Samsung LCD calibration misstep - Page 4

Originally Posted by Wifey_Sherriff

TO ANYONE WHO IS THINKING ABOUT CALIBRATING (OR WHO HAS SCREWED IT UP ALREADY):

I made the same STUPID, STUPID mistake of going in to the service screen because I simply wanted to check how many hours we've used our TV in the past 2 1/2 years. Well, this was by far, the DUMBEST THING I've ever done with an electronic piece of equipment. I was even forewarned that accessing the SERVICE menu could cause irreparable damage, and I was still cocky enough to believe that I knew what I was doing (even though I am very technologically savvy).

Let me be clear... UNLESS YOU ARE A TRAINED, CERTIFIED, EXPERIENCED TV PROGRAMMER, OR REPAIR TECHNICIAN, DO NOT SCREW AROUND IN THE SERVICE SCREEN!!! Save yourself hours of issues (and potentially a permanently busted TV)!

So what happened, is that I accidentally hit the "CALIBRATE" button (as it is the first option on the SERVICE SCREEN). The remote isn't user friendly when it comes to using the service screen - the buttons you use, don't match up to the "flow" on the TV. The TV started calibrating a frozen image from the show "COPS". I didn't know how to stop it, and didn't understand that it was completely screwing it up, until after it finished calibrating.

Anyway, my wife and I just finished spending over 10 hours working on fixing the TV since last night - and thank goodness she's one hell of a GOOGLER. Even though I found this website last night with info about the fix, it took digging further to help find the correct calibration image to fix the issue.

HERE'S THE STORY:

I have a Samsung LCD LNT-4661F, built in early 2007. Last night, after reading about the checkerboard fix, I gave it a try - NO SUCCESS.

BUT, in the end, a different way of using the checkerboard DID work, so read on (if you've made the same mistake and still need help).

As it turns out, you have to have the checkerboard image the exact same resolution of your TV. Mine was 1920x1080. I used an 8 x 8 Black & White checkerboard image, using my PS3 (using the "VIEW PHOTO" feature).

When using the checkerboard image (or any other calibrating image), MAKE SURE THERE IS NO OTHER "INFO" ON THE SCREEN (such as the little menus that show "next" or "back" or other random information). The image MUST BE completely isolated, with nothing but the full-screen 8x8 B&W checkerboard, with a native resolution equal to your TV.

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO NEED THE 1920x1080 8x8, I've linked to it from my PHOTOBUCKET account, because I know how frustrating and tough it was to find it!

DOWNLOAD THE 8X8 BLACK & WHITE 1920 x 1080 HERE:



Where I first went wrong (using the checkerboard fix) is that I wasn't using the proper image resolution (and I think it was also associated with two, very fine lines on the left and top of the image that showed on the screen, since I was using my wife's computer with HDMI output). Point is, it wasn't isolated and the resolution wasn't correct.

Once you have confirmed you have the correct image and it is loaded FULL SCREEN somehow (PS2 / PS3 / DVD / COMPUTER, any HDMI input), carefully re-run the CALIBRATION from the service screen. Don't touch any other settings in the service screen, just the HDMI calibration! Give the calibration about 1-2 minutes to run, and then turn the TV off for at least 60 seconds. The calibration that FIXED my TV only took about 30 seconds to run. PREVIOUSLY, when I tried calibrating using different images (THX image from a DVD), and the image with the incorrect resolution, it took 5 or more minutes. If it takes that long, it's likely not calibrating correctly.

Now, I still have an issue with the CONTRAST... When I change the contrast from the main menu up and down, each "value" (between 1-100) GREATLY increases or decreases the contrast. And it "cycles", as in, a setting of 98 looks normal, but if you set it down to 93, it is nearly BLACK. But, when I go down one more to 92 it is back to SUPER bright (too bright), and so-on. It does this over and over again, every 5 or 6 values, from 1-100.

This seems to be the only issue we still have after fixing it. I think it's about 99.9% of where it was before I got completely moronic and screwed with the SERVICE SCREEN...

So, let me say it again... I highly recommend that even the "TECH SAVVY" folks NEVER play with the SERVICE SCREEN unless you absolutely know what you're doing. In fact, unless you are so qualified, that you can actually modify the settings with your eyes closed, I'd say never screw with it. I mean, I consider myself incredibly tech savvy... I build computers, component by component, install and configure massive home audio surround sound systems, can disassemble and reassemble a car, just about everything; but the first and only thing I've run into that I could NOT wrap my mind around was this calibration issue!

Everyone else who's made this same mistake knows how sickening the feeling is, believing that you may have just trashed your $3,000 TV... Trust me - it's not worth playing around with; just don't mess with it!

On another note... Thanks to everyone for their help on these forums. I'd be crying myself to sleep every night had I not come across this forum, which helped me put the pieces together on how to fix it!

-Matt & Wife!

Originally Posted by JRTTiger View Post
OK, I was actually able to fix this myself, believe it or not. The trick was inverting a 1920x1080 version of the checkerboard so that the upper-left square was black, rather than white. So, for anyone who makes this same blunder, and has a B750, this should work.

Originally Posted by akakitsu

Here are mine. Thanks for your pics.

All i had to change was the 1st_Y_GL of COMP to your value and all works as it should now! Once again, thank you for your help.

Originally Posted by BaRRoS

Hi all,

I was thinking of using samsung's service menu to see if I could force JustScan instead of 16x9 on source change. But after reading this thread I got a little scared

But then again, it got me wondering. Wouldn't hitting factory reset on service menu correct all the issues of incorrect calibration??

Originally Posted by Zsolt

The way I understand it, the same chassis is often used for different models. EG - different tuners for different regions, Scart for some countries, RCA's for others etc.. So, the point is, the reset will just reset the chassis to it's default, not the default of the actual TV model - thus, you may actually make it worse...

Z...

Originally Posted by BaRRoS

And how about firmware update?

Btw, I sugest reseting to factory defaults because I accidently do that to my TV :P (first option in srvs menu ... right button is commit....) and I didn't notice anything diferent besides having to configure everything again..... I really mean everything......

Originally Posted by PlasmaPZ80U

I have confirmed that the 'Factory Reset' under 'Option' in the SM is only a user reset. It's identical to holding 'Exit' in the user menu for 5 seconds.

The EEPROM Reset is the dangerous one which likely resets the SM to the defaults for the current firmware version loaded. It's dangerous because the factory defaults that get applied will undo any calibration performed at the factory resulting in a set that is far from calibrated (and possibly bricked) until the factory calibration is redone by a service tech.

Originally Posted by BaRRoS

Thanks for the clarification
btw, do you know if its possible what I want to acomplish, that is, force fullscan (or justscan as samsung calls it) on source input change?

Originally Posted by seattlemark

I have a month old Samsung UN40b600/6000 and was just trying to turn off the annoying CE Dimming settings. At the time I had a DVD being upconverted that I used for a dimming test, and the TV was tuned to that HD DVD player's HDMI3 input port. HDMI2 had a DVR Cable box connected to it, but the TV wasn't tuned to HDMI2 (of course since it was tuned to HDMI3). The PC and Component inputs had cables but with nothing connected to them on the other end. HDMI1 had nothing at all attached to it.

After going into the Service Menu for CE Dimming, other threads mentioned to scroll down to get to CE Dimming (after doing Advanced / 0000). That would have been fine, but CE Dimming was actually in the second column and I did not realize at the time that the scroll down eventually wrapped to the second column. Somewhere along the line I arrowed into an option which said "HDMI Calibrate" instead and saw the word "ON" next to it. I knew I was in trouble and tried everything to get out with arrows to no avail, so in desperation hit the remote's power button. Even that took a awhile, but the TV eventually turned off and I never saw a word like "Success" or "Failure". I then immediately went back into the Service Menu and at least successfully tuned off the CE/Auto Dimming. But now, I am wondering (well more like worried) about if maybe I messed up any HDMI or Component ports? The HD DVD player momentarily complained that it was going to 420P (as it might when trying to upconvert to component cable), but that was temporary, and in fact I later put in a HD DVD disk in and the TV seemed to display it fine at full resolution. (The BDWise Samsung Blue ray is in the other room, and moves between rooms, but I haven't brought that in for a try yet.)

Some questions please:

1) When I had arrowed over to HDMI Calibrate and saw the word "ON", was it then indeed trying to Calibrate?

2) Could it be that the power down I did of the TV (that took a while to take), while in the Service Menu, been what stopped the process before any damage was done?

3) If I become brave enough to go back into the service menu again, exactly how do I get to this place that would say if what happened resulted in the "Success" or "Failure" values people have been talking about, without it trying to Calibrate HDMI automatically again? Where is the word "ON" verses "Success" or "Failure"? Were these three various menu values/locations, before or after I did "Advanced 0000" ?

4) When I had accidentally arrowed over to "HDMI Calibrate - ON", I did not hit Enter on the remote. Did that maybe save me, or is an Enter irrelevant after being to the "ON"?

5) So far, the TV seems fine. If the Calibrate was indeed a Failure, just what would the symptoms be? Would such Fail symptoms be on just some, or would it be on all, HDMI (and/or Component) inputs? Could a Fail ever be subtle symptom(s), or would it always be very noticeable such that I would surely know by now? (Code for, any chance that my wife will know something is wrong just by using the TV, if I don't tell her the full details about this other than my nice removal of the Auto Dimming (which, in reality, I was the only one complaining about that in the first place.)? )

Thanks,
Mark

Originally Posted by PlasmaPZ80U

Under "ADC/WB", "ADC", "HDMI Calibration" will read "Success" or "Failure."

The 'HDMI Calibrate' (ON) setting must be something else. In any case, you can verify whether the ADC Calibration for HDMI is a "Success" or "Failure." Before you do anything else in the service menu, read the following tips for navigating the service menu more safely:

1. Only the up and down arrow keys can be used to select an item in the current menu or sub menu. Left and right arrow keys will either act as enter keys or modify the value for the chosen parameter.

2. Menu is a back button, enter is also an enter button (no surprise here), and source cycles through the active sources.

3. Before you change any settings, write down the initial values for those settings. This way you can manually reset the values should you need to. There is no other way to recover defaults in the service menu should you need to.

Originally Posted by seattlemark

Thanks PlasmaPZ80U. If I am understanding you correctly, then "ADC/WB", "ADC", "HDMI Calibration" is where I can determine the Success or Failure of the last time (if indeed I had accidentally done a HDMI Calibrate last time). Is this the same place one would do an HDMI Calibrate? If not, where is the location in the Service Menu where one would do an HDMI Calibrate? (Not that I want to go do that, again. I am just trying to figure out exactly where I need to stay away from, if I do go back in to check the status.)

Originally Posted by ceaverill

i too have messed up my PQ with this hdmi error, can anyone help me get it back to normal? i own a b650 plasma.

Originally Posted by Wifey_Sherriff

TO ANYONE WHO IS THINKING ABOUT CALIBRATING (OR WHO HAS SCREWED IT UP ALREADY):

I made the same STUPID, STUPID mistake of going in to the service screen because I simply wanted to check how many hours we've used our TV in the past 2 1/2 years. Well, this was by far, the DUMBEST THING I've ever done with an electronic piece of equipment. I was even forewarned that accessing the SERVICE menu could cause irreparable damage, and I was still cocky enough to believe that I knew what I was doing (even though I am very technologically savvy).

Let me be clear... UNLESS YOU ARE A TRAINED, CERTIFIED, EXPERIENCED TV PROGRAMMER, OR REPAIR TECHNICIAN, DO NOT SCREW AROUND IN THE SERVICE SCREEN!!! Save yourself hours of issues (and potentially a permanently busted TV)!

So what happened, is that I accidentally hit the "CALIBRATE" button (as it is the first option on the SERVICE SCREEN). The remote isn't user friendly when it comes to using the service screen - the buttons you use, don't match up to the "flow" on the TV. The TV started calibrating a frozen image from the show "COPS". I didn't know how to stop it, and didn't understand that it was completely screwing it up, until after it finished calibrating.

Anyway, my wife and I just finished spending over 10 hours working on fixing the TV since last night - and thank goodness she's one hell of a GOOGLER. Even though I found this website last night with info about the fix, it took digging further to help find the correct calibration image to fix the issue.

HERE'S THE STORY:

I have a Samsung LCD LNT-4661F, built in early 2007. Last night, after reading about the checkerboard fix, I gave it a try - NO SUCCESS.

BUT, in the end, a different way of using the checkerboard DID work, so read on (if you've made the same mistake and still need help).

As it turns out, you have to have the checkerboard image the exact same resolution of your TV. Mine was 1920x1080. I used an 8 x 8 Black & White checkerboard image, using my PS3 (using the "VIEW PHOTO" feature).

When using the checkerboard image (or any other calibrating image), MAKE SURE THERE IS NO OTHER "INFO" ON THE SCREEN (such as the little menus that show "next" or "back" or other random information). The image MUST BE completely isolated, with nothing but the full-screen 8x8 B&W checkerboard, with a native resolution equal to your TV.

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO NEED THE 1920x1080 8x8, I've linked to it from my PHOTOBUCKET account, because I know how frustrating and tough it was to find it!

DOWNLOAD THE 8X8 BLACK & WHITE 1920 x 1080 HERE:



Where I first went wrong (using the checkerboard fix) is that I wasn't using the proper image resolution (and I think it was also associated with two, very fine lines on the left and top of the image that showed on the screen, since I was using my wife's computer with HDMI output). Point is, it wasn't isolated and the resolution wasn't correct.

Once you have confirmed you have the correct image and it is loaded FULL SCREEN somehow (PS2 / PS3 / DVD / COMPUTER, any HDMI input), carefully re-run the CALIBRATION from the service screen. Don't touch any other settings in the service screen, just the HDMI calibration! Give the calibration about 1-2 minutes to run, and then turn the TV off for at least 60 seconds. The calibration that FIXED my TV only took about 30 seconds to run. PREVIOUSLY, when I tried calibrating using different images (THX image from a DVD), and the image with the incorrect resolution, it took 5 or more minutes. If it takes that long, it's likely not calibrating correctly.

Now, I still have an issue with the CONTRAST... When I change the contrast from the main menu up and down, each "value" (between 1-100) GREATLY increases or decreases the contrast. And it "cycles", as in, a setting of 98 looks normal, but if you set it down to 93, it is nearly BLACK. But, when I go down one more to 92 it is back to SUPER bright (too bright), and so-on. It does this over and over again, every 5 or 6 values, from 1-100.

This seems to be the only issue we still have after fixing it. I think it's about 99.9% of where it was before I got completely moronic and screwed with the SERVICE SCREEN...

So, let me say it again... I highly recommend that even the "TECH SAVVY" folks NEVER play with the SERVICE SCREEN unless you absolutely know what you're doing. In fact, unless you are so qualified, that you can actually modify the settings with your eyes closed, I'd say never screw with it. I mean, I consider myself incredibly tech savvy... I build computers, component by component, install and configure massive home audio surround sound systems, can disassemble and reassemble a car, just about everything; but the first and only thing I've run into that I could NOT wrap my mind around was this calibration issue!

Everyone else who's made this same mistake knows how sickening the feeling is, believing that you may have just trashed your $3,000 TV... Trust me - it's not worth playing around with; just don't mess with it!

On another note... Thanks to everyone for their help on these forums. I'd be crying myself to sleep every night had I not come across this forum, which helped me put the pieces together on how to fix it!

-Matt & Wife!