Shadow on left of Samsung DLP screen - Page 84

I called to have my light tunnel issue fixed and bulb replaced on the last day of my extended warranty for the 4266. Unfortunately, the repair did not fix the problem and still have a 4" shadow on left side. The shadow can clearly be seen w/ a black screen and slightly visible w/ a picture. The shop wants to take the TV back to the shop for testing. Any suggestions that I can pass along to them? Like me, they were pretty positive that the shadow was due to the light tunnel issue.

Brettwf

Called Samsung on Thursday and they confirmed the light tunnel issue would be covered out of warranty. Repair scheduled for Wednesday FOC. We confirmed with both Samsung and the local TV repair co that it will be fixed FOC. Looking forward to Wednesday and hopefully light tunnel issue will be fixed. I'll report back to confirm Wednesday.

I'm posting this for those still holding out hope this will be covered FOC. Some have posted this offer expired 12/31/09, but that does not appear to be the case.

Thanks to all those who took the time to post the information needed to get this fixed.

My 61' Samsung DLP TV got the "dreaded shadow" a few days after New Years. I was devastated, I was very happy with this TV until this happened. I contacted Samsung technical support, the rep was totally useless. I was told I was off warranty because my TV was 3 1/2 years old. I contacted one of the authorized Samsung repair shops and the technician told me it would cost $110 just to come over to my house, $254 for labor and $150-200 for parts. I had no idea it was the light tunnel, so I agreed to have him come over. Later that day he called me back and told me that acccording to my TV's serial number I was still under warranty. That's when I searched the Internet and found this site, immediately I knew my TV's problem was the light tunnel. I called Samsung again, after I got the run around several times, I finally got a customer service rep that knew what she was doing. To make a long story short, my TV was fixed, it was indeed the light tunnel, the picture on it is as beautiful as ever and it didn't cost me anything.
If your problem is the light tunnel, Samsung has extended the warranty, when you call customer service tell them it's the LIGHT TUNNEL and that you are covered.
Thanks to everyone on this site for the help and the ammunition I got from you to make my case with Samsung.

We bought our HL61A750 on 10/2008, came home today to be greeted with the 1" shadow.

I saw a lot of mention of older models, is Samsung covering this one as well?


The customer service rep gave me a ref number and told me to call a local authorized shop and to settle the payment through an internal group called ECR?

Does this mirror the experience other people have seen?

Hopefully I can get this fixed free, otherwise I may try to re-align the mirrors myself

Me too! Just this past weekend, I noticed a one inch shadow (vertical) on the left side of my screen. My TV is HL61A750, the last DLP model from Samsung. Thank God I still have a month on my warranty. Called a tech. She later call back to delay my appointment as they needed to "research" this issue and consult with Samsung.

I am wondering if this issue is common for our models. Our TVs are LED light based. Wondering if it's a mirror issue? Heard that maybe after time the heat from the TV melts the defective glue Samsung used.

I will update you with results from my Tech visit. I so love my TV and hope it's just something minor, like adjusting mirrors.

So I just found this thread and have had the light tunnel collapsing for about a year. I'm positive it is the problem because I repaired an HLN4365W tunnel with the same problem. The HLR was repaired in 2006 under warranty for the light tunnel. Called Samsung and the agent seemed knowledgable about the problem but told me it wasn't covered any longer. I used all the key words but she didn't bite. Any other ideas? Should I just try to call again?

Thanks!

Model: HLR5668WX/XAA Serial: ACAB3CKYA00679D

Im having the same issue with my HL61A750. When I call Samsung they basically told me tough nookie and that I would have to pay out of pocket.

Does anyone know what the part number is for this? As I have the service manual and am debating about fixing it myself.

THANKS SO MUCH!!!!
Just noticed the shadow last night that it was getting bigger, When I seen it a few months ago it was smaller and throught it was from the networks. Now its 3 inches from the left side....
I figured maybe somthing I can adjust and googled it, what a surprise I found with it being a problem I have the(HLR5067w).
Service rep (Frankie) Got all my information and told me that they would be fixing at no cost to me.

Thanks to you all!!!

Ok So I have some numbers that may help people and I am hoping some people have some help for me.

As I posted a little while back my HL61A750 is also showing this issue. I was instructed by Samsung customer service that any FOC consideration would be done by their ECR department (Phone: 1 1800 522 7341).

I called them and after 25 mins of research and talking to supervisors I was told that I would be fixed FOC. I called the repair facility and they confirmed the FOC request and scheduled and appointment for this Wed. (2/10).

They never showed up.

I call the repair place today (I don't have a ton of time during working hours) and they told me that because this is an LED DLP that it is not covered and the repair is canceled.

I saw the list on the previous page and it does not look like the HL6 series is on the list yet however it is showing the SAME symptoms as the other models. Since it is newer I am guessing they are just showing up now for many HL61A750 owners.

Can anyone shed any light here? I plan on calling ECR when I have the time but I am thinking I will hit a road block unless I am prepared.

Has anyone else been successful in getting their HL61A750 repaired FOC yet?

After failing miserably with the normal customer service line I tried the ECR department (800 522 7341) and spoke to Jessica in South Carolina. After fifteen or twenty minutes of "research" she gave me a new confirmation number. Supposedly a local shop will call to set up the FOC repair (we'll see). So, if at first you don't succeed....

My tech came today and said he never saw that issue for my model. He said the HL61/67,750A's do not suffer from this issue since they are LED based and have no light tunnels. He said my set was the first he had seen with the shadow.

However, Samsung told him it would be an easy adjustment.

The tech had it fixed in 10 mins.

He opened up the TV, adjusted a "knob", and that was it.

TV is working fine. He couldn't explain what would cause the knob to adjust itself. Never-the-less, it was a minor, easily fixed issue.

All is good now!

Thanks I just opened it up found the knob and adjusted it about a 1/4 turn to the left and no more shadow. All in all it took longer to put it back together then to take it apart and turn the knob

Hey Littleronin, you didn't happen to take any pics did you? Could you provide any guidance as to where the knob is located?

I am still getting the run-around from Samsung and if it really is that easy then I will just do it myself. I have taken apart enough equipment to not be afraid to do this provided I know it will work.

Ok, so Samsung has refused to fix this FOC as my model (hl61a750a) is not under the list with this issue.

So taking the info from Johnherrera305 and Littleronin I decided I would pop the back of the unit and see if I could find this so called "knob".

I took the back cover off the bottom of the unit and did not find anything that looks like an adjustment knob. Granted I have not taken any of the control components out yet and I would rather avoid pulling this thing apart randomly.

I have posted pics of both the exposed internals as well as the left shadow I am seeing. You can find the pics here: http://manitcor.com/images/hl61a750a_leftshadow/

Can anyone point me to where I should be looking for this "adjustment knob" or were the other 2 posters blowing smoke?

I guess my next step will be to try and get a service manual from samsung though I would much rather just fix this now and not have to wait. Esp since I have the tv on the ground and apart at this point.

Please help, this is driving me nuts!

So I found a place that sells the service manuals online and grabbed one. I managed to locate and adjust the illumination quite easily once I found the knobs.

They are mounted directly behind the DMD and can be accessed from the left side of the component. There is a knob for vertical and a knob for horizontal adjustments.

Based on playing with these as far as I can tell these adjustments are susceptible to vibrations as I could shake the floor near the TV and cause it to come out of adjustment. My cats like to leap from a nearby stair case at high speed and land right in front of the TV. They can do this for an hour or more at a time and is a daily event. I am betting it is this that caused the mis-alignment in the first place.

You can find a full size pic explaining the location of the knobs here: Samsung HL61A750A Illumination Adjustment Knobs Location

I am not sure if this is the same arrangement on the HL67's but I would bet that it is.

So in short; If you have an HL61A750A Samsung WILL NOT fix this issue as it is not a light tunnel problem. You can adjust the illumination yourself quite easily by using the pic I posted.

DISCLAIMER: If you screw up your TV doing this, it is not my problem.

I also have a later HLT model and they told me they wouldn't fix it. Did they ever fix it for you?

Hey I've been having similar issues with my TV as well lately that have become much worse. At first the TV had the standard problems. The shadowy bar going down the left side of the screen. It had been like that for over a year and had been growing in size. However I assumed it was the lamp since it had 13k hours and there was something possibly blocking the light. The color wheel is a bit noisy as well btw. I took the lamp out and it was fine. After putting the lamp back in and putting my tv back this shadow now consumes 95 percent of the screen.



The funny thing is now you can see a non shadowed area on the left side as well but just barely. I'm thinking that the shaking that occurred when I moved the TV set finally finished the job on whatever it was inside the TV. I'd like to point out you can still see stuff in the shadowed area but you need to be within 2 feet and straight in front of it.

Is this something that a defective light tunnel would cause?

Tv is a HLS5087W

I truly stand upon the shoulders of giants. As I read this thread to help identify the issue my TV has had for some time, I was impressed with the level of detailed information, and the resources it must have taken to identify the root cause. I was actually pleased to find a relatively inexpensive part could resolve it, because I assumed it would be out of pocket, and therefore I've been living with it for some time (it's not quite as bad on my tv as some of the pictures posted). Imagine my delight to find it may be fixed FOC by Samsung.

Samsung HLR5067WX/XAA DLP TV. Manufacture date August 2005. Shadow on left side of screen several inches wide from top to bottom.

Contacted Executive Customer Relations at 1-800-522-7341. They immediately identified my tv as meeting the criteria for the light tunnel FOC fix, and contacted a local service rep. Literally a five minute phone call.

My thanks to everyone involved in this thread who made this possible.

Samsung - LE46F86BD.

It's a very faint shadow, and only is noticeable on dark scenes, seems to slightly disappear on white bright scenes. It normally goes off, after the TV warms for 10-20mins, but today seems to stay on.
It isn't very dark, I can still view dark scenes a bit, not as dark as the pictures I've seen in this thread.
Well, my brother did, accidentally turn it off twice in quick succession and this I think elevated the problem further. Although I think I can fix it, by turning it off, letting it cool and then turning it and changing between a bright and dark image, this worked before.

I bought this in auction couple of months ago, it was working brilliantly until 2 weeks when this started. As I have read through the thread, it seems to be a very high problem with Samsung TV's. :|
Also is this Yahoo answer correct?
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...1234722AAdPzn1

Hi Guys,

I have a Samsung HL-R6768WX/XAA DLP TV. I got the infamous Grey Bar. I called Samsung and they said that they would send a service tech to my house. If it is the light tunnel then they'll change it out free of charge, but if its not the light tunnel, I have to pay for the guy coming out.

This is what it looks like, can you confirm that this is the light tunnel issue?



Thanks

Yep, looks like the dreaded shadow to me.

-ML

I just got off the phone with ECS and they are repairing FOC my HL-R5667W TV I bought in 2006! The TV has developed the shadow and it is just getting worse so I read the whole thread and thought I'd give Samsung a shot. They were really nice over the phone and took all the details, and gave me a transaction number with repair shop. I will update this later to let you guys know how the repair went!

Samsung agreed to repair the collapsed light tunnel on my 2006 HSL5087 TV. After the tech replaced the light tunnel the TV wouldn't power on. So after a couple more phone calls Samsung replaced the entire Light Engine.

I thought I noticed some strange gray areas on the the screen after the Light Engine replacement, but chalked it up to light reflections. The TV is in my vacation house which I don't get too that much. The next time I stayed at the house and I noticed there were light gray areas on the screen during dark scenes of any material. I looked closely it was a repeating set of geometric objects, which looked a bit like a light bulb, distributed across the screen with varying levels of brightness. They were only visible during very dark scene material.

So this time Samsung asked me to photograph the screen for them, and I sent them this link (add the http prefix - this is only me second post and the site requires three postings before posting a link):

picasaweb.google.com/jim.ambras/SamsungDLPScreen#

As a result Samsung is now doing a second Light Engine replacement, on their nickel.

While it's been a hassle to fix this problem, I'm very happy to see Samsung totally supporting my 2006 TV purchase here. Hopefully the third time is the charm.

Thanks for the feedback guys! Yah, I got my TV on October 2005. As soon as I mentioned that it was a light tunnel issue and that I had gone on various online forums and discovered other users with DLP Samsung TVs to have similar issues and they got their's replaced FOC by Samsung, they were more than willing. Repair man is coming out next week, I'll update you once its completed and I can watch TV without the bar again.

This forum is super helpful, I was to pay out the butt to get this fixed on my dime too!

Thanks so much for keeping this tread going. I had the shadow as well with my Samsung 5078W.

Contacted Executive Customer Relations at 1-800-522-7341. I had a newer agent. She seem confused that I did not have a original trouble ticket. She created one for me. I also had to explain about the shadow and light tunnel issue. She pulled up my model of TV and discovered what I was talking about in there notes. The service man just left and fixed my TV free of charge.

Thanks again!

I replaced my LT in October of 2007 and the shadow is back. I purchased it from partstore.com, and it probably has the same issue as the original. I have not taken it out yet to check the mirrors.

Yesterday, I got the contract service technician out at my house. He put in the new light tunnel and everything went smooth until the TV was turned on. Apparently the new light tunnel now is rubbing against the color wheel. It was making a horrible noise after startup. He pulled it apart and reseated everything and it is still doing the same thing! The color wheel was fine beforehand; he even confirmed this as it is one of the things he says he always looks for. So I am guessing both the light tunnel is too big and the wrong part or he messed something else up that we can't see. So now he has my TV at his shop so he can let his boss take a look at it. I will update this as soon as I get my TV back, hopefully by tomorrow!

Well, I got my TV back yesterday, and everything is fine except one little M&M size speck close to the bottom center of the screen. I suspect it is dust from the shop that got on the main lense. I checked the bulb and didn't see any dust on that. I didn't complain to the guy because I didn't see it at first, but it being so small it doesn't bother me and my wife hasn't noticed it yet! So either way I am just glad I have my TV back with no more shadow

good afternoon people. i own a hl56a650 thats just about 14 months old. bought it used off craigslist with a 3 to 4 inch shadow running along the top of the screen. didn`t have the receipt but called samsung anyways after reading posts from people having this same problem. explained to the samsung rep what i was experiencing and after just saying light tunnel they extended the warranty for 3 months. made an appointment with authorized service tech. he came and replaced the tunnel and viola. no more shadow. free of charge.

I have a HLR5067W that I bought in late 2005. I've had a shadow on the left side of my screen now for a year and a half. I came home from work and it was there. My wife said she thought my then 2 y/o son hit the TV with a ball and messed it up. I was pretty upset about it but dealt with it as I figured it would cost more to repair than the TV was worth. This last week, the bulb finally blew. Not bad lasting almost 5 years. While researching about replacing the bulb, I searched and came across this thread which describes exactly the shadow I've been experiencing. Long story short, I just called the Samsung number listed in this thread and spoke to Julian. My TV will be repaired FOC if the tech comes out and it is indeed the light tunnel. AT&T Connectech is who is supposed to contact me to set up the repair visit. Anybody dealt with them?When I first read this thread I was mad that Samsung continued to put out a faulty product, but I have to say that now I'm happy that they are going to hopefully repair my 5 y/o TV. I will keep you all updated. Should have my new bulb in Friday and will post a pic of my shadow then for confirmation. Would hate to have to pay the tech cause it isn't the light tunnel.