problem. They also mentioned that the wiring harness inside the projector can become dislodged during shipping, and that once the harness is secured and the hard reset is accomplished, the problem doesn't recur. For us, the hard reset did the trick.

Just before the review was complete, we wanted to perform some final tests, but the projector started acting weird. It powered up normally, but after about 30 seconds, the screen went blank. The first time this happened, a hard reset cleared the problem, just like the initial difficulties we had. When we tried to use the projector a few days later, however, it happened again. This time, after five futile attempts, we had to conclude that it was no longer flight-worthy. Oddly, on two of these tries, the image that came up was not the source, but an inverted, flickering green screen; the inverted condition was apparent because the menu that controls the image orientation came up at the same timeupside down. The problem occurred on both the component and DVI inputs.

I took the projector over to Kane's studio, where it powered up fine (of course!). He determined that the internal software was not the latest version, and he informed me that units with earlier versions of the software were prone to strange behavior in response to IR commands from the remotes of other equipment. TJN certainly has a lot of IR commands flying about his studio, so this made some sense. After updating the software to version 2021, we left the projector on for one and a half hours with no problems."

End of Quote.

There you have it. This is a REAL PROBLEM, we are not imagining it. They blame the wiring harness being disloged during shipping. They also blame the software and how it handles the IR signals of other remotes.

Meanwhile there is no record to indicate any problems at all at Samsung with this product. It is amazing to me.

John

Well regardless of the source of the problem we are no better off. I am right now on my 8th reboot of the unit trying to get it to turn on so I can watch lost tonight. This blows and with no acknowledgement of the problem it is a hit or miss whether a swap will fix it.

romy,

the wiring harness cause is real and you maybe able to change the behavior of your unit if you do something to change the contact between the cables in the back and the PJ connector. I would start by making the cables come into their connectors with some force. You definitely don't want tension or pulling. I think a slight amount of compression might work better. Give it a shot, who knows the thing might fix itself.

I unplugged the power cable and rammed it into the back as hard as it would go. Is that what you mean? I changed the cable and still same result. Power to the unit was never a problem. The lights never went off as though it lost power or power was intermittent.

Right now I am on startup #34. I have tried all combinations of cables, taking it down from the ceiling and plugging into a different outlet with different cables, etc.

What an aggravating POS. I was this close to purchasing this thing. All that time spent developing a great picture they forgot one thing,.........getting it to power up.

EDIT: after typing the below post I went in to try and watch something, and had to start it up 5 times before getting an image. Clearly the problem is getting worse. I'm calling Joe Kane's company tomorrow.

------------------------------
This is great information from the review, and clearly shows that the problem existed in the 700 and still exists in our 710's.

What I suggest is this. One of us (any volunteers?) should contact Joe Kane's production company, since he can clearly get the attention of top Samsung brass. (I'll have to dig back through the thread and see who has already spoken with Joe Kane's company)

They should relay the fact that AVS forum is responsible for the recent sell out run (which I'm sure they are aware of) on the 710, based on Jason's and other user comments. (That's certainly what made me buy it, and I have been recommending it to friends and video post houses here in New York.)

Just as quickly as this forum can create a demand for the product, we can even more quickly KILL the demand for a product. (Honestly I know if I were ready to buy a PJ right now I would steer clear of the 710 based on this thread)

What we expect from Samsung is the following:

1) A quick response service center address set up to deal with any issues that arise with the 710 (and 800) AFter all this is my main tv - and being down for 3 weeks on a brand new product is unnaceptable - If Toshiba can turn around projector repairs quickly, so can Samsung.

2) A vow to discover whatever firmware issues are creating the startup problems, (This may take them some time, which is understandble) and an agreementt to fix current models in the field (or swap out with new or refurb'd units with the firmware fix) hopefully even if the unit is out of warranteee (after all - this is a known bug- a buyer should be reassured that if it develops it will be taken care of)

3) that when the startup bug issue is fixed, that any user who had to do multiple shutdowns ad startups just to get their unit fired up- be given some sort of extension on the bulb warranteee (or better yet a fresh bulb) since we know that these multiple startups compromise bulb life!!!

I realize this is a lot to ask, but If a manufacturer wants the endorsement and recommendation of AVS users, they have to respond in a appropriate manner. After all, we are ultimately their greatest marketing tool, and actually much more valuable than even advertisting. Glowing unsolicited user forum posts are an endorsement that can't be bought for any price, and here clearly Samsung has reaped the benefits of our comments and reviews. If they want them to stay positive, even in the midst of a VERY series product line meltdown, they had better step up to the plate, or risk a boatload of newly manufactured 710's sitting on the shelf.

Rant mode "off"

Any comments? Is what I'm asking too much?

emaillists, you are not asking too much, Samsung is out to lunch. My projector won't start any more. Samsung says they will issue a call tag and replace my unit, but I haven't received anything yet. I think the loose wiring harness excuse is a red herring, I popped the cover on mine and there were no loose connections. My guess is it's firmware bugs and/or poor solder connections. I have communicated with Joe Kane by e-mail before, I'll try sending him a link to this thread and see if he will help.

In desperation I did the same and took off the cover. Everything was as tightly connected as it possibly could be. Nothing changed upon power up. I did it all night like insanity (one who does the same thing over and over expecting a different result).

It is not something loose in the machine. My machine has been on my ceiling since day one and certainly if something was loose it would have showed its symptoms from day one, not 50 bulb hours later.

Let's band together on this one as a collaborative effort to get their attention. My contact number is 954-857-8384 and email is rwilliams@etw.net . If we need to call back to back to back so be it. I too refuse to be down for 3 weeks on a brand new machine. If I could send this back and pay the $1000 extra for the benq I would in a heartbeat because I know what that unit looked like and it was great. The only reason I bought this one was the reviews on this forum combined with the price point. That price savings has quickly eaten itself up.

Ironically I have to power up my old crt now to watch HD.

I have had this PJ in a box for most of the last several weeks pending completion of our dedicated HT. Following completion this week, I can restate that the picture is simply amazing. That said, I would certainly not have purchased this projector without this forum, Jason's impressions and the PowerBuy. I am very nervous after reading the increasing number of posts, and I completely agree that this appears to be a more serious issue than a loose connector, which makes no sense as a primary cause of this behavior.

I believe Ken Whitcomb had a close contact at JKP, and has posted more than one communication relayed from JKP regarding forum posts. I actually steered toward this PJ over Optoma models (in part) due to their issues with lamps on the H78 series and the reset issues on the H72, and Optoma's occasionally erratic responses. I see now that they quickly implemented a firmware fix for their reset issues with the recent projector and hot-swapped projectors that were behaving erratically. I do feel that purchasing directly from AVS was a great decision for me, and would hope that AVS reps would also take an active role, in addition to individuals from JKP. After all, I assume it's not a badge of honor for JKP to put their seal of approval on a projector with great image quality that gets potentially killed by a technical glitch like this one.

Good luck to those of you who are dealing with this actively--I will continue to watch this thread closely and hope that I won't have to join you on your crusade.

A suggestion, if I may...

Though you are not personally experiencing any issues, perhaps you could have your voice heard on behalf of those who are affected? After all, there's power in numbers. And, who knows, your PJ might develop the problem as well, although we sincerely hope not.

Agreed--I will do as you suggest (encourage reaction) and would hope others will do the same.

Guys, at this point I think we need to summarize this thing. My situation is not yet as bad as some of you (my problem is intermittent, sometimes I have it sometimes I don't) but I agree that it's important for all of us to come together on this now because even those who don't have this problem might one day get it.

Please indicate whether you agree with the following summary:

(1) Some owners of the SPH710AE have already experienced startup problems with their new unit while others have not yet

(2) The problem appears around 50 hours on the lamp with the unit requiring multiple attempts to successfully fire the lamp

(3) When the lamp eventually fires there is a period of several seconds where the colors on the screen appear totally messed up with serious flickering; the picture then stabilizes and the image sharpens up.

(4) As time passes the startup problem continues to get worse in that it takes more and more attempts to fire the lamp until eventually the projector fails completely.

(5) Public records indicate that the same problem existed in the older SPH700AE projector and its existence has been acknowledged by Joe Kane's office in May of 2005.

(6) Joe Kane's office has blamed a dislodged wiring harness inside the projector for this problem but we have no independent verification of this claim.

(7) Phone calls to Samsung customer service regarding this problem indicate that Samsung personel are completely unaware of it and require that the unit be shipped for service over a period of 2-3 weeks leaving the owner without a substitute.

Is this it? Did I miss anything?

John

John,

Great summary. I could not find a phone number at Joe Kane's site but I instead emailed davidabrams@videoessentials.com

might I assume joe's email is joekane@videoessentials.com ?

does it make sense to start a poll to see how many people's H710 have experienced issues?

My dealer has offered to replace the unit with a new one when he has stock next week, (since mine also has an focus issue) but it seems the likelyhood of another experiencing problems is high. I love the image quality of this unit and the ability to use it as a professional color correction HD monitor (which I planned on doing) but I am thinking at this point if my dealer will let me buy another projector, I might just bail on the 710, which would be sad indeed.
(especially since it looked so amazing on my grey Goo screen- which took care of the one possible objection to the unit- high black levels)

For my customers:
Please drop me an email at jason@avscience.com if you are experiencing this issue. I'm going to get this taken care of.

Thanks!